Joseph Capizzi, Ph.D.

Expertise: Social Ethics, Moral Theology, Law and Religion

Joseph Capizzi, Ph.D. in Theology, is the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology and an Ordinary Professor of Moral Theology at The Catholic University of America. He has published widely on just war theory, bioethics, the history of moral theology, and political liberalism. Dr. Capizzi worked as a research fellow at the VADM James B. Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the U.S. Naval Academy from 2013 to 2014.

Stephen P. Higgins, J.D.

For more than two decades, Stephen Higgins devoted his life to public service. As a Legislative Director and Chief Counsel in the United States Senate, he was a legislative, legal, and policy strategist. Stephen worked with Members of Congress, congressional staff, executive branch officials, interest groups, think tanks, and constituents to build bipartisan coalitions and negotiate complex legislation. On a daily basis, he served as a liaison to Senate and House offices, the White House, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders.

William L. Saunders, J.D.

Of Counsel | Americans United for Life | Chair of Religious Liberties Group, The Federalist Society | President, The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars

Expertise: Bioethics, Religious Liberty, Human Rights

Bill Saunders, J.D., is a graduate of the Harvard Law School who has been involved in issues of public policy, law and ethics for thirty years. A regular columnist for the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Mr. Saunders has written widely on these topics, as well as on Catholic social teaching. He has given lectures in law schools and colleges throughout the United States and the world. He is the Director of the Program in Human Rights for the Institute for Human Ecology.

Beatriz Lopez-Bonetti

Mrs. Lopez Bonetti is a Research Associate in the Busch School of Business and a media fellow with the IHE. Previously she was the Director of Public Relations for the Busch School of Business. She specializes in marketing research and has conducted qualitative and quantitative tests and statistical analysis to identify product appeal, customer content preference and consumer behavior for use in company product and market strategy development.  She has directed and executed marketing research, strategic planning, budgeting and monetary goals for a start-up organization which led to the development of breakthrough technology seeking protection of families from harmful media. Mrs. Lopez Bonetti managed relationships with national membership organizations including family, religious and civic groups using the collected market data to execute integrated communications and outreach plans to ensure strategic communications with their audiences. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro in Venezuela and a Master of Science in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Lopez lives in Maryland with her husband, and five young children.

Jeanne Marie Leo

Mrs. Leo is an Institutional Coordinator with the IHE. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Theology from The Catholic University of America, where she served first-year women as a Student Minister and worked as a writer in the Office of the University President.

Mrs. Leo grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and lives in Brookland with her husband and daughter.

Emmett McGroarty, J.D.

Expertise: Education Policy, Federalism Issues

Emmett McGroarty, J.D., is the Director of Research and Planning at the Institute for Human Ecology. He studies public policies that undermine the constitutional structure and the principle of subsidiarity. He is the co-author of Deconstructing the Administrative State: The Fight for Liberty. He is also co-author ofControlling Education from the Top: Why Common Core Is Bad for America, Pioneer Institute, No. 87 (May 2012); and Cogs in the Machine: Big Data, Common Core, and National Testing, Pioneer Institute, No. 114 (May 2014). Mr. McGroarty is Co-Founder of truthinamericaneducation.com, a nationwide network of individuals and organizations that sheds light on the Common Core system and the collection of private data on children and their families. His published works have appeared in, among others, Breitbart, Christian Post, Crisis, Daily Caller, The Federalist, FoxNews.com, New York Post, Public Discourse, The Hill, Townhall, USA Today, and The Washington Times. He has testified before state and federal committees and commissions. Mr. McGroarty received an A.B. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Fordham School of Law.

Jessica Jones

Jessica Jones is an Administrative Assistant with the IHE. She previously taught freshmen undergraduate philosophy courses for Catholic University’s First Year Experience program and served as book review editor for the Review of Metaphysics. Mrs. Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a concentration in Italian from the University of Dallas and a Master’s degree in Philosophy from The Catholic University of America. She is currently working on her doctorate in philosophy from Catholic U and is writing her dissertation on the relationship between recollection (anamnēsis) and the cultivation of virtue in Plato’s Meno, Phaedo, and Phaedrus.

Mrs. Jones grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia (Montani semper liberi) and resides in D.C. with her husband. 

Will Deatherage

Will Deatherage is a graduate student in Historical and Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America. He manages digital content production and web design for the Institute for Human Ecology. Having earned his B.A. in Politics and Theology, he has worked for the Knights of Columbus, the Marriage and Religious Research Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and several other political and religious organizations. Deatherage is the Executive Director of Clarifying Catholicism, a Catholic social media project that features over 150 young contributors who write blogs and record videos about their faith. His life-long ambition is to publish a book on phenomenology, existentialism, and Theology of the Gift.