Mika Brzezinski
Mika Brzezinski
Author. Morning Joe co-host
Mika Brzezinski is the co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and the author of three best-selling books. Her most recent book Obsessed: America’s Food Addiction and My Own debuted on the best-sellers list in spring 2013. Brzezinski also writes “Getting What You Want,” a monthly column about career confidence and empowerment for Cosmopolitan.
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 September 11, 2001 attacks. Brzezinski is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.
Twitter: @morningmika
Ronald Brownstein
Ronald Brownstein
National Journal Group’s Editorial Director
Ronald Brownstein, a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns, is National Journal Group’s Editorial Director. He also writes a weekly column and regularly contributes other pieces for both the National Journal and The Atlantic, and coordinates political coverage and activities across publications produced by Atlantic Media.
Prior to joining Atlantic Media, Brownstein was the National Affairs Columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has also served as the Times’ National Political Correspondent and the author of the weekly “Washington Outlook” column. Brownstein is a National Journal alumnus, having served as the magazine’s White House and National Politics Correspondent from 1983-1986, and then as its West Coast Correspondent through 1989. He appears regularly on national television, including NBC, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC, and served as a political analyst for CNN from 1998 through 2004. His sixth and most recent book, The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, was published by Penguin in November 2007.
Brownstein was twice named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, receiving that recognition for his coverage of both 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.
The Common Good hosted Mr. Brownstein in November of 2007: The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America.
Twitter: @RonBrownstein
Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
34th and 39th Governor of California
Jerry Brown served as the 34th Governor of California (1975–83) and as the 39th California Governor (2011–2019). Brown previously served as a member of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees (1969–1971) and as Secretary of State of California (1971–1975). In 1989 he became Chairman of the state Democratic Party. He resigned that position in 1991.
Brown sought the Democratic nominations for President of the United States in 1976, 1980, and 1992, and was the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in California in 1982. He defeated Bill Clinton in Maine, Colorado, Vermont, Connecticut, Utah and Nevada during the 1992 Presidential primaries and was the only candidate other than Clinton to receive enough voter support to continue until the Democratic National Convention. In 1998, Brown ran for mayor of Oakland against 11 other candidates and won in the primary with 59% of the vote. Before taking office, he successfully passed a voter initiative, changing the ceremonial office of mayor to that of a “Strong Mayor” form of city government. He was reelected in 2002 with 64% of the vote. Brown was elected California’s 31st Attorney General on November 6, 2006.
Governor Brown was elected for his third gubernatorial term in 2010. Since taking office he dramatically cut the state budget deficit, improved California’s credit ratings and cut waste and inefficiencies throughout government. Governor Brown also enacted historic public safety realignment, raised the state’s clean energy goal to 33 percent. He signed the nation’s first legislation requiring high school students to demonstrate basic proficiency before graduation. State funding for higher education, including community colleges, more than doubled during Brown’s eight years as governor.
Twitter: @JerryBrownGov
Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Comedy actor and writer
Comedic actor Chevy Chase was born October 8, 1943, in New York City. In his twenties, he wrote for the Smothers Brothers and National Lampoon. Though hired as a writer for Saturday Night Live in 1975, he soon began appearing in front of the camera. He starred in Caddyshack in 1980, National Lampoon’s Vacation in 1983, and Fletch in 1985. In recent years, Chase has chosen to work in family films, such as Man of the House and Snow Day. Chase has also made several television cameos. In 2006, he guest-starred in Law & Order, and in Brothers & Sisters. He also had a starring role in the sitcom Community from 2009 to 2012.
Chase is an active environmentalist and charity fundraiser. He campaigned and raised money for Bill Clinton in the 1990’s and John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Election.
Chase co-hosted a 2008 Democratic National Convention Panel with The Common Good and Rick Hernandez.
Twitter: @ChevyChaseToGo
Juju Chang
Juju Chang
Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist
Juju Chang is an Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline. She also reports regularly for Good Morning America and 20/20. Chang has been recognized for her in-depth personal narratives set against the backdrop of pressing national and international news including her exclusive television interview with transgender soldier Chelsea Manning, which explored issues of national security leaks and LGBTQ military service. Chang has also covered major breaking news for decades for ABC News.
