Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy
Actress, radio & television host, activist
Jenny McCarthy is a model, TV host, actress, screenwriter, and author. When her son Evan was diagnosed with autism, Jenny took on another role, as an advocate in the fight against autism.
McCarthy served as a spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) from June 2007 until October 2008. She participated in fundraisers, online chats, and other activities for the non-profit organization to help families affected by autism spectrum disorders. Her first fundraiser for TACA, Ante Up for Autism, was held on October 20, 2007, in Irvine, California. She is a prominent spokesperson and activist for the Generation Rescue foundation, and serves on its Board of Directors.
McCarthy was hosted by The Common Good in 2010 for a Meet & Greet.
Twitter: @JennyMcCarthy
Congressman Joe Walsh
the honorable Joe Walsh
Former Congressman
Joe Walsh was a U.S. Representative for Illinois's 8th congressional district and is currently a conservative talk show host.
Walsh began his career with Jobs For Youth, working in inner-city Chicago teaching high school dropouts basic academic and job skills. He worked on state and local public policy issues with the Heartland Institute, a free market think tank, and he ran the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, a Chicago-based privately funded school voucher program which gives high school scholarships to low-income Chicago eighth graders. Walsh also helped launch the Legislative Education Action Drive and Americans for Limited Government, national organizations working to get fiscally conservative state legislators elected in targeted states and advance the causes of limited government. He raised funds for and helped advance the cause of school choice for two of the nation’s leading school choice organizations, the American Education Reform Council and the Milton & Rose Friedman Foundation. Walsh continues to build support for an international charity which uses education and micro-enterprise to deliver Nicaraguan children from poverty, the Fabretto Children’s Foundation.
Walsh has run campaigns for elected office twice, first as a Republican candidate for the United States Congress in 1996 and then as a Republican candidate for the Illinois State House in 1998. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives for Illinois's 8th congressional district.
Congressman Walsh spoke at The Common Good in 2012: Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh – February 13, 2012.
Twitter: @WalshFreedom
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Secretary Henry Kissinger
secretary Henry Kissinger
56th U.S. Secretary of State
Henry Alfred Kissinger was the 56th Secretary of State of the United States from 1973 to 1977. He held the position of Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from 1969 to 1975. After leaving government service, he founded Kissinger Associates, an international consulting firm, of which he is chairman.
In the Nixon administration, Kissinger served as the president’s National Security Advisor and then Secretary of State. Kissinger was the go-between in the secret negotiations that eventually opened relations between the U.S. and communist China.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role in arranging a ceasefire in North Vietnam. Kissinger also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation’s highest civilian award) in 1977 and the Medal of Liberty (given one time to ten foreign-born American leaders) in 1986. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Kissinger continued to write, lecture and appear on TV as a foreign affairs expert.
Kissinger was hosted by The Common Good in 2007: Foreign Affairs and Economic Policy with Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and in 2011: Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on China.
Tim Weiner
Tim Weiner
Journalist
Tim Weiner is a reporter, author of three books and co-author of a fourth, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. He is a graduate of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and has worked for the Times since 1993, as a foreign correspondent in Mexico, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan and as a national security correspondent in Washington, DC.
Weiner won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting as an investigative reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, for his articles on the black budget spending at the Pentagon and the CIA. His book Blank Check: The Pentagon’s Black Budget is based on that newspaper series.
He won the National Book Award in Nonfiction for his 2007 book Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.
He is featured along with other foreign affairs experts in interviews in Denis Delestrac’s 2010 “Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space”. Enemies: A History of the FBI, Tim Weiner’s latest book, traces the history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from the bureau’s creation in the early 20th century through its ongoing fight in the current war on terrorism. He explains how Hoover’s increasing concerns about communist threats against the United States led to the FBI’s secret intelligence operations against anyone deemed “subversive.”
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
Sergey Kislyak
Diplomat
Ambassador Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United States between 2008 and 2017, when he took up representation of Mordovia in the Federation Council.
Before Kislyak became Russian Ambassador to the US, he held the positions of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Belgium and, simultaneously, Permanent Representative of Russia to NATO in Brussels, Belgium. He has been an employee of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation since 1977.
Kislyak spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2016.
Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Academy award-winning actor, director and producer
Denzel Washington is an Academy award-winning actor, director and producer best-known for his roles in ‘Glory’, ‘Malcolm X’ and ‘The Hurricane’. As an actor, he is known for his penchant for taking on challenging roles and portraying them to perfection.
