Free Market Road Show

More about Dr. Kristin Stehouwer

In her role as Academic Vice President & Provost for Northwood University, Kristin Stehouwer is responsible for student success, strategy development and deployment, and the university’s quality systems and analytics.

She joined Northwood University in 2009 from Macomb Community College where she served concurrently as Executive Director of Research and Planning and Vice Provost for Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining Macomb Community College, she served as Director of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center and Special Advisor to the President at Northwestern Michigan College. She also worked on special assignment to the U.S. Department of Commerce at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and worked in the area of global manufacturing competitiveness, which included a national speaking tour.

Stehouwer earned her doctorate from Northwestern University in Political Science and International Relations. Her graduate studies include International Law at the University of Strasbourg as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. Her scholarly work has focused on political and economic cooperation. She also earned her bachelor and master’s degrees from Northwestern University. Stehouwer completed postgraduate work at Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management.

Stehouwer has extensive experience in facilitating and deploying strategy in many types of organizations, including in the financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, education and service sectors. She has entrepreneurial experience and business management experience with large and small organizations, including family businesses. Having worked with organizations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa, Stehouwer speaks six languages. She has specialized in the areas of strategic management, performance excellence, process improvement and organization/leadership development.

She serves as peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission. Stehouwer has served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and in 2017, she was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve a three-year term on the Judges Panel for the award.

Community service is important to Stehouwer and she is an active Rotarian. She serves on the board of the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce. Her prior board service includes the Midland Center for the Arts and the Michigan ACE Women’s Leadership Network.

“Freedom, Decentralized: From The Wealth of Nations to Bitcoin,” by Barbara Kolm, Director of the Austrian Economics Center, President of the Hayek Institute, and Professor of Austrian Economics at the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro. This session will focus on: 66 Years of The Constitution of Liberty, 250 Years After Adam Smith—and Why the Next Revolution Will Challenge Centralized Control of Money, Information, and Production.

More about Barbara Kolm

Dr. Barbara Kolm (*1964 in Innsbruck) is Director of the Austrian Economics Center, President of the F.A. v. Hayek Institute and Professor of Austrian Economics at the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro. Until her election as MP to the National Council in October 2024, she was a member of several supervisory boards, e.g. Vienna Insurance Group, Supervisory Board of Wiener Städtische Wechselseitige Versicherungsverein – Vermögensverwaltung, Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank.

In 2008 she founded the now internationally largest libertarian conference series “Free Market Road Show”, which annually visits about 40 countries (with 500+ individual events to date) to discuss current economic issues. Kolm is one of the most influential public intellectuals in the field of the Austrian School of Economics. She is the recipient of numerous awards.

“Ideas Matter: The Overton Window and the American Revolution,” by Michael Van Beek, Director of Research from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

More about Michael Van Beek

Michael Van Beek is director of research for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market, Michigan-focused think tank. He has written studies on policy issues related to public school finance, school performance, regulatory reform, emergency powers and more. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Hill, The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and elsewhere.

“The US and The EU Constitutions: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” by Dr. Alexander Tokarev, Associate Professor, Economics and Philosophy.

More about Dr. Alexander Tokarev

Professor Tokarev grew up in Bulgaria under socialism and received his Ph.D. in Economics from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He has received multiple awards and scholarships. Tokarev has taught over 2 dozen different courses since the year 2000 across several colleges and universities and authored more than 300 publications in English and Bulgarian on classical liberal ideas. He has presented his research and given guest lectures at more than 70 forums across many US states and European countries. 

Tokarev has organized and led international ventures to Bulgaria and Albania and internships for students at the Institute for Market Economics, the Institute for Radical Capitalism Atlas, and the Experts Club for Politics and Economics in Bulgaria. He edited the Bulgarian translation of Hoppe’s “Democracy: the god that failed”. Tokarev has been interviewed by the Bulgarian National TV, Bulgarian National Radio, Bulgaria On Air TV, Bloomberg Bulgaria, several Bulgarian magazines, The Academy on Capitalism, The Spark, and The Gwartney Institute. He debated the merits of limited government for the Bulgarian Libertarian Society and the benefits of sweatshops at Northwood. 

Since 2012, he has been a part of Northwood’s faculty as an associate professor of free market economics and classical liberal philosophy. Tokarev is the founder and faculty advisor of Northwood University’s annual student-led Freedom Week. He served as Academic Lead for Northwood’s 2025 Freedom Seminar. Tokarev is a Mackinac Center for Public Policy Scholar and a Free Market Road Show Speaker.

More about Dr. Dale Moler

Dale Moler joined Northwood University in 2015 and serves as Associate Professor of History and Honors Program Lead. He received a PhD in History from Central Michigan University and an MSc in Historical Studies from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 

His research interests focus on the role of technology in shaping the way people live and interact with one another, as well as the ways in which societies organize and regulate those technologies. Before joining Northwood, Dr. Moler also served on the faculty at Central Michigan University, Lansing Community College, and Saginaw Valley State University.