Guest Speakers

Elected Officials & Leaders

President Bill Clinton
Vice President Dick Cheney
Vice President Al Gore
Henry Kissinger – Former Secretary of State
Peter Peterson – Former Secretary of Commerce
Kathleen Sebelius Secretary of Health – Former Governor of Kansas
Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture – Former Governor of Iowa
General Wesley Clark – Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO
Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski – Former National Security Advisor
Ambassador Robert Hormats – Presidential advisor on economics
Ambassador Felix Rohatyn – US Ambassador to France & Author, Bold Endeavors
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Senator Chris Dodd, (D-CT)
Senator Bob Dole, (R-KS)
Senator Richard Gephardt, (D-MO)
Senator Chuck Hagel, (R-NE)
Senator Bob Kerrey, (D-NB)
Senator John Kerry, (D-MA)
Senator Amy Klobuchar, (D-MN)
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)
Senator Arlen Specter, (R-PA)
Senator Gordon Smith, (R-OR)
Senator Jon Tester, (D-MT)
Senator Mark Warner, (D-VA), Former Governor of Virginia
Rep. Shelly Berkley, (D-NV)
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio)
Rep. Tom Delay, (R-TX) Former Majority Leader
Rep. Barney Frank, (D-MA)
Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., (D-TN) DLC Chair
Rep. Steny Hoyer, (D- MD)

Majority Whip Rep. Jack Kemp, (R-NY)
Rep. Jim Leach, (R-IA
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, (D-NY)
Rep. George Miller, (D-CA)
Rep. Jerry Nadler., (D-NY)
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Joe Walsh, (R-IL)
Governor Mario Cuomo, (D-NY)
Governor Howard Dean, (D-VT)
Governor Tim Kaine, (D-VA)
Governor John Lynch, (D-NH)
Governor Dan Malloy (D-CT)
Governor David Paterson (D-NY)
Governor Bill Richardson, (D-NM)
Governor Ed Rendell, (D-PA)
Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY)
Governor Tom Vilsack, (D-IA)
Governor Christine Todd Whitman,(R-NJ)
Mayor Michael Bloomberg – New York
Mayor Cory Booker – Newark, NJ
Mayor Julian Castro (D-San Antonio)
Mayor Ed Koch – Former Mayor of New York
Mayor Greg Stanton – (D-Phoenix)
Susan Blumenthal – former Assistant Surgeon General and Senior Global Health Advisor
Ray Kelly – Commissioner, New York City Police Department
Cy Vance – NY District Attorney
Amir Peretz, Member – Israeli Knesset, Former Leader of Israeli Labor Party
Dr. Rachel Adato – Israeli Knesset
Ambassador Pierre Vimont – Ambassador of France to the U.S.
Ambassador Dan Gillerman – UN Ambassador to Israel
Ambassador Munir Akram from Pakistan
Ambassador Peter Galbraith – UN Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan

Economists

Alan Blinder – Economic Strategist, Professor of Economics at Princeton University
Robert Hormats – Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, Former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs.
Paul Krugman – Nobel Prize winning Economist
Dambisa Moyo – International Economist, Author
Kevin Phillips – Strategist, President Richard Nixon, Author, “Bad Money”
Peter Peterson – Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Former Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Felix Rohatyn – Economist, Special Advisor to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Lazard
Nouriel Roubini – Renowned Economist, Chair of Roubini Global Economics

Political Operatives

Jack Abramoff – Former Lobbyist
Paul Begala – Campaign Strategist, President Bill Clinton campaign
Joel Benenson – Pollster/Strategist, President Barack Oabama
Kellyanne Conway – Pollster & Strategist
Matthew Dowd – Strategist for President George W. Bush
Steve Hildebrand – Campaign Advisor, President Barack Obama
Kenneth Mehlman – Chair, Republican Party
Grover Norquist – Founder and President of Americans for Tax Reform
Ed Rollins – Pollster/Strategist, Bachmann, Reagan and Perot Presidential campaigns
Doug Schoen – Pollster/Strategist, President Bill Clinton, Al Gore campaigns
Bob Shrum – Political Stategist, John Kerry Presidential campaigns

