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PANELIST BIOS

Explore Charlotte Site Visit - Energy, Monday, Sept. 3, 10 a.m.

 

Kateri Callahan: Kateri Callahan is president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a nongovernment organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Alliance has worked for more than three decades to advance energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment and greater energy security. Under Callahan’s leadership, the Alliance conducts policy, communications, research, education and market transformation initiatives in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries. Callahan also serves as a C3E Ambassador and was among the 23 inaugural inductees to the new Energy Efficiency Hall of Fame established by Johnson Controls Inc. and the United States Energy Association. Prior to joining the Alliance, Callahan served as the president/executive director of the Electric Drive Transportation Association.

 

David G. Dalton: David G. Dalton is president and CEO of General Microcircuits (GMI), a global advanced electronics manufacturing company headquartered in Mooresville, N.C. GMI serves customers in all segments of the industrial, commercial, telecommunications, medical, defense, energy and evolving market-sectors. Dalton has been with GMI for 22 years and serves on the Charlotte Regional Partnership’s New Energy Capital New Technical Advisory Board and is a member of the Charlotte Chamber’s Manufacturers Council. Most recently he joined the founding board of E4 Carolinas, a nonprofit whose purpose is to promote the New Energy Capital throughout the Carolinas and facilitate purpose and connectivity among regional organizations.

 

Thomas R. Kuhn: Thomas R. Kuhn is president of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the association of investor-owned electric companies whose members generate and distribute approximately three-quarters of the nation’s electricity. Kuhn originally joined EEI in 1985 as executive vice president, was named chief operating officer in 1988 and elected president in 1990. Prior to that, Kuhn was president of the American Nuclear Energy Council. He currently serves on the boards of the United States Energy Association, the Alliance to Save Energy, the Electric Drive Transportation Association and the American Council for Capital Formation.

 

   

James E. Rogers: James E. Rogers serves as chairman, president and CEO of Duke Energy, the largest electric power company in the U.S. Rogers became president and CEO following the merger between Duke Energy and Cinergy in 2006. Before the merger, he served as Cinergy’s chairman and CEO for more than 11 years. Prior to the formation of Cinergy, he joined PSI Energy in 1988 as the company’s chairman, president and CEO. Under Rogers’ leadership, Duke Energy has been recognized as a leader in sustainability and has been a part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America for the past six years. In the community, Rogers has led the re-visioning of the Charlotte region as a hub of energy commerce.

 

Kevin Massy (moderator): Kevin Massy is the associate director of the Energy Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution where he manages research on international energy relations and domestic energy policy. A former writer for the Economist magazine on energy, technology and transportation, he has a master of science in foreign service from Georgetown University, an M.A. in international journalism from City University, London, and a B.A. from the University of Newcastle.

 

Explore Charlotte Site Visit - Education, Monday, Sept. 3, 10 a.m.

 

Ronald L. Carter: Dr. Ronald L. Carter, a native of High Point, N.C., became the 13th president of Johnson C. Smith University on July 1, 2008. With more than 30 years serving students and universities, Carter brings a record of community leadership, academic administration, scenario planning and budget management to the position. Carter began his career at Boston University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center. By 1981, he advanced to become the school’s youngest dean of students. He was then named senior administrator of the Health Services Development Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to joining Johnson C. Smith, Carter served as the provost and dean of faculty at Coker College in Hartsville, S.C.

 

Ann Blakeney Clark: Ann Blakeney Clark brings a quarter-century of experience in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to her role as deputy superintendent. She originally joined the district in 1983 as a teacher of behaviorally and emotionally handicapped children. Clark has also been a principal at elementary, middle and high schools and has most recently served as associate superintendent of education services, overseeing the district’s curriculum, professional development, classroom instruction and zones. She is a Broad Superintendent Fellow and a 2010 graduate of the Broad Superintendent Academy. In addition to her work with CMS, Clark serves on multiple community boards.

 

Philip L. Dubois: Dr. Philip L. Dubois was named UNC Charlotte’s fourth chancellor on March 18, 2005. In this role, Dubois has focused his efforts on building the university’s visibility and support in the Charlotte region; long-range planning for an expected enrollment of 35,000 students; completion of key capital construction projects; improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of critical business processes; and implementation of an intercollegiate football program. Prior to taking this position, he was the president of the University of Wyoming and before that, the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNC Charlotte. Dubois began his academic career at the University of California, Davis, where he was a faculty member and held various administrative posts.

 

Malcolm Graham: Malcolm Graham is a member of the North Carolina Senate and a noted policy expert on minority issues. He has worked for over 16 years developing and managing programs that address minority and small business concerns. Prior to becoming a member of the Senate, Graham was the executive director of the Carolinas Minority Supplier Development Councils, Inc. He then worked for Bank of America and Bovis Lend Lease and now serves as special assistant to the president for university relations and governmental affairs at Johnson C. Smith University. Graham is also the founder of the Center for Supplier Diversity, a research organization that provides corporate supplier diversity solutions.

 

Heath Morrison: Dr. Heath E. Morrison was named superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in April 2012. Morrison, a native of Fairfax County, Virginia, came to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools from Washoe County (Reno), Nevada, where he had led the district of 63,000 students and 94 schools since 2009. Prior to that, he was community superintendent for the Down County Consortium in Montgomery County, Maryland. Morrison began his career as a teacher in Maryland and was a school principal in Charles County. In 2011, he was named the Nevada Superintendent of the Year, and in 2012, he was the American Association of School Administrators National Superintendent of the Year.

