Our Board
Craig Calhoun, Ph.D.
Craig Calhoun is University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University. Previously, he was Director of the London School of Economics, President of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), founder of the Institute for Public Knowledge at NYU, and a professor there and at UNC-Chapel Hill, Columbia, and Princeton.
Social movements, shifting conditions for democracy, and the relation of local community to larger-scale organization have been at the center of his research. He teaches on these themes and on the resources offered by social, political, and cultural theory and is most proud of the 50 remarkable PhD students he supervised who now teach and pursue related work across the US and around the world.
Calhoun’s newest book is Degenerations of Democracy (Harvard 2022, co-authored with Dilip Gaonkar and Charles Taylor). This takes democracy to be a project, not simply a set of formal arrangements, and looks at the ways disempowerment of citizens, partisan polarization, and politics oriented only to winning and not the public good undermine democracy from within. He has also recently edited The Green New Deal and the Future of Work (Columbia 2022, with Benjamin Fong). This explores ways in which the pursuit of better lives and livelihoods for workers could – potentially – be integrated with environmental justice and action to minimize damage from climate change.
Calhoun’s search for practical and intellectual efforts to rebuild solidarity and democracy at local levels in ways that empower citizens to respond to global transformations led him to Pulaski. He is honored to be invited to join the Board.
Alex Cone
Alex Cone—a Little Rock, AR native—is Vice President, Privacy & Data Protection at IAB Tech Lab, a not-for-profit technical standards organization for digital marketing. Alex leads Tech Lab's privacy, accountability, and addressability initiatives. Before Tech Lab, Alex was a product management leader at Xandr, directly responsible for its privacy and creative product and engineering plans, execution and go to market. During his 7 years at AppNexus (now Xandr) Alex gained a deep understanding of the ad tech industry working globally on a diverse portfolio products, leading ad quality policy and enforcement, and strategizing regularly with industry leaders. Alex holds a master's degree in International Relations focused on European Union Policy Studies, and before AppNexus worked in government and not for profit roles. Alex lives in the Hudson Valley with his family of four plus two dogs and is often found reading 20th Century history in the backyard.
Wesley Beal, Ph.D., Board Chair
Raised in Arkansas, Wesley Beal is an associate professor of English at Lyon College, where he teaches a range of courses in American and world literature, researches the academic novel, and holds several administrative roles. He served as a Fulbright US Scholar at the University of Hong Kong in 2018. With his partner, he raises a family in the Ozark foothills.
David Loan, Board Treasurer
David Loan joins the Pulaski Institution board from the professional services industry to bring extensive knowledge of international finance, economic development, and business strategy. David has roots in Central Arkansas as a graduate of the Arkansas School of Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, and has a particular interest in contributing to the economic, social, and cultural development of Arkansas. David has a B.A. from Hamilton College, and an M.A. from John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. David has spent the last 10 years focusing on economic development and international trade, with a professional focus on US-China relations. David has worked in New York, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley advising global US, European, and Chinese firms on corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and cross-cultural organizational strategy.
Jane Adams, Board Vice-Chair
Jane Adams is a ninth-generation Alabamian and lives in Huntsville, Alabama. She earned a master’s degree in theological studies M(TS) from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., where she studied the ethical implications of public policy. She works as the Government Relations Director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, leading the effort to expand Medicaid in Alabama. Jane previously worked at Alabama Arise, Bread for the World, the Department of Health and Human Services, Share our Strength, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, U.S. House of Representatives office of Vic Snyder, Barack Obama 2008 campaign, and the Alabama Statehouse.
She is the former co-chair of the Save for All coalition, the largest anti-poverty coalition in the United States. She currently sits on the leadership team of the Southerners for Medicaid expansion coalition.
Jane has a series of state and federal policy wins, including the passage of the Alabama postpartum Medicaid extension, ARPA Medicaid expansion incentive, passage of the First Step Act of 2019, and other policy wins such as Summer EBT federal funding and implementation.
Whitney Barringer, Ph.D.
Born in Little Rock, Dr. Whitney Barringer received her PhD in American history from the University of Mississippi in 2016. She is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Central Arkansas. She has lived in Arkansas a total of 28 years.
Alan Elrod, Founder, President, and CEO of The Pulaski Institution
Alan Elrod is the co-founder, along with the inaugural board, of the Pulaski Institution. He was raised in Searcy, Arkansas and received his undergraduate degree in history at Harding University. Alan received his master’s at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he designed his degree around nationalism and submitted a thesis on the comparative role of territorial currencies in the national identities of Scotland and Hungary. Alan is a former faculty member at The Arkansas Governor’s School and currently teaches courses in political science and history at Arkansas State University-Beebe, a community college in rural Central Arkansas. He is interested in economic institutions, their social and cultural roles, and understanding the dynamics of modern national identity and nationalism. This organization is the fruit of his passion for the flourishing of all places and people and his abiding hope in the promise of a better tomorrow.