ACP Speakers 2017

Pope Francis recently appointed Archbishop Peter Wells as the Holy See’s new Apostolic Nuncio in South Africa and Botswana. 

Archbishop Wells was born in Tulsa. He completed his studies in philosophy at Saint Meinrad Seminary College in Indiana. He completed his studies in theology as a student at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He was ordained a priest on July 12, 1991, for the Diocese of Tulsa. He is believed to be the first Oklahoman to be named an archbishop.

In 1990, he obtained a baccalaureate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, later gaining a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Rome, in 1992.

He received a licentiate and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1998 and 1999. At the same time he was a student at the elite Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

After his ordination, he held the following positions: curate at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa, special secretary to the Bishop of Tulsa and vicar for religious education in the diocese.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on July 1, 1999, worked in the apostolic nunciature in Nigeria and, since 2002, at the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. He was named Assessor at the Secretariat of State in 2009.

He has now moved to South Africa and lives in Pretoria. His parents are parishioners at Saint Mary’s in Guthrie and besides his native English, he speaks Italian, French, German and Spanish.

Brian Byrnes joined the Thunder organization in April 2005, and developed and executed the strategic sales and marketing efforts to launch business operations in Oklahoma City in 2008. Byrnes' current responsibilities include oversight of ticket sales, retention and operations; luxury suite sales and hospitality; marketing and communications strategies such as brand management, advertising, promotions, graphic design, digital media, e-commerce and event presentation.

Capitalizing on the unique platform of being Oklahoma's first permanent major-league sports team, Byrnes continues to foster programming that extends the reach of the Thunder brand to fans throughout the region. Initiatives such as Thunder Alley and the Kia Rewards Zone make the game-day experience accessible to all Thunder fans visiting Chesapeake Energy Arena. Year-round, the Blue Alliance connects local fans in towns across Oklahoma, while the OG&E ThunderBolt brings an interactive Thunder experience to regional fairs and neighborhood celebrations.

Previously, Byrnes served as executive vice president of business operations for the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, guiding the organization through a rebranding that included a new corporate identity, logos and team uniforms. Prior to joining the Coyotes, Byrnes built nearly 10 years of experience with the NHL's Dallas Stars and MLB's Texas Rangers.
 
Byrnes is actively involved in the Thunder Cares Foundation, Allied Arts, Leadership Oklahoma City, the National Sports Forum and the Greater Oklahoma City Sports Consortium. A graduate of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Byrnes and his wife Ashley reside with their three children in Edmond.

Having served more than 30 years at the University of Oklahoma, Allen Hertzke is David Ross Boyd Professor of Political Science; Faculty Fellow in Religious Freedom for the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage; and Presidential Teaching Fellow in the Honors College. He also served as founding director of OU’s Religious Studies Program. An internationally recognized expert on religion and politics, he is Associate Schol ar of Georgetown University’s Religious Freedom Project and Distinguished Senior Fellow for the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. He is author of Freeing God’s Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights; Representing God in Washington, which has been issued in a Chinese language translation; and co-author of Religion and Politics in America, a comprehensive text now in its fifth edition. He is editor of The Future of Religious Freedom: Global Challenges (Oxford University Press, 2012), and Religious Freedom in America: Constitutional Roots and Contemporary Challenges (University of Oklahoma Press, 2015).

Most recently, he co-edited a two volume project, Christianity and Freedom: Volume 1 Historical Perspectives and Christianity and Freedom: Volume 2 Contemporary Perspectives, just issued by Cambridge University Press. As Visiting Senior Fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington DC, he directed the study, “Lobbying for the Faithful: Religious Advocacy Groups in Washington DC.” Between 2008 and 2010 he served as lead consultant for the John Templeton Foundation to develop strategic recommendations for advancing religious freedom around the globe. A winner of numerous teaching awards, Dr. Hertzke has lectured at the National Press Club, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, Harvard University, Princeton University, Georgetown University, Notre Dame University, the University of California-Berkeley, and before numerous audiences in China. He serves on the editorial boards of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion and The Review of Faith & International Affairs, for which he served as Guest Editor for a special edition (Fall 2012) on strategies of advocacy for global religious freedom. In 2012 he was selected by Pope Benedict XVI to the prestigious Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Ambassador Francis Rooney is the Chairman of Rooney Holdings, Inc., a diversified international investment company based in Naples, Florida, with interests in real estate development, banking, electronics, energy and, through its subsidiary, Manhattan Construction Group, the building, civil, pipeline and specialty construction segments.
Ambassador Rooney served on the Boards of Directors of Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (NYSE: HP) and Laredo Petroleum, Inc. (NYSE: LPI) Tulsa, Oklahoma, VETRA Energy Group, Bogota, Colombia, and Mercantil Commercebank, Coral Gables, Florida, resigning in September 2016.
 Also in September 2016, he resigned from the Board of Advisors of the Panama Canal Authority, Republic of Panama, on which he was member prior to resigning in 2005 to enter government service; the Board of the Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation, and the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma College of International Studies. 

He was a Trustee of The Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, was a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, and the Board of Directors of The Trust for the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
From 2005 through 2008, he served as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See, appointed by President George W. Bush.

From 1991 to 1999 Ambassador Rooney was a Director of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and served as the International President of the organization from 1997-1998.  He served as 2 ^nd Vice Chair for the Board of the Naples Community Hospital, Naples, Florida.

He was a member of the Board of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy at the University of Note Dame and was granted honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame in 2006 and the University of Dallas in 2010.

Ambassador Rooney is a graduate of Georgetown University (A.B. 1975) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. 1978).  He is a former member of the District of Columbia and Texas Bars, holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100 Ton Masters License (Sailing Endorsement), and is a lifetime member of the NRA.  He and his wife Kathleen live in Naples, Florida, and have three children, Larry, married to Porscha, Michael and Kathleen, one grandson, Beckett, and one granddaughter, Bergen.