Alyssa Farah Griffin

Alyssa Farah Griffin

Former top spokesperson for President Donald Trump & Vice President Mike Pence, Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, Co-Host of The View, CNN Commentator

Alyssa Farah Griffin holds the unique distinction of being the only person to serve as a top spokesperson for the President, Vice President, and the Department of Defense within a single administration. She also made history as the youngest Pentagon Press Secretary. In her role as White House communications director, Griffin played a pivotal part in significant initiatives, such as strategizing the communications for a Supreme Court Justice confirmation and managing public messaging for Operation Warp Speed, the rapid vaccine development program. During her tenure as Pentagon Press Secretary, Griffin accompanied the Secretary of Defense on important international trips, including a secret visit to Afghanistan to announce peace talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. She also served as Senior Advisor, preparing the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for congressional hearings. In 2020, Griffin resigned from her role as White House communications director, expressing discomfort with the public messaging surrounding the election results. She told Politico, “I wasn’t comfortable being a part of sharing this message to the public that the election results might go a different way. I didn’t see that to be where the facts lay.” After her resignation, Griffin joined The View as a co-host and became a political commentator for CNN. She has emerged as a prominent Republican critic of the former President. Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney commended Griffin on The View, stating, “You gave people the courage that they could come forward and talk to the committee, and it was really, really important.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin participated as a panelist at The Common Good Town Hall: “Bridging America’s Divides” moderated by John Heilemann and featuring co-panelists; Steven Brill, Frank Bruni, Congressman David Jolly, George Packer, Heather Cox Richardson, Congressman Tim Ryan, and Andrew Yang.

---

X: @Alyssafarah

Instagram: @Alyssafarah

Felicia Taylor

Felicia Taylor

Anchor-correspondent for CNN

Felicia Taylor was an anchor-correspondent for CNN International’s World Business Today having previously been contributing to the Business Updates unit for CNN. She was also the co-host of Retirement Living TV’s Daily Cafe until November 2009. Previously, Taylor was a business news anchor and a correspondent for CNBC. Prior to CNBC, she served as weekend anchor on WNBC-TV in New York. 

Taylor was a moderator for Afghanistan with Ambassador Peter Galbraith and the Honorable Mike Rogers in 2021 and for the “Women’s Breakfast” subsection of The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017, and hosted both a Special Screening of “Disturbing the Peace” and a Lunch and Discussion with: NY Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Twitter: @ftaylorCNN

---

Representative Mike Rogers

Mike Rogers

Former U.S. Representative for Michigan's 8th congressional district

Honorary Mike Rogers, is a former member of Congress representing Michigan’s Eighth Congressional District, officer in the U.S. Army, and FBI special Agent. From his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and was a member of the Energy and Commerce panel. Mike built a legacy as a tireless and effective leader on counterterrorism and national security policy.

As chairman of HPSCI, Mike authorized and oversaw a budget of $70 billion that provided funding to the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies. Rogers was a prominent leader on cybersecurity in the United States Congress during his service, shepherding multiple cybersecurity bills through the House of Representatives and is a highly sought-after national expert on cyber policy.

Mike has also worked with two presidents, Congressional leadership, and countless foreign leaders, diplomats and intelligence professionals to ensure our nation is well equipped with the resources necessary to get the job done.

Mike is the host and executive producer of Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies that airs on CNN. Hon. Mike Rogers is also a CNN national security commentator and a regular in major news outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press.

On August 25, 2021, Hon. Mike Rogers participated in Afghanistan with Ambassador Peter Galbraith and the Honorable Mike Rogers.

---

---

Clarissa Ward

CLARISSA WARD

Journalist

CNN’s chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is a multi-award winning American journalist who's been reporting from front lines across the world for more than 15 years. Ward's career in journalism started in 2002 as an intern at CNN's Moscow bureau. She has since been named Reporter of the Year by the Gracies in 2019 and published her own memoir: 'On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist', detailing her career as a conflict reporter. 

This year, Ward will collect the Ted Sorensen Award from Network 20/20 in recognition for "adeptly crafting the first draft of history and providing original insight into the people and events of our time."

Clarissa Ward participated in The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, on March 4, 2021.

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Douglas Brinkley

Douglas Brinkley is one of the most prominent historians in the U.S. — and CNN's presidential historian - having charted American history and significant figures for decades. He is also the official Presidential Historian for The New York Historical Society, an essayist, and a prolific and renowned biographer. He has published over three dozen highly acclaimed books, including many discerning biographies  and shrewdly edited collections of presidents and presidential records.  His subjects have ranged from Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, FDR, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon to the life of Rosa Parks, Hurricane Katrina, the space race and American Catholicism.  

Currently, Brinkley is an esteemed professor at Rice University as the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History,  He is also a member of the Century Association, Council of Foreign Relations and the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. His early teaching career included positions at the U.S. Naval Academy, Princeton, and Hofstra University. At Hofstra, he spearheaded an acclaimed American Odyssey course which took students across the country in a sleeper bus, visiting historical sites and meeting with cultural icons and is the subject of his travelogue The Majic Bus.

“America’s New Past Master” - The Chicago Tribune

During his tenure at the University of New Orleans as Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies, he wrote two books with Stephen E. Ambrose: Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 and The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today. In 2005, he became a Tulane University Distinguished Professor of History and the Director of the Roosevelt Center, where he taught courses on U.S. foreign policy, published several books on American culture, and edited Jack Kerouac’s diaries. 

Brinkley is also actively involved in the environmental conservation and historic preservation communities. He has held board or leadership advisory roles in support of the American Museum of Natural History, Yellowstone Park Foundation, National Audubon Society, and the Rockefeller-Roosevelt Conservation Roundtable. In 2015 he was awarded the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks by the National Parks Conservation Association. In 2016 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service honored him with their annual Heritage Award.

Six of his books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year.His most recent book, American Moonshot:  John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, was a New York Times bestseller. His book The Great Deluge covers more recent history, offering a careful chronicle of Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of its survivors, and received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for writing which reflects RFK’s concern for the powerless and his struggle for even-handed justice. His two-volume annotated The Nixon Tapes won the Arthur S. Link – Warren F. Kuehl Prize. His book, Cronkite, draws upon letters, diaries, and artifacts from the Cronkite Archive to offer a personal portrait of the famed news anchor, won the Sperber Prize for outstanding biographies in the field of journalism. Brinkley has also received a Grammy Award for the Jazz ensemble album Presidential Suite, as well as seven honorary doctorates in American Studies. 

[Brinkley with actor Sean Penn (left) helping with relief work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina] 

[Brinkley, wife Anne and daughter Cassady, with John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge]

Brinkley with Author Kurt Vonnegut, 1994

A graduate of The Ohio State University and Georgetown University, Brinkley lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.  

The Common Good was pleased to host him on several occasions in the past, including Assessing the Presidency with Lesley Stahl, Douglas Brinkley, Jonathan Alter and Ed Rollins on April 11th, 2013 and in 2018 alongside Roger Cohen, David Frum, Dana Perino, and Ed Rollins at the “Trump – Year One” Panel.

Brinkley currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board. 

Twitter: @ProfDBrinkley 

DouglasBrinkley.com

---

Selected Media:

• Brinkley for The New York Times: President Trump, Please Read 'Desert Solitaire' 

• Mary Frances Berry and Brinkley on PBS's Firing Line 

• Brinkley on Donald Trump's legacy for CNN 

• Articles Listed: http://douglasbrinkley.com/articles/ 

Books Published: 

• American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, 2019

• JKF: A Vision For America, 2018

• Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America 2016 

• The Nixon Tapes : 1971-1972 and The Nixon Tapes: 1973, 2015, with coauthor Luke A. Nichter

• Cronkite, 2012

• The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960, 2011

• The Notes: Ronald Reagan's Private Collection of Stories and Wisdom, 2011

• Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 9th edition with Stephen Ambrose, 2010

• The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, 2009

• Gerald R. Ford, The American Presidents Series, 2007

• The Ronald Reagan Diaries, Edited by Brinkley, 2007

• Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960, selected journals edited by Brinkley, 2007 

• The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 2006

• Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism, 2006

• Rosa Parks: A Life,  2005

• Voices of Courage: The Battle for Khe Sanh, Vietnam, with co-author Ronald Drez, 2005

• The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion, 2005

• Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, 2004

• Voices of Valor: D-Day: June 6, 1944, words and recorded voices of those who served at D-Day, edited by Brinkley, 2004

• Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress, 2003

• The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today, with Stephen Ambrose, 2002 

• Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist, collected letters of Hunter S. Thompson, edited by Brinkley, 2000

• Witness to America: An Illustrated Documentary of the History of the United States from the Revolution to D-Day, 1999

• The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House, 1998

• American Heritage: History of the United States, 1998

• Hunter S. Thompson: The Proud Highway, Saga of a Distemperate Southern Gentleman 1955-1967, collected letters, edited by Brinkley, 1997

• FDR and the Creation of the U.N., 1997

• The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey 1993

• Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953-71 1992

• Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal, 1992

More can be found at http://douglasbrinkley.com/all-books/ 

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Tom Rogers

A true innovator and a leader in the fields of television, news and entertainment, Tom Rogers has led a pioneering career at the nexus of media, technology, and public policy for more than three decades. He revolutionized the coverage of business news through the creation of CNBC and MSNBC during his tenure as the first President of NBC Cable, changed how we consume television as the CEO of TiVo, oversaw brands from New York magazine to the History Channel, and helped to draft many of the key laws which govern the development of today’s media industry. He is currently the Executive Chairman of Engine Media, broad based sports, esports, and news content & distribution company, as well as Chairman and CEO of TRget Media, a media investment and advisory firm.

In 1987, Rogers became the first President NBC Cable (now NBCUniversal Cable), Executive Vice President of NBC, and NBC’s chief strategist. In this role, he founded the nation’s leading business news channel CNBC and established the NBC/Microsoft joint venture, MSNBC. He was also instrumental in the establishment of many popular channels, including National Geographic Channel and Court TV (now truTV), and oversaw many more, including American Movie Classics and Bravo. He remains a contributor at CNBC today, with appearances including Squawk on the Street, Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and Fast Money.

Over his eleven years as Tivo’s longest serving President and CEO, Rogers led the company as it changed how consumers watched television through its invention of the DVR. Before TiVo, Rogers was Chairman and CEO of PRIMEDIA Inc., which at the time was the leading targeted media company in the United States. PRIMEDIA published over 200 magazines, and operated more than 400 websites.

Prior to entering the media industry, Rogers was Senior Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Telecommunications, Consumer Protection and Finance Subcommittee where he was responsible for overseeing the Federal Communications Commission, and drafted a variety of laws which shape communications today, such as the Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act of 1984, which established a national policy for the regulation of cable television communications. A graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia Law School, he has been inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame and has won an Emmy Award for contributions to the development of advanced television and advanced advertising. He is currently an Editor-at-Large for Newsweek. 

Rogers rings the bell at NASDAQ for TiVo

Rogers joined TCG on Wednesday October 28th, 2020 to moderate “The Election that Could Break America,”  a discussion about what to expect after the 2020 Biden-Trump election. He currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

DNI Director Jim Clapper, Tom Rogers, and CNN’s John Berman at the Common Good

Selected Media:

Closing Bell Interview: Netflix has pricing power: Fmr. NBC Cable President Tom Rogers

Rogers for Newsweek: Bringing Justice to Justice

 Riptide Interview Tom Rogers

Rogers on CNBC: Media mogul Tom Rogers reacts to Disney's quarterly results

Hilary Rosen

Hilary Rosen

Strategist

Hilary Rosen is a well-known strategist who effectively navigates the worlds of media, communications, business and politics. She is Vice Chair of the award-winning public affairs agency SKDKnickerbocker and an on-air CNN analyst.

