Libertarian Policy Institute
Staff Members

Our staff members work to advance the initiatives of the organization through our daily operations.

Nicholas Sarwark

Executive Director

Nicholas Sarwark is Executive Director of the Libertarian Policy Institute. He served as Chair of the Libertarian National Committee from 2014 to 2020, a period of unprecedented growth. Over the last two decades, he has worked as a systems developer for a major non-profit, tried over 30 cases to a jury as a deputy public defender in Colorado, and managed the oldest independent car dealership and loan company in Phoenix. He founded Wedge Squared Strategies in 2019, a strategy, communications, and campaign consulting firm that helps individuals and organizations maximize their impact on the world. Licensed to practice law in Colorado and New Hampshire, he lives in Manchester, New Hampshire with his wife Valerie and their four children where they volunteer to build a better local community.

Richard Manzo

Operations Director

Richard Manzo is Operations Director of the Libertarian Policy Institute. He served the Jo Jorgensen for President campaign as Regional Director for the six New England states. He was Vice Chair, Communications Director, and eventually Interim Chair to the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire from 2019 to 2021, receiving five awards for exemplary service. A municipal elected official since 2018, Richard lives in Goffstown, New Hampshire where he moved in his childhood.

Libertarian Policy Institute
Board of Directors

Our board of directors help shape and provide direction for the Libertarian Policy Institute. Each member brings a wealth of experience in advancing individual freedom and improving our world through private and political action.

Ricky Dale Harrington, Jr.

Board President

Ricky Dale Harrington, Jr. is the President of the Libertarian Policy Institute’s Board of Directors. In 2020, he set the Libertarian Party’s vote result by percentage in his campaign for United States Senate, receiving 33.3% of the vote. He was a missionary, first in Scotland then in China, before he accepted a position as a non-denominational prison chaplain with the Arkansas Department of Corrections. There, he also served as Treatment Coordinator, where he oversaw programs designed to increase long-term success in reintegration for those who had served their sentence. Ricky lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas with his wife Chujie and their three children.

R.J. Lyman

Board Member

R.J. Lyman is a member of the Libertarian Policy Institute’s Board of Directors. He was Chair of the William Weld presidential campaign in 2020. Prior, he served Massachusetts as Assistant Environmental Secretary and as Director of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office. R.J. is a Boston, Massachusetts-based attorney and investor active in fields including renewable energy development.

John Buttrick

Board Member

John Buttrick is a member of the Libertarian Policy Institute’s Board of Directors. He was Chair of the Libertarian Party of Arizona from 2017 to 2018. He also served on the Libertarian National Committee and as a member of the Libertarian Party’s judicial committee. An attorney, he served the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County as Judge and as a United States Magistrate Judge in the District Court for the District of Arizona.

Mitch Scoggins

Board Member

Mitch Scoggins is a member of the Libertarian Policy Institute’s Board of Directors. He is a public and population health professional who has worked domestically in State and Federal government, and internationally on relief and development projects in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. He holds a Master’s degree in International Public Health Policy from the George Washington University, and lives in Wisconsin where he manages a healthcare consulting business.