 

Denise Watts: As project zone superintendent of Project Leadership and Investment for Transformation (L.I.F.T.), Denise Watts is a dedicated educator. Project L.I.F.T. is a philanthropic initiative composed of leaders from Charlotte’s largest community and family foundations intended to accelerate student achievement in nine West Charlotte schools. Watts is a former teacher, coach, assistant principal and principal with 14 years of leadership in education. Prior to Project L.I.F.T., Watts served as the central secondary zone superintendent in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, providing oversight for 20 Title I secondary schools.

 

Maria Voles Ferguson (moderator): Before joining the Center on Education Policy as executive director, Ferguson served as the vice president for policy at the Alliance for Excellent Education, a nonprofit policy and advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Previously, Ferguson served as director of the National School Boards Foundation and as an independent consultant specializing in research, communications, and strategic planning for a wide range of clients, including Target Corporation, the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Department of Education’s Regional Education Laboratories and Sidwell Friends School.

Explore Charlotte Site Visit - Health Care, Monday, Sept. 3, 10 a.m.

 

Elizabeth Coté: Before being selected as a 2011-2012 White House Fellow in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Elizabeth Coté served as a resident physician in anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Prior to that, she completed an internship in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and in 2010, provided medical assistance to earthquake victims in Haiti. While at Harvard Medical School, Coté started a training program in Chennai that empowered orphanage caregivers to prevent and detect newborn disease. She has also worked in the Coalition Provisional Authority as a special assistant to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, worked at the OECD in Paris and served as an AmeriCorps Fellow.

  

Nancy Fey-Yensan, Ph.D, R.D.: Dr. Nancy Fey-Yensan is the dean of the College of Health and Human Services at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Prior to her appointment a year ago, she served the University of Rhode Island in a variety of senior administrative positions and as a professor of nutrition and food sciences. A nutrition scientist by training and a registered dietitian, Fey-Yensan has been a community practitioner for almost 35 years. Her research and outreach interests focus on urban populations living in poverty, health access, obesity prevention and aging. As dean of the largest urban-situated College of Health in the greater Charlotte region, she is committed to promoting an academic environment that develops and produces a highly trained, outwardly focused, responsive and culturally competent professional health care workforce.

 

Louis J. Foreman: Louis Foreman is founder and chief executive of Enventys, an integrated product design and engineering firm. He is also CEO of Edison Nation, a free community of investors, idea people and entrepreneurs. Over the past 20 years, Foreman has created nine successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. He is the inventor of 10 registered U.S. patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of over 500 more. Foreman is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Queens University and Belmont Abbey College and in 2009 was named Entrepreneur in Residence at the McColl School of Business at Queens University. He is the creator of the Emmy Award-winning PBS TV show "Everyday Edisons."

 

Roger A. Ray: Dr. Roger A. Ray is executive vice president and chief medical officer at Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS). In this role, he is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction related to performance improvement in quality and patient safety for the system. In addition, Ray assumes operational responsibility for a number of functions for the Charlotte market facilities, including quality management, clinical care management, medical staff services, medical records, infection control, the Center for Clinical Data Analysis and the R. Stuart Dickson Research Institute. Prior to joining CHS in early 2007, Ray served as the chief quality officer for BayCare Health System in Florida. He practiced clinical neurology for 10 years prior to his administrative roles.

 

Stephen L. Wallenhaupt, M.D.: Stephen L. Wallenhaupt serves as Novant Health’s chief medical officer. From 2001 through 2006, he served as the executive vice president for medical affairs of Presbyterian Healthcare in the Charlotte area. He is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon and formerly a partner of Hawthorne Cardiovascular Surgeons in Charlotte. Wallenhaupt was assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine from 1985 to 1993. He is a member of multiple medical organizations including the American Medical Association and the North Carolina Medical Society. Additionally, Wallenhaupt is on the Medical Alumni Association Board of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and is a member of the Wake Forest Charlotte executive board.

Introduction to ILF, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 10 a.m.
 

Madeleine K. Albright is chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. On May 29, 2012, Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama. In 1997, Albright was named the first female secretary of state and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. In addition, Albright served as the U.S. permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Previously, she was a member of President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council and White House staff and served as chief legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie. Albright also serves as a professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.

 

Dr. Dan Murrey: Murrey is the executive director of the Charlotte in 2012 Convention Host Committee. He recently served a term as an at-large member of the Mecklenburg County Commission. For the last 13 years, he has been a leader and prominent surgeon at OrthoCarolina, one of the country’s most respected orthopedic practices with 900 Charlotte area employees, most recently serving as chief executive officer. He is a graduate of Davidson College and Harvard University, where he received both a medical degree and a master’s in public policy from the JFK School of Government. He has received the highest honor bestowed upon Mecklenburg citizens, the Order of the Hornet.

 

The Role of Primaries, Nominating Conventions and Presidential Debates, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 10:15 a.m.
 

Governor Howard Dean: Gov. Dean is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), presidential candidate, six term governor and physician. He currently works as an independent consultant focusing on health care, early childhood development, alternative energy and the expansion of grassroots politics around the world. Gov. Dean also serves as chairman of the board of the Progressive Book Club, is a CNBC contributor and is the founder of Democracy for America. He began his career in public service in 1982 when he transitioned from a full-time practicing physician to an elected representative in Vermont. He served as governor for 12 years — the second longest tenure in the state. Respected on both sides of the political aisle, Gov. Dean was chairman of the National Governors Association, the Democratic Governors Association, and the New England Governors Conference while he served as governor of Vermont. He left office in Vermont to run for president in 2003, implementing innovative fundraising strategies such as use of the Internet. As chairman of the DNC, Gov. Dean created and carried out a "50 State Strategy" and the development of 21st century campaign tools. He is credited with helping Democrats make historic gains in 2006 and 2008. Under his leadership, significant resources were dedicated to revitalizing the party by building and strengthening the organizational tools, technological capabilities and infrastructure required to win while laying the foundation for a long-term Democratic majority. Before entering politics, Gov. Dean graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in political science in 1971, and received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978. Upon completing his residency at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, he went on to practice internal medicine in Shelburne, Vt.

 

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.: Fahrenkopf is president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA). In that role, he is the national advocate for the commercial casino Industry and is responsible for positioning the association to address regulatory, political and educational issues affecting the industry. A lawyer by profession, Fahrenkopf gained national prominence during the 1980s when he served as chairman of the Republican National Committee for six of President Reagan’s eight years in the White House. When he retired in January 1989, he had served as chairman longer than any person in the 20th century (and second-longest in the history of the party) and led the party through two successful presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988. He presently is co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which conducts the general election presidential and vice presidential debates in presidential election years. He co-founded the commission in 1986 with Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk. Prior to becoming the AGA’s first chief executive in 1995, Fahrenkopf was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the Hogan & Hartson law firm, where he chaired the International Trade Practice Group. He has been a frequent commentator on political and gaming issues on such network television programs as “Crossfire,” “Inside Politics,” “Meet The Press,” “Hardball,” “Face the Nation,” “The Today Show,” “This Week” and “Good Morning America.”

 

Elaine C. Kamarck: Kamarck is a lecturer in public policy who came to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1997 after a career in politics and government. In the 1980s, she was one of the founders of the New Democrat movement that helped elect Bill Clinton president. She served in the White House from 1993 to 1997, where she created and managed the Clinton Administration's National Performance Review, also known as “reinventing government.” At the Kennedy School she served as director of Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First Century and as faculty advisor to the Innovations in American Government Awards Program. In 2000, she took a leave of absence to work as senior policy advisor to the presidential campaign of Al Gore. She conducts research on 21st century government, the role of the Internet in political campaigns, homeland defense, intelligence reorganization, and governmental reform and innovation. Kamarck received her PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The End of Government As We Know It: Policy Implementation in the 21st Century published by Lynne Rienner Publishing, Fall, 2006. She is also the author of Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System, Brookings, Spring 2009.

 

Paul G. Kirk, Jr.: Senator Kirk served as a United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from September 2009 until February 2010, filling the vacancy created by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. He currently serves as chairman, president and a director of Kirk & Associates, Inc., a business advisory and consulting firm. Senator Kirk is a member of the board of directors of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and Cedar Realty Trust. He was a partner in the law firm of Sullivan & Worcester LLP of Boston, Mass., from 1977 to 1992 and served on the boards of directors of ITT Corporation from 1989 to 1997, Bradley Real Estate, Inc. from 1991 to 2000 and Rayonier, Inc. from 1994 to 2011. From 1985 to 1989, Senator Kirk served as chairman of the Democratic Party of the United States, and from 1983 to 1985 as its treasurer. He was a founding co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1987 and served in that capacity until 2009 when he was elected chairman emeritus. He is a chairman emeritus of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, having served as its chairman from 1992 to 2000. Senator Kirk was a founding director of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Board of Directors in 1984 and served as its chairman from 1992 to 2009. He was also a founding member of the board of directors of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

 

Eugene Robinson (moderator): Robinson is an opinion writer for the Washington Post and writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture, contributes to the PostPartisan blog and hosts a weekly online chat with readers of the Post. In a three-decade career at the Post, Robinson has been a city hall reporter, city editor, a foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor in charge of the paper’s Style section. He started writing a column for the op-ed page in 2005. In 2009, he received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for “his eloquent columns on the 2008 presidential campaign that focus on the election of the first African-American president, showcasing graceful writing and grasp of the larger historic picture.” Robinson is the author of Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America (2010), Last Dance in Havana (2004), and Coal to Cream: A Black Man’s Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race (1999).

Campaign 2012 Ads, Anecdotes and Media Perspectives, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 11:45 a.m.

 

Former Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.) is the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the show TIME magazine calls “revolutionary” and The New York Times ranked as the top news program of 2008. In April 2011, Scarborough was named to the prestigious “TIME 100” list of the world’s most influential people. In describing why he was selected, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “Joe speaks his mind without fear or favor because he puts his country before his party…That independence is what makes Joe Scarborough such a valuable voice in American politics. And it’s what makes ‘Morning Joe’ such a successful show.” In addition to his career in television, Scarborough is also the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise,” a book that draws on the forgotten genius of conservatism to offer a road map for the movement and the country. Delivering a searing indictment of the political leaders who have led us astray, Scarborough inspires conservatives to reclaim their heritage by drawing upon the strength of the movement’s rich history. His 2004 book “Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day” predicted the collapse of the Republican majority and U.S. economy due to his party's reckless spending.  Joe served as a member of Congress from 1995-2001.

 

Mika Brzezinski is the co-host of MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and a best-selling author. Her memoir All Things At Once became a New York Times best seller in January 2010 and her second book,” Knowing Your Value,” which examines the role of women in the workplace, reached #1 on the New York Times best seller list for business books in spring 2011. She also writes "Getting What You Want" for Cosmopolitan, a monthly column about career confidence and empowerment. Prior to joining MSNBC in January 2007, Brzezinski was an anchor of the "CBS Evening News Weekend Edition" and a CBS News correspondent who frequently contributed to "CBS Sunday Morning" and "60 Minutes." She reported live from lower Manhattan for CBS News during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.  A native of New York City, Brzezinski is the daughter of foreign policy expert and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. She attended Williams College and received a degree in English.

 

Mark Halperin: Halperin is editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME. He covers politics, elections and government for the magazine and TIME.com. In addition, Halperin is senior political analyst for MSNBC, where he appears regularly on "Morning Joe" and other programs on the cable channel. He also is a frequent guest on “Meet the Press” and “Charlie Rose.”  He is a co-author of the New York Times No. 1 best seller Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, Palin and McCain, and the Race of a Lifetime (Harper, 2010), which was made into an HBO film in 2012.  Halperin received his B.A. from Harvard University.

 

John Heilemann: Heilemann is the national affairs editor and columnist for New York magazine and NYMag.com, and the coauthor of the New York Times No. 1 bestseller Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, Palin and McCain, and the Race of a Lifetime (Harper, 2010). Heilemann is also a political analyst for MSNBC, where he appears regularly on “Morning Joe,” “Hardball” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.” Prior to joining New York in 2005, Heilemann was a staff writer for The New Yorker, Wired and The Economist. A graduate of Northwestern and Harvard universities, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

Michael Steele: Steele is president and CEO of The Steele Group, a company he formed in 1999 that works with institutional and individual clients to design business development, investor, networking and communications strategies. Presently, Steele is a political analyst for MSNBC. He served as chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2009 – 2011.  A self-described "Lincoln Republican," Steele was charged with revitalizing the Republican Party. Under his leadership the RNC broke fundraising records – over $198 million raised during the 2010 congressional cycle – and Republicans won 63 House seats, the biggest pickup since 1938. His commitment to grassroots organization and party building at the state and local levels produced 12 governorships and the greatest share of state legislative seats (over 600) since 1928. Steele earned a place in history in 2003 when he was elected lieutenant governor of Maryland, becoming the first African American elected to statewide office there.

 

Sam Stein: Stein is the politics editor and White House correspondent at the Huffington Post, based in Washington, D.C. Previously he worked for Newsweek magazine, the New York Daily News and the investigative journalism group Center for Public Integrity. Stein has a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

 

How They Would Govern, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 3:15 p.m.

 

Tom Daschle (former U.S. Senate majority leader, co-chair, ONE Vote 2012 and vice chair, NDI) is a senior policy advisor to the law firm of DLA Piper where he provides clients with strategic advice on public policy issues such as climate change, energy, health care, trade, financial services and telecommunications. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served for eight years. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and eight years later became its Democratic leader. Senator Daschle is one of the longest serving Senate Democratic leaders in history and the only one to serve twice as both majority and minority leader. In 2007, he joined with former majority leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an organization dedicated to finding common ground on some of the pressing public policy challenges of our time. Senator Daschle serves on the board of the Center for American Progress, is vice chair of the National Democratic Institute, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Senator Daschle also serves as the co-chair of ONE Vote 2012, the ONE Campaign’s effort to build relationships with incoming members of the U.S. Senate and to engage candidates and their campaigns about the critical importance of smart, effective foreign aid.

 

Scot Lehigh is a columnist for the editorial/op-ed section of The Boston Globe, where, since 2001, he has provided commentary on a variety of national political issues. Lehigh joined The Globe in 1989 and covered several presidential campaigns and national political conventions, as well as holding editorial positions. Before coming to The Globe, Lehigh was a reporter for The Boston Phoenix, where he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in national political reporting for his coverage of the 1988 presidential campaign. Additionally, he spent more than a decade as host of “Final Edition,” a Boston cable television talk show. Lehigh holds a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and a bachelor’s degree from Colby College.

 

Ryan Lizza is the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker and a contributor for CNN. He is covering his fourth presidential campaign. Previously he was a senior editor at The New Republic, a correspondent for GQ, and a contributing editor for New York magazine. From 2002-2007 he was a regular contributor to The New York Times. His 2008 profile of Barack Obama was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting. His 2010 article about Obama's effort to pass climate legislation won a Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting Honorable Mention and a National Press Foundation Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress Honorable Mention. His 2011 article about Obama's foreign policy won the National Press Club's Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence.

 

John Podesta is the chair of the Center for American Progress. Under his leadership, the center has become a notable leader in the development of and advocacy for progressive policy. Prior to founding the center in 2003, Podesta served as White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. Most recently, he served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition. Additionally, Podesta has held numerous positions on Capitol Hill. Podesta is a graduate of Knox College and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he is currently a visiting professor of law. He also authored The Power of Progress: How America’s Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate and Our Country.

 

Vin Weber is co-chairman of Mercury/Clark & Weinstock, a bipartisan public affairs and government relations practice. In this capacity he provides strategic advice to institutions with matters before the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Previously, Weber was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District (1981-1993), where he served on the Appropriations Committee and was an elected member of the House Republican Leadership. Weber is a sought-after political and policy analyst, regularly contributing to national publications, such as The New York Times, and appears frequently on major television outlets including “NBC Nightly News,” “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” and MSNBC. He is a former chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, nonprofit organization designed to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts, and serves on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. Before his congressional service, he was campaign manager and chief Minnesota aide to Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, and the co-publisher of the Murray County Herald.

 

John C. Fortier (moderator) is the director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Democracy Project, a position he assumed in April 2011. Prior to joining BPC, Fortier was a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he served as principal contributor to the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, executive director of the Continuity of Government Commission and project manager of the Transition to Governing Project. Additionally, Fortier has been director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy at Kenyon College and has taught at a variety of institutions, including Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. He has been a regular columnist for both The Hill and Politico. He is the author of Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises and Perils (2006), After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College (2004), and co-author (with Norman Ornstein) of Second Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed (2007). Fortier holds a Ph.D. in political science from Boston College and a B.A. from Georgetown University.

 

Norman Ornstein (moderator) is a long-time observer of Congress and politics. He writes a weekly column for Roll Call called "Congress Inside Out" and is an election eve analyst for CBS News. He served as co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and participates in AEI's Election Watch series. He also served as a senior counselor to the Continuity of Government Commission. Ornstein led a working group of scholars and practitioners that helped shape the law, known as McCain-Feingold, which reformed the campaign financing system. He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. His many books include The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (AEI Press, 2000); The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, with Thomas E. Mann (Oxford University Press, 2006, named by The Washington Post as one of the best books of 2006 and called "a classic" by The Economist); and, most recently, The New York Times bestseller, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, also with Mann, published in May by Basic Books.

 

New Frontiers in Polling, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 10 a.m.

 

Whit Ayres: Ayres is the president of North Star Opinion Research. Prior to his current post, Ayres served as senior executive assistant for budget and policy to Governor Carroll Campbell of South Carolina, and as a tenured member of the political science faculty at the University of South Carolina. With former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Ayres is the co-founder of Resurgent Republic, which develops and disseminates creative conservative messages for the 21st century, conducts periodic surveys and focus groups. He is the chairman of the bipartisan American Association of Political Consultants, which promotes the political consulting industry, protects political freedom of speech, and fosters ethical behavior in political campaigns. Ayres is a guest on Fox News, CNN, and National Public Radio. His comments and analysis appear in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. He was honored as the Republican Pollster of the Year by the American Association of Political Consultants in 2012. He graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina, with a major in political science, and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 

Stanley Greenberg: Greenberg has served as polling advisor to presidents and prime ministers, CEOs, and dozens of tough campaigns in the U.S. and around the world, including President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Nelson Mandela, as well as the national leaders in Israel, Europe and Latin America. Greenberg offers frank, smart and real-time insights into campaigns, political trends in the U.S. and globally, and into our uncertain economic future. He has an insider vantage point into moments of great change and bold leadership. Greenberg’s new book with James Carville, It’s the Middle Class, Stupid!, is a spirited and serious appeal to the country to put the middle class at the center of our politics and national agenda. Greenberg’s corporate clients include Boeing, Microsoft and other global companies.

 

Peter Hart: Hart is a leading analyst of public opinion in the United States. Since 1971, he has directed Peter D. Hart Research Associates, which has conducted more than 8,000 public opinion surveys that have included interviews among more than six million individuals. Hart Research also has undertaken more than 6,000 focus group sessions. Hart currently serves as chairman of Hart Research and senior counselor to the McGinn Group. Hart built his reputation on his successful work in politics, with Hart Research working for 54 U.S. senators and 45 governors — more than any other polling firm. Over the last 25 years, Hart has shifted his focus toward public policy, cultural and social issues, and strategic consulting work for corporations and nonprofits. Clients have included AT&T, Coca-Cola, The Smithsonian Institution, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has taught courses on public opinion research at Duke University’s Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, and at U.C. Berkeley. Hart, along with his Republican colleague, Bill McInturff, conducts the NBC/Wall Street Journal Survey.

 

Andrew Kohut: Kohut is the president of the Pew Research Center, in Washington, D.C, and directs the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press and the Pew Global Attitudes Project. Kohut was president of the Gallup Organization from 1979 to 1989. In 1989, he founded Princeton Survey Research Associates, an attitude and opinion research firm specializing in media, politics and public policy studies. He served as founding director of surveys for the Times Mirror Center from 1990-1992, and was named its director in 1993. Kohut was president of American Association of Public Opinion Research from 1994-1995. He was president of the National Council on Public Polls in 2000-2001, a member of the Market Research Council, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Kohut is a press commentator on the meaning and interpretation of opinion poll results. In recent national elections, he has served as a public opinion consultant and analyst for National Public Radio. He has written widely about public opinion for leading newspapers and is a frequent op-ed essayist for The New York Times. Kohut has co-authored four books, including, mostly recently, America Against the World (Times Books) and The Diminishing Divide: Religion's Changing Role in American Politics (Brookings Institution Press).

 

Katty Kay (moderator): Kay’s career with the BBC began in Zimbabwe in 1990 where she filed radio reports for the Africa Service of BBC World Service radio. Kay then went on to work as a BBC correspondent in London, and later Tokyo, reporting on stories including the Kobe earthquake, the gas attack on the Tokyo underground and the Japanese economic recession. She settled in Washington in 1996 where she took some time out of broadcast journalism to join The Times Washington bureau, before returning to the BBC as a freelance journalist in 2002. She took over as host of BBC World News America in 2011. Kay is a frequent contributor on "Meet the Press" and "The Chris Matthews Show" and a regular guest host for Diane Rehm on NPR. She is the co-author of The New York Times best-seller Womenomics.

21st Century Campaigns, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 11:45 a.m.
 

Andrew Bleeker: Bleeker is the global digital director for Hill + Knowlton and the founder and president of Bully Pulpit Interactive (BPI). An expert in online marketing in both the public and private sectors, Bleeker leads digital strategies for clients integrating online and interactive technologies with traditional communications activities. Recent clients include nongovernmental organizations, international political campaigns, and Fortune 50 companies. Prior to founding BPI, Bleeker served on numerous political campaigns, including running digital marketing for Obama 2008 and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Andrew routinely travels for client work and can often be found in any given United Airlines hub. He is currently embedded with Obama 2012.

 

Mindy Finn: Finn leads Strategic Partnerships at Twitter. She joined Twitter in late 2011 after establishing herself as one of the Republican Party’s top digital strategists at Engage, a successful interactive media consulting agency where she became battle-tested at the highest level of national politics helping clients engage the evolving new media environment from the presidential campaign war room to the Fortune 50 boardroom. Before joining Engage, Finn directed new media for the 2008 Mitt Romney for President campaign. Other clients included candidate Tim Pawlenty and Gov. Bob McDonnell, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. In 2007, Finn was selected by Campaigns & Elections as a "rising star" in American politics and was chosen as a fellow for the Institute of Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University. The Washington Post profiled Finn as part of a political operatives series and Glamour magazine featured her as one of 10 political powerhouses under 40. In 2005, Finn helped to create the first new media department at the Republican National Committee after running similar efforts for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign. Finn, originally from Houston, started her career in journalism as a congressional correspondent for the Waterbury Republican-American, followed by press and legislative roles on Capitol Hill. She received a master's degree in political management from The George Washington University and an undergraduate degree in journalism from Boston University.

 

Gigi Sohn: Sohn is president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, a group that preserves the openness of the Internet and the public's access to knowledge, promotes creativity through balanced copyright, and upholds and protects the rights of consumers to use innovative technology lawfully. Sohn is an internationally known communications attorney and serves as Public Knowledge’s chief strategist, fundraiser and public face. Sohn is a senior adjunct fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Law, Graduate Studies Program. She has been a non-resident fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. She is frequently quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal and has been published in the Washington Post, Variety, CNET and Legal Times. In addition, she has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including “The Today Show,” “The McNeil-Lehrer Report,” C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” and National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.” Sohn holds a B.S. in broadcasting and film, summa cum laude, from the Boston University College of Communication and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

 

Riz Khan (moderator): Khan is a recognized face worldwide following extensive careers with the BBC and CNN prior to joining Al Jazeera English. He was a presenter and reporter at the BBC for eight years and was the first mainstream Asian newsreader for its international network. He hosted the news bulletin that launched BBC World Service Television News in 1991. After presenting at the BBC for two years he joined CNN International where he became a senior anchor for the network’s global news shows and special events, including the historic live coverage of the Hajj. In 1996 he launched his interactive interview show on CNN: "Q&A with Riz Khan" and he has conducted thousands of interviews with guests, including the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, to name a few. Born in 1962 in South Yemen, Khan and his family moved to London when he was four. He attended the University of Wales where he gained an honors degree in medical physiology.

Investing in 21st Century Cities, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 3:15 p.m.
 

Anthony Foxx: Foxx is the mayor of Charlotte, NC. Following two terms on City Council as an at-large representative, Foxx became the youngest mayor in the city’s history when he was elected in 2009.   He was re-elected to a second term 2011. Foxx's administration has focused on three key goals: strengthening and diversifying Charlotte’s regional economy; improving city residents’ quality of life; and building stronger relationships with Raleigh and Washington, D.C.  This focus has helped Charlotte add more than 30,000 jobs and 1,600 new firms since he first took office.  Foxx has also worked to advance infrastructure projects, establish Charlotte as an energy hub, overhaul Charlotte’s workforce development system, and dramatically increase the number of career opportunities available for youth. He is a graduate of Davidson College and NYU School of Law.

 

Michael A. Nutter: Nutter is the mayor of Philadelphia, Penn, and the city's third African-American mayor. As mayor, Nutter has set an aggressive agenda for America’s fifth largest city – devising the city’s innovative school reform strategy, vowing to strengthen community policing through Philly Rising, a unique partnership between vulnerable neighborhoods and the city, and continuing to implement the nationally recognized initiative that is helping to make Philadelphia become the greenest city in America. Nutter is a former city councilman of the city's 4th Council District, and has served as the 52nd Ward Democratic leader since 1990. Nutter is the current president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

 

Annise Parker: Parker is the 61st mayor of Houston, and one of only two women to hold the city's highest elected office. Parker has also served as the elected controller of Houston and a member of Houston’s City Council. While all of Parker’s elected positions have been nonpartisan, she has served as a Democratic Party precinct chair and a delegate to many state Democratic Party conventions and volunteered for countless campaigns for Democrats. On Parker’s watch, Houston – a Democratic city in a Republican state – is leading the nation in job creation, having already replaced the number of jobs lost in the recession.

 

 

Matteo Renzi: Matteo Renzi is the mayor of Florence, Italy, an office he assumed in June 2009 at the age of 35 after serving five years as the president of the Province of Florence; Renzi was the youngest person ever to hold this office. Embodying a widespread desire for change and renewal in Italian politics, Renzi has staked his political reputation on responding to the growing need in Italian society for politicians to represent the world of the 21st century. Renzi’s youth and innovative style have made him a man to watch in the politics of a nation accustomed to slow and incremental change. Renzi graduated in 1999 with a degree in jurisprudence from the University of Florence.

 

Charles Ogletree (moderator): Ogletree is the Jesse Climenko professor of law at Harvard Law School and the founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at the law school. He has received numerous awards and honors, including being named one of the 100+ Most Influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine. Ogletree was a senior advisor to President Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign. He is a native of Merced, Calif., where he attended public schools.  Ogletree earned an M.A. and B.A. (with distinction) in political science from Stanford University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa.  He also holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

 

Neera Tanden (moderator): Neera Tanden is the president of the Center for American Progress and counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Most recently, Tanden served as the chief operating officer for the center. She previously served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, advising Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and working on President Barack Obama’s health reform team to develop and pass the Affordable Care Act.  Prior to that, Tanden was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden campaign, where she managed all domestic policy proposals.  Tanden served as policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and associate director for domestic policy and senior advisor to the first lady in the Clinton administration.

 

Global Responses to Poverty and Human Development, Thursday, Sept. 6, 10 a.m.
 

Tom Daschle (former U.S. Senate majority leader, co-chair, ONE Vote 2012 and vice chair, NDI) is a senior policy advisor to the law firm of DLA Piper where he provides clients with strategic advice on public policy issues such as climate change, energy, health care, trade, financial services and telecommunications. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served for eight years. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and eight years later became its Democratic leader. Senator Daschle is one of the longest serving Senate Democratic leaders in history and the only one to serve twice as both majority and minority leader. In 2007, he joined with former majority leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an organization dedicated to finding common ground on some of the pressing public policy challenges of our time. Senator Daschle serves on the board of the Center for American Progress, is vice chair of NDI, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Senator Daschle also serves as the co-chair of ONE Vote 2012, the ONE Campaign’s effort to build relationships with incoming members of the U.S. Senate and to engage candidates and their campaigns about the critical importance of smart, effective foreign aid.

 

Ashley Judd (actor, humanitarian, delegate to the Democratic convention, board member, Population Services International) is an actor, author, activist and advocate, as well as a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention from her co-home state of Tennessee. Her New York Times best-selling book, All That Is Bitter And Sweet, is based on personal diaries about her travels to 13 countries working on feminist social justice and global public health. Judd serves on the board of directors of Population Services International and Defenders of Wildlife, and on the advisory council of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Demand Abolition and Women Thrive Worldwide. She actively supports several organizations, including Planned Parenthood, NARAL and EMILY’s List, among others. A nationally sought after public speaker, Judd has given a keynote address on modern slavery to the General Assembly of the United Nations, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and has twice addressed the National Press Club. An honors graduate of the University of Kentucky and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, she received the Dean’s Scholar Award for her work in the Harvard Law class, Gender Violence: Law, and Social Justice. Judd recently completed an intensive course in theology at Christ Church College in Oxford, England.

 

David Miliband (former British foreign secretary, member of parliament) has spent the last 15 years at the top of United Kingdom politics. He was from 2007-2010 the youngest UK Foreign Secretary in 30 years. As secretary of state for the environment he pioneered the world’s first legally binding emissions reduction requirements. As minister for schools (2002-2004) he was recognized as a leader of reform. He was the author of Labour’s election winning manifestos in 1997 and 2001. He is now member of parliament for South Shields, senior global advisor to Oxford Analytica and vice chairman of Sunderland Association Football Club. In 2011 he undertook teaching and lecturing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University and in 2012 was Fischer Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

 

Morgan Tsvangirai (Prime Minister of Zimbabwe) Twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Prime Minister Tsvangirai is a longtime advocate for the rights of workers. He built on his experience leading the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions to help establish the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999. Under Tsvangirai’s leadership, the MDC quickly grew into a broadly represented political organization that defeated a controversial constitutional reform bill and won 57 seats in parliament within its first years. Tsvangirai and the MDC remained steadfast as a democratic alternative while political freedoms and the economy continued to erode. Tsvangirai ran in opposition to President Mugabe in the first round of the March 2008 presidential poll but, in the face of growing repression and violence, withdrew his candidacy for the runoff election. In an attempt to restore economic and political stability, Tsvangirai and the MDC entered into a power-sharing agreement with the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in September of that year. As prime minister in the coalition government, he has worked to advance economic and political reforms in a challenging environment.

 

Michael Elliott (moderator): Elliot is the president and chief executive officer of ONE. Prior to joining ONE, Elliott served as editor of TIME International, deputy managing editor of TIME magazine, and was a columnist on the global economy for Fortune magazine. Elliott was named editor of TIME International in April 2005 after spending a year as editor of TIME Asia. He joined TIME in May 2001 as an editor-at-large after a year as editor-in-chief of eCountries, an Internet-based news and analysis service on global affairs. From 1995-2000 he was editor of Newsweek International, and from 1984-93 he was on the staff of The Economist, where he was political editor and Washington bureau chief and the founding author of both the “Bagehot” and “Lexington” columns. Elliott was born and raised in the suburbs of Liverpool, England, and took two degrees at Oxford University. Prior to his career in journalism, he was a member of the central policy review staff in Britain’s Cabinet Office, and before that spent eight years teaching in universities in the United States and United Kingdom, ending his academic career with a tenured position at the London School of Economics.

 

U.S. Role in the World, Thursday, Sept. 6, 11:45 a.m.
 

Madeleine K. Albright is chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. On May 29, 2012, Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama. In 1997, Albright was named the first female secretary of state and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. In addition, Albright served as the U.S. permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Previously, she was a member of President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council and White House staff and served as chief legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie. Albright also serves as a professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Michèle Flournoy most recently served as undersecretary of defense for policy from February 2009 to February 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. Prior to confirmation, Flournoy co-led President Obama’s transition team at the Department of Defense. In 2007, Flournoy co-founded the Center for a New American Security, a nonpartisan think tank dedicated to developing strong, pragmatic and principled national security policies, serving as president until 2009. Previously, she was senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies for several years and, prior to that, a distinguished research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.

 

Dan Glickman is currently a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He served as the U.S. secretary of agriculture from March 1995 until January 2001. Under his leadership, the department administered farm and conservation programs, modernized food safety regulations, forged international trade agreements to expand U.S. markets, and improved its commitment to fairness and equality in civil rights. As a U.S. congressman from Kansas, Glickman voted in support of U.S. engagement and foreign aid.  Since leaving Capitol Hill, he has remained an advocate of foreign assistance in his various capacities. Glickman serves on the Council on American Politics and is chairman of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

 

Jack Lew is currently serving as President Obama’s chief of staff. Prior to working at the White House, he was the director of the Office of Management and Budget, a position he previously held from 1998 to 2001 and returned to in 2010. Lew was the first deputy secretary of state for management and resources, serving as chief operating officer of the department. Before joining the State Department, he served as managing director and chief operating officer of Citi Global Wealth Management and then Citi Alternative Investments.  Previously, Lew served on the Corporation for National and Community Service Board and chaired its Management, Administration and Governance Committee.

 

Tim Roemer, a former six-term U.S. representative from Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District, most recently served as U.S. ambassador to India. He has a strong background in international trade and investment, education policy and national security. Prior to his diplomatic appointment, Roemer served for 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was deeply engaged in efforts to improve access, standards and achievement for American education. He also served on the Select Intelligence Committee.  He was a member of the 9/11 Commission and one of the first members of Congress to advocate for a more dynamic and entrepreneurial Department of Homeland Security and an integrated intelligence community.  Roemer was also president of the Center for National Policy, where he brought together experts and policymakers to facilitate political cooperation to address critical national security challenges. He has served on numerous private sector and public service boards.  He has a B.A. from the University of California at San Diego and his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame.

 

James Steinberg is dean of the Maxwell School, Syracuse University and university professor of social science, international affairs and law. Prior to becoming dean, he served as deputy secretary of state, serving as the principal deputy to Secretary Clinton, returning to the State Department after previously serving as director of policy planning and deputy assistant secretary for analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Previously, Steinberg served as dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and vice president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, where he supervised a wide-ranging research program on U.S. foreign policy. Steinberg also served as deputy national security advisor to President Clinton and as the president’s personal representative to the 1998 and 1999 G-8 summits. In addition, Steinberg was Senator Ted Kennedy’s principal aide for the Senate Armed Services Committee and minority counsel for the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

 

Richard Wolffe (moderator) is an award-winning journalist and political analyst for MSNBC television and author of various books. He covered Barack Obama’s presidential campaign for Newsweek magazine, traveling with the candidate and his inner circle for 21 months. He also reported on George W. Bush and his 2000 presidential campaign, traveling with then-Governor Bush for more than a year. His book about the Obama campaign, Renegade: The Making of a President, was an instant New York Times bestseller. Wolffe appears frequently on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” and “PoliticsNation” with the Rev. Al Sharpton. On NBC, he has been featured as a political commentator on “Meet The Press” and “TODAY.” He has appeared on CNN and Fox News, as well as on international media including British, Canadian and Australian television. Wolffe began writing about American politics and U.S. foreign policy as a senior journalist at The Financial Times, serving as its deputy bureau chief and U.S. diplomatic correspondent in Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he managed coverage of business and political affairs in the nation’s capital, and reported on U.S. foreign policy at the State Department and National Security Council. Born in Birmingham, England, Wolffe graduated from Oxford University with first-class honors in English and French. He lives with his wife and their three children in Washington, D.C.

 

Democracy Spotlight Series
 

David Drummond: Drummond joined Google in 2002, initially as vice president of corporate development. Today as senior vice president and chief legal officer, Drummond leads Google’s global teams for legal, government relations, corporate development and new business development. Drummond was first introduced to Google in 1998 as a partner in the corporate transactions group at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, one of the nation’s leading law firms representing technology businesses. He served as Google’s first outside counsel and worked with Larry Page and Sergey Brin to incorporate the company and secure its initial rounds of financing. During his tenure at Wilson Sonsini, Drummond worked with a wide variety of technology companies to help them manage complex transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings. Drummond earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Santa Clara University and his JD from Stanford Law School.

 

David Eaves: A public policy entrepreneur, open government activist and negotiation expert, Eaves is retained by several governments to advise on open government and open data, works with two spin-offs of the Harvard Negotiation Project and advises businesses on open source strategies and community management. Among his clients he counts the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Code for America, the World Bank and Greenpeace. Eaves is frequently invited to speak on public policy, public service, network systems, open source and open innovation. In addition to his work,he sits on the boards of the Envrionics Institute and Vision Vancouver, is an adjunct professor at the Centre for Digital Media in Vancouver and a board member of Keeping the Door Open, a harm reduction advocacy group. Eaves writes weekly blogs at Eaves.ca and on TechPresident, and is frequently published in several newspapers. Eaves received his BA in history from Queen's University, his master's in international relations at the University of Oxford.

 

Tim O'Reilly: O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. Over the years, O'Reilly has built a culture where sustainable innovation is a key tenet of business philosophy. His active engagement with technology communities both drives the company's product development and informs its marketing. O'Reilly graduated from Harvard College in 1975. Since 1978, O'Reilly has been a chronicler and catalyst of leading-edge development, honing in on the technology trends that really matter and galvanizing their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. His company is publisher of the iconic "animal books" for software developers, creator of the first commercial website (GNN), organizer of the summit meeting that gave the open source software movement its name, and leader in Gov 2.0 "government as a platform" efforts.

 

Marietje Schaake: Schaake (@MarietjeD66) is a member of the European Parliament for the Dutch Democratic Party (D66) with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political group. She serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where she focuses on neighbourhood policy, Turkey in particular; human rights, with a specific focus on freedom of expression, internet freedom, press freedom; and Iran. In the Committee on Culture, Media, Education, Youth and Sports she works on Europe's Digital Agenda and the role of culture and new media in the EU´s external actions. In the Committee on International Trade she focuses on intellectual property rights, the free flow of information and the relation between trade and foreign affairs. Schaake is a member of the delegation for relations with the United States and a substitute member on the delegations with Iran and the Western Balkan countries. She is also a founder of the European Parliament Intergroup on New Media and Technology. Schaake is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and vice-president of the supervisory board of Free Press Unlimited. Before joining the European Parliament, she worked as an independent advisor to governments, diplomats, businesses and NGO's, on issues of transatlantic relations, diversity and pluralism, civil and human rights.