Meet Our Team

Dr. Ross Gruetzemacher is the Executive Director of TFI as well as an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics at Wichita State University, a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, a Senior Game Master for Intelligence Rising, and Co-Founder of Resilient Estate Strategies. He has done extensive work on the use of forecasting and foresight for anticipating AI progress, AI’s societal impact, and catastrophic risks.

Dr. Christy Manning is TFI’s Operations Coordinator and a member of the Board. She is also a PhD student in industrial engineering at Wichita State University, where she teaches machine learning and generative AI. Prior to beginning her second undergraduate degree in engineering, she spent six years working in the nonprofits sphere.

Dr. Gary Ackerman is the Associate Professor and Associate Dean College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity. He is also a Senior Investigator at the Center for Advanced Red Teaming and has served as a Senior Advisor to the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute since 2018.

Pierre Harter is the Associate Vice President for Research and Industry Engagement at WSU. Prior to joining WSU, Pierre was Executive Director of Advanced Manufacturing Strategy for Spirit AeroSystems with previous executive roles in program management and R&D.

Kyle Kilian is a senior technical analyst at RAND, where his research focuses on AI security, cybersecurity, AI risk management, and national security challenges. His recent work analyzes AI security governance and control models, AI-enabled vulnerability discovery, systemic AI risk, and defense and intelligence issues. Prior to RAND he spent 15 years working for the DoD.

Dr. David Manheim is a policy researcher and visiting lecturer at the Technion, as well as founder and director of research and policy for ALTER Israel, which does policy advocacy and research focusing on risks from technology and long term resilience.

Dr. Daniel Eth’s research has spanned several areas relevant to longtermism, and he’s currently focused primarily on AI governance. He was previously a Senior Research Scholar at the Future of Humanity Institute, and he holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from UCLA. He is currently self-employed.