He got his first big break when he was chosen to play the role of Dr. Philip Chandler in the NBC medical drama series, ‘St. Elsewhere’. He played several minor roles in films before ‘Cry Freedom’ happened in 1987. His portrayal of anti-apartheid social activist Steve Biko established him as a talented character actor. The decade of 1990 was a very productive period for the talented actor. He played the lawyer Joe Miller in the 1993 drama film ‘Philadelphia’ which was one of the first Hollywood movies to deal with issues like homosexuality, AIDS, and homophobia.
He appeared in several notable films throughout the 1990s, including his first of four Spike Lee collaborations Mo’ Better Blues (1990), Malcolm X (1992) in another Oscar-nominated performance, Philadelphia (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Courage Under Fire (1996) and The Hurricane (1999), for which he received a Golden Globe for Best Actor and another Oscar nomination. In 2001, he received his second Oscar (this time in a leading role) for the cop thriller Training Day. The following year, he directed his first film, the drama Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.
He went to Fordham University upon graduating from high school and earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism in 1977. On May 18, 1991, Washington was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University, for having “impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent”. In 2011, he donated $2 million to Fordham for an endowed chair of the theater department, as well as $250,000 to establish a theater-specific scholarship at the school. He also received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007 and an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania on May 16, 2011. In 2018 he returned to Broadway as Hickey in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh.
Twitter: @Denzel Washington
The Honorable Bob Kerrey
the honorable Bob Kerrey
American politician
Bob Kerrey is a former member of the elite Navy SEAL Team and a highly decorated Vietnam veteran who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, America’s highest military honor. Kerrey served one four-year term as Governor of the State of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987, then won election to the Senate in 1988, defeating an incumbent senator. He ended his congressional tenure in 2001.
Kerrey is a self-made businessman who, upon returning from the war and starting from scratch in 1972, built a chain of highly successful restaurants and health clubs that now employ more than 900 people.
Twitter: @KerreyBob
Neera Tanden
Neera Tanden
President of the Center for American Progress and Counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund
Neera Tanden is the President of the Center for American Progress and Counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Tanden has served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations. Most recently, Tanden served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Center, where she oversaw strategic planning, operations, and fundraising.
Tanden previously served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, working on President Barack Obama’s health reform team in the White House.
Prior to serving as senior advisor, Tanden was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign. Tanden also served as policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
Tanden was also legislative director for Sen. Clinton, and served as associate director for domestic policy in the Clinton White House and senior policy advisor to the first lady.
Tanden was named one of the “Most Influential Women in Washington” by National Journal, was recently included on Elle magazine’s “Women in Washington Power List,” and was recognized as one of Fortune Magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Politics.”
Twitter: @Neera Tanden
Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
Co-founder of the pioneering record label Def Jam
Russell Simmons is a co-founder of the pioneering record label Def Jam. He helped launch the careers of a number of important artists, such as Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. His empire includes a clothing line and an energy drink. Simmons is often described as the man who made black urban culture a part of the mainstream, but Newsweek’s Johnnie L. Roberts noted that “in the view of many, he is now emerging as potentially the most credible and effective leader of the post-civil rights generation.”
Simmons is a supporter of Farm Sanctuary, an organization working to end cruelty to farm animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals awarded him with the 2001 PETA Humanitarian Award and the 2011 Person of the Year Award. Simmons became Chairman of Board of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding in 2002. In May 2009, he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Slavery Memorial at the United Nations to honor the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Simmons is also a long-time supporter for gay rights. He encourages marriage equality.
Twitter: @UncleRUSH
Secretary Jack Kemp †
secretary Jack Kemp †
American politician
Jack Kemp was a pro football player, congressman, cabinet secretary and vice-presidential candidate.
Kemp served in Congress for nine terms (1971-1989). He was elected the incoming Republican freshman class president, and 10 years later was chosen Chairman of the Republican Conference (third ranking in House Republican leadership). Kemp served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1989-1993, where he championed affordable housing, tenant management, and a housing voucher program for homeless veterans and their families. Upon leaving office in 1993, he joined forces with William Bennett and Jeane Kirkpatrick to found Empower America. He also served as chairman of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, which promoted major reform and simplification of the U.S. tax code.
Jack Kemp died on May 2, 2009. President Obama posthumously awarded Jack Kemp the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August, 2009.
Read more:
Adonis Hoffman, ‘Can a new Jack Kemp step up to help with tax reform?’, The Hill, 24 April 2017
David Frum, ‘Why Jack Kemp’s Legacy Is More Relevant Than Ever’, The Atlantic Post, 15 October 2015
Suzy Khimm, ‘What Paul Ryan learned from Jack Kemp’, The Washington Post, 31 August 2012
Lanny Davis, ‘Kemp: True Purple Nation Leader’, The Hill, 11 May 2009
Joe Slade White
Joe Slade White
Political strategist and media consultant
Joe Slade White is a Democratic political strategist and media consultant. His past clients have included Presidential candidates, U.S. Senators, Governors, Members of Congress, and Mayors, as well as statewide and local initiatives throughout the country.
