Meet the leadership team

James Bopp, Jr. is an attorney with The Bopp Law Firm, www.bopplaw.com, in Terre Haute, IN. His law practice concentrates on not-for-profit corporate and tax law, on campaign finance and election law, on the biomedical issues of abortion, foregoing and withdrawing life- sustaining medical treatment and assisted suicide, on federal and state trial and appellate litigation, and on United States Supreme Court practice. He represents numerous not-for-profit organizations, political action committees, candidates, and political parties.

Bopp’s successful campaign finance and election law litigation practice includes over 140 campaign finance cases against federal laws and the laws in over 35 states. His extensive Supreme Court practice includes successfully arguing the landmark United State Supreme Court cases of Republican Party of Minnesota v. White, 536 U.S. 765 (2002), which struck down restrictions on the speech of candidates for elected judicial office on First Amendment grounds; Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission, 126 S. Ct, 1016 (2006), which held that McCain-Feingold’s “electioneering communication” corporate prohibition could be subject to as-applied challenges for genuine issue ads; Randall v. Sorrell, 126 S. Ct. 2479 (2006), which struck down Vermont’s mandatory candidate expenditure limits and candidate contribution limits; and Federal Election Comm’n v. Wisconsin Right to Life, 127 S. Ct. 2652 (2007), which held that McCain-Feingold’s “electioneering communication” prohibition is unconstitutional as applied to grass roots lobbying ads. He was lead counsel for Citizens United in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U. S. 310 (2010), which struck down McCain-Feingold’s electioneering communication provision.

Because of his expertise in campaign finance and election law, he has testified numerous times on campaign finance reform before the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, before the United State House Committee on House Administration and before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the United States House Judiciary Committee. He has published several leading law review articles on campaign finance law.

Jim currently serves as General Counsel and Treasurer of Republican Overseas, General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and is the former Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Free Speech and Election Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society.

Bopp is also a former Commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan appointed Jim to the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation and, in 1987, the United States Congress appointed him to the Biomedical Ethics Advisory Committee which advises Congress on the ethical issues arising from the delivery of health care and biomedical and behavioral research. He was a former appointee by the Secretary of State to the United States National Commission for UNESCO.

Bopp’s extensive national political experience and involvement includes serving Special Counsel to the Republican National Committee, as Indiana National Committeeman on the Republican National Committee, 2006-12, and as Vice Chairman of the RNC, 2008-12. He was also Chairman of the RNC Conservative Steering Committee, 2008 – 2011, Chairman, Committee on Presidential Debates, 2011 – 2012, and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Restoring Constitutional Government of the 2012 Republican National Convention Committee on the Platform.

Michael George DeSombre was one of the co-founders of Republicans Overseas and serves in a volunteer position as Worldwide President as well as serving on the Board of Governors.  Mr. DeSombre has been Chairman of Republicans Overseas Hong Kong since December 2012.

Mr. DeSombre is a partner of Sullivan & Cromwell, a global law firm headquartered in New York, and has been resident in Hong Kong since 1997.  Mr. DeSombre has also served as Chairman of Save the Children Hong Kong since 2015 and on the managing committee of the Valley Fort Rugby Football Club (Hong Kong) since 2013.

Mr. DeSombre has a J.D. from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) and a M.A. (East Asian Studies) and a B.A. (Quantitative Economics) from Stanford University. Mr. DeSombre is fluent in Mandarin, and is admitted to practice law in New York and Hong Kong. Mr. DeSombre is recognized as one of the preeminent M&A and private equity lawyers in the world by major legal publications and is a frequent speaker on the art of negotiation and acquisitions of public companies.

Robert M. “Mike” Duncan was the chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2007- 2009. He was the chairman of the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority from May 2009 through May 2010 when he stepped down to become the founding chairman of American Crossroads, a 527 Super PAC organization.

Mr. Duncan was born in Oneida, Tennessee. He is active in numerous professional and non-profit organizations. He served as chairman of a state university and serves as chairman of the board of trustees at Alice Lloyd College. He has served as chairman for the Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Kentucky. President George W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows in 2001. Mr. Duncan is a former trustee of the Christian Appalachian Project, the fifteenth largest private social services agency in America. Mr. Duncan is also a former chairman and director of the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program. His student-mentoring program, which began in 1979, was featured on CBS News Sunday Morning and in the Los Angeles Times.

Professionally, Mr. Duncan was president of the Kentucky Bankers Association and a director of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank Cincinnati Branch. From 1989 to 1991, during a sabbatical, he worked in the Bush White House as Assistant Director of Public Liaison. President George W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Commission on White House Fellows in 2001 and nominated him to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board, a position to which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, in March 2006. His public service has been recognized with several distinctions including honorary degrees from Cumberland College, Morehead State University, and the College of the Ozarks.

