25th Annual International Public Policy Forum Finals - Quarterfinal Judge Biographies

The 25th annual International Public Policy Forum Finals will be held at NYU School of Law on Saturday, April 18. The quarterfinal rounds will begin at 8:15 AM ET between the "Elite Eight" teams.

All quarterfinal judge biographies can be found below.

BASIS International School Shenzhen v. Ivy Bridge Academy

Andrew Ni

Andrew Ni is an incoming MD/PhD student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a Brown PLME student studying Neuroscience and Computational Biology. He is passionate about medicine, computation, and neuroscience, and currently study glioblastoma, neurovascular disease, and neuro-ophthalmology.

Outside of academics, debate has been a large part of his life. In high school, he competed in Public Forum, was crowned IPPF World Champion in 2022, and had the opportunity to make deep runs at both state and national tournaments.

"IPPF was one of the most meaningful parts of my debate journey, and I’m excited to return as a judge and give back to a community that shaped how I think, argue, and engage with public policy."

Maria Patterson

Maria Patterson joined New York University Stern School of Business as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Business in September 2012, after working as an adjunct professor during the 2011-2012 academic year. She is also a retired partner of The Law Offices of Patterson & Aschheim, LLP. Professor Patterson teaches courses on social impact, professional responsibility, law, and ethics.

Professor Patterson began her legal career working in the then new area of mortgage securitizations and later moved to Shearman & Sterling where she focused on commercial litigation and bankruptcy, and then served as in-house corporate and real estate restructuring counsel at a major commercial bank. She has also served as a volunteer arbitrator in NYC small claims court.

Professor Patterson has served on the Judiciary Committee, the Council of International Affairs, and the Foreign and Comparative Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, chairing the last for three years.

Professor Patterson received her B.A. magna cum laude in history from Davidson College and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. She is a lifetime member of the Davidson College Board of Visitors.

Dante Piedalue

Dante Piedalue is an alumnus of Fordham University, where he earned a degree in Economics and Computer Science, concentrating his studies on quantitative analysis and public policy.

Dante is a former Montana Speech and Debate State Champion and founding member of the Frenchtown Debate Team. He later served on the Executive Board of the Fordham Economics Society, where he authored pieces for the Economic Insights Journal, including an original analysis of Amazon's antitrust exposure, and organized lectures on international trade policy with economists from across the country. His academic work extended into applied machine learning, including predictive modeling of U.S. commercial airline operations, and large-scale exploratory data analysis on the economic delay drivers.

Since graduating, he has conducted economic modeling, pricing analysis, and commercial strategy work for clients in competitive markets across New York City. Dante has served as a judge for the IPPF written rounds for four years and is honored to return for the 2026 quarterfinals.

North Allegheny Senior High School v. Çevre High School

Rahul Ramesh

Rahul Ramesh is a member of Blackstone’s private equity investment team in New York. Mr. Ramesh debated competitively for William Mason High School in Ohio and finished as a finalist and runner-up at the 2018 IPPF tournament.

Mr. Ramesh received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, including a minor in education – an interest he developed while leading training and education for his high school’s debate program.

Gloria Zheng

Gloria Zheng is a law clerk at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where she works with banks, direct lenders, and corporate borrowers on a range of finance transactions, including leveraged acquisition financings, infrastructure financings, and other secured and unsecured matters.

Prior to joining Davis Polk, Gloria attended NYU School of Law, where she led the Competitions Division of the Moot Court Board. She also worked with pro se litigants through the NY Legal Assistance Group Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project and interned with the U.S District Court for SDNY.

Gloria began her debate career as a freshman with the NYU Policy Debate Team, placing second nationally at the Novice National Championships. She continued to compete throughout college in the JV and open divisions, as well as in the Global Debates.

Vladimir Pavlov

Vladimir graduated from NYU in 2018 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation he worked in charter schools in New York teaching debate and math. After his time in education, Vladimir also spent time working in Computer Engineering.