Chang participated in The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019. She presented the morning session of the Forum and moderated the “Women & Power” panel featuring former Congresswoman Mia Love, Alessandra Stanley, Kay Koplovitz, and Sally Quinn.
Twitter: @JujuChangABC
President Jimmy Carter
President Jimmy Carter
Thirty-ninth President of the United States
James Earl Carter, Jr., served as the thirty-ninth president of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. He attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a bachelor of science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant.
When his father died in 1953, he resigned his naval commission and returned with his family to Georgia. He quickly became a leader of the community, serving on county boards supervising education, the hospital authority, and the library. Carter served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia.
Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration’s achievements included: a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
In 1982, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and founded The Carter Center. Actively guided by President Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy.
On December 10, 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Mr. Carter “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
Bill Browder
Bill Browder
Financier, economist
Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies. In 2009 his Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was killed in a Moscow prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials. Ever since, Browder has conducted a global campaign to impose visa bans and asset freezes on individual human rights abusers, particularly those who played a role in Magnitsky’s false arrest, torture and death. The United States was the first to impose such sanctions, passing the 2012 “Magnitsky Act” and Global Magnitsky Bill in 2016. The United Kingdom passed a Magnitsky amendment in 2017, Estonia in 2016, and Canada and Lithuania in 2017. Similar legislation is being developed in Australia, France, Denmark, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden and Ukraine.
In 2015 Browder published the New York Times bestseller Red Notice, recounting his experience in Russia and ongoing fight for justice for Sergei Magnitsky.
Browder spoke on the panel “Rule of Law, Corruption, and Abuse of Power” alongside Preet Bharara, moderated by John Avlon. and was presented with the American Spirit Award for Citizen Activism at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019.
Twitter: @Billbrowder
Jason Carter
the honorable Jason Carter
Lawyer, politician
Jason Carter is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Georgia. He is a former state senator and was the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor in the 2014 election, but lost to incumbent Nathan Deal. He is the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter.
He serves on the boards of several charitable and public interest organizations, including Hands On Atlanta, the DeKalb Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, and the Georgia Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carter Center and the Emory University Board of Visitors.
Twitter: @SenatorCarter
Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson
Political news correspondent, conservative commentator for the Fox News Channel
Tucker Carlson is an American political news correspondent and conservative commentator for the Fox News Channel. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller. He is a senior fellow of the Cato Institute and formerly co-hosted CNN’s Crossfire and MSNBC’s Tucker.
Carlson began his journalism career as a member of the editorial staff of Policy Review, a national conservative journal, then published by the Heritage Foundation (and since acquired by the Hoover Institution). He later worked as a reporter at the regionally influential Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas and at The Weekly Standard. As a magazine and newspaper journalist, Carlson has reported from around the world. He has been a columnist for Reader’s Digest and has written for Esquire, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, and The Daily Beast.
Carlson joined CNN as its youngest anchor ever, remaining at the network until February 2005. He got his television start in 2000 as co-host of The Spin Room opposite Bill Press.
Carlson spoke at The Common Good as part of the 2008 Democratic National Convention Panel.
Twitter: @TuckerCarlson
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Senator Maria Cantwell
Senator Maria Cantwell
United States Senator for the State of Washington
Maria Cantwell currently serves as a United States Senator for the State of Washington. Cantwell was first elected in 2000 when she beat the incumbent Senator Slade Gorton.
Cantwell was the first member of her family to graduate from college. She worked in the Washington state legislature and then as a member of the US Congress. She lost her seat in the Republican sweep into Congress in 1994. Cadwell then entered the private sector to become a successful business woman in the high tech industry as an executive at RealNetworks. In 2000 she was urged to run for the Senate and spent $10 million of her own money, eschewing support from PAC’s.
Cantwell currently serves on the Finance Committee, the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee.
