Our Team
Michael A. Nutter, Director
Michael A. Nutter is a lifetime Philadelphian, with an accomplished career of public service, business and financial administration. Michael has served as a City Councilman for nearly 15 years representing Philadelphia's Fourth District-one of the city's largest-encompassing the communities of Wynnefield, Overbrook, Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls, Mt. Airy, and parts of North and West Philadelphia. He has also served as Democratic Ward Leader of the 52nd Ward since 1990.
During his time in Council, Michael worked to lower taxes for Philadelphians. He engineered groundbreaking ethics reform legislation, and led efforts to pass a citywide smoking ban, among countless economic and legislative measures to improve the quality of life for people and businesses in the 4th District and citywide.
In July of 2006, he resigned his City Council seat, to run in Philadelphia's mayoral election. He is thankful to the residents of the Fourth District for their trust, confidence, and unyielding support.
Since 2003, Michael has served as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority Board. There he crafted a groundbreaking labor-management agreement, and leads the Center's current $700 million expansion project.
Michael serves on the Board of City Trusts, managing the City's charitable assets, supporting institutions such as Girard College and Wills Eye Hospital, as well as administering public school scholarship funds. Before pursuing his career in public service, Michael worked as an investment manager at one of the nation's leading minority-owned investment banking and brokerage firms. While in the private sector, he attended numerous City Council meetings. This exposure, coupled with Michael's passion for Philadelphia led to his change in career, and commitment to public service.
After working for the campaigns of Mayor Ed Rendell and City Council members John Anderson and Angel Ortiz, he was elected as a Committee Person in the 52nd Ward in 1986, 52nd Democratic Ward Leader in 1990 and City Councilman in 1992.
Michael grew up in West Philadelphia, at 55th and Larchwood Avenue, where he lived with his parents, sister and grandmother. Michael is grateful to his family for instilling in him a strong belief in the value of education and community service.
He received an academic scholarship to St. Joseph's Preparatory High School, where he graduated in 1975. He enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Wharton School of Business in 1979.
He resides in Wynnefield with his wife, Lisa, and daughter, Olivia, who attends a Philadelphia Public School. His son, Christian, lives and works in New Jersey. Michael is a member of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia.
Veronica Finkelstein, Director
Veronica is an attorney at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia. She practices in the area of litigation, concentrating in construction and commercial litigation and handles matters for owners, contractors, design-builders, design professionals, sureties, vendors and subcontractors. Veronica has represented clients in a variety of construction law matters in state and federal courts, as well in mediation. She has litigated numerous disputes involving professional negligence in design. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Veronica is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association Young Lawyers Section. She has published articles, including those in the Legal Intelligencer's Young Lawyers Supplement, The Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, and Speaker and Gavel.
Veronica was a high school debater for Fox Chapel High School in Pittsburgh, PA. Currently, she is the Coach of Strawberry Mansion High School's Mock Trial Team. She is a Judge in the Citywide Mock Trial Competition and a Judge for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
Veronica is an honors graduate of the Emory University School of Law and an honors graduate of Pennsylvania State University.
Susan L. Hayes, Director
Susan (Linderman) Hayes is President of LabSim, Inc., a marketing consulting firm specializing in laboratory diagnostics. She was previously Director of Marketing at DuPont Medical Products (acquired by Dade Behring in 1996) and Genesis HealthCare Corp.
She is coach of the Unionville HS forensics team, started in 2002. The team has grown from 1 student to over 40, with several students qualifying for the Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament. She holds a BA/MA from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in Speech Communication where she was the Individual Events team coach as a graduate student and captain of the Debate team as an undergraduate. She was nationally ranked in Extemporaneous Speaking throughout her college career and won the prestigious Mangum Award for outstanding senior orator at UNC. She served as coach and chairperson at Clemson University following graduation from UNC.
Prior to college, she was captain of the Madison High School Forensics team. She qualified to the National Forensics League National Tournament three times, placing 7th in her senior year. She also was the champion of Emory University's prestigious Barkley Forum competition twice. She graduated with the second highest number of points out of 126,000 members of National Forensics League.
