Vilayanur Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego wrote Phantoms in the Brain
Tim Ballard
CEO – Operation Underground Railroad
Tim Ballard is the Founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.). He is also the CEO of The Nazarene Fund. Ballard spent over a decade working as a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security where he was assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. He has worked every type of case imaginable in the fight to dismantle child trafficking rings. Ballard has worked undercover in the United States and in multiple foreign countries to infiltrate child trafficking organizations. In this effort, he has successfully dismantled dozens of these organizations and rescued countless children from sex slavery. He is an expert at managing Internet investigations, particularly those dealing with file-share networks where pedophiles and traffickers go to trade in child pornography. He has trained hundreds of law enforcement officers and has testified before the United States Congress on best practices to liberate children from sex slavery.Ballard has been featured on many national news outlets to discuss his efforts to combat child trafficking. He has appeared on Fox & Friends, Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, The Meredith Vieira Show, CBS Nightly News, ABC Nightline, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, The Glenn Beck Program, The Eric Metaxas Show, The Dennis Prager Show, The Hugh Hewitt Show, well as many local news programs.
Tim is the principal subject of two full length documentaries: The Abolitionists, by Academy Award-winning producer, Gerald Molen, and Operation Toussaint, by Emmy Award-winning director, Nick Nanton. His life story is also depicted in the upcoming feature film, The Sound of Freedom, where he is portrayed by actor Jim Caviezel and his wife, Katherine, is portrayed by Academy Award Winner, Mira Sorvino.
After serving a church mission to Chile, Ballard graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Spanish and Political Science from Brigham Young University. He went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude with an MA in International Politics from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He resides in Utah with his wife and children.
Ballard is the best-selling author of “The Covenant: One Nation Under God,” and is the author of the sequel to that work, “The Covenant, Lincoln, and The War.” He has taught American and International Politics courses at Imperial Valley College, San Diego State University, and American Heritage School. He has been featured regularly on both local and national TV and radio programs to discuss American history and politics and the role America has played in defending liberty at home and abroad. He has often commented on how his academic work in American history has provided him the inspiration and motivation to rescue children–to carry on the American tradition of liberating the captive. He recently received the distinguished George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.