Vladimir is currently a 3L at Brooklyn Law School. During his time in law school, he has been involved with the journal and competes on the moot court trial team. As part of the trial team, he won a Labor and Employment competition in Chicago, and reached semi-finals at the national competition.

After graduation Vladimir will be working at Greenberg Traurig in the Patent Litigation group. During his time at NYU Vladimir was a member of the CEDA and actively engaged with the IPPF. This is his first time returning to judge the competition. 

Delbarton School v. Millburn High School

Callie Stoltz

Callie Stoltz is a paralegal at Kiernan Trebach, a mid-sized law firm with offices throughout the East Coast and recognized as 2025 Law Firm of the Year by the D.C. Defense Lawyers’ Association. In her role, she handles all McDonald’s litigation matters across the Northeast region. 

A recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Honors College, Callie majored in Politics and Philosophy as a Chancellor’s Scholar. She is passionate about public service and policy, having interned with the U.S. Senate, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and the Pittsburgh Court system. 

Callie was a member of the Pine-Richland High School team that won the 2021-22 IPPF competition. Since then, she has been an active member of the IPPF Circle of Champions, serving as a judge and mentor.

Timotej Oršula

Timotej Oršula is an undergraduate student at Bocconi University studying International Economics and Finance, currently on exchange at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Originally from Slovakia, he is particularly interested in private equity, venture capital, and portfolio management, and has taken specialized coursework in private equity, multinational finance, and strategy.

Outside of academics, he has been involved in debate for the past eight years. He has competed at the highest levels, winning the IPPF World Championship, debating the final of the Slovak National League in the Slovak National Parliament, reaching the finals of the Czech & Slovak University Championship, and representing Slovakia at the European Debate Championship. He also founded and coached the largest debate club in Slovakia and later served as Head Coach of the Slovak National IPPF Team. He continues to stay involved in the community as a judge, including at the 2026 IPPF Finals in New York.

Joy Kim

Joy Kim works in hospital administration as a Clinical Coordinator at Columbia University Medical Center focused on bringing interventional cardiology care to underserved communities and oncology research.

She is also a coach of the nationally-ranked NYU debate team.  She started her NYU debate career as a novice and grew to appreciate the activity.  When Joy returned to NYC as an alum of the program, she reengaged with the team leading novice trainings, judging practice rounds, attending tournaments as a and holding regular strategy meetings with novices and JVers. 

Troy Highschool v. Westwood Highschool

Andy Yuwen

Andy Yuwen is an entrepreneur based in Houston, Texas. He has previously worked as a chief of staff with the Vanguard Group, as a strategy consultant, and as a poker player.

Andy was a member of the Hamilton High School team that won the 2013-14 IPPF competition. He has since remained active as an IPPF judge and mentor. Mr. Yuwen is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder and holds degrees in economics, management, and chemical engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Kristine Itliong

Kristine Itliong is a senior associate at Arnold & Porter.  Kristine focuses her practice on complex product liability and mass tort litigation.  Kristine maintains an active pro bono practice, with an emphasis on trial and appellate advocacy in civil rights litigation. 

Kristine served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jessica S. Allen in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Prior to attending law school, Kristine was a management consultant and implemented international strategic business plans for her clients in Asia, Europe, and Africa. 

Kristine earned her B.S. in Finance and Economics from New York University and graduated cum laude from Fordham University School of Law.   While at NYU, she served as the President of the Cross-Examination Debate Association and was a National Debate Tournament Competitor. 

Bianca Minuto

Bianca Minuto is a Senior Research Analyst at HSBC, where she covers emerging market equities. She previously worked in research product marketing and management at the firm. She has been located in New York, London, and Dubai. Bianca graduated magna cum laude from NYU with a degree in Media, Culture, and Communication and a minor in Art History. She is currently an MBA candidate at Columbia Business School.