She firmly believes in the value of forensics in education and has started debate programs at high schools in New Canaan CT, Kinston, NC, and Richmond, VA. She designed and ran debate workshops for the state of Connecticut and served as an assistant debate coach at Lexington HS, MA. The lack of forensics programs in public schools is of grave concern and one of the primary reasons she continues to coach and start programs in local high schools.
Grant Keener, Director
Grant is the prelaw advisor at Drexel University, a position he has held since the summer of 2005. In addition to his prelaw duties, Grant has been closely involved with developing the admissions program for Drexel's new College of Law. He previously served as Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid at the University of Illinois College of Law, as Director of Admissions at Touro Law Center (Long Island, NY) and as the Assistant Director of Law Admissions at his alma mater, the Ohio Northern University College of Law. While in law school, Grant was active in the student bar association, serving as a class representative, vice president and president. He earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State University.
Grant previously served on the Board of Directors of Prairie Center Health System, a non-profit substance abuse treatment organization headquartered in Urbana, IL. He is the Managing Member of Kissel Hill Pizza, LLC, which operated UnCommon Pizza in Lititz, PA.
Grant resides in Lancaster County and is a member of the Pennsylvania bar.
Alexander McCobin, Co-Founder & Director
Education: B.A in Philosophy and Economics, University of Pennsylvania; M.A. in Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
Biography: Alexander is currently the Koch Associate at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. He is also co-founder and Executive Director of the international Students For Liberty. Previously, he was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow at the Reason Foundation; a law intern for Judge Ida K. Chen in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania; and a Program Facilitator for the People to People program in Washington, D.C. At Penn, Alexander researched for Penn Law Professor Regina Austin and Penn Philosophy Professor James Ross, and was Tournament Director of the Liberty Bell Classic. Alexander is the record holder in Pennsylvania for most number of TOC bids earned; he was a two-time TOC qualifier with bids from Wake Forest, Greenhill, Emory, Harvard, and Monticello (twice). Alexander reached elimination rounds at NFL and CFL Nationals, competed at the Victory Briefs and Chesapeake Bay Round Robins, and finished 3rd at the Pennsylvania State Tournament.
Email: amccobin@perspectivesdebate.org
Lilly Deng, Co-Founder & Director
Education: A.B. Candidate in History, Harvard University
Biography: Lilly Deng has served in a number of roles, including summer positions at OC&C Strategy Consultants in Boston, MA; the Chief Financial Office at Merrill Lynch & Company in New York, NY; and the Philadelphia Development Partnership in Philadelphia, PA. She was a Founding Partner of Smart Woman Securities, and Founder and Chair of the Interdependence Day Essay & Arts Contest. For her volunteer work, she has received the President's Student Service Award, a Congressional Silver Medal, and was featured on the cover of Boston Globe Magazine. Lilly was a four-time national qualifier. She was the Top Speaker at Harvard, Hendrick-Hudson, and Monticello; the Champion of Monticello, Pennsbury, and PCFL; and was invited to the Stanford, Vassar, and Southwest Round Robins. Lilly broke at Yale, NFA, Princeton, Monticello, Manchester, Hendrick-Hudson, Lexington, CFL Nationals, and Harvard.
Email: ldeng@perspectivesdebate.org
Matthew Scarola, Managing Director
Education: B.A in Political Science, Columbia University, magna cum laude
Biography: Matthew was the assistant debate coach at Lexington High School (MA) for four years, where he helped several students qualify to States, Nationals and the TOC. He was also successful in college parliamentary debate; by his second year of competition he was ranked 8th in the country and held a position on the executive board of the American Parliamentary Debate Association. In high school, Matthew was the Champion of the Harvard National Invitational, Lexington Winter Classic, and Big Bronx tournaments. He was also the runner-up at the 2004 CFL National Tournament and had a 15-1 outround record at TOC bid tournaments his senior year.
