RDFRS Staff

Richard Dawkins Foundation: Trustees

Richard Dawkins, DPhil

Richard Dawkins is the former Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, a position he held from 1995-2008. The Wall Street Journal said his “passion is supported by an awe-inspiring literary craftsmanship.” The New York Times Book Review has hailed him as a writer who “understands the issues so clearly that he forces his reader to understand them too.” Among his books are The Ancestor’s Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil’s Chaplain and The God Delusion.

J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD – Trustee, CFO

J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., M.D. (Andy) is psychiatrist in private practice in Charlottesville, Virgina. He is also a staff psychiatrist at Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Virginia Student Health Center, staff psychiatrist at University of Virginia’s Institute for Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, and forensic psychiatrist for Region Ten Community Services. He received his B.A. from Duke University (1970), his M.D. from the University of Virginia (1974) and did his adult psychiatry training at U.Va. (1974-77). His private practice is oriented toward individual psychotherapy, forensic psychiatry, and medication consultation. Before it closed he was the Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction at the University of Virginia which involved interdisciplinary intervention and research in large group ethnic and political conflict. He was part of projects in Estonia, Latvia, the Republic of Georgia, and Kuwait. He has publications on narcissistic personality disorder, PTSD, the psychology of racism, psychobiographical essays on Robert E. Lee and Lee Harvey Oswald, the psychology of suicide terrorism, forensic psychiatry, depression, and the cognitive basis of religious belief. His current research interests are in the area of evolutionary psychology.

Claire Enders, MBA – Trustee

Claire Enders was born in 1958 in the US and educated at L’Institut de l’Assomption in Paris, at Yale University (BA History) and at London Business School (MBA). She worked in senior corporate development and strategy roles in all sectors of the UK entertainment industry (including cable, television, satellite television and music) before founding Enders Analysis in 1997. Enders Analysis is one of the leading independent research companies in the UK and focuses on analysing significant issues in fixed and mobile telecoms and media, not only in the UK, France and Germany, but also in Japan and the US. Major companies in its sectors subscribe to its research, as do many of the world’s leading fund managers and hedge funds.

Todd Stiefel – Trustee

Todd Stiefel lives in Raleigh, NC with his wife, Diana, and their two young children. He graduated cum laude from Duke University. He worked 12 years for Stiefel Laboratories, holding positions in marketing, sales operations and strategy. He was the Chief Strategy Officer, the Enterprise Leadership Team chairman and member of the executive committee of the Board. He was responsible for 250 people including the finance, strategy, risk, facilities, administration and program management functions. He co-led the teams that sold equity to Blackstone and Stiefel Laboratories to GlaxoSmithKline. Todd is a secular humanist, an atheist and full-time freethought activist. He is the Founder and President of the Stiefel Freethought Foundation. His mission is to gain respect for freethinkers and ensure the complete separation of church and state. Todd envisions a world where government favors liberty over dogma and freethinkers are overt, united and influential. He serves on the development committee of Secular Coalition for America and American Atheists and advisory board of Secular Coalition for America, Secular Student Alliance and Atheist Nexus. He also serves on the National Advisory Council (NAC) of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Greg R. Langer – Trustee

Greg R. Langer is an affordable housing attorney (and real estate developer) in Los Angeles, CA. He has spent decades interacting with the faith-based community. Greg is a graduate of Georgetown University’s undergraduate program at the McDonough School of Business, magna cum laude, and it’s Law Center, cum laude. Greg’s lifelong fascination with the development of early Christianity accelerated as an undergraduate and has only intensified over time. He views secularism as a core component for achieving enlightened societal change and widespread acceptance of “the Other.” Greg is the founding chairperson of Chrysalis, a non-profit serving the homeless in Los Angeles for over 25 years. Offering a “hand up” rather than a “hand out,”it has helped over 35,000 men and women out of poverty and homelessness.