Staff Bios

Host and Moderator The moderator of Intelligence Squared U.S. debates since 2008, John Donvan is an author and correspondent for ABC News. He has served as ABC’s White House Correspondent, along with postings in Moscow, London, Jerusalem, and Amman. John is the coauthor of In a Different Key: The Story of Autism (Crown, 2016). In addition to premiering his first one-man show, “Lose the Kid,” in 2013 in Washington, D.C., John is a four-time Emmy Award winner and was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2010.

Chief Executive Officer As the CEO of Intelligence Squared U.S., Clea Conner is on a mission to restore civility, respect, and intelligence to the public square. Clea has produced more than 150 award-winning public policy programs spanning technology, culture, economics, law, and global affairs, convening the world’s most influential voices on the most provocative questions of our time. Named one of Crain’s New York “40 Under 40,” Clea developed “Up For Debate” and “That’s Debatable” as television programs on Bloomberg, PBS, and Newsy, and produced the first debate between artificial intelligence and a human debater in partnership with IBM’s historic Project Debater. She holds more than two dozen awards for excellence in public affairs programming in radio, television, and podcasting.

Chief Content Officer Lia Matthow’s tenure at Intelligence Squared U.S. spans many years and has included multiple editorial leadership and strategic development roles. As Chief Content Officer, Lia currently leads content expansion and strategy across debate topics, guest curation, radio and television broadcasts, podcasts, digital platforms, and partnership integrations. Prior to Intelligence Squared, Lia worked in television news in senior management positions at CNN, Court TV and MSNBC. Lia is also the President and Founder of Beacon Strategies Inc, where she has curated live events for numerous nonprofit and private entities and global media companies including Newsweek, Scientific American, Macmillan Learning and Bloomberg L.P. Lia provides bespoke media training programs for bestselling authors, C-Level executives and corporate leadership teams. Prior to launching Beacon Strategies, she served as the founding Director of Grants and Special Projects at a private foundation endowed at one billion dollars, where she managed strategic funding initiatives and a wide range of editorial events and summits. Ms. Matthow holds a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and graduated magna cum laude from American University.

Managing Editor David is an author, executive, and journalist, having held leadership positions at CNN, National Geographic, National Public Radio, and GZERO Media, a Eurasia Group company. Based in Havana, Cuba in 2009 and 2010 for CNN, he later authored “This is Cuba: An American Journalist Under Castro’s Shadow,” a St. Martin’s Press publication. In addition, he is a former board member of the Overseas Press Club, having worked as a journalist in more than 40 countries, and holds a Master’s of Public Policy degree from George Mason University. David is also a professor and documentarian at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A New York native, with a penchant for spy novels, salsa (the dance, not the sauce), and novice guitar, he currently resides in Phoenix with his family.

Editorial Producer Julia began working in radio with NPR’s Ask Me Another back in 2015 and after three years, became a freelance audio producer. Julia has worked for clients including Spotify, Audible, Ogilvy, IBM, and Mass Appeal Records, and for shows including Start With This (Night Vale Presents) and Playing On Air. Julia is also a senior ensemble member of the award-winning experimental theater company, The New York Neo-Futurists. Julia has B.A.s in Theater and Art History from Oberlin College.

Editorial Producer Marlette has worked in the Editorial Department at Intelligence Squared U.S. since 2020, providing research and production support to every debate produced in that time. Prior to this, she worked at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory researching cognitive psychology and counterfactual reasoning. She also served as a member of Minerva University’s accreditation team, which was successful in gaining independent accreditation. Marlette holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Science from Minerva University (formerly Minerva Schools at KGI), with a focus on psychology, neuroscience, and sociology.

Social Media + Digital Platforms Coordinator Gabrielle worked on multiple Webby-Award-winning HBO properties in social media branding and broadcast media production before serving as Social Media Director for a New York State Senator, where she managed communications for large-scale public affairs campaigns. Prior to the New York State Senate, she worked at the Emma Bowen Foundation in communications. Gabrielle holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mass Communications from Pace University, with a focus on engaging domestic audiences, optimizing campaigns for global audiences, and making complex content accessible.

Director of Project Management and Production Andrew is an experienced Production Manager and Executive having held positions for traditional broadcasters such as MTV, VH1, and Fuse as well as for digital media for Viacom New Media, Cablevision and Scholastic. He has also managed media production, operations, and distribution for Synaptic Digital/Definition6 servicing the PR industry. Immediately prior to joining Intelligence Squared, he was VP of Production for The Lighting Design Group where he was fortunate enough to work with Intelligence Squared on debates. This inspired him to want to contribute to its mission to produce robust, respectful conversations about difficult topics.