Email: mscarola@perspectivesdebate.org
Ali Huberlie, Program Director
Education: B.A Candidate in Urban Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Biography: Ali Huberlie is a member of the highly prestigious Civic Scholars program at the University of Pennsylvania, a four-year honors program designed for fifteen of the top Civic leaders in each class. For her Ali's high school volunteer work has been recognized by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, where she was one of 250 leaders selected out of over 100,000 applicants as a Coco-Cola Scholar, and by the state of New Hampshire as a Granite State Scholar. Ali was ranked the #1 ranked debater in the country during the 2005-2006 season. She was a three-time qualifier to the Tournament of Champions and a two-time qualifier to the CFL Grand National Tournament. She was the champion of the Harvard Invitational and was the runner-up at the MBA and Greenhill round robins.
Email: ahuberlie@perspectivesdebate.org
Alex Anderson
Education: B.S Candidate in Economics, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Biography: He is a Tournament Director for the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic Debate Invitational. At Penn, Alex appears weekly as political commentator for the university TV station. In addition to his studies, Alex has completed projects for the Nevada Power Company and The Enterprise Center, where his work helped organize a yearly Business Plan Competition for Philadelphia city students. Alex competed in speech and debate for four years at Green Valley High School outside of Las Vegas, where he was Nevada State Champion in both Domestic Extemporaneous and Public Forum. He was a three-time qualifier to NFL Nationals and advanced to the top thirty teams in Public Forum.
Email: aanderson@perspectivesdebate.org
Alok Choksi
Education: B.A Candidate in Philosophy and Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Biography: Alok has had a number of internships at Vanderbilt University's surgical oncology department and SMS Holdings in Nashville, TN. At Penn, Alok is a member of the competitive dance team. Alok Choksi competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate, Student Congress, and Extemporaneous Speaking events during high school at Battle Ground Academy, TN, where he was a top, nationally-ranked debater in Lincoln-Douglas debate. He was a two-time qualifier to NFL Nationals, where he finished with a Semi-Finalist performance in Student Congress and a Top 30 finish in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Besides debate, he was also the captain of his tennis team and played violin for the Nashville Symphony.
Email: achoksi@perspectivesdebate.org
Noah Rosenstein
Education: B.A Candidate in Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Biography: Noah is a writer for The Soapbox, a student-run sociopolitical magazine, and also a sports writer for the The Daily Pennsylvanian. In high school, Noah was actively involved in Key Club, National Honor Society, and Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society. Noah debated for three years at University School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In Student Congress, he reached elimination rounds at The Glenbrooks Invitational and The Harvard National Congress. He qualified for the Tournament of Champions in 2007 and reached the semi-finals.
Email: nrosenstein@perspectivesdebate.org
Doug Eckhardt
Education: B.S Candidate in Finance, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Biography: Doug is actively involved in civic engagement, first as a Senate Page in Washington, D.C., and second as an intern to Senator Jon Kyl, where he later worked for the Senator's reelection campaign. Doug has also worked at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. Doug debated for four years at Chaparral High School in Arizona, where he served as the student administrative coordinator and competed in Policy, Public Forum, and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. At Penn, Doug qualified to the collegiate national debate tournament as a freshman, and also plays in the University orchestra.
Email: deckhardt@perspectivesdebate.org
Evan Medina
Education: B.A Candidate in Political Science and History, University of Pennsylvania
Biography: Evan is a Fellow for the Obama Campaign in Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale. Previously, Evan debated for four years at Nova High School in Florida, where he was the 2006 Florida State Champion. He was a two-time Finalist NFL Nationals and placed 5th at the Harvard Debate Invitational. Evan has coached at the Florida Forensics Institute for two years.
Email: emedina@perspectivesdebate.org
Tim McKenzie
Education: B.A Candidate in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania where he majors in International Relations and minors in Geology.
Biography: Tim debated for four years in Lincoln-Douglas debate at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose, California, where he was a National Merit Semifinalist and National AP Scholar. As a debater, Tim was a Semi-Finalist at the California State Championships, a Finalist at the James Logan Invitational, and reached outrounds at the NFL National Tournament. At Penn, Tim participates in Model UN and Sirius, an international development journal. Tim is fluent in Spanish and French and is currently studying Russian.