Senator Cadwell spoke at The Common Good in 2011.
Twitter: @SenatorCantwell
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Scott Birnbaum
Scott Birnbaum
Project Finance attorney and leader of the Young Leadership Committee of Seeds of Peace
Scott is a member of the Board of Seeds of Peace, a founding member of the Board of the Young Leadership Committee (YLC), and he served as Chairman of the YLC Board from 2010-2012.
Scott began almost a decade of volunteering for Seeds of Peace via the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Young Leadership Committee. In 2010, he served as the chair of the Peace Market changing the model of the event to improve fundraising impact and profitability by attracting over 1,000 guests by creating a more inclusive and casual format for the event and by engaging a group of over 100 volunteers to produce the event. Scott led multiple YLC initiatives including the formation of the YLC Board and restructuring the annual Stand Up for Peace comedy event. In 2010, he was elected chairman of the YLC Board and during his almost three years of tenure, personally raised over $200,000 for the organization and lead the YLC to raise over $1 million for Seeds of Peace.
Scott combines 10 years of entrepreneurial experience including his time as co-founder of Epok, an early cloud-based Enterprise solution with his experience as a corporate attorney at White & Case and digital media expertise developed at CBS Local where he focused on Strategy, Business Development, and launching new product lines. He’s the founder and Managing Partner of Red Sea Ventures, an early stage venture fund focused on Technology and Media.
Scott is the recipient of the Young Peace Maker award for his outstanding leadership in and dedication to supporting the mission of Seeds of Peace and the YLC.
Twitter: @Scottdbirnbaum
Paul Begala
Paul Begala
American political consultant, political commentator
Paul Edward Begala is an American political consultant and political commentator. He was an adviser to President Bill Clinton and a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, which carried 33 states and made Clinton the first Democrat to win the White House in twelve years. As counselor to the President in the Clinton White House, he coordinated policy, politics, and communications.
Aside from the 1992 presidential election, Begala and his business partner James Carville have had other well-known political victories including the 1991 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate victory of Harris Wofford, the 1988 re-election campaign of incumbent New Jersey U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, and the gubernatorial victories of Robert Casey in Pennsylvania in 1986, Wallace G. Wilkinson in Kentucky in 1987, and Zell Miller in Georgia in 1990.
Begala’s most recent novel You’re Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump tells us how Trump uses division to distract from the actual reality of his record. Distraction, he argues, is Trump’s superpower. And this book is Kryptonite. In it, the man who helped elect Bill Clinton and reelect Barack Obama, details the successes and failures—and the crucial tools Democrats need to beat Trump.
As an author and co-author, Begala has written five political books: Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush; Buck Up, Suck Up and Come Back When You Foul Up (with James Carville); It’s Still the Economy Stupid; and Third Term: Why George W. Bush (Hearts) John McCain. Until June 2005, Begala was a co-host of CNN’s political debate program Crossfire. He is currently a Research Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and is teaching at the University of Georgia School of Law as a Sanders Political Leadership Scholar.
Begala’s knowledge and signature wit makes him an ideal panelist to recap the ups and downs of the Final Presidential Debate. Join The Common Good Friday, October 23rd, 12:00pm EST as Begala along with our other expert panelists answers your questions on what will come about after the final debate.
Begala was hosted by The Common Good in 2008 for a Meet & Greet.
Twitter: @PaulBegala
Dan Balz
Dan Balz
Chief Correspondent at The Washington Post
Dan Balz is Chief Correspondent at The Washington Post. He has served as the paper’s National Editor, Political Editor, White House correspondent and Southwest correspondent. He is the co-author of two books, including the New York Times bestseller The Battle For America 2008, a narrative history of the 2008 presidential campaign.
He is the recipient of the American Political Science Association award for political coverage and shared the Gerald R. Ford award for coverage of the presidency. In 2011, he received the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Merriman Smith award for deadline writing about the presidency and the National Press Club’s award for political analysis. He is a regular panelist on PBS’s Washington Week and MSNBC’s Daily Rundown and is a frequent guest on other public affairs programs.
