The Summit on Synthetic Drugs

Richard Baum

Former Acting Director, White House ONDCP · Adjunct Professor, Georgetown

Richard Baum spent 28 years at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, serving six administrations before becoming Acting Director, the nation’s “Drug Czar.” He led the President’s Opioid Commission at the height of the crisis and helped author six National Drug Control Strategies. Now a Georgetown professor and the author of Inside America’s Opioid Crisis (2026), he serves on United Against Fentanyl’s Advisory Board.

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution · Director, Nonstate Armed Actors Initiative

Vanda Felbab-Brown is one of the world’s foremost authorities on illicit economies, organized crime, and the global drug trade. At Brookings she directs the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, drawing on field research from Mexico to Afghanistan. When Congress needs to understand how fentanyl actually moves, she is among the few called to testify. She has written five books and holds a Ph.D. from MIT.

Regina LaBelle

Professor, MS ADPP Georgetown SOH · Director, O'Neill Institute

Regina LaBelle has led national drug policy from inside the White House and now trains the next generation who will shape it. She served as Acting Director of ONDCP under President Biden and as Chief of Staff under President Obama. At Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute she founded and directs the nation’s first Master of Science in Addiction Policy and Practice, the first program of its kind in the country.

Harold Noriega

Founder, Coop’s Advice · Bereaved father and prevention advocate

Harold Noriega turned the loss of his son Cooper into a mission to spare other families the same grief. After Cooper’s death from fentanyl, he founded Coop’s Advice in his memory. His advocacy centers on prevention, social media safety, and the youth culture where fentanyl now reaches children, carrying a father’s perspective and moral urgency into a fight otherwise defined by government and research.

Jim Crotty

Former Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. DEA · Law Enforcement Outreach Manager, Meta

Over more than twelve years at the Drug Enforcement Administration, Jim Crotty rose to Deputy Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to the Administrator, the agency’s top staff leadership. He is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Global National Security Institute and a Senior Fellow at C4ADS. He teaches at American University and serves on United Against Fentanyl’s Advisory Board.

Greg Gatjanis

Former Associate Director, U.S. Treasury OFAC · Senior Policy Advisor, Fluet

Greg Gatjanis has spent his career hitting traffickers where it hurts most: their money. For twelve years he helped lead Treasury’s Office of Global Targeting at OFAC, overseeing sanctions across roughly 45 programs and cutting cartels off from the global banking system. He earlier served seven years on the National Security Council and advised the Administrator of the DEA on counternarcotics.