Mr. Duncan has been equally active in his home state of Kentucky, where he helped in the successful campaign to win back Kentucky’s state senate for the first time in 36 years. In 1998, he took a leave of absence from his business and chaired Jim Bunning’s successful U.S. Senate race.

He served as general counsel of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from July 10, 2002, until his election as chairman. He was elected treasurer of the RNC in January 2001. Duncan, in his fifth term as national committeeman from Kentucky, has served the party at every level from precinct captain, county chairman, state chairman, to national officer. He was a delegate to the 1972, 1976, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Republican National Conventions and is one of the few persons ever to serve on the four standing convention committees.

Duncan and his wife, Joanne, have one child, Rob, an assistant United States attorney in Kentucky, who is married to Valerie Ridder. The Duncans are the principal owners of two community banks in eastern Kentucky.

Stephen Yates is an accomplished chief executive and global strategist with more than 25 years of experience in politics, policy, media, and government. Mr. Yates possesses an extensive background in national security affairs, presidential campaigns, and global relations. Since 2006, he has been a senior advisor to presidential campaigns, a frequent media commentator, and the CEO of DC International Advisory. DC International Advisory is an analytical and advisory practice that assesses political risk and opportunity in key capitals and regions worldwide.

From 2001 through 2005, Mr. Yates served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. During his tenure in government, he was deeply involved in the development and execution of U.S foreign policy priorities.

Re-elected in June 2016, Mr. Yates has served as chairman of the Idaho Republican Party since August 2014, continuing his long commitment to politics, policy, and the party. He is an active member of the Republican National Committee and served as co-chair of the 2016 Republican Platform Subcommittee on National Security.

Mr. Yates previously served as Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation and as an analyst at the National Security Agency. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he received a Master’s degree in China Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

Cindy Costa was elected as the Republican National Committeewoman from South Carolina in May of 1996. She attended the past six Republican National Conventions and served on the RNC Site Selection Committee for the 2012 Republican National Convention that was held in Tampa. Cindy has been a Presidential Elector for the State of SC for three presidential elections. She served as Vice Chair of the RNC Committee on Rules. She traveled to Taiwan as a Taiwanese delegation member of the RNC in 2004. In September 2014, she led a ten-member RNC delegation to Taiwan. She again traveled to Taiwan as part of Chairman Reince Priebus’ delegation in 2015. She also visited Israel as a good will ambassador from South Carolina with Earl Cox in 2011. In February 2015, she travelled to Israel with a group of 100 members of the RNC. She currently serves in her 4th term on the RNC Executive Committee from the Southern Region. She was recently elected as RNC Vice Chairman for the Southern Region. In 2002, she was appointed by President George W. Bush as a Special Advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

Mrs. Costa is currently the business manager at the Southeastern Facial Plastic/Cosmetic Surgery Center, the Founder and Chairman of the South Carolina Winning Women Excellence in Public Service Series, and a life member of the Republican Speaker’s Circle. In 2012, Cindy was awarded The Republican Woman of the Year for South Carolina by the South Carolina Republican Women’s Legislative Caucus. Mrs. Costa was appointed by two Gubernatorial Administrations to serve on the Commission on Women for SC. She is an active member of James Island Christian Church, the Palmetto Elephant Club, the Greater Lowcountry Republican Club, and the Charleston County Medical Society Auxiliary.

Previously, Mrs. Costa was the Third Vice Chairman and later the Secretary of the Charleston County Republican Party, the First Vice Chairman of the South Carolina State Republican Party, Executive Committeeman for the SCGOP representing Charleston County, and was recognized as the South Carolina Republican of the Year in 2000 by the NRCC. Mrs. Costa was also Mrs. South Carolina, U.S.A. in 1996. She currently resides on James Island, SC with her husband Dr. Louis E. Costa, II. They will be married for 43 years this coming June. Her greatest achievement by far is having four accomplished children and eleven beautiful grandchildren. Mrs. Costa says, “It truly has been a wonderful life”.

Ellen Barrosse founded Synchrogenix, a global pharmaceutical services business in 1986, and acted as its CEO from its founding until its sale in 2014. Synchrogenix compiled raw data from clinical trials and created the submissions to world regulatory agencies (e.g., FDA, ASEAN, EMEA) in the drug development process. Under her leadership, Synchrogenix grew to be the largest company in its niche in the world, with offices in six states and in England, Sweden, and the Philippines.

Prior to limiting its practice to drug development, Synchrogenix had an active public relations division that provided services to corporate and nonprofit clients.

Ellen is the National Committeewoman for Delaware on the RNC. She is also the Chairman of the Conservative Steering Committee, the largest caucus of the RNC. She serves as Secretary of the Board of the American Principles Project, and she is on the boards of the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton, the Elm Institute at Yale, and Collegium at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to serving on the boards of the Delaware Art Museum and the Wilmington Institute Library, she is a Dame of the Military Order of the Knights of Malta.

Ellen has been married to Paul Antle for 38 years. They have three daughters, Laura, Mary, and Sarah.