WASHINGTON, DC – The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation announced today that three new members have joined its board of directors. They are Ambassador Roger D. Carstens, former special presidential envoy for hostage affairs; Ashley Daniel Bell, former State Department official and now CEO of Redemption Holding Company; and Ryan P. Fayhee, a partner at Akin with extensive experience representing current and former hostages of transnational criminal organizations and detainees of foreign governments.
The Foley Foundation was established in 2014 to honor the legacy of James Foley, a freelance journalist who was captured, tortured, and ultimately killed by ISIS in Syria in 2014. The mission of the foundation is to advocate for American hostages and wrongful detainees held abroad and promote journalist safety.
“The Foley Foundation is grateful to these new board members for their willingness to serve our mission and apply their wealth of experience and expertise to the foundation’s long-term success,” said Ellen Shearer, chair of the foundation’s board of directors and former university professor of James.
Carstens served as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the U.S. Department of State from 2020 to 2025. He led negotiations with the Taliban, Syria’s Assad regime, Venezuela’s Maduro government, the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Belarus, and foreign terrorist organizations that led to the return of more than 65 American hostages and wrongful detainees across the Trump and Biden administrations. He is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds master’s degrees from the U.S. Naval War College and St. John’s College. Carstens is the recipient of the 2023 Robert A. Levinson Excellence in Government Service Award presented by the Foley Foundation.
Bell is the founder and CEO of Ready Finance, a new financial technology company that is pioneering a path to homeownership that eliminates the need for credit scores. In 2016, he was appointed to serve as Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and later as Associate Director of the Peace Corps. He also previously served as the White House policy advisor for entrepreneurship and innovation and was a regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration. He was named a “Top 40 Young Lawyer” in the country by the American Bar Association and co- founded the 2020 Bi-Partisan Justice Center that was influential in passing the historic First Step Act. He is a graduate of Valdosta State University and received his law degree from Louisiana State University.
Fayhee is a former senior prosecutor and national security official with the U.S. Department of Justice. His Akin practice focuses on government and congressional investigations, crisis management, cross-border compliance, corporate governance, and white-collar criminal defense. He has been named to Global Investigations Review’s elite list of the most respected sanctions lawyers in Washington, D.C. His pro bono practice working with current and former hostages focuses on advocating for families, securing release, and ensuring long term reintegration. He is a graduate of Purdue University and the Georgetown University Law Center.