Twitter: @danbalz
Doug Bailey
Doug Bailey ✝
American political consultant, Founder of The Hotline
Doug Bailey was an American political consultant and founder of The Hotline, a bipartisan, daily online briefing on American politics.
From 1968 to 1987, Bailey was President of Bailey Deardourff & Associates one of the first national political consulting firms. He worked for Republican candidates including President Gerald Ford; Senators Edward Brooke, Kit Bond, John Danforth, Charles Percy, Richard Schweiker, John Chafee, Richard Lugar, Robert Stafford, and Howard Baker; Governors Thomas Kean, William Milliken, Jim Rhodes, Otis R. Bowen, James R. Thompson, Lamar Alexander, Kit Bond, Richard Snelling, William T. Cahill, Richard Thornburgh, Jim Rhodes, Robert Ray, Al Quie, and Pete DuPont.
After leaving day-to-day operations at The Hotline, which he began in 1987, Bailey became involved in numerous philanthropic activities. Most recently, he was one of the four co-founders of the political reform movement Unity08, a company that hoped to start a new centrist party for the 2008 presidential election. He appeared on The Colbert Report to promote his cause. He also founded Freedom’s Answer, a non-partisan voter turnout effort, with former Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Bailey passed away on June 10, 2013, at the age of 79.
He spoke in a discussion on The Politics of Polarization alongside Gerald Rafshoon at The Common Good in 2007.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Essa Al Khalifa of Bahrain
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Essa Al Khalifa of Bahrain
Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board
Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa was appointed the role as Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board in June 2005, after ten years of serving as a close and trusted aide to His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain, and as President of His Royal Highness’ Court. As Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, Sheik Mohammed is responsible for leading the body entrusted with ensuring the continued growth and stimulation of Bahrain’s economy. As an agent for change, the Economic Development Board works in close partnerships with both the public and private sectors to oversee the economic development strategy of the Kingdom of Bahrain and to create the right climate to attract investment.
He chairs the Young Arab Leaders’ Bahrain chapter, Tamkeen, Bahrain’s labor fund, Bahrain Development Bank, Bahrain Polytechnic and the Capital Club Bahrain. He vice-chairs Bahrain Mumtalakat Holdings Company and serves as a Board member of the Bahrain Association of Banks, the Bahrain Labour Market Regulatory Authority and The Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Programme.
Julia Bacha
Julia Bacha
Media strategist, award-winning filmmaker
Julia Bacha is a media strategist and award-winning filmmaker whose work has been exhibited at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlin, Jerusalem, and Dubai International Film Festivals, and broadcasted on the BBC, HBO, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya television channels.
Since graduating Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University in 2003, she has strategically used film to highlight under documented stories from the Middle East. Julia started her filmmaking career in Cairo, where she co-wrote and edited Jehane Noujaim’s critically acclaimed documentary, Control Room (2004), for which she was nominated to the Writer’s Guild of America Award. Control Room marked the first time most Americans were exposed to an inside view of Al Jazeera and generated wide public debate about US media coverage during the war in Iraq.
Since 2004, Julia has been working closely with Ronit Avni to develop and implement Just Vision’s media strategy. She wrote and co-directed Encounter Point (2006), which was broadcast on Al Arabiya and endorsed by the Israeli Education ministry, directed and produced Budrus (2009), which had a palpable impact on US and Arab media coverage of nonviolent resistance in the Middle East, and directed and produced My Neighbourhood (2012), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2012. She has been a guest on numerous television shows such as Charlie Rose, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchel Reports and Al Jazeera’s Frost over the World. For her influential work in shaping media in the US and beyond, Julia is the co-recipient of the 2009 King Hussein Leadership Prize, 2010 Search for Common Ground Award, 2011 Ridenhour Film Prize and the 2012 O Globo “Faz Diferença” Award. Her TED talk “Pay Attention to Nonviolence” has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
Twitter: @juliabacha
Ronit Avni
Ronit Avni
Award-winning filmmaker, human right advocate
Ronit Avni is an award-winning filmmaker and human rights advocate. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Just Vision, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing media coverage and support for Palestinian and Israeli efforts to end the conflict without arms. Her work has been featured in major news outlets, including Newsweek, The Washington Post, The BBC, NPR, and The Economist. Avni produced the documentary film, Budrus, which was hailed in The New York Times as “this year’s must-see documentary” and has won twelve international awards. Avni directed and produced the documentary film, Encounter Point, which received several awards including the San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. Encounter Point has screened in more than 200 cities worldwide and continues to be widely used in classrooms and community centers in America and the Middle East.
