Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq. is President and Chief Executive Officer of First Liberty Institute. Mr. Shackelford is a constitutional scholar who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, testified before the U.S. House and Senate and has won numerous landmark First Amendment and religious liberty cases. Those include the precedent-setting religious liberty victories at the U.S. Supreme Court in American Legion v. American Humanist Association, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Carson v. Makin and Groff v. DeJoy.
In 2025, Mr. Shackelford was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to serve on the Religious Liberty Commission. Comprised of the nation’s top religious freedom experts, the Commission is tasked with assessing the current state of religious freedom and offering recommendations to the President to preserve and strengthen it for future generations. Represented by Mr. Shackelford, First Liberty is the only nonprofit religious liberty legal organization of its kind on the Commission.
Mr. Shackelford was named one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the past quarter century by Texas Lawyer, and is the recipient of the prestigious William Bentley Ball Award for Life and Religious Freedom Defense for his leadership and pioneering work protecting religious freedom.
Mr. Shackelford is on the Board of Trustees of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society. He has been featured in the National Law Journal, Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The L.A. Times, and many others.
He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas Law School and graduated cum laude from Baylor University (1985) and graduated from Baylor Law School (1988) with the highest unadjusted GPA in his graduating class.
Jeff Mateer is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer of First Liberty Institute, where he serves as a member of the executive leadership team and oversees First Liberty’s operations, including its legal, media/communications, external affairs, marketing, and administrative teams, and First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy.
Jeff rejoined First Liberty Institute in October 2020 after serving as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. As First Assistant Attorney General from March 2016 through October 2020, Jeff oversaw all operations of the Texas Attorney’s General Office, which included over 30,000 active cases, almost 800 attorneys and 4,200 employees, and a bi-annual budget of over $1.1 billion.
Prior to joining the Texas Attorney General’s office, Jeff served as General Counsel of First Liberty Institute from February 2010 to March 2016. Jeff was in private litigation practice from 1990 to 2010 at a large Dallas law firm and litigation boutique firms.
During his thirty-year legal career, Jeff has represented clients ranging from large international organizations to local businesses, schools, ministries, churches and individuals in complex federal and state court actions involving religious liberty, civil rights, employment, intellectual property and business matters. In private practice, his clients included the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Citigroup, CNA, ConAgra Foods, former officers and directors of EDS, Ford Motor Company, Pilgrim’s Pride and PNC Bank. He has tried numerous jury and bench trials in both federal and state courts, and has successfully argued before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Texas appellate courts.
In addition to having received an A-V rating by Martindale-Hubbell, Jeff has been honored as a Texas Rising Star and Texas Super Lawyer. He received his undergraduate education at Dickinson College, where he graduated with honors in 1987, and his legal education at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated with honors in 1990. While in law school, he served as an editor of the law review. He is licensed to practice law by the state of Texas and is admitted to practice before all Texas State and Federal District Courts, the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Austin Waugh serves as the Chief Financial Officer for First Liberty Institute, where he oversees all the organization’s finance, treasury, accounting and taxation activities.
Prior to joining First Liberty, Waugh spent three years managing financial operations for Authentix, a private equity-backed firm specializing in enhanced visibility and traceability solutions for complex global supply chains. At Authentix, Waugh was responsible for monthly forecasting, annual budgeting and product pricing support for new business opportunities.
Before his time with Authentix, Waugh gained many years of experience performing economic analyses and petroleum asset valuations as a petroleum economist for DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M), one of the world’s premier independent petroleum consulting firms. In his time at D&M, Waugh led the economic evaluation and technical support on over 50 international projects and was later named a Vice President of the firm while serving as its corporate accountant.
Waugh also spent two years in public accounting with Whitley Penn, where he prepared and reviewed federal and state income tax returns for various public and private entities with a focus on oil & gas, financial services, real estate and technology sectors.
Waugh graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He went on to graduate from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Master of Science degree in accounting as well as a Master of Business Administration degree. Waugh also holds a graduate certificate in historical theology from Reformed Theological Seminary.
Waugh is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas, a Certified Management Accountant, a Certified Financial Planner® Professional, and holds a Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA®) designation from the Corporate Finance Institute.
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