Dr. J.H. Cullum Clark is the Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative where he is responsible for managing various aspects of the new partnership between the Department of Economics and the Bush Institute and leads the Initiative's work on domestic economic policy and economic growth. His chief research interests are macroeconomic policy, economic geography and urban economics, and modern economic history. Dr. Clark worked for 24 years in the investment industry, serving since 2002 as President of Prothro Clark Company, a Dallas investment firm. In addition to his time in the PhD program, his involvement with SMU includes serving since 2008 on the University’s Investment Committee, since 2010 on the Tate Lecture Series Board of Directors, and since 2017 as a Tower Center Fellow. He also serves on the boards of the Eugene McDermott Foundation and Uplift Education, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Dallas Assembly. He and his wife Nita have three daughters: Lili (21), Annabel (19), and Charlotte (15).

For over 20 years, Dr. Michael A. Horne has dedicated his life’s work to advancing transformation in under-resourced communities through innovation, collaboration, and scalable systems. As President and CEO of Parkland Foundation, Dr. Horne is responsible for securing philanthropic support to advance the commitments of the Parkland Health and Hospital system. In this role, he works with organizations across the county and state, to deliver innovative healthcare to improve health outcomes for Dallas County’s most vulnerable residents. Prior to joining Parkland, Dr. Horne was a leader of a nationally-recognized kindergarten through twelfth grade school system. Dr. Horne earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Amherst College; a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; a Master of Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and a Doctorate in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Horne has immersed himself in Dallas. He is a 2019 graduate of the Dallas Regional Chamber’s Leadership Dallas program. He is also a member of the Dallas Assembly. Dr. Horne volunteers on several boards including The YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, the SMU Tate Lecture Series Board, and the Center for BrainHealth Advisory Board. In 2021, Dr. Horne was named by D CEO as one of Dallas’ top 500 leaders. In 2018, Dr. Horne was named by the Dallas Business Journal as a 2018 40 Under 40 recipient. Outside of work, Dr. Horne enjoys travel, exercise, reading, and spending time with his wife Marissa, a technology executive; and learning lessons from their children, Bailey and John.

Orlando J. Pérez is Dean of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas at Dallas. He served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (AHSS) at Millersville University of Pennsylvania from 2014-19. He chaired the Department of Political Science at Central Michigan University (CMU) from 2009-13 and directed the Cultural and Global Studies Programs at the College of Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences (CHSBS) also at CMU (2013-14), where he rose through the ranks of faculty (1998-2014). As an administrator, Dr. Pérez’s record includes extensive experience with global studies, strategic planning, shared governance, assessment and accreditation, curricular development, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. His teaching and research interests include comparative politics, Latin American politics, U.S.-Latin American relations, civil-military relations, public opinion, and empirical democratic theory. As a consultant, he has worked on public opinion surveys, democratization, civil-military relations, and anti-corruption issues for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN Development Program (UNDP). He is the author of Civil-Military Relations in Post-Conflict Societies: Transforming the Role of the Military in Central America (2015); The Historical Dictionary of El Salvador (2016); Political Culture in Panama: Democracy after Invasion (2011). Co-editor of Democracy and Security in Latin America: State Capacity and Governance under Stress (2022); and Latin American Democracy: Emerging Reality or Endangered Species? (1st ed, 2009; 2nd ed, 2015); and editor of Post-Invasion Panama: The Challenges of Democratization in the New World Order (2000). He received a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Miami, a B.A. in political science from Florida International University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh.