Leadership
Stanford Debate Society Executive Board 2024-25
The five member student Executive Board is responsible for running and overseeing all aspects of the Stanford Debate Society (SDS).
President: Claire Beamer
Claire is a junior majoring in Mathematics. Last year, she served as VP Competitions. She competed in Public Forum throughout high school (and still coaches) but now thinks BP is superior. Besides debate, she loves cooking, playing/watching sports, and spending time with her four siblings.
Vice President, Finance: Jennifer Lin
Jennifer is a junior double-majoring in political science and symbolic systems. She is from Maryland (or as she likes to say, from DC). In high school, she competed on both the public forum and world schools circuits. She is now, like Claire, an avid BP-supporter. One of her favorite parts of being on SDS is making memories while traveling with the team to domestic and international tournaments. In her free time, she loves watching Gilmore Girls, trying new restaurants, and going to cafes.
Vice President, Competition: Amy Chang
Amy is a senior from San Francisco majoring in CS. She served as SDS Chief of Staff from 2022-2024. In the past, she debated with the City College of San Francisco in NPDA and IPDA formats, from which she has made a successful switch to BP and APDA. Outside of debate, Amy enjoys traveling, running obscure historical fiction cases, and playing Sid Meier’s Civilization.
Vice President, Operations: Emma Blemaster
Emma is a junior studying chemical engineering and sociology. In high school, she participated in local and some national circuit style Lincoln Douglas debate. She still appreciates her hometown of Cleveland Ohio, but loves exploring the Bay Area and beyond with SDS. She has embraced BP as the best debate event, but still has time for other activities. She likes listening to live music (specifically to her friends in on campus bands), getting coffee, and trying to find the weirdest thing at goodwill.
Vice President, Events: Myra Kirmani
Myra is a sophomore majoring in mathematics and computer science. Originally from Kashmir, she did her schooling in Dubai, where was part of the UAE Debate Team. In her free time, Myra enjoys traveling (except for the 16 hour long flights back home), hanging out with her friends, going to theme parks, and having long conversations about people’s lives and histories.
SDS Operations Team 2024-25
The SDS Operations Team members support the Executive Board to implement SDS's competitive goals, operations and team policies.
Associate Financial Officers: Sehrish Gohar & Emily Han
Sehrish is a sophomore studying Economics, and Data Science. She competes in the BP and APDA formats at Stanford. She loves exploring new places while competing with SDS at national, and international tournaments. Outside of debate, she enjoys swimming, finding new Fro-Yo spots, going to the beach with friends, spending time with her family, and playing with her pets (a dog and a cat).
Emily is a sophomore studying Computer Science and MS&E. She grew up in Shenzhen, China for around ten years before moving to Bay Area with her family. She competed mostly in Public Forum, World Schools, Extemp, and Model UN before Stanford. Outside debate, Emily enjoys digital design, playing tennis with friends, traveling, and visiting different cafés!
Chiefs of Staff: Annmaria Antony & Elizabeth Li
Director of Social Engagement: Joshua Bahk
Josh is a sophomore studying Computer Science from Rancho Cucamonga, California. His background is mainly in Lincoln-Douglas debate, but he participated in a variety of events in high school. Now, he enjoys competing in BP tournaments and is super excited to help plan fun events and socials to build community within SDS. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, playing the guitar, and watching a good movie.
Community Manager: Tejas Subramaniam
Tejas studies economics and is from Chennai, India, where he competed in World Schools. He cares about animal advocacy, and likes playing chess, talking about reptiles, evangelizing Soylent, and putting Tabasco Scorpion sauce on everything that isn’t Soylent.
Past Presidents & Leaders of SDS
Muhammad Dhafer, President 2023-24
Vivian Jiahui Zhu, President 2022-23
Enshia Li, President 2021-22
Gaeun Kim, President 2020-21
Danielle Mitalipov, President 2019-20
Ben Anderson, President 2018-19
Harry Elliott, President 2017-18
David Slater, President 2016-17
Elana Leone, President 2015-16
Christina Gilbert, President 2014-2015
Rich Boltizar, President 2008-10, Director of Debate 2013-21
Professor Mark A. Lemley, Founder