Sean Avery
Sean Avery
Former NHL player, LGBTQ+ activist
Sean Avery is a former professional ice hockey player. During his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), he played left wing for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars and New York Rangers. He gained recognition for his agitating playing style and controversial behavior both on and off the ice. After retiring in 2012, Avery began working at Lipman, an advertising and creative agency in New York City. In May 2011, Avery recorded a video for the New Yorkers for Marriage Equality campaign, in support of same-sex marriage. Avery was believed to be the first athlete in New York to publicly voice his support for same-sex marriage. In May 2012, Avery joined the board of directors of Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization focused on ending homophobia and trans-phobia in sports by educating those in the athletic community and empowering them to take a stand against prejudice. His book, Offside: My Life Crossing the Line was published in September, 2018.
Mr. Avery was hosted by The Common Good in 2011: Summer Cocktail Party with Manhattan Magazine - August 3, 2011.
Twitter: @imseanavery
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
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei
Artist
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and activist. His activity as a dissident has gone hand in hand with his artistic career and he has continued to produce work testifying to his political beliefs while at the same time making plenty of room for creativity and experimentation. (1)
After returning to China from his studies abroad, Ai contributed to the establishment of Beijing’s East Village, a community of avant-garde artists. In 1997, he co-founded the China Art Archives & Warehouse (CAAW), one of the first independent art spaces in China. In 2003, Ai started his own architecture practice, FAKE Design. In 2007, as a participant of documenta 12, Ai brought 1001 Chinese citizens to Kassel as part of his Fairytale project. In 2008, Ai and the Swiss architecture team of Herzog and de Meuron designed the Beijing National Stadium. Recently, Ai Weiwei’s film Human Flow participed in the 74th Venice International Film Festival. (1)
In 2012, Ai Weiwei was awarded the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent by the Human Rights Foundation and in 2015, was awarded the Ambassador of Conscience Award by Amnesty International for his actions in support of the defense of human rights. (1)
Weiwei was hosted by The Common Good for a discussion on Art and Activism in Amsterdam with Ai Weiwei.
Twitter: @aiww
(1) Material from the Galleria Continua website.
Governor Jay Inslee
Governor Jay Inslee
Governor of Washington State, 2020 presidential candidate
Governor Jay Inslee has led the State of Washington since 2013 and has made fighting climate change his number one priority in his presidential campaign. As governor, he has enacted policies that make Washington a national leader in clean energy, clean air and clean water. He created a new Clean Energy Fund that has invested over $100 million in developing innovative energy techniques and growing clean energy jobs, as well as the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington, which is pioneering research into next-generation renewable energy technologies like solar and battery storage. Prior to his governorship, Inslee represented Washington’s 1st and 4th Districts in the House, where he voted against the Iraq War and championed investments to grow America’s clean energy industries.
Inslee was hosted by The Common Good on May 20th, 2019: Presidential Candidates Series: Governor Jay Inslee.
Twitter: @JayInslee
Lesley Stahl
Lesley Stahl
American Television Journalist
Lesley Stahl is one of America’s most honored and experienced broadcast journalists. Her rich career has been marked by political scoops, surprising features and award-winning foreign reporting. She has been a 60 Minutes correspondent since March 1991.
Prior to joining 60 Minutes, Stahl served as CBS News White House correspondent – the first woman to hold that job – during the Carter and Reagan presidencies and part of the term of George H. W. Bush. Her reports appeared frequently on the CBS Evening News, first with Walter Cronkite, then with Dan Rather, and on other CBS News broadcasts. During much of that time, she also served as moderator of Face The Nation, CBS News’ Sunday public-affairs broadcast (September 1983–May 1991).
Stahl was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in September 2003 and her first Emmy for reporting on a bombing in Beirut for the CBS Evening News in 1983. Her Face The Nation interview with Sen. John Tower won Stahl her second statuette. Her 60 Minutes reports “How He Won the War,” about former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s battle with the tobacco industry, and “Punishing Saddam,” which exposed the plight of Iraqi citizens, mostly children, suffering the effects of the United Nations sanctions against Iraq, were both Emmy winners. “Punishing Saddam” also won Stahl electronic journalism’s highest honor, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton.
Lesley Stahl was hosted by The Common Good in 2013: Assessing the Presidency with Lesley Stahl, Douglas Brinkley, Jonathan Alter and Ed Rollins – April 11th, 2013. As part of The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards - May 10, 2019, she spoke on the panel “Journalism and Democracy” alongside Sir Harry Evans and Tom Brokaw, and was presented with the American Spirit Award for Courage in Journalism.
Twitter: @LesleyRStahl
Alexandria Villasenor
Alexandria Villaseñor
Climate activist
Alexandria Villaseñor is a climate activist and New York City resident. She co-founded the United States Youth Climate Strike, is the founder of Earth Uprising, and is a proud participant of Fridays for Future, a movement started by fellow activist Greta Thunberg. (1)
After inhaling smoke from the Camp Fire in California in November of 2018, Villaseñor became ill due to her asthma. She spent her recovery investigating climate change, which had exacerbated the fire. Villaseñor soon joined the organization Zero Hour, which works to promote young voices in the climate conversation. (1)
Villaseñor spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, May 10th, 2019, and received the Changemaker Scholarship.
Twitter: @AlexandriaV2005
(1) Information from Wikipedia.
Ari Melber
Ari Melber
MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent, anchor, host of The Beat with Ari Melber
Ari Melber is an American Emmy-winning reporter, lawyer, and writer. He serves as a Chief Legal Correspondent for MSNBC where he covers the Justice Department, Supreme Court, FBI and legal issues. He serves as journalist for NBC News and also host of MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber.
The Detroit Free Press named The Beat with Ari Melber one of the “best” TV shows of 2017. Vanity Fair reported that the show established itself as an influential and “vocal critic” of Facebook’s impact on democracy, while The Hollywood Reporter stated that Melber’s show is proving to be a “success,” and “there are few cable news hosts more perfectly suited” to breaking down legal issues in the news. In a 2014 profile, the Columbia Journalism Review dubbed Melber a “rising star” who “wants to solve problems.”
Before joining MSNBC, Melber spent four years practicing First Amendment law, and served as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate. He is a former columnist for Politico and Reuters, and his writing has been published in several books and a variety of news outlets, including the Washington Post, the Atlantic, the Nation and the New York Daily News, among other publications.
The Common Good has hosted Melber numerous times, including on the panel for Social Media, Politics and Change on July 26th, 2011 and at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017. Recently, he participated in the The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards on May 10, 2019, as the moderator for the “Renewing Democracy” panel featuring Cohen Curtis, Max Boot, Nicole Austin-Hillery, and Michael Waldman. He will host a discussion with political consultant Frank Luntz in August 2019 [RSVP here].
Max Boot
Max Boot
American author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, military historian
Max Boot is a historian, best-selling author, columnist, and national-security analyst who has been called one of the “world’s leading authorities on armed conflict” by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a Global Affairs Analyst for CNN.
Max Boot was a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2007–08, Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2011–12, and Marco Rubio’s campaign in 2015-2016. He also served as an adviser to U.S. commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has lectured on behalf of the U.S. State Department and at many military institutions, including the Army, Navy, and Air War Colleges, the Australian Defense College, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School, West Point, and the Naval Academy.
Before joining the Council in 2002, Boot spent eight years as a writer and editor at the Wall Street Journal, and the last five as op-ed editor. From 1992 to 1994 he was an editor and writer at the Christian Science Monitor. In more recent years, Boot has been a columnist for Foreign Policy, a contributing editor to the Los Angeles Times, a member of the USA Today board of contributors, and a regular contributor to many other publications including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. He serves on the boards of Intelligence Squared U.S. and the Renew Democracy Initiative. In 2018 Max Boot was named one of America’s “Great Immigrants” by the Carnegie Corporation and one of the 50 most influential Jewish Americans by the Forward newspaper. In 2007, he won the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism. In 2004, he was named by the World Affairs Councils of America as one of “the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy.”
Boot participated in the The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019 on May 10, 2019, speaking on the “Renewing Democracy” panel with Cohen Curtis, Nicole Austin-Hillery, and Michael Waldman, moderated by Ari Melber.
Twitter: @MaxBoot
Nicole Austin-Hillery
Nicole Austin-Hillery
Human rights advocate, lawyer, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch US Program
Nicole Austin-Hillery is Human Rights Watch's inaugural U.S. Program Executive Director. In this newly created role, Ms. Austin-Hillery leads Human Rights Watch’s efforts to end violations in abusive systems within the United States. Her work focuses on improving the U.S. immigration system, tackling race discrimination, rights problems within the domestic criminal justice system, and advocating for national security policies informed by international human rights standards.
Previously, Austin-Hillery was the first Director and Counsel of The Brennan Center’s Washington, D.C. office which she opened in March 2008. At the Brennan Center, she oversaw the growth and development of the Center’s advocacy and policy development work in Washington and served as its chief representative before Congress and the Executive Branch.
Austin-Hillery has testified before state and local legislative bodies as well as Congress. She has published numerous pieces for major news outlets including Time Magazine, The Hill, CNN.com and a host of others. She is a frequent speaker on a host of progressive issues.
Austin-Hillery participated in the The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards - May 10, 2019, speaking on the “Renewing Democracy” panel with Cohen Curtis, Max Boot, and Michael Waldman, moderated by Ari Melber.
Twitter: @NicoleAustinHil
Jamie Margolin
Jamie Margolin
Climate activist
Jamie Margolin is a Colombian-American writer, community organizer, activist, and public speaker living in Seattle, Washington. Margolin is the founder of Zero Hour, an international youth climate justice movement. Zero Hour led the very first Youth Climate March in Washington DC and 25 other cities all around the world during the summer of 2018. Margolin’s writing has appeared on CNN, Refinery29, The Seattle Times, TeenInk, Writer’s Digest, The Guardian, and Huffington Post. Youth To Power, her debut book, is the ultimate guide to being a young activist and will hit bookstores worldwide in 2020. (1)
Margolin attended The Common Good Forum and American Spirit Awards, May 1oth, 2019, and received the Changemaker Scholarship.
Twitter: @Jamie_Margolin
Read more:
(1) Material from The International Congress of Youth Voices website.
Rick Tyler
Rick Tyler
Political analyst
Rick Tyler is a conservative Political Analyst for the MSNBC Cable News Network. His firm, Foundry Strategies, specializes in helping political and corporate clients reach their leadership potential by honing their communications skills. Tyler served as spokesperson for Newt Gingrich and presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
As former lead trainer for GOPAC and current international and media trainer for the Leadership Institute, Tyler has prepared hundreds of candidates for the rigors of campaigning for public office. Rick has trained candidates in the United States and in countries around the world including Canada, Italy, Greece, Japan and Israel to lead successful campaigns for elected office.
Tyler has been invited to speak about his political and policy insights by many Conservative, non-partisan and professional associations, and state legislative caucuses. He has been a guest lecturer at the Institute for Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Robert J. Dole Institute for Politics at the University of Kansas and is currently a guest lecturer at the Global Center for Political Engagement at The George Washington University. He been heard on numerous national radio shows and has appeared hundreds of times on national television programs including NBC News; ABC News; CBS News; PBS; MSNBC; CNBC; the Fox News Channel; Fox Business Channel; CNN; HBO; CBN; Bloomberg News; BBC; CBC; RTE and Al Jazeera.
Tyler participated at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards on May 10th, 2019. He spoke on “The Road to 2020: Leaders & Ideas” panel alongside former Senator Claire McCaskill, former Congressman Steve Israel, Matt Bennett, and Margaret Hoover moderated by Errol Louis.
Twitter: @rickwtyler
Preet Bharara
Preet Bharara
American lawyer, former United States Attorney
Preet Bharara served as a US Attorney for the Southern District of New York between 2009 and 2017, and led investigations into corruption and insider trading, earning him a “hardliner” reputation. His notable cases include the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme, the investigation into Galleon Group, and imposed the largest criminal penalty against a car company. He also gained notoriety in putting away Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law and Faisal Shahzad, the attempted Times Square bomber. In 2011, he was awarded Columbia Law School’s Lawrence A. Wien Prize for Social Responsibility. Bharara was dismissed in March 2017 in light of the election of Donald Trump.
Bharara serves as a CNN Senior Legal Analyst, as well as the host of a podcast called “Stay Tuned with Preet” about the justice system. He is the author of Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law, and is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence and Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University.
Bharara spoke on the panel “Rule of Law, Corruption, and Abuse of Power” alongside Bill Browder, moderated by John Avlon, and was presented with the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019.
Twitter: @PreetBharara
Claire McCaskill
The Honorable Claire McCaskill
Former Senator of Missouri, political analyst
Claire McCaskill is an American Democratic politician who represented Missouri in the Senate from 2007 to 2019. She was the first woman to be elected senator for that state. She was previously the Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007, and she joined MSNBC as a political analyst after her tenure in the Senate.
One of McCaskill’s first major bills to be passed in the Senate established a modern day Truman Committee called the Wartime Contracting Commission, charged with investigating wasteful, fraudulent and abusive contracts in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. McCaskill sat on many Senate Committees, including Armed Services, Commerce, HSGAC and Aging. In 2009, McCaskill was named chairman of a new subcommittee that investigates contracting abuses throughout the federal government. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight strives to root out government waste by focusing on contracts and the means by which the federal government provides accountability to those contracts.
McCaskill participated at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards on May 10th, 2019. She spoke on “The Road to 2020: Leaders & Ideas” panel alongside former Congressman Steve Israel, Matt Bennett, Margaret Hoover and Rick Tyler, moderated by Errol Louis. She was previously hosted by The Common Good as part of the TCG Leadership Series on November 14th, 2014.
Twitter: @clairecmc
Michael Waldman
Michael waldman
Constitutional lawyer, writer, President of the Brennan Center for Justice
Michael Waldman is President of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. He is a constitutional lawyer and writer, and is an expert on the presidency and American democracy. The Brennan Center is a leading national voice on voting rights, money in politics, criminal justice reform and constitutional law. Waldman has led the Center since 2005.
Waldman was Director of Speechwriting for President Bill Clinton from 1995-99, serving as Assistant to the President. He was responsible for writing or editing nearly 2,000 speeches, including four State of the Union and two Inaugural Addresses. He was Special Assistant to the President for Policy Coordination from 1993-95.
His books include The Fight to Vote (2016), The Second Amendment: A Biography (2014). My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America’s Presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama (2003, 2010); A Return to Common Sense (2007); POTUS Speaks (2000); and Who Robbed America? A Citizens' Guide to the S&L Scandal (1990).
He appearances on television and radio include Good Morning America; The Colbert Report; Morning Joe; PBS Newshour, CBS Evening News; Meet the Press Daily; All In with Chris Hayes; the O'Reilly Factor; Nightline; 60 Minutes; Tavis Smiley; Hardball with Chris Matthews; The Rachel Maddow Show; NPR’s Morning Edition; All Things Considered; Fresh Air; and Diane Rehm. He writes for publications including The New York Times, Politico, The Washington Post, Daily Beast, Slate, Democracy, Reuters.com and Bloomberg.com.
On May 26 2021, Michael Waldman participated in Voting Rights and American Democracy with Michael Waldman.
Twitter: @mawaldman
Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw
American television journalist, author
Tom Brokaw served as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News from 1983 to 2004. Mr. Brokaw remained at NBC, where he continued to report and provide expertise as well as produce documentaries. He has covered every presidential election since 1968 and was NBC’s White House correspondent during Watergate. He began his journalism career in 1962 at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska. He anchored the late evening news on Atlanta’s WSB-TV in 1965 before being hired by NBC News in 1966. Mr. Brokaw currently serves as Vice Chair of the Robin Hood Foundation and as Director of the Council on Foreign Relations, Inc.
Brokaw spoke on the panel “Journalism and Democracy” alongside Lesley Stahl and Sir Harry Evans at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019.
Twitter: @tombrokaw
Stephanie Ruhle
Stephanie Ruhle
Correspondent
Stephanie Ruhle anchors MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle at 9 a.m. ET and MSNBC Live with Velshi & Ruhle at 1 p.m. ET on weekdays. Ruhle also appears across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, TODAY, and NBCNews.com. Since joining MSNBC, Ruhle has interviewed numerous high-profile newsmakers and influential politicians.
Previously, Ruhle served as anchor and managing editor for Bloomberg Television and editor-at-large for Bloomberg News, where she co-hosted Bloomberg , Bloomberg TV’s flagship morning show featuring global thought leaders across business, tech and media.
In 2015, Ruhle produced and hosted the documentary Haiti: Open For Business?, which sheds light on the country five years after it was hit by a devastating earthquake and explores its viability as the next emerging market. Ruhle also participated in a short-form documentary, Sharkland: A Mission Blue & Fusion Expedition, which brings attention to the plight of sharks and the urgent needs to conserve our oceans.
Ruhle plays an active role in women’s leadership development, having founded the Corporate Investment Bank Women’s Network and co-chaired Women on Wall Street. Ruhle is a member of the board of trustees for Girls Inc. NYC and in 2016 was honored as one of their Women of the Year. Ruhle currently sits on the board and advises for React To Film, an issue-based documentary film series, and formerly served on the corporate councils of iMentor and The White House Project.
Ruhle was hosted by The Common Good in 2019: Screening and Discussion of The Panama Papers. She also spoke alongside Alan Schwartz in “Growing a Fair Economy” at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019 on May 10th, 2019.
Twitter: @SRuhle
Sir Harold Evans
Sir Harold Evans
Editor, award-winning journalist
Sir Harold Evans was the editor of The Sunday Times and The Times (and earlier of The Northern Echo and assistant editor of The Manchester Evening News) and has written a number of best selling books. During his 14-year career with The Sunday Times, Evans helped bring public attention to many stories and scandals that were officially denied or ignored, including: the British Thalidomide children who were never compensated for severe birth defects; the exposure of Kim Philby as a Soviet spy; and the publication of the diaries of former Labour Minister Richard Crossman. In 1984 he moved to the United States, where he had leading positions in journalism with U.S. News & World Report, The Atlantic Monthly, and the New York Daily News, and founded Condé Nast Traveler in 1986. He holds the British Press Awards’ Gold Award for Lifetime Achievement of Journalists. In 2001, British journalists voted him the all-time greatest British newspaper editor. and he was knighted in 2004. In 2011, Evans was appointed editor-at-large of Reuters news agency.
Evans was presented with the American Spirit Award for Courage in Journalism at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019, followed by a panel discussion titled “Journalism and Democracy” alongside Tom Brokaw and Lesley Stahl.
Twitter: @sirharryevans
Matt Bennett
Matt Bennett
Third Way political activist
Matt Bennett is a Third Way political activist whose pursuit of center-left politics has taken him from the campaign trail to the White House, and from the pages of the New York Times to appearances on Meet the Press and 60 Minutes.
He worked on both of the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton and served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs in the Clinton White House, where he was the principal White House liaison to governors and covered issues ranging from disaster response to Medicaid to immigration. Prior to that, Matt traveled with Vice President Al Gore on his White House staff. He was Director of Communications for Wesley Clark's presidential campaign in 2004, and from 2001-2004 he was Director of Public Affairs for Americans for Gun Safety.
In 2005, Matt joined his three fellow co-founders in establishing Third Way, believing that there is a tremendous need for fresh thinking and moderate ideas in a time of extreme political immoderation. He considers helping to extend marriage equality to gays and lesbians one of Third Way's proudest achievements so far.
Bennett participated at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards on May 10th, 2019. He spoke on “The Road to 2020: Leaders & Ideas” panel alongside former Senator Claire McCaskill, former Congressman Steve Israel, Margaret Hoover and Rick Tyler, moderated by Errol Louis.
Twitter: @ThirdWayMattB
