JU's Public Policy Institute Hosts Panel on Drone Tech

The Moderator



Rick Mullaney: Rick Mullaney received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and first in the College of Arts and Sciences, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida, serving as Executive Editor of the Law Review. Mr. Mullaney worked as a prosecutor for the State Attorney's Office in the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida in Jacksonville. He served as a Director in the office and was subsequently named Prosecutor of the Year for the state of Florida. Mr. Mullaney subsequently worked for nearly 20 years on diverse public policy issues, including economic development, municipal finance, healthcare, education, infrastructure development, collective bargaining, and public safety as a public policy advisor and legal counsel to the City of Jacksonville and former mayors Ed Austin, John Delaney and John Peyton. He served as Chief of Staff to former Mayor John Delaney and subsequently as General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville. Mr. Mullaney has lectured on public policy, governmental, and legal issues in more than 20 states around the country.

Mr. Mullaney became the Founding Director of the JU Public Policy Institute at Jacksonville University in 2012.

The Panel



Ambassador Nancy Soderberg:Ambassador Soderberg is a foreign policy expert, author, professor, and international business consultant. With over twenty-five years of experience in foreign policy, she has served in the White House, at the United Nations, in the United States Senate, and on four presidential advisory boards. Ambassador Soderberg has a deep understanding of policy-making and negotiations at the highest levels of government. Ambassador Soderberg is also a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of North Florida and President and CEO of Soderberg Global Solutions, an international consulting firm. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s of Science Degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

She was interviewed on The Daily Show in 2005.






Dr. Erich Freiberger: Dr. Erich Freiberger teaches history of Philosophy at Jacksonville University as well as Ethics and Public Policy in the University’s Masters of Public Policy Program. While his specialization is in Modern and Contemporary Continental thought, he has also published on ethics, political philosophy, Plato and psychoanalysis, and Plato and Shakespeare. He is currently working on a book on Shakespeare and Plato’s political philosophy.  He received his Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. from Boston College.

Read Dr. Freiberger's short paper on Just War Theory and the Ethics of Drone Warfare




Stephen Dare: Stephen Dare is a publishing partner at MetroJacksonville.com. He is an entrepreneur, journalist, restaurateur, playwright, and chef who has written about, studied, and travelled in the pursuit of the DNA of modern cities since 1987. He has published three magazines: Spiff (mid 80s), Dare Tabloid (late 80s) and Babble, the Big City Magazine (early 1990s). Along the way, he opened several bistros, coffeehouses, cafes, nightclubs, and two dinner theatres in locations as diverse as Jacksonville, Florida; Seattle Washington; Atlanta Georgia; San Francisco, California; and Muncie Indiana. Additionally he ran a successful bankruptcy practice in Indiana, served on numerous cultural and historic preservation boards, wrote for independent magazines across the country, participated in district revitalization projects in a number of locations, served as a telecommunications consultant for Fondas Karapas, the former National Security Advisor of Greece prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and served as an on-air chef for Channel 12 in Jacksonville, Florida.  He participates in rediscovering the historical heritage of Jacksonville, and has devoted his life to understanding the processes whereby cities and neighborhoods develop, succeed, fail, and transform.




Brian Foley, Esq: Brian Foley earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in English, graduating cum laude from Dartmouth College A.B. in 1987.  He received his Juris Doctorate from the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley in 1993 where he was also Associate Editor for the California Law Review.  His expertise is in criminal law, criminal and civil procedure, evidence, and sentencing.  Brian has authored several scholarships, published books, and penned numerous law review articles.  He is currently employed at Florida Coastal School of Law here in Jacksonville as an Associate Professor of Law.



Brent Klavon:  Brent Klavon was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received his Bachelors of Science degree in Business Logistics from Pennsylvania State University.  He was commissioned as a Naval Officer and served for 20 years in various capacities before retiring in 2009.   Brent is currently employed with Aviation Systems Engineering Company (ASEC) here in Jacksonville.  He is a regional advocate in the unmanned systems industry and is the Florida Peninsula Chapter Vice President of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.


This piece by Arash Kamiar