Spring 2026 Fellow
The Honorable Garret Graves was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Between 1990 and 1996, he attended the University of Alabama, Louisiana Tech University, and American University. After college, Graves moved to Washington, D.C., to begin working toward a political career. He started as an intern for Sen. John Breaux, and later took a position working for Rep. Billy Tauzin. Graves also held positions working for Sen. David Vitter, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. In 2008, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Graves Chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. In this position, Graves created a $50 billion, 50-year master plan to promote coastal restoration and improve hurricane protection. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District from January 2015-January 2025.
One of his hallmark achievements in Congress was the enactment of the FEMA Accountability, Modernization, and Transparency Act of 2017 (Public Law No. 115-87), which required FEMA’s modernization efforts to include an online interface where applicants can complete forms, submit materials and access the status of applications, as well as include mechanisms to eliminate the duplication of benefits and enable the sharing of information among agencies with state and local governments, where appropriate. He believed it was wrong for disaster victims to be revictimized by FEMA inefficiencies.
Study Group: “Focused on Outcomes: Overcoming Political Polarization – From Disasters to the AI Revolution”
The study group will discuss the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, energy/climate policy, national debt and evolving changes related to artificial intelligence and how political parties and polarization affect outcomes. A focus will be on identifying common denominators among diverse ideological views. Participants will have the opportunity to engage speakers, including governors, Members of Congress, current and former federal executive branch officials, and others, to discuss how leaders have learned from their experiences. Through past events, the study group will compare and contrast effective approaches to governing and those that did not have the intended outcomes.
Tuesdays, 12PM – 2 PM
February 5 (Thursday)
February 10
February 17
February 24
March 3
March 11 (Wednesday)