Journalists/Authors

Jonathan Alter – Sr. Editor/Columnist for Bloomberg, Newsweek, Author
Ken Auletta – Author
Carl Bernstein – Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist and Author
Ronald Brownstein – Political Director, Atlantic Media
Mika Brzezinski – MSNBC Co-Anchor
Jonathan Capehart – Editorial Writer, Washington Post
Catherine Crier – Anchor, Author, Former Judge
Ann Curry – NBC Journalist and Anchor
Todd Gitlin – Political Writer and Cultural Commentator
Chris Hayes –MSNBC host of Up with Chris Hayes
Mark Halperin – TIME Magazine/Author
John Heilemann – New York, Author
Tim Hetherington – Photojournalist
Michael Hirsh – Chief Correspondent National Journal/Author
Arianna Huffington – Co-founder & Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post
Gwen Ifill – Journalist, Television Newscaster and Author, PBS
Jill Iscol – Author
Col. Jack Jacobs – Medal of honor recipient, Author, MSNBC Military Analyst
Sebastian Junger – Author, Journalist
Colin Kahl – Security expert and scholar
David Kuhn – POLITICO Senior Political Writer
Joe Klein – Time Magazine
Jesse LaGreca – Freelance journalist, Occupy Wall Street activist
Steven Malanga – Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute
Cynthia McFadden – Co-Anchor “Nightline” and “Primetime Live”
Thomas E. Mann – Author, Political Correspondent
Jon Meacham – Editor of Newsweek
Alon Ben Meir – Journalist and Middle East expert
Joe Nocera – NY Columnist, Author
Norman Ornstein – Journalist, Author, Election Analyst
Dylan Ratigan – host MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show, New York Times best-selling author
William Shawcross – Award-winning British Author
Jeffrey Toobin – Senior Legal Analyst for CNN
Katrina Vanden Heuvel – Editor/ Publisher. The Nation
Tim Weiner – Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author
Richard Wolffe – Author and White House Correspondent
Mortimer Zuckerman – US News, Daily News

Activists

Maria Cuomo Cole – stopping gun violence
Daniel Ellsberg – Anti-war Activist and Pentagon Papers whistle blower
Ruth Gruber – Feminist, Journalist, Author, Change Agent
Matthew Hoh – Former US Foreign Service Officer and former Marine Captain
Jesse Jackson – Civil Rights Activist
Mark Kelly – Co-Founder, Americans for Responsible Solutions with wife Gabby Giffords
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – Environmental Activist
Kerry Kennedy – RFK Memorial
Bobby Sager – Global Philanthropist
Capt. Jon Soltz – Founder and Co-chair of VoteVets.org
Gloria Steinem – Feminist, Author
Ted Turner – CEO and Philanthropist

Film Screenings/Filmmakers

Ken Burns – on civil dialogue, Documentary Filmmaker
“Ahead of Time” – Ruth Gruber Humanitarian and Producer
“Budrus” – Julia Bach, Director/Filmmaker, Ronit Avni, Producer/Filmmaker
“Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” – Alex Gibney, Director
“Desert Flower” – Director Sherry Horman
“Ethel” – Director Rory Kennedy, Activist Kerry Kennedy
Gloria Steinem – Activist
“Koch Brothers Exposed” – Robert Greenwald, Filmmaker/Activist
“Life in A Day” – Director Kevin Macdonald
“Living for 32” – Maria Cuomo Cole, Producer/ Activist
“Restrepo” – Filmmakers Tim Hetherington Photographer/Filmmaker and Sebastian Junger, Screenwriter, Journalist
“Too Big to Fail” – Joe Nocera, Mort Zuckerman

Personages

Sean Avery – Ice Hockey Player
Ross Blechner – Artist, UN Goodwill  Ambassador
Tory Burch – Designer
Chevy Chase – Comedian, Actor & Writer
Kevin Costner – Academy Award Winning Actor & Director
Fats Domino – Rock Legend
Lisa Edelstein – Actress and Playwright
Spike Jonze – Director, Producer, Actor, Skateboarder
Liya Kebede – Actress and Global Philanthropist
Catherine Keener – Academy Award Nominated Actress
Mary Kate Olsen – Actress
Rachel Roy – Fashion Designer and Philanthropist
Mark Ruffalo – Actor, Activist, Founder of the Water Defense Fund
Russell Simmons – Hip-hop mogul and Entrepreneur
Denzel Washington – Academy Award Winning Actor
Lynn Whitfield – Golden Globe Nominated Actor

Panel Topics

Mid-term Election Series
Middle East Series
Economy Series
Advocates and Activists Series
Religion in Politics
U.S. Policy In Afghanistan Panel
Iran and the Middle East Panel
Great Expectations and the Changing Political Landscape Panel
Wisconsin Workers Revolt Panel