Staff

Staff Biographies

Elyse Anderson, Staff Director

Elyse Bauer Anderson was appointed by Senator Marco Rubio as Staff Director of the CECC in February 2017. She previously served as Deputy Staff Director from May 2015 - December 2016. Elyse previously served as Foreign Policy Director for former Congressman Frank Wolf from 2008 - 2015. Her portfolio included State Foreign Operations appropriations with a specific policy focus on human rights and religious freedom issues globally. Elyse simultaneously served, for a portion of that time, as Republican Staff Director for the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which Wolf co-chaired. Early in her career Elyse was press secretary for Congressman Bob Goodlatte before becoming communications director for the House Agriculture Committee, which he chaired. Elyse then left the Hill and joined Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom. She later transitioned back into government service accepting a political appointment in the office of Strategic and External Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). For the last two years of the Bush administration she served as a senior advisor and speech-writer for the ambassador-at-large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. She received her bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary.

Paul B. Protic, Deputy Staff Director

Paul B. Protic was re-appointed by Representative Christopher H. Smith as Deputy Staff Director of the CECC in February 2017.  He previously served as Staff Director from August 2011 – December 2012 and from January 2015 – December 2016 and as Deputy Staff Director from February 2013 - December 2014.   He also has served as a Congressional Chief of Staff and as a Special Assistant at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was the first Director of the Apprenticeship Program and an Instructor of Government at Patrick Henry College and also served as Director of the Capitol Hill Ministry of the Christian Embassy, Washington, D.C. He has been involved in numerous Republican Campaigns including serving as Campaign Manager at the Congressional and State levels. Having traveled to China, Taiwan, and Mongolia promoting ethics training, Mr. Protic received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a master's degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Judy Wright, Director of Administration, Budget, and Contracts

Judith F. Wright joined the CECC staff in February 2002, after five years working as an executive assistant on Capitol Hill. From 1997 through 2001, she was responsible for managing and coordinating appointments, staff assignments and travel schedules for Congresswoman Marge Roukema (R-NJ). Her duties also included managing official functions, planning meetings with visiting New Jersey delegations, and overseeing correspondence between Ms. Roukema and other government officials. Prior to that, she oversaw scheduling and staff assignments, and tracked activity on the House floor for Congresswoman Karen McCarthy (D-MO). Ms. Wright also served on the Legislative Resource Center Staff for the House of Representatives Office of the Clerk. While there, she assisted the Director with speech writing, edited and proofread official correspondence, and reviewed campaign financial reports and lobbying reports. She also researched and updated the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the Bibliography of the U.S. Congress, and the Guide to Research Collections. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Mingzhi Chen, Research Associate

Mingzhi Chen joined the CECC staff in February 2014. Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Chen worked as the China Analyst at Ntrepid Corporation. He has strong interests in human rights and rule of law issues in China. Mr. Chen received his B.S. degree in Business Management from Binghamton University, M.A. in Religion from Westminster Theological Seminary and M.S. with distinction in Justice, Law, and Society from the American University. Mr. Chen is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Fukienese.

Steve Andrews, Counsel

Steve Andrews joined the CECC staff in April 2014.  Before joining the Commission, Mr. Andrews spent two years as foreign counsel in the Beijing office of a Chinese law firm.  He has also worked as an environmental and legal consultant.  Mr. Andrews has published a number of articles on intellectual property law and environmental monitoring in China.  He graduated from the UCLA School of Law and also studied at Tsinghua Law School.  Prior to law school, Mr. Andrews was a fellow in the Beijing office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has also worked on refugee projects for the International Rescue Committee in Ethiopia, Sudan and Thailand.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in geosciences from Princeton University.  Mr. Andrews is fluent in Chinese.

Amy Reger, Research Associate

Amy Reger joined the CECC staff in July 2012. She previously worked as a researcher at the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). Ms. Reger has worked in the human rights and journalism fields, with a focus on China, for more than a decade. She is an alumnus of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies, and traveled extensively throughout China and Asia during studies in Nanjing, Beijing and Taiwan. She speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese.

Jen Salen, Senior Research Associate

Jen Salen joined the CECC staff in July 2012. Before joining the Commission, she managed China technical assistance programs in the areas of public interest law, civil society legal advocacy, and women’s rights for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative and in rural women’s political participation and civil society capacity building for the International Republican Institute. Earlier in her career, Ms. Salen was involved in educational initiatives to expand Chinese language education and East Asian studies at U.S. elementary and high schools. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.

Scott Flipse, Director of Policy & Media Relations

Scott Flipse came to the CECC from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom where he was Deputy Director for Policy. He also managed the Commission’s East Asia programs where he developed training capacity for human rights lawyers in China, built early warning defense networks, through social media, to monitor societal violence in Burma, assisted efforts to repeal ‘blasphemy laws’ in Indonesia by creating regional advocacy networks and media campaigns, and drafted two studies on conditions faced by North Korean refugees in China. His previous experience includes associate director and adjunct professor for the University of Notre Dame’s Washington Semester and legislative assistant for Representative Frank Wolf, with a portfolio that focused on education, defense, human rights, and foreign operations appropriations. Flipse holds a Ph.D. in Diplomatic History, from the University of Notre Dame, specializing in U.S. foreign policy in Asia.

Megan Fluker, Research Associate and Manager of Annual Report Production

Megan Fluker joined the CECC staff in January 2016. She was previously Deputy Director of the Laogai Research Foundation, where she researched human rights abuses in China's prisons and detention centers. Ms. Fluker earned a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University and a M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, with concentrations in China Studies and International Economics. She also completed a Master's Certificate at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies. In addition to Nanjing, she has lived in Beijing, Chengdu, and Taiwan. Ms. Fluker is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Andy Wong, Counsel

Andy Wong practiced law before joining the CECC staff in January 2016. His practice areas include political asylum, removal defense, habeas corpus petition, and federal appeal. He has also taught legal translation courses (Chinese-English) at New York University. He received his B.A. degrees in philosophy and art history from University of Hawaii at Manoa and his J.D. degree from State University of New York at Buffalo. He is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Sabrina Tsai, Research Associate

Sabrina Tsai joined the CECC staff in January 2016. Before joining the Commission, she was a research associate at the Project 2049 Institute, where she focused on U.S.-Taiwan relations, the U.S.-Japan alliance, and Chinese foreign policy. Sabrina received a MA from American University in Washington, D.C. and a BA in International Relations and a Business Foundations Certificate from the University of Texas at Austin. She previously conducted independent research on the national identity of Chinese migrants in Belgrade, Serbia. Sabrina lived in Texas for 12 years and is originally from Taiwan.

Sophie Jin, Research Associate

Sophie Jin joined the CECC staff in April 2016. Before joining the Commission, she studied for her J.D. degree at the University of Washington School of Law. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, where she also completed a fiction thesis for the Creative Writing department. She has worked as a writer and translator in Taiwan and Hong Kong. She speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese.