Washington Ideas Forum 2011

Speakers

• 
  Stephen Adler Stephen J. Adler is the editor-in-chief of Reuters News and executive vice president of News at Thomson Reuters.
  
  Adler was formerly the Editor-in-Chief of BusinessWeek from 2005 to 2009. Adler was Deputy Managing Editor at the Wall Street Journal from 1988 to 2004 and Editor of the American Lawyer Magazine from 1983-1988.
• 
  Marc Ambinder Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal. He previously served as the politics editor, and is now a contributing editor, for The Atlantic, where he curated the influential Politics channel on TheAtlantic.com and contributed to the magazine. He was also a chief political consultant to CBS News.
  
  Earlier, at NJ's Hotline, Ambinder was the founding editor of "Hotline On Call," a pathbreaking political news blog. He also worked as a producer and reporter for the ABC News Political Unit and was one of the founders of ABC's "The Note." Born in New York City, raised in Central Florida, Ambinder is a 2001 graduate of Harvard and lives in Washington, D.C.
• 
  Amjad Atallah Amjad Attalah is Bureau Chief for the Americas at Al Jazeera English.
• 
  Robert Atkinson Robert Atkinson is the founder and president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank.
  
  He is also author of the forthcoming book, The Global Race for Innovation Advantage, and Why the U.S. is Falling Behind (Yale, 2011), the book, The Past And Future Of America's Economy: Long Waves Of Innovation That Power Cycles Of Growth (Edward Elgar, 2005), and the State New Economy Index series.
  
  He has an extensive background in technology policy, he has conducted ground-breaking research projects on technology and innovation, is a valued adviser to state and national policy makers, and a popular speaker on innovation policy nationally and internationally.
• 
  Molly Ball Molly Ball is a staff writer covering national politics at The Atlantic. She joined The Atlantic in September 2011 from Politico, where she covered the fight for the 2012 GOP nomination, the 2010 midterm elections, and the national political landscape. Prior to joining Politico in 2010, she was a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun. There she covered Nevada’s competitive primary and general-election presidential race in 2008. Ball has also worked for newspapers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia, as well as The New York Times and The Washington Post. She was a 2009 recipient of a Knight-Wallace journalism fellowship at the University of Michigan.
• 
  Melody Barnes Melody Barnes is the President’s Domestic Policy Adviser and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, which coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House.
• 
  Maria Bartiromo Maria Bartiromo is anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell” and anchor and managing editor of the nationally syndicated “Wall Street Journal Report,” the most watched financial news program in America. In 1995, Bartiromo became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a daily basis. She has covered Wall Street for 20 years and has won two Emmy Awards. Bartiromo is the author of several books, including The Weekend That Changed Wall Street, and The 10 Laws of Enduring Success. Bartiromo writes a monthly column for USA TODAY.
• 
  Zanny Minton Beddoes Zanny Minton Beddoes is the Economics editor for The Economist magazine. She is responsible for coverage of the American economy, Western economic policy and issues surrounding globalization. She has been an influential commentator on the late-2000s recession.
• 
  James Bennet James Bennet has been editor in chief of The Atlantic since 2006. Before joining the Atlantic staff, Bennet was the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times. During his three years in Israel, his coverage of the Middle East conflict was widely acclaimed for its balance and sensitivity. His much-lauded long-form writing for The New York Times Magazine was responsible for catching the eye of Atlantic owner David Bradley during his year-long search for a new editor. Upon accepting the position, Bennet told a Times reporter that he saw the Atlantic job as “a chance to help, encourage and preserve the practice of serious, long-form journalism.” Prior to his work in Jerusalem, he served as the Times’ White House correspondent and was preparing to join its Beijing bureau when he was offered the Atlantic editorship. Bennet began his journalism career at the Washington Monthly.
• 
  Joseph R. Biden Jr. Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (born November 20, 1942), is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States under the administration of President Barack Obama. He was a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 until his resignation on January 15, 2009, following his election to the Vice Presidency. Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to a county council in 1970.
  
  Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation, and is the 14th-longest serving Senator in history.
• 
  John Boehner John Andrew Boehner is a Republican American politician who is currently serving as the House Minority Leader in the 111th Congress. He serves as a U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th congressional district, which includes several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton and a small portion of Dayton itself.
• 
  David Bradley David G. Bradley is the chairman and owner of several publishing, news, and media properties along the East Coast, including his best-known, The Atlantic magazine and the National Journal.
  
  Before entering media, Bradley founded and owned two (now public) think tanks the Advisory Board Company and the Corporate Executive Board. With 50,000 applicants each year, the enterprises are the largest employers of young professional talent in the Washington region.
  
  Before founding his companies, Bradley worked for the White House, the White House Conference on Children and Youth, and the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine, & Moore.
• 
  Tom Brokaw Tom Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation (1998) and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is the only person to host all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He now serves as a Special Correspondent for NBC News and works on documentaries for other outlets.
• 
  David Brooks David Brooks has been an op-ed columnist for The New York Times since 2003. Previously, he was an editor at The Wall Street Journal, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, and a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic. Currently a commentator on PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” Brooks is also the author, most recently, of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character. His earlier books are Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense. He has contributed essays and articles to many publications, including The New Yorker, Forbes, The Public Interest, The New Republic, and Commentary. He is a frequent commentator on NPR, CNN’s “Late Edition,” and “The Diane Rehm Show.”
• 
  Ronald Brownstein Ronald Brownstein is political director of the Atlantic Media Company and National Journal Group’s editorial director, in charge of long-term editorial strategy. He also writes a weekly column and regularly contributes other pieces for both National Journal and The Atlantic, and he coordinates political coverage and activities across publications produced by Atlantic Media. Brownstein was twice named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the 1996 and 2004 presidential campaigns. In addition, he is the recipient of several journalism awards, including the Exceptional Merit in Media Award from the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Excellence in Media Award from the National Council on Public Polls in 2005, and the Journalist of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Press Club in 2005. In 2007, the American Political Science Association presented him its Carey McWilliams Award for lifetime achievement.
• 
  Steve Capus In November 2005, Steve Capus was named president of NBC News. Capus has served as the arbiter of issues involving ethics, style, standards, safety and other matters that affect the Division’s journalistic bearing. Capus reports to Steve Burke, chief executive officer of NBC Universal.
• 
  Margaret Carlson Margaret Carlson has been a Bloomberg political columnist since 2005. She has won two National Headliner Awards as well as the Belva Ann Lockwood alumni award from the George Washington University Law School. A former White House correspondent for Time, she was also Time’s first woman columnist and appeared on CNN’s “Capital Gang” for 15 years. A former editor at The New Republic, Carlson has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, a Poynter Fellow at Yale University, and a journalist-in-residence at the University of Notre Dame. Ms. Carlson currently serves on the boards of the German Marshall Fund and The Newseum. She earned her BA from Penn State University and her JD from the George Washington University Law School.
• 
  Vice President Dick Cheney Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney (born January 30, 1941), is the 46th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President George W. Bush.
  
  Previously, he served as White House Chief of Staff, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming, and Secretary of Defense. In the private sector, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton Energy Services; he is still a major stockholder. On June 29, 2002, he briefly assumed the powers and duties of the presidency as Acting President when Mr. Bush underwent a medical exam involving anesthetics.
• 
  Liz Cheney Liz Cheney is the attorney and daughter of Dick Cheney, Simon & Schuster.
• 
  Steve Clemons Steve Clemons is Washington editor at large for The Atlantic as well as editor in chief of Atlantic LIVE. He also publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note at The Atlantic.com. Steve is Senior Fellow and Founder of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank in Washington, D.C., where he previously served as executive vice president. Clemons writes and speaks frequently about the D.C. political scene, foreign policy and national security issues, as well as domestic and global economic policy challenges.
• 
  Charles Cook Charlie Cook is the editor and Publisher of The Cook Political Report and a Political Analyst for National Journal Group.
• 
  Katie Couric Katie Couric is an award-winning journalist and TV personality, well-known cancer advocate, and New York Times best-selling author. In September 2006, after completing a 15-year run as co-anchor of NBC’s “Today Show,” Couric became the first female solo anchor of an evening news broadcast and served as anchor and managing editor of the “CBS Evening News.” Couric now serves as special correspondent for ABC News. Beginning on September 10, 2012, she will host a new syndicated daytime talk show, “Katie.”
• 
  William Daley Mr. Daley is the Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. Previously, Mr. Daley served as Vice Chair, Chairman of the Midwest Region, and head of the Office of Corporate Responsibility for JP Morgan Chase. Mr. Daley served as President of SBC Communications from 2001 – 2004.
  
  Mr. Daley was the campaign chairman for Al Gore’s presidential run in 2000. Prior to that, Mr. Daley served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997-2000, overseeing a department of more than 40,000 people. Mr. Daley also served as Special Counsel to President Clinton in 1993, focusing on international trade issues.
  
  Earlier in his career, Mr. Daley was a partner at the law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt; was President and Chief Operating Officer of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago; and was a lawyer at the firm of Daley and George. He has also served on the boards of a number of corporate, academic, medical, charitable and civic organizations.
  
  Mr. Daley was born in Chicago, Illinois where he also completed his education including a B.A. from Loyola University and a law degree from John Marshall Law School. He is married to Ms. Bernadette Keller.
• 
  James Duff James C. Duff is the the president and CEO of the Freedom Forum, the nonpartisan foundation dedicated to the First Amendment and media issues and which runs Washington, D.C.’s Newseum, the First Amendment Center, and the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
• 
  James Fallows James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has worked for the magazine for more than 30 years. In that time he has been based in various sites within the United States and in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and Beijing. He has written ten books, of which the latest, China Airborne, was published in May. He won the American Book Award for his book National Defense, the National Magazine Award for his writings about the Iraq war, and a New York Emmy for his role as host of a documentary series on China. During the Carter administration, he worked in the White House as the president’s chief speechwriter.
• 
  Major Garrett Major Elliott Garrett is a Congressional correspondent with the National Journal. Prior to joining the National Journal he was the senior White House correspondent for the Fox News Channel. He covered the 2004 presidential election, the War on Terror, and the 2008 presidential election where he covered the Democratic primaries and later Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.
  
  He is married to Julie Kirtz, a Washington, D.C. correspondent for Fox News weekend.
• 
  Timothy Geithner Timothy Franz Geithner is the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Barack Obama. He was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
• 
  David Gregory David Michael Gregory is an American television journalist, and moderator of NBC News' Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press.
• 
  Margaret A. Hamburg Margaret A. Hamburg became the 21st Commissioner of Food and Drugs in May 2009. The second woman to be nominated for this position, she is an experienced medical doctor, scientist, and public health executive. As the top official of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Hamburg is currently overseeing the implementation of laws to curb the use of tobacco and enhance food safety, and has undertaken major efforts streamline and modernize FDA’s regulatory pathways.
  
  Before joining FDA, Dr. Hamburg worked at the Nuclear Threat Initiative from 2001 to 2009, first as the vice president for biological programs and later as the foundation’s senior scientist. From 1997 to 2001, she was assistant secretary for policy and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and in the 1990s she served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Hamburg earned her undergraduate and medical school degrees from Harvard University.
• 
  Gwen Ifill Gwen Ifill is moderator and managing editor of PBS’s “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for the “PBS NewsHour.” She is also the best-selling author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Ifill reports on a wide range of issues from foreign affairs to US politics and policies, interviewing national and international newsmakers. She has covered six presidential campaigns and moderated two vice presidential debates. Before coming to PBS in 1999, Ifill was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, White House correspondent for The New York Times, and a local and national political reporter for The Washington Post. Ifill has received more than 20 honorary doctorates and currently serves on the boards of the News Literacy Project, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and she is a fellow with the American Academy of Sciences.
• 
  Valerie B. Jarrett Valerie B. Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She is also the Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls.
  
  Prior to joining the Obama Administration, she was the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company. She also served as Co-Chair of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team, and Senior Advisor to Obama's presidential campaign.
  
  Ms. Jarrett has held positions in both the public and private sector, including the Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board, the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the City of Chicago, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley. She also practiced law with two private law firms.
  
  Jarrett also served as a director of corporate and not for profit boards, including Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees.
  
  Jarrett received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.
• 
  Jonathan Karl Media speaker Jonathan Karl, ABC News' Senior Congressional Correspondent, covers Congress for World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America. Karl joined ABC News in January 2004 and has also served as the network's Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent and Senior National Security Correspondent.
  
  Karl has covered political campaigns in virtually every state and has reported from more than 30 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, and Sudan. He traveled internationally with the President, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense. He has interviewed countless public figures, including Dick Cheney, General David Petraeus, Hillary Clinton, and Robert Gates.
  
  Prior to joining ABC News, Karl served as Congressional correspondent for CNN, and throughout his eight years with CNN he covered Capitol Hill, the White House, and the Pentagon. He has reported on three presidential elections, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the intelligence community, President Clinton's impeachment, and Congressional reaction to the September 11th terrorist attacks. He was the first to report on both Senator Trent Lott resigning from his position as Senate Majority Leader and Senator Jim Jeffords leaving the Republican Party.
• 
  Dr. Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger was the 56th Secretary of State of the United States from 1973 to 1977, continuing to hold the position of Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs which he first assumed in 1969 until 1975. After leaving government service, he founded Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm, of which he is chairman.
• 
  Larry Kudlow Larry Kudlow is host of CNBC's primetime "The Kudlow Report" and the co-host of CNBC's "The Call." He is also the host of The Larry Kudlow Show, which broadcasts on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm on WABC Radio and is syndicated nationally by Citadel Media.
  
  He is also the founder and CEO of Kudlow and Company, LLC, an economic research and consulting firm. Mr. Kudlow is a familiar face in Washington and on Wall Street -- a renowned free market, supply-side economist armed with knowledge, vision, and integrity acquired over a storied career spanning three decades.
  
  He offers a tremendous wealth of insight and expertise to help investors better navigate tomorrow's evolving economic and political terrain.
• 
  Corby Kummer Corby Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he has established himself as one of the country's most widely read, authoritative, and creative food writers. Kummer is the restaurant critic for Boston Magazine and the former restaurant critic for New York magazine. In addition to The Atlantic, Kummer writes regularly for Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times Magazine, and Food & Wine, among others.
  
  Kummer is the author of The Pleasures of Slow Food: Celebrating Authentic Traditions, Flavors, and Recipes. His Atlantic series on coffee was nominated for a National Magazine Award and led to his book, The Joy of Coffee. Kummer is the recipient of three James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.
• 
  Mark Leibovich
• 
  David Leonhardt David Leonhardt's column on economics and business appears on Wednesday in The New York Times.
  
  David has been writing about economics for The Times since 2000. He was one of the writers who produced the paper's recent series on social class in the United States. He has written frequently about economic policy, real estate and the job market, as well as about the corporate scandals of recent years.
  
  In 2004, David founded an analytical sports column, called Keeping Score, which runs on Sundays. Since joining The Times in 1999, he has also written about culture, science and travel.
  
  David previously worked for Business Week magazine, in Chicago and New York, and for the metro desk of The Washington Post. A New York native, he studied applied mathematics at Yale.
• 
  Chris Matthews Chris Matthews is the host of “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” on MSNBC and the host of NBC’s “The Chris Matthews Show.” Over the last 15 years, he has become known for his powerful and influential political commentary. Matthews is an author, international journalist, and no-nonsense political commentator. He was until recently a nationally syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and is the author of best-selling books such as, Now Let Me Tell You What I Really Think. He joined the San Francisco Examiner in 1987 where he served as Washington Bureau Chief for 13 years. Prior to entering journalism, Matthews served as White House aide and speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter and as a top aide to former Speaker of the House Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.
• 
  Brian Moynihan Brian T. Moynihan is the chief executive officer of Bank of America. He was elected to his role by the board of directors on December 16, 2009, and took office on January 1, 2010. Moynihan also is a member of the Bank of America board of directors.
  
  Moynihan leads one of the world's largest financial institutions. Bank of America serves consumers, businesses of all sizes and institutional investors with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 58 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,700 retail banking offices and approximately 17,800 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users.
  
  Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves corporate, institutional and individual clients through operations in more than 40 countries.
  
  Under Moynihan's leadership, Bank of America is building on its leadership position in community development, philanthropy and environmental initiatives. The company is working toward achieving three major public goals: a 10-year, $1.5 trillion community lending and investing goal; a 10-year, $2 billion philanthropic giving goal; and a 10-year, $20 billion goal for lending to and investing in environmental initiatives.
  
  Moynihan has led Bank of America's Global Diversity and Inclusion Council, a group of senior executives from across lines of business, since 2007. His direct support of diversity and inclusion initiatives across the bank has been instrumental in creating an inclusive work environment that is consistently recognized by third parties as one of the best in corporate America. The bank continues to gain recognition as a top employer by Working Mother, Black Enterprise, DiversityInc, G.I. Jobs, Hispanic Business and LATINA Style magazines; scored a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for policies beneficial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender associates; and was named an 'adoption friendly workplace' by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
  
  Moynihan joined Bank of America in 2004 following the company's merger with FleetBoston Financial. In 2010, he was elected a trustee of the Corporation of Brown University.
• 
  Marwan Muasher Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, where he oversees the Endowment's research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East. Muasher served as foreign minister (2002–2004) and deputy prime minister (2004–2005) of Jordan, and his career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University.
  
  Muasher began his career as a journalist for The Jordan Times. He then served at the Ministry of Planning, at the prime minister's office as press adviser, and as director of the Jordan Information Bureau in Washington.
  
  In 1995, Muasher opened Jordan’s first embassy in Israel, and in 1996 became minister of information and the government spokesperson. From 1997 to 2002, he served in Washington again as ambassador, negotiating the first free trade agreement between the United States and an Arab nation. He then returned to Jordan to serve as foreign minister, where he played a central role in developing the Arab Peace Initiative and the Middle East Road Map.
  
  In 2004 he became deputy prime minister responsible for reform and government performance, and led the effort to produce a ten-year plan for political, economic, and social reform. From 2006 to 2007, he was a member of the Jordanian Senate.
  
  Most recently, he was senior vice president of external affairs at the World Bank from 2007 to 2010. He is also the author of The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation.
• 
  President Pervez Musharraf President Pervez Musharraf occupied, what TIME Magazine described as "the most dangerous job in the world," playing a crucial role in the global war on terror. President Musharraf has survived two assassination attempts; rooted out militants in his own government; helped direct countless raids against Al Qaeda - both in his cities and in the mountains; and tracked Osama Bin Laden with technical and human intelligence. His astonishingly revealing memoir, In the Line of Fire, chronicles his struggles for the security and political future of his nation, with high stakes for the world at large.
  
  At the start of his presidency, political restructuring was one of the four areas of focus for his government. He began examining why democracy remained dysfunctional in Pakistan and addressed the core malaise. He empowered the people of Pakistan at the grass roots level through a local government system, which did not previously exist; the women of Pakistan were empowered by gaining reserve seats at every tier of the Parliament; multiple private TV channels were allowed for the first time in the history of Pakistan, and the electronic and print media began operating independently of the government.
  
  Following the September 11th terror attacks, the United States sought President Musharraf’s support to fight the Taliban. With a vision for a modern, democratic, non-fundamentalist Islamic Pakistan, President Musharraf was one of America’s greatest allies in helping to fight the Taliban.
  
  In the course of his seven years at the helm of affairs in Pakistan, President Musharraf traveled widely all over the world and met many prominent leaders, and many of those leaders came to Pakistan and interacted with him. Such top-level interactions allowed him to develop a sense of the geo-strategic realities of the world, and various conflict regions. It also crystallized his views and perceptions of key world issues. President Musharraf articulated one such thought to bring harmony into distraught regions in the form of a "strategy of Enlightened Moderation". This captured the imagination of the West in particular, and was adopted by the Islamic World for Enlightened Moderation.
  
  President Musharraf has a vision for Pakistan, and still believes that it is a nation that has all the resources, the potential and all the human capability to be transformed into a progressive, moderate, and prosperous Islamic State.
• 
  Norah O'Donnell Emmy award-winning reporter Norah O'Donnell was named CBS News' Chief White House Correspondent in June 2011.
  
  O'Donnell will also become the principal substitute anchor for "Face The Nation," the growing Sunday morning public affairs broadcast anchored by CBS News' Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer, and will report for all CBS News broadcasts, including occasionally for "60 Minutes."
  
  O'Donnell has been the Chief Washington Correspondent for MSNBC and a contributing correspondent for "TODAY" and "Weekend TODAY." She also appears regularly on "The Chris Matthews Show" and has co-anchored the 9 a.m. hour of "TODAY."
  
  O'Donnell provided in-depth coverage of the 2008 presidential election, during which she anchored throughout the primaries and reported on the exit polls. She was one of the main anchors for MSNBC's primetime coverage of both the Democratic and Republican conventions, and moderated a panel of MSNBC's chief political analysts. She won an Emmy as part of NBC News' election night coverage.
  
  O'Donnell joined NBC News in 1999. Prior to that, she was a staff reporter for the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and worked as a contributor and analyst for MSNBC.
  
  During her 12-year tenure at NBC, O'Donnell's assignments have taken her around the country and the globe. They include coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign of President George W. Bush, as well as the 2000 presidential campaigns of John McCain and George W. Bush. She provided analysis of the debates, the Republican and Democratic conventions, Election Night, as well as the 2000 Florida recount.
  
  For her "Dateline NBC" story, "D.C. In Crisis," which aired on Sept. 11, 2001, O'Donnell was honored with the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage. In the months following the attacks, she traveled extensively with then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, reporting on the war in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.
  
  Born into a military family, O'Donnell grew up in San Antonio, Texas; Landstuhl, Germany; Seoul, Korea; and Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. She also holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University. She is married to Geoff Tracy, a restaurateur in Washington, D.C, where they live with their three children.
• 
  David Rhodes David Rhodes was named President of CBS News in February 2011. As President, he oversees all network newsgathering and breaking news coverage including programs such as the "CBS Evening News," "The Early Show," "CBS Sunday Morning," "Face the Nation, "48 Hours Mystery," and content for CBSNews.com and CBS News Radio.
  
  Prior to joining CBS News, Rhodes worked at two fast-growing news organizations, holding senior roles at Bloomberg and at Fox News. He began his career in electronic journalism in 1996 as a Production Assistant with the newly-launched Fox News Channel, remaining at Fox as the upstart network surpassed cable competitors to become number one in the category, where it has remained since 2002.
  
  Over 12 years at Fox, Rhodes held various positions in newsgathering and management, rising to Vice President of News in charge of the network's day-to-day spot news coverage, domestic news bureaus, and hard-news programs. In his time at the channel, he ran political reporting, beginning in 2000, and took part in election-night decision teams from 2002 to 2008. Rhodes edited foreign coverage including coordination of the channel's resources in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Gulf region. He directed the network's coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and other major events. Rhodes was Fox News Channel's assignment manager and was on the desk in New York on the morning of September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Pennsylvania came under attack.
  
  In November 2008, Rhodes joined Bloomberg's Multimedia group as Head of U.S. Television. As Bloomberg launched a new approach to its global TV product, he assumed responsibility for the U.S. channel's programming, development, editorial, newsgathering, production, and operations, directing a staff of more than 200 people. During this time he launched an all-new look and feel for the channel's programming and made significant changes in the channel's on-air talent and overall positioning.
  
  Rhodes holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and political science from Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is a native of New York City and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Emma, and sons Ethan and Oliver.
• 
  Dorothy Robyn Dorothy Robyn became the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment in July 2009. In this position, she provides management and oversight of military installations worldwide and manages environmental, safety, and occupational health programs for the Department. The Department's installations cover some 28 million acres, with 539,000 buildings and structures valued at more than $800 billion. Her responsibilities include the development of installation capabilities, programs, and budgets; installation-energy programs and policy; base realignment and closure; privatization of military housing and utilities; and integration of environmental needs into the weapons acquisition process. She is also responsible for environmental management, safety and occupational health; environmental restoration at active and closing bases; conservation of natural and cultural resources; pollution prevention; environmental research and technology; fire protection; and explosives safety. Dr. Robyn also serves as the Department's designated Senior Real Property Officer and the DoD representative to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
  
  Before her appointment to the Department of Defense, Dr. Robyn was a principal with The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm that specializes in competition and antitrust, energy and the environment. She focused principally on economic analysis of public policy issues related to the aviation and telecommunications sectors, including such issues as: proposed changes in the governance and financing of the U.S. air traffic control system; antitrust issues affecting international airline alliances; and mechanisms for FCC allocation of vacant radio spectrum. Prior to joining The Brattle Group in 2002, she was a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution.
  
  From 1993 to 2001, Dr. Robyn served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and a senior staff member of the White House National Economic Council. She managed interagency coordination on high-priority issues in aviation and transportation, aerospace and defense, science and technology, and competition policy. Most relevant to her current job, she oversaw the development and implementation of the Clinton Administration's Defense Reinvestment and Transition Initiative, which encompassed adjustment programs for workers and communities hurt by defense downsizing; a comprehensive strategy to accelerate reuse of closing military bases; and efforts such as housing privatization, defense acquisition reform and "dual-use" R&D that were designed to allow for greater DoD reliance on commercial markets.
  
  Prior to joining the White House staff, Dr. Robyn was with the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). From 1983-1987, she was an assistant professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where she taught courses in public management, policy analysis and the business-government relationship.
  
  She is co-author (with William Baumol) of Toward an Evolutionary Regime for Spectrum Governance: Licensing or Unrestricted Entry? (Brookings Press, 2006) and author of Braking the Special Interests: Trucking Deregulation and the Politics of Policy Reform (University of Chicago Press, 1987). Dr. Robyn has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (1991-93) and as book editor for Issues in Science and Technology (1986-89). She wrote the 1995 White House report, Second to None: Preserving America's Military Advantage through Dual-Use Technology and co-authored the 1988 OTA report, Commercializing High-Temperature Superconductivity. She has a B.A. from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. and M.P.P. in public policy from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a native of St. Louis, Missouri.
• 
  David M. Rubenstein David M. Rubenstein is co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group. Since its inception in 1987, the private equity firm has grown into managing more than $100 billion from 27 offices around the world. Rubenstein is chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and president of the Economic Club of Washington.
  
  He is a regent of the Smithsonian Institution and on the boards of directors or trustees for Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Brookings Institution, and several other organizations.
  
  Rubenstein also serves on several academic councils and advisory boards. He has practiced law, served as chief counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on constitutional amendments, and was President Jimmy Carter's deputy assistant for domestic policy.
• 
  Robert E. Rubin Robert Rubin is co-chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and a counselor at Centerview Partners. From 1999 to 2009, Rubin served as a member of the board of directors and senior advisor at Citigroup.
  
  In 2005, he was one of the founders of The Hamilton Project, an economic policy project housed at the Brookings Institution. In 1995, Rubin was appointed as the 70th secretary of the treasury. Rubin joined the Clinton administration in 1993 as assistant to the president for economic policy and as director of the newly created National Economic Council.
  
  Rubin is the author of the best-selling book In An Uncertain World. He is a member of the Harvard Corporation, on the board of trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center, and chairman of the board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which is the nation's leading community development support organization with 38 offices nationwide.
• 
  Marco Rubio Marco Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. His committee assignments currently include Commerce, Science and Transportation; Foreign Relations; Intelligence; and Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He and his wife, Jeanette, have four young children and live in West Miami.
• 
  Representative Paul Ryan Paul D. Ryan, Jr. is an American politician and Congressman from Wisconsin.
  
  He is a member of the Republican Party, and represents Wisconsin's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• 
  Kai Ryssdal Kai Ryssdal took the reins as host of Marketplace in August 2005. He previously hosted the Marketplace Morning Report for more than four years.
  
  Before joining Marketplace, Kai was a reporter and substitute host for The California Report, a news and information program distributed to public radio stations throughout California by KQED-FM in San Francisco.
  
  His radio work has won first place awards from the Radio and Television News Directors Association and the national Public Radio News Directors Association.
  
  After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Kai spent eight years in the United States Navy, first flying from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, and then as a Pentagon staff officer. Before his career in public radio, Kai was a member of the United States Foreign Service and served in Ottawa, Canada, and Beijing, China.
  
  Kai is married and the father of four. He also enjoys running, a fact featured in a Runner's World magazine article.
• 
  Antonin Scalia Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, March 11, 1936. He received his A.B. from Georgetown University and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School, and was a Sheldon Fellow of Harvard University from 1960-1961.
  
  He was in private practice in Cleveland, Ohio from 1961-1967, a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia from 1967-1971, and a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago from 1977-1982, and a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University and Stanford University.
  
  He was chairman of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law, 1981-1982, and its Conference of Section Chairmen, 1982-1983. He served the federal government as General Counsel of the Office of Telecommunications Policy from 1971-1972, Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States from 1972-1974, and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel from 1974-1977.
  
  He was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1982. President Reagan nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat September 26, 1986.
• 
  Eric Schmidt Eric E. Schmidt is executive chairman of Google. Since joining the startup in 2001, Schmidt has helped grow the company to be a global leader in technology. As executive chairman, he is responsible for the external matters of Google: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, and advising the CEO and senior leadership on business and policy issues. From 2001 to 2011, Schmidt served as Google’s CEO, overseeing the company’s technical and business strategy alongside its founder. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation. Schmidt is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council in the UK. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a fellow in 2007.
• 
  Howard Schultz Howard Schultz is chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Starbucks Coffee Company. He purchased Starbucks in 1987 with the help of local investors in Seattle. He was originally drawn to Seattle and its extraordinary coffee culture in 1982 when he moved from his native New York to join Starbucks as director of operations and marketing when Starbucks had four stores. In 1983, Howard traveled to Italy and was captivated by Italian coffee bars decided to bring that back to the States. In order to pursue this dream, Schultz left Starbucks to start his own coffee company, Il Giornale, and returned in 1987 to purchase Starbucks. Schultz went on to create two landmark programs for Starbucks partners (employees): comprehensive health coverage for part-time partners and equity in the company in the form of stock options. Starbucks has grown to more than 16,000 stores around the world.
• 
  Ben Sherwood Ben Sherwood was named president of ABC News in December 2010. He is responsible for all aspects of ABC News' broadcasts, including World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer, Nightline, Good Morning America, 20/20, and This Week with George Stephanopoulos. In addition, Sherwood oversees ABC News Radio, ABCNEWS.com, satellite service NewsOne, and ABC News NOW. Under Sherwood's leadership the News division is enjoying journalistic success and significant audience growth. In addition, during Sherwood's tenure the News division has won some of the most prestigious honors in the industry, including George Polk, George Foster Peabody, Overseas Press Club, SPJ Sigma Delta Chi, and Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards. Sherwood launched his journalistic career in earnest when he joined ABC News in 1989, serving as an investigative associate producer and producer for ABC News' PrimeTime Live with anchors Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson. In 1997 he joined NBC's Nightly News with Tom Brokaw as broadcast producer responsible for "In Depth" reports, then senior producer, and ultimately senior broadcast producer, where he helped guide coverage of the September 11th attacks and the controversy in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. Sherwood returned to ABC News in April 2004 as executive producer of the network's award-winning morning program, Good Morning America. he guided GMA to two of the most successful seasons in its history, while overseeing prize-winning coverage of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the devastation of hurricane Katrina, and the presidential election of 2004. Over the years Sherwood's journalism and non-fiction essays have been published in many respected publications, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, New Republic, Washington Monthly, Parade, and O magazine. He is the author of two critically acclaimed best-selling novels, The Man Who Ate the 747 (2000) and The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (2004). His fiction has been published around the world in more than 15 languages. In July 2010, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud was adapted as a feature film starring Zac Efron and was released by Universal Pictures under the title Charlie St. Cloud. Sherwood's latest book, The Survivors Club, is a non-fiction exploration of the science and secrets behind who bounces back from everyday adversity and who doesn't; who beats life-threatening disease and who succumbs; and who triumphs after economic hardship and who surrenders. The book became an instant New York Times bestseller, has been featured widely in print and on television and has been published around the world. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College in 1986, Sherwood earned a BA degree in American government and history. From 1986 to 1989, as a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, he earned master's degrees in British imperial history and development economics. Sherwood is a member of the advisory board of City Year Los Angeles and a member of the advisory board of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, DC. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He and his wife, Karen, live in New York with their two young boys.
• 
  Anne-Marie Slaughter Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009 to 2011, she served as the first woman director of policy planning for the US State Department. Slaughter was dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs from 2002 to 2009 and a professor of international law at Harvard Law School from 1994 to 2002. She has written or edited six books, including The Idea that is America: Keeping Faith with our Values in a Dangerous World and A New World Order, and over 100 articles. She also writes for popular media and curates foreign policy news on Twitter.
• 
  Eric Spiegel Eric Spiegel joined Siemens in January, 2010, as President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Corporation and CEO of the U.S. Region. As CEO of the global engineering and technology company's largest single market, Mr. Spiegel, 53, is responsible for growing the U.S. business in the Industry, Energy and Healthcare sectors. Siemens had $25 billion in U.S. sales in FY 2010 and exported ~$2 billion in products from the U.S. With more than 60,000 American employees and nearly 100 manufacturing locations, Siemens is represented in all 50 states.
  
  Mr. Spiegel brings to Siemens twenty-five years of global consulting experience with complex organizations in the energy, power, chemical, water, industrial and automotive fields. Prior to joining Siemens, Mr. Spiegel was at Booz Allen Hamilton from 1986-2008. From 2008-2010, Mr. Spiegel was a senior partner and served as the Managing Partner of Booz & Company's Global Energy, Chemicals and Power consulting practice and led the firm’s Washington D.C. office.
  
  From 1999-2003, he served as the Managing Director of Booz Allen Hamilton International while living in Tokyo. This role included managing the firm's business in Asia, South America and the Middle East. He was an original member of the Board of Directors for Booz & Company and was previously a member of the Board of Directors for Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Spiegel worked at Brown Boveri (now ABB) and Temple, Barker & Sloane, Inc. (now Oliver Wyman).
  
  An expert on the global energy industry, Mr. Spiegel co-authored the 2009 book Energy Shift: Game-changing Options for Fueling the Future, which has been translated into Arabic, Spanish, Korean and Japanese.
  
  Mr. Spiegel holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where he was an Edward Tuck Scholar and received his A.B. with Honors in Economics from Harvard University. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. and The Board of Overseers at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. He is also a member of the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Electrification Coalition.
• 
  Jake Tapper Jake Tapper is Senior White House Correspondent for ABC News.
• 
  Rex Tillerson Rex Tillerson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil.
• 
  Chuck Todd Chuck Todd is the chief White House correspondent for NBC News and co-host of MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown.” He also serves as NBC News’s on-air political analyst for “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” “Meet the Press,” and MSNBC. Additionally, Todd has been responsible for all aspects of the network’s political coverage, including maintaining contact with the campaigns and serving as the point person for political news and information. He is also the editor of First Read, NBC’s guide to political news and trends in and around Washington, writes weekly analysis columns for MSNBC.com, and hosts regular online discussions on Newsvine. Before joining NBC, Todd was editor-in-chief of National Journal’s “The Hotline,” Washington’s premier political daily briefing. Todd has been featured as one of Washingtonian’s “Best Of” journalists.
• 
  Chris Wallace Christopher "Chris" Wallace is an American journalist, currently the host of the Fox Network program, Fox News Sunday. Wallace has won three Emmy Awards, the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award, and a Peabody Award. Wallace has been with Fox News since 2003. As a previous moderator of Meet the Press, Wallace is the only person to date to have served as host/moderator of more than one of the major Sunday political talk shows.
• 
  Juan Williams Juan Williams is an Emmy Award-winning writer, radio, and television correspondent. Williams is currently serving as a senior national correspondent for National Public Radio. Prior to joining NPR, Williams spent 23 years working at the Washington Post as a columnist and White House correspondent. Author of "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America - and What We Can Do About It."