Previously, Avni trained human rights defenders worldwide to incorporate film into their advocacy efforts while working for Peter Gabriel’s human rights organization, WITNESS. She co-edited the book, Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism (Pluto Press, UK), with staff from WITNESS. Ronit’s essay, “Inverting the Shame-Based Human Rights Documentation Model in the Context of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” was published in the spring 2006 edition of American Anthropologist.
Avni has been recognized with a variety of honors, including: the King Hussein Leadership Prize, Search for Common Ground’s Common Ground Award, the Circles of Change Award, Auburn Seminary’s Lives of Commitment Award and a Joshua Venture Fellowship for young, Jewish social entrepreneurs. She is currently a United Nation’s Global Expert through the Alliance of Civilizations, a Woodhull Fellow, a Young Global Leader through the World Economic Forum and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Twitter: @Ronit_Avni
Charles Atkins
Charles Atkins
Investment banker, Executive Chairman of Premier League Basketball in the United Kingdom
Charles N. Atkins has more than 30 years of experience in capital markets investment banking, law and government. Charles is a Partner at Maroon Capital Group LLC; Executive Chairman for Premier League Basketball Holdings Ltd; and CEO of Atkins Capital Strategies LLC.
Charles has been awarded 2 U.S. patents for innovative financing structures.
Charles’ legal and governmental experience includes practicing corporate law at the Washington, D.C. office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, serving as Associate Assistant to the President in the Carter Administration and Legislative Counsel to United States Senator David L. Boren (D-OK). Charles served on the Presidential Transition Committee for the first Clinton Administration, and was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Advisory Committee of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Atkins attended The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards – May 21, 2018.
Munir Akram
Munir Akram
Former Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN
Munir Akram was the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations from 2002 to 2008.
He has represented Pakistan in numerous United Nations bodies and international conferences, including the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council. At the UN, he was twice the President of the Security Council (May 2003 and May 2004); President of the Economic and Social Council (2005); Chairperson of the Working Party on the Accession of Saudi Arabia to WTO (2005); and Co-Chair for UN Management Reform (2005).
Munir Akram is a prolific writer and has lectured widely on various strategic, political and economic issues. His most recent published work in 2011 is as a contributing author to ‘Pakistan – Beyond the Crisis State.’ He has been awarded Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam by the President of Pakistan for his selfless service and devotion to the country.
Ron Agam
Ron Agam
French-Israeli artist, humanitarian
Ron Agam is a French-Israeli painter and photographer currently based in New York, although he travels widely for his work. His photographs have been exhibited and published in numerous newspapers and magazines such as Newsweek and Time, as well as books in Israel, South America, and the United States.
In late 2001, Agam created a series based on his photographic work at Ground Zero on September 11. In 2008, he received the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the government of France, the highest honor in France. In 2009 he donated the entire collection of photographs to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. These works are now part of the museum’s permanent collection.
That same year, Agam also created the largest and most dynamic internet support page for Iran, 100 Million Facebook Members for Democracy in Iran. People from all denominations joined to express solidarity for the Iranian people and their struggle for freedom. His commitment to art and political efforts demonstrate his esteemed position as an artist and humanitarian.
Agam spoke on a TCG panel for Social Media, Politics and Change on July 26th, 2011, and at The Common Good Forum and American Spirit Awards on June 2nd, 2014.
Twitter: @RonAgam
