President Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton
42nd President of the United States
William Jefferson Clinton served as the 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001). At 46 he was the first baby-boomer and third youngest president to ever serve our nation. Clinton has been described as the “new democrat” for his unique stance on democracy and efforts in politics.
After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation, and today, the renamed Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation works to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for girls and women, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change. So far, more than 3,600 Clinton Global Initiative commitments have improved the lives of over 435 million people in more than 180 countries.
In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton has worked with former President George H.W. Bush three times – after the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008, and with President George W. Bush in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Today the Clinton Foundation supports economic growth, job creation, and sustainability in Haiti.
Twitter: @BillClinton
General Wesley Clark
General Wesley Clark
Retired General of the United States Army
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr. is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master’s degree in military science. He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Clark commanded Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000.
Clark joined the 2004 race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination as a candidate on September 17, 2003, but withdrew from the primary race on February 11, 2004, after winning the Oklahoma state primary. He endorsed and campaigned for the eventual Democratic nominee, John Kerry.
Clark currently leads a political action committee—”WesPAC”—which was formed after the 2004 primaries, and used it to support numerous Democratic Party candidates in the 2006 midterm elections. Clark was considered a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Clark currently serves as the co-chairman of Growth Energy, an ethanol lobbying group and is on the board of directors of BNKPetroleum.
General Clark spoke at The Common Good in on February 27th, 2007.
Twitter: @GeneralClark
Vice President Dick Cheney
Vice President Dick Cheney
Forty-sixth Vice President of the United States
Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney was the forty-sixth vice president of the United States, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001-2009.
Cheney’s political career started as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger, then eventually went on to serve as special assistant to Donald Rumsfeld in the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Nixon administration. When Rumsfeld was named Secretary of Defense in 1975, Cheney was appointed as President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff. He returned to Wyoming after Ford lost the presidential election to Jimmy Carter in 1976 and worked briefly in the private sector before running for the state’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He soundly defeated his Democratic rival, Bill Bagley, in the 1978 election, and was reelected five times. He rose through the ranks to become minority whip. Cheney served as President George H.W. Bush’s defense secretary and commanded the Pentagon during the Persian Gulf War. During the Clinton presidency, he was CEO of the Halliburton Company from 1995-200.
As vice president, Cheney was active and used his influence to help shape the administration’s energy policy and foreign policy in the Middle East. In 2018, the movie Vice was released as a depiction of Cheney’s time as vice president.
Tory Burch
Tory Burch
Chairman, CEO, and Designer of Tory Burch LLC
Tory Burch is the Chairman, CEO, and Designer of Tory Burch LLC. She previously worked for Zoran, a Yugoslavian designer, and then for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. She has worked in public relations and advertising at Vera Wang, Polo Ralph Lauren and Loewe. She began a fashion label, “TRB by Tory Burch”, later known as “Tory Burch”, which launched with a retail store in Manhattan’s Nolita district in February. In 2005, Burch won the Rising Star Award for Best New Retail Concept from the Fashion Group International. In 2007, she won the Accessory Brand Launch of the year award from the Accessories Council of Excellence. In 2008, Burch won the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for Accessories Designer of the Year.
Burch serves on the boards of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Startup America Partnership and the Barnes Foundation. She is a member of the Industry Advisory Board of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of Business, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In April 2014, the Obama Administration named Burch an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, a group of successful American business people committed to developing the next generation of entrepreneurs in the U.S. and around the world.
As of 2015, she is listed as the 73rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
Twitter: @toryburch
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Steven Buffone
Steven Buffone
Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group
Steven Buffone is the founder of Kenilworth Advisors LLC. He was previously a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for 34 years. A former Co-Chair of the Firm’s Corporate Practice Group, he served as Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group.
Buffone has spoken at a number of national seminars involving mergers and acquisitions, securities and other corporate and transactional matters. Most recently, he spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on “Energy Policy in the Obama Administration,” to the Houston Bar Association on “The Convergence of Private Equity Firms and Hedge Funds,” at the American Conference Institute’s program on “M&A: Trends and Developments in the Law” and at the New York City Bar Association’s program on “Beyond M&A, Structuring Deals in a Difficult Economy.”
Buffone is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Crisis Text Line, a new not-for-profit that will be the only nationwide crisis help line that will allow young people in crisis and in need of counseling to communicate using the text messaging medium with which they are so comfortable. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Do Something.org, a not-for-profit that inspires and trains teenagers to be leaders in community service. Buffone was recently honored for his pro bono and community service activities by receiving the Cornerstone Award from Lawyers Alliance of New York, the Outstanding Citizen Award from Do Something and the Point of Light Award from the Points of Light Foundation.
Buffone hosted a Special Meeting with Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec M.P. in 2017 and a Commentary on the 2016 Presidential Election with Bill Kristol at The Common Good.
Twitter: @SteveBuffone
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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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Karri Brady
Karri Brady
Philanthropist
Karri Brady began her fundraising career in New York City at Citymeals-on-Wheels and Lighthouse International. With a background as director of the Columbia College Fund, director of development for the Yale Alumni Fund and the Shakespeare Theatre company, Karri is currently director of fundraising at the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, which aims to amplify women’s voices to honor the past, inform the present, and inspire the future.
Karri Brady spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019, giving an update on the future of the Smithsonian’s Women’s Museum in Washington D.C.
Twitter: @karricatur
Cory Booker
Cory Booker
Junior Senator for New Jersey
Cory Booker is the current junior Senator from New Jersey, elected into office in 2013. Booker is running in the Democratic primary nomination for the 2020 election. The first African-American U.S. Senator from New Jersey, he was previously the 36th Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Considered a social liberal, Booker supports women's rights, affirmative action, same-sex marriage and single-payer healthcare. During his five years in office, Booker co-sponsored and voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (2013), tougher sanctions against Iran, sponsored the Bipartisan Budget Act (2013), voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (2014), co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act (2014) and led the successful push to pass the First Step Act (2018).
Booker lives his politics, often in unconventional and creative ways. In the summer of 1999, he went on a 10-day hunger strike in one of the most drug-infested housing complexes in Newark, an effort that resulted in increased police presence and improved security for residents. For five months in 2000, Booker took to the streets; he lived in a motor home and parked it on the worst drug corners in the city, inspiring residents and businesses to fight against drug dealing and crime. For this, TIME magazine called him “The Savior of Newark,” and he proved to the city and the nation that he is dedicated to fighting inner-city problems.
Twitter: @CoryBooker
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