Leadership
Andrew Brummett, President
The current President of the Burke-Paine Society is Andrew Brummett. An experienced and entrepreneurial educator and leader, Andrew is launching a new civics-focused micro-school in Philadelphia. Originally from Texas, Andrew served in a cross-partisan lobbying role during the 2015 legislative session as Legislative Fellow for the Institute for Justice. Andrew found in the Burke-Paine Society an opportunity to cultivate cross-partisan friendships and has led the Philadelphia Chapter from a handful of members to over 600 members with two thriving salons. He earned a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. from Texas A&M University, and a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Evanique Lindsey, Secretary and Treasurer
Evanique Lindsey is honored to serve as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Burke-Paine Society. She loves participating in weekly discussions in the Philadelphia area about current topics in the news. In her professional career Evanique specializes in process management and implementation.
What she loves is collaborating with different stakeholders in a company to discover what outcome is beneficial to the company and figuring out the best way to achieve the outcome. She also analyzes and supports the negotiation of complex contracts for clients.
Brian Bagzis, Board Member
Brian Bagzis has a degree in history with a minor in philosophy from Penn State University and has worked for over a decade in the field of construction management. He's kept up his amateur interest in the humanities & social sciences through a lot of reading since graduation, and has given several talks on economics, technology, political science, and foreign policy for the New York City Skeptics.
He started the Philadelphia Political Agnostics meetup in 2015 to provide a local venue for non-partisan discussion of political issues in a rational & civil manner. Since the fall of 2016, he's also run the Philadelphia chapter of Skeptics in the Pub, an international organization designed to promote critical thinking and encourage fellowship among skeptics, rationalists and other like-minded individuals. He joined the Burke Paine Society (BPS) in 2018, and converted the Philadelphia Political Agnostics to a discussion forum aligned with the BPS mission & goals. With the advent of COVID lockdowns in 2020, he took his meetups online and attracted members from across the U.S. as well gaining some international members. He became a member of the BPS board in 2021.
Mark Beall, Board Member
Mark Beall is the Burke-Paine Society's founder and first president. He is a globally recognized digital strategy and policy leader currently working for Amazon Web Services. He also founded Aletheia AI and Aletheia Ventures -- private companies dedicated to closing the policy-technology divide and helping customers respond to the risks and opportunities of advanced AI systems.
Previously, Mark served in the U.S. Federal government in a variety of assignments, including as a founder of DoD’s Joint AI Center and its first strategy and policy directorate chief.
Travis Monteleone, Board Member
Travis Monteleone joined the Burke-Paine Society and the BPS Board in 2022 after he founded the DFW Chapter. Travis' professional background is in energy finance, where he currently works for an energy private equity firm and previously worked at an energy investment bank.
Travis has previously worked in two separate roles for the Texas State Legislature, focusing on property tax reform and K-12 education. Travis earned a B.B.A and M.P.A in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin in 2019.