Board of Directors
MARGARET CHEW BARRINGER (Founder and Chairman) is an entrepreneur, executive producer, director, videographer, video editor, web designer, and poet. As a full-time volunteer in 1983, she founded the American Poetry Center, and (under a series of PA Council on the Arts-initiated grants), brought Free Speech and the Spoken Word to audiences across Pennsylvania, providing a statewide model for the creation of National Poetry Month. During this time, she conducted 7 reciprocal exchanges with members of the Soviet Writers Union before the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2005, as Free Speech entered the 21st Century, she renamed the organization American INSIGHT: an online educational resource that broadens exposure to the history and future of Free Speech through emerging technologies. Under her guidance, the Interns at American INSIGHT spent five years researching Violet Oakley’s 13 murals in the Governor’s Reception Room of the PA State Capitol Building; and then in 2011, developed the first Free Speech Film Festival, and its international Free Speech Award. In 2023, Barringer expanded the educational scope of the organization with Make History Every Day! , an online course that teaches students how to speak out, as they witness Free Speech, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law being expressed by independent filmmakers from around the world each year.
ROBERT HASKELL (President + Treasurer) is an experienced systems architect, strategist and business executive. Recently retired from Siemens Healthcare / Shared Medical Systems, his overarching professional goal was to help improve the quality, efficiency and cost of healthcare delivery through innovative and comprehensive health information technology solutions for domestic and international healthcare markets. Mr. Haskell is the holder of seven US software patents, and is the author of several published articles in decision support systems and clinical terminology.
JENNIFER H. BEACOM (Vice President) is the CEO of Beacom Consulting, Inc. where she works with the libraries of a number of Center City law firms and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to manage their day-to-day operations. She is the volunteer President of the Radnor Historical Society and the co-Chair of the University of Cincinnati Philadelphia Bearcats Alumni Club. Jennifer has a B.A. in Political Science from University of Cincinnati, a J.D. from Capital University in Ohio, and a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Syracuse University in New York.
ALICIA GALITZIN (Secretary) is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has a B.F.A. in Fine Art Photography and Art History. She is an avid amateur genealogist and a member of the DAR under her 5x Great Grandfather Richard Omohundro, as well as a Member of the Jamestowne Society under her 10x GGF John Chew who came to Virginia in 1622. She is fascinated by the use of DNA to research and gain a better understanding of our origins. She is the founder of Galitzin Creative, a Manhattan Based design firm that specializes in luxury Residential & Commercial Design projects, after working as an executive over 25 years in the fashion industry in licensing and merchandising for world class brands.
KAREN CURRY is a veteran broadcast journalist, communications specialist and educator, having served as NBC News London Bureau Chief, CNN Vice President and New York Bureau Chief, National Director of Communications for the ACLU and most recently Executive Director of the Kal and Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies at Drexel University. She produces exhibitions and symposia on a wide range of topics and consults with non-profits on programmatic and communications issues.
OLIVER FRANKLIN After a 35-year career in the financial services industry, Oliver now works as a Senior Advisor to next generation financial services firms. He enjoys working with entrepreneurs and learning the latest methodologies for gaining Alpha. Oliver provides advice to businesses, working closely with the British Embassy and Consul General in New York to solve consular issues and engage in public diplomacy. In 2022, Oliver was bestowed the CBE Honour by Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of his services to British Business. Along with the late Lord Peter Walker, Oliver founded The City Fellows scheme, which was a major change agent in their field. He has a degree from Lincoln University, the first Afro-American college in the US, as well as a BPhil in economics from Oxford University and is a Hon Fellow of Balliol College. Oliver is an experienced diplomat, non-executive chairman, corporate director, advisor and keynote speaker.
ALEXANDRA G. KELLY is a brand strategist and writer; a graphic designer at heart. Excels at connecting not-obvious dots and seeing your hidden strengths. Clients have ranged from celebrities to landmark destinations, from Fortune 500 companies to lean startups. Founder, AlexanderGo, LLC. Bachelor of Science, Graphic Design, Drexel University; Episcopal Academy.
PERRIN HAMILTON is an avid reader and lectures on American Business History. He serves or has served on the Board of the Lower Merion Historical Society, the Wynnewood Civic Association, Federation of Civic Associations, and was Chairman of the Charter Board of Directors of Public Access Television of Lower Merion & Narberth for 13 years. He was employed in private sector business for 45 years in commercial banking, automobile manufacturing, wholesale hardwood lumber, and construction. Born, raised and educated in Lower Merion, he received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Susquehanna University. He is now general manager of the Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee, the premier collegiate rowing championship and largest collegiate regatta in the United States.
PABLO SANTIAGO PEREIRA is the business development manager for DAPLAN at Quanam USA in Philadelphia, and specializes in B2B technology and data-driven solutions for financial planning and analysis. He is also a director at the University of Montevideo's INITIUM entrepreneurship center, where he helps incubate startups and develop innovation projects. He is passionate about empowering entrepreneurs through creativity and discipline, helping them transform their ideas into products that solve real-world problems. He is a telematics engineer from Universidad de Montevideo and holds master's degrees in both business administration and technology and innovation management from Universidad ORT Uruguay, as well as several certifications from Harvard Medical School and IBM.
DAVID SINGLETON was managing director of JP Morgan & Co, executive vice president of MBNA America Bank, vice president of the University of Delaware, a member of the Internal Revenue Service State-Local Government Advisory Board, served as chief of staff to the Mayor of Wilmington, DE, and secretary of finance for the State of Delaware and chief administrative officer of New Castle County. He has served on the boards of Delaware Performing Arts Center, Delaware Community Foundation, American Friends Service Committee and Women’s Project Theatre. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College and a National Institutes of Mental Health fellowship to study at the University of Pennsylvania, and studied accounting at the Wharton School.
MARC SONNENFELD is a retired partner of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius with extensive trial experience, including defending class actions asserting violations of the federal securities laws, derivative cases, and claims arising from mergers and acquisitions and appraisal actions, as well as regulatory and enforcement proceedings. He was recognized as an established figure in commercial and securities litigation practices by Chambers USA. He is past chair of the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association and a past board member of the American Inns of Court Foundation and Swarthmore College. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Swarthmore College and earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.
MICHAEL WOOD is professor emeritus of English at Princeton University. He is a literary and cultural critic, and an author of critical and scholarly books as well as a writer of reviews, review articles, and columns. He was director of the Gauss Seminars in Criticism at Princeton from 1995 to 2001, and chaired Princeton's English department from 1998 to 2004. He writes in literary publications such as The New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, where he is also an editorial board member and writes a column, "At the Movies". Wood also teaches at Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont during the summers. He has written many books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a member of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Philosophical Society.