Hilary formerly served as chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the leading trade association of America’s record companies. She became the first Washington editor-at-large and political director of The Huffington Post.

Throughout her career, Hilary has regularly been featured on power lists in a variety of sectors, including The New York Post’s Ladies Who Launch Entertainment Trends, Entertainment Weekly’s Annual Power List, The Hollywood Reporter’s Power 50 Women, The Washington Post’s Power 20 and National Journal’s Power Women in Washington. Hilary previously worked as Chief of Staff for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, as an assistant to New Jersey Gov. Brendan Byrne has been an advisor to many elected officials over the years.

Hilary Rosen participated in the Post Vice Presidential Debate Panel on October 8, 2020. Rosen was joined by Greenberg, Setmayer and Percio to have an incredible conversation and to analyze the historic evening.

Tara Setmayer

Tara Setmayer

Political Commentator

Tara Setmayer is a CNN Political Commentator, Contributor to ABC News and former GOP Communications Director on Capitol Hill. She is currently the host of the "Honestly Speaking with Tara" podcast. Tara regularly appears on CNN's prime time programs and contributes to ABC's The View, Good Morning America, and Nightline.

In 2017, Tara was named as a Board Director for Stand Up Republic, a non profit organization formed in the wake of the 2016 election of Donald Trump to unite Americans behind the defense of democratic norms, ideals and institutions.

During her time as a senior congressional staffer, Tara successfully led the national effort to free unjustly imprisoned Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean through a presidential commutation issued by President George W. Bush on his last working day in office.  In addition to her communications duties, Setmayer handled policy issues on immigration and federal law enforcement.

Tara Setmayer participated in the Post Vice Presidential Debate Panel on October 8, 2020. Setmayer was joined by Greenberg, Rosen and Percio to have an incredible conversation and to analyze the historic evening.

John Avlon

John Avlon

Author, columnist, commentator

John Avlon is an author, columnist and commentator. He is a senior political analyst and anchor at CNN, appearing on New Day every morning.

From 2013 to 2018, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast. He is the author of the books Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics, Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America, and Washington’s Farewell: the Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. He is also the co-editor of the acclaimed Deadline Artists journalism anthologies. Avlon served as chief speechwriter to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and, in 2012, won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists award for best online column. Avlon is currently working on a book about Abraham Lincoln.

John Avlon spoke at The Common Good in 2018: Defending Democracy: John Avlon, Philip Bobbitt, Ian Kahn, Garry Kasparov, and Bret Stephens - November 29th, 2018, and moderated the panel “Rule of Law, Corruption, and Abuse of Power” featuring Bill Browder and Preet Bharara at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards - May 10, 2019. Avlon was also a co-speaker at our The Rise of Lincoln & U.S. Division with author Sidney Blumenthal on September 24, 2019.

Avlon joined TCG again on September 30, 2020 for The First Presidential Debate Panel alongside Ed Rollins and Doug Sosnick. The panelists reviewed and analyzed the highs and lows of the face-off between the Democrat (Biden) and the Republican (Trump) nominees and how the debate may affect each ticket’s election fortunes.

Twitter: @JohnAvlon

---

Read more:

John Avlon, ‘Trump’s absurd projection reveals his anxiety’, CNN, 24 September 2019

Chris Cillizza, ’Avlon on Trump’s witch-hunt’, CNN, 15 May 2019 

John Avlon, “9/11: ‘A gray cloud of debris rolled violently toward us…’”, CNN, 11 September 2018

Governor Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer

Lawyer and Politician

Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, political commentator, and former Democratic Party politician. Currently, he is the host of Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer, a nightly news and commentary program on Current TV. Prior to that, he was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN from October 2010 to July 2011. He served as the 54th Governor of New York.

