2025 Stanfield Conversation featured speakers
Asha Rangappa

Asha Rangappa is an Assistant Dean and Senior Lecturer at the Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and a former Associate Dean at Yale Law School. Prior to her current position, Asha served as a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence investigations. At Yale, she teaches courses on national security law, Russian information warfare, and leadership and ethics. She the author of The Freedom Academy, a bestselling online Substack publication about disinformation and its impact on democracy, and also co-hosts the legal podcast, It’s Complicated, with Renato Mariotti.
Asha graduated cum laude from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study constitutional reform and U.S. drug policy in Bogotá, Colombia. She received her law degree from Yale Law School where she was a Coker Fellow in constitutional law, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Juan R. Torruella on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Asha is a former legal and national security analyst for CNN and ABC News, and has also appeared frequently on MSNBC and BBC. She is an editor for Just Security, a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, and a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project.
The second guest speaker's name will be announced soon. The speaker who was originally announced as the second panelist for the 2025 Stanfield Conversation had to withdraw from the panel due to a personal matter.
Mary Lynk

Mary Lynk is an internationally award-winning journalist - with a keen interest in human rights coverage. Her awards include: Several New York Festivals Gold awards, including: Habtom’s Path (plus United Nations Media Award), The Unconventional Diplomat: Profile of Zeid Ra'ad Al Houssien, former UN Head for Human Rights and From The Heart: The Life and Times of Janet Conners (film). The Road to Damascus: On the frontlines of the Syria War (Gabriel Award with Nelofer Pazira); Canada’s Slavery Secret: The Whitewashing of 200 Years of Enslavement (RTNDA with Kyle Brown), and I will Never See the World Again: Ahmet Altan and The Kill List Podcast Series (Amnesty International Awards for Excellence in Human Rights Reporting). She’s currently a producer for CBC’s IDEAS and based in Halifax. Ms. Lynk has a B.A. in Political Science from ÍøºìºÚÁÏ. And a certificate from The Sorbonne in Civilisation Francaise.