At the age of 21, White was hired by the 1972 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator George McGovern, joining the campaign’s traveling staff and finding a place on President Richard Nixon’s “White House Enemies List.” White worked briefly as a press secretary to McGovern.
When he was 23, White launched his own political consulting firm. White worked to elect the first Native American to the United States Senate, the first woman Attorney General and Governor of Michigan, and worked on the first campaign in the nation to defeat a ban on bilingual education for Hispanic children. He has also served as an advisor and created television advertisements for Vice President Joe Biden, T. Boone Pickens, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, General Wesley Clark, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, AT&T and others. A number of his television campaigns have won national recognition. The American Association of Political Consultants has recognized White’s television work with more “Pollie Awards” than they have bestowed on any of his Democratic peers.
In 2010, White served as media strategist for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s campaign, that was named by RealClearPolitics.com as the #5 upset in the country.
Twitter: @joesladewhite
Jonathan Tepperman
Jonathan Tepperman
Author, journalist
Jonathan Tepperman is a journalist and author. He is currently the Editor-In-Chief of Foreign Affairs and the author of The Fix: How Nations Survive and Thrive in a World in Decline (Crown, September 2016).
In 1998, he joined Foreign Affairs as a junior editor. A few years later, he moved to Newsweek, where he was deputy editor of the international edition. After a short stint as a political risk consultant, he returned to Foreign Affairs in 2011. Tepperman has written for a long list of publications, including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and others, on subjects ranging from international affairs to municipal politics. He has interviewed more than a dozen world leaders, including Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Japan’s Shinzo Abe, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto, Indonesia’s Joko Widodo, and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame. He is the co-editor of the books The U.S. vs. al Qaeda (2011), Iran and the Bomb (2012), and The Clash of Ideas (2012). He is vice chairman of the Halifax International Security Forum, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a fellow of the New York Institute of Humanities.
Tepperman gave an introduction to the “Global Threats & Opportunities” subsection of The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.
Twitter: @j_tepperman
Clifford White
Clifford White
Reporter
Clifford White, a reporter from Centre Daily Times, wrote several articles surrounding the Penn State controversy and was featured in an interview with NY Gov. David Patterson on WOR 710 AM as well as WBUR’s Only A Game, National Public Radio’s weekly sports magazine program.
Caroline Kemp
Caroline Kemp
Caroline Kemp is now an Associate for Sard Verbinnen where she provides strategic communications advice and services to help clients manage overall positioning and specific events affecting their reputation, business, and market value. Caroline works on behalf of multinational corporations, smaller public and private companies, investment firms, professional services firms, educational and cultural institutions, and high-profile individuals.
Prior to joining Sard Verbinnen, Caroline worked in the New York and Los Angeles offices of Finsbury, where she provided strategic communications counsel to a variety of clients, including Volkswagen, Toyota and the Annenberg Foundation.
Caroline graduated magna cum laude from Wake Forest University with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in French Language.
Twitter: @TheCarolK
Lynn Whitfield
Lynn Whitfield
Actress
Lynn Whitfield is an American actress who began her acting career in television and theatre, before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special and an NAACP Image Award for her performance as Josephine Baker in the HBO movie The Josephine Baker Story (1991). She also won NAACP Image awards for her work in Touched by an Angel (1998), The Planet of Junior Brown (2000) and Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004).
Her film work includes performances in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996), Eve’s Bayou (1997), The Cheetah Girls (2003), Madea’s Family Reunion (2006), andThe Cheetah Girls 2 (2006).
Whitfield had a series of television appearances before her film career began, including playing Jill Thomas in the award-winning series Hill Street Blues.
Whitfield achieved international recognition in the title role of The Josephine Baker Story (1991), the HBO biopic requiring her to age from 18 to 68. She portrayed the American Folies Bergère star who became a Resistance fighter during WWII and civil rights activist. In a highly publicized casting call, Whitfield was chosen over more than 500 women. She won an Emmy Award for her role and said this gave her, “the greatest sense of accomplishment and realization of my vision. It absolutely called upon everything I thought I could do at that point.”
Twitter: @MsLynnWhitfield
Robin Wigglesworth
Robin Wigglesworth
US Markets Editor at the Financial Times
Robin Wigglesworth is a NYC-based US markets editor for the Financial Times. He covers stocks, bonds, commodities, foreign exchange, derivatives, wealth management, stock exchanges and fund management. He was formerly capital markets correspondent, covering all aspects of the financial markets, but is particularly focused on trends in corporate debt, IPOs, equity markets, restructurings, and emerging markets. Prior to this role, he was the Financial Times’ Gulf correspondent for three years, where his work ranged from front-line coverage of the revolts in Libya and Bahrain, to Dubai’s financial crisis, regional politics and the Gulf’s ongoing efforts to diversify their economies. Before joining the FT in 2008, Wigglesworth covered the Nordic economies, politics, bond and currencies for Bloomberg News. He has an MA in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics, where his specialism was political Islam, a BA in Journalism and contemporary history from City University, and studied economics at the Oslo School of Management.
Twitter: @RobinWigg
Rory Kennedy
Rory Kennedy
Co-founder and President of Moxie Firecracker Films
Rory Kennedy has been Co-Founder and President of Moxie Firecracker Films for over 12 years. An Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Rory Kennedy has produced more than 35 celebrated documentaries, covering topics from the global AIDS crisis, human rights, domestic abuse, poverty, drug addiction, and political corruption. Her films have appeared on HBO, PBS, Lifetime Television, A&E, Court TV, The Oxygen Network and The Learning Channel.
In 1999, Kennedy’s HBO film American Hollow, the story of a tight-knit Appalachian family, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, launching an acclaimed and prolific career and earning Kennedy the first of many Emmy Award nominations.
Kennedy was hosted by The Common Good in 2012: Special Screening of “ETHEL” at MOMA.
Twitter:@roryekennedy
Kay Koplovitz
Kay Koplovitz
Founder of USA Networks, Founder and Chairman of Springboard Enterprises
Kay Koplovitz was the first woman to head a television network as the Founder of USA Network, and served as its Chief Executive officer from 1977 to 1998. Koplovitz was also appointed to chair the National Women’s Business Council by President Clinton. Since 2000, she has served as chairman of Springboard Enterprises, a non profit fostering investment in women-led high growth companies. She is also the author of Bold Women, Big Ideas: Learning to Play the High-Risk Entrepreneurial Game.
Koplovitz participated in The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019 on May 10, 2019. She spoke on the “Women & Power” panel alongside former Congresswoman Mia Love, Alessandra Stanley, and Sally Quinn, moderated by Juju Chang. She also serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.
Twitter: @KayKoplovitz
Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly
Journalist, author
Brian Kelly is the editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report, a multi-platform publisher of news and consumer information products. Kelly is a member of the executive committee with primary responsibility for all the company’s content, which includes the websites usnews.com and rankingsandreviews.com, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, print and e-book guides on education and health care, and a conference and events business.
Kelly joined U.S. News in 1998 after serving as a senior editor at The Washington Post, and was named editor at U.S. News in April 2007. Kelly has led the transformation of U.S. News from a traditional print news magazine to a largely digital publishing company with a range of influential products including the Best Colleges and Best Hospitals rankings. Under his leadership, usnews.com has gained an audience of more than 20 million monthly users. Kelly has also expanded U.S. News’ Money, Personal Finance, and Health content and launched new Car and Travel products as well as two national conferences.
He is the chairman of U.S. News STEM Solutions, a national forum that brings together corporations, educators and policymakers working to help the U.S. fill jobs by creating a more skilled and competitive workforce. He is on the board of the World Affairs Council of Washington and a member of the Economic Club of Washington.
Twitter: @BKellyUSN
Morley Klausner
Morley Klausner
Businesswoman
Morley Klausner, now retired, has been a businesswoman and entrepreneur with extensive experience in a wide range of business interests over a 35- year career from finance to retail, feature film, and executive search.
Klausner was principal/co-owner of a feature film distribution company and Vice-President of Business Affairs for two different film production companies where she negotiated the underlying rights, acquisition of books and screenplays, talent, financing and distribution of such films as Wall Street, Reversal Of Fortune, Plenty, Conan, Talk Radio, True Stories, among others.
She left the film business, and after exploring the legal search business, she subsequently established The Klausner Group, a legal search firm. The firm initially specialized in intellectual property attorneys and eventually expanded to most others areas of the law to become a national leader in the field.
She sold the company in 2004 allowing her to pursue her many interests in the arts, global affairs, and politics. In 2007 and 2015, she became very involved in Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaigns. She continues to stay involved in the issues of our day.
She has traveled widely and lived in both London and Switzerland for many years. She speaks fluent French. She holds a double major degree in Political Science and French from Western College for Women, which since merged into Miami University, and attended the MBA program at UCLA.