Prior to being elected governor, Spitzer had served as New York State Attorney General. Spitzer was born and raised in New York, by real estate tycoon Bernard Spitzer. He attended Princeton University for undergraduate studies and then Harvard Law School for his Juris Doctor. It was there that he met his future wife, Silda Wall. He went on to work for the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and subsequently the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to pursue organized crime. He launched the investigation that brought down the Gambino family’s control over Manhattan’s garment and trucking industries.

In the 1998 election, Spitzer defeated incumbent Republican Dennis Vacco by a slim margin to become New York State Attorney General. His campaign was financed by a controversial multi-million dollar loan from his father. As attorney general, Spitzer prosecuted cases relating to corporate white collar crime, securities fraud, internet fraud and environmental protection.

He most notably pursued cases against computer chip price fixing, investment bank stock price inflation, predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders, fraud at American International Group, and the 2003 mutual fund scandal. He also sued Richard Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange over a compensation package perceived to be excessive.

Twitter: @EliotSpitzer

Read more:

Tim Mullaney, ‘Related Cos., Eliot Spitzer Propose Senior Living for Highrise Near Hudson Yards’, Senior Housing News, 12 June 2019

Errol Louis, ‘Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer Weighs in on the Mueller Report’, Spectrum News NY 1, 18 April 2019

Richard Bockman, ‘The Closing: Eliot Spitzer’, The Real Deal, 1 January 2019

Jeffrey Toobin

Jeffrey Toobin

Freelance lawyer

Jeffrey Toobin began freelancing for The New Republic as a law student. He went on to become a law clerk to a federal judge and work as an associate counsel to Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh during the Iran-Contra affair and Oliver North’s criminal trial, before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn. He then took up a post in 1993 at The New Yorker, and became the first television legal analyst in 1994, at ABC.

He currently is a staff writer at The New Yorker, a senior analyst for CNN since 2002, and the author of five books. Toobin’s latest book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, has received awards from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Toobin was hosted by The Common Good in 2012: Aftermath: Supreme Court & Health Care with Carl Bernstein, Jeffrey Toobin & Susan Blumenthal.

Twitter: @JeffreyToobin

---

Read more:

Jeffrey Toobin, 'The House Judiciary Committee Considers Antitrust Law, the Tech Giants, and the Future of News’, The New Yorker, 14 June 2019

Jeffrey Toobin, ‘The Abortion Fight and the Pretense of Precedent’, The New Yorker, 19 May 2019

Jeffrey Toobin, ‘The Constitutional System Is Not Built to Resist Trump’s Defiance of Congress’, The New Yorker, 10 May 2019

Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Media Mogul and Philanthropist

Robert Edward “Ted” Turner is an American media mogul and philanthropist.  As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel.  He attended Brown University and was vice-president of the Brown Debating Union and captain of the sailing team.  After the death of his father at age 24, he took the family’s billboard business. He went on to purchase Atlanta UHF and started assembling his Turner Broadcasting System.

In 1980 he launched CNN, which rose to prominence as it garnered a reputation for having its reporters arrive first on any news scene.  Some of the incidents that marked CNN as a serious network were the covering of the Reagan assassination attempt in 1981, the Challenger disaster in 1986 and the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.

In 1986 Turner purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Myer (MGM) / United artists instead and used their extensive film library to launch TNT in 1988.  In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner Inc. and Ted Turner became the Vice Chairman of the company of which he now owned 10% – the largest individual stockholder.

As a philanthropist, he is known for his $1 billion gift to support UN causes, which created the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden support for the UN.  Turner serves as Chairman of the United Nations Foundation board of directors.  His other causes include the Turner Foundation, Inc, Turner Endangered Species Fund and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. He is also the originator of the Goodwill Games that started in 1986.

Turner has also devoted his assets to environmental causes.  As one of the largest private land owners in the US, he uses much of his land for ranches to re-popularize bison meat, amassing the largest herd in the world. He also created the environmental-themed animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.