Heather Bates holds a BA in Economics from UVA and began her career in expert services consulting in Washington, D.C. In 2010, she helped launch BRG’s healthcare practice as well as the firm’s D.C. office. As a Managing Director at BRG, Heather advises healthcare and life sciences clients on economic, regulatory, damages, and discovery matters. She leverages advanced analytics and modeling to support data-driven decisions in the face of complex disputes, investigations, and business disruptions, and she serves as an expert witness in federal, state, and arbitration proceedings.

Krista Barry Hilk is a Director for Europe at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), an agency under the Executive Office of the President responsible for setting and administering U.S. trade policy. In this role, she coordinates U.S. industrial and agricultural trade policy issues with the European Union and select EU Member States (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia), while also supporting the UK trade portfolio. Most recently, she served as a Southeast Asia International Trade Specialist covering Vietnam and Malaysia at the U.S.

Steve fell in love with UVA on his sister's admission tour when he walked the Lawn and found out that students got to live in a museum designed by Thomas Jefferson. He made the most of his time here as the Chair of the Guide Service and a brother at Phi Delta Theta. He was part of the first class of Economics' Distinguished Major Program, writing his final thesis on parking tickets at UVA. After graduation, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Federal Practice and then attended the Harvard Kennedy School looking to help improve government from the inside.