Secret Weapon Award
Talent Market’s Secret Weapon Award celebrates a free-market nonprofit staff member who adds tremendous value to his/her organization and the liberty movement from behind the scenes. The Secret Weapon could be an accounting ace, IT whiz, operations guru, or other talent who makes significant contributions but doesn’t get the spotlight.
Talent Market’s Program of the Year Award celebrates a program that develops free-market talent. The program will have a solid curriculum, evidence of short and long-term impact, and impressive alumni who aremaking a difference in the liberty movement. Nominees can include any sort of free-market talent development program (internships, fellowships, clerkships, professional development programs, etc.) at any level (junior, mid, or senior).
2023 Winners
Secret Weapon: Ryan Lynch
Our inaugural Secret Weapon award winner is Ryan Lynch, the Senior Director of IT with Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Ryan has been with CEI for nearly 15 years. When the rest of the CEI staff is sleeping, Ryan is updating its network and servers. When everyone else is going home for the day, Ryan is applying updates to programs & tools that CEI can’t function without.
He is a one-man IT band fielding calls all day for help and he gladly does it with a smile and often a sarcastic joke. According to his supervisor, “CEI would be unable to function without Ryan’s behind the scenes work.”
When Ryan isn’t working, he’s spending time with his brilliant wife, Michelle Minton, and the world’s cutest dog, Coconut.
Program of the Year: Moving Picture Institute’s Hollywood Career Launch Program
The Hollywood Career Launch Program helps talented young filmmakers get a foot in the door in the entertainment industry. Since 2006, MPI has awarded over 200 paid internships to college students and recent graduates.
Interns are placed on the sets of MPI Original productions or at partner production companies and are provided with a stipend, mentorship, and training. MPI only recruits interns who are defenders of freedom with a demonstrated interest in pursuing a career in film. The program provides a huge return for those who wish to see Hollywood seeded with talent committed to freedom.
More than half of the program’s alumni are now working full-time in the film industry. The program is run by Hannah Earl, Director of Talent and Creative Development for Moving Picture Institute.
2024 Winners
Secret Weapon Award: Paula Puccio
Our 2024 Secret Weapon award winner is Paula Puccio, a Paralegal with Pacific Legal Foundation.
Paula has been with PLF for 17 years and is an indispensable member of the team. Many of PLF’s Supreme Court winning briefs were handled by Paula, including last term’s Tyler v. Hennepin County win.
According to Mark Miller, who nominated Paula, “PLF is the preeminent non-profit law firm fighting for individual liberty in the country, but we are only as good as our people. Paula is one of our best & most certainly a PLF Secret Weapon.”
When Paula isn’t working, she can be found hiking in the countryside, kayaking the waterways of South Florida, or hanging out with her husband of 25 years and her son.
Program of the Year Award: John Locke Foundation’s E.A. Morris Fellowship
Our 2024 Program of the Year award winner is John Locke Foundation’s E.A. Morris Fellowship.
Morris Fellows explore how individuals in a free society form groups, teams, and enterprises to achieve common ends, and how thoughtful, committed, ethical leaders can help their organizations thrive and prosper.
Founded in 2006, the program has more than 250 alumni, including Kent Lassman, the president and CEO of Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Donald Bryson, Chief Executive Officer of the John Locke Foundation.
The program is run by Anna Martina, the Event and Program Coordinator at the Foundation.
