Past Speakers

Steve Rattner

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Steve Rattner

Businessman

Steve Rattner is the Chairman and CEO of Willet Advisors LLC, which invests former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s personal and philanthropic assets. He is the Economic Analyst for MSNBC’s Morning Joe and is a Contributing Writer for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.

Rattner wrote the book Overhaul: An Insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry about his time as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury leading the Obama Administration’s successful restructure of the automobile industry. Before this, in 2000, Rattner formed Quadrangle Group LLC, a private investment firm that had more than $6 billion of assets under management. He was Managing Principal there until February 2009.

Before the start of his investment banking career, Mr. Rattner worked as a journalist for The New York Times for nine years, mostly as an economic correspondent in New York, London and Washington. In 1982, he joined Lehman Brothers and was then a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley before leaving to become a General Partner at Lazard Frères in 1989. While at Lazard Frères & Co., he served as Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Twitter: @SteveRattner

Mark Ruffalo

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Mark Ruffalo

Actor, activist

Mark Ruffalo is an environmental activist and actor known for his portrayal of Bruce Banner/the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with The Avengers.

He starred in and was an executive producer of the 2014 television drama film The Normal Heart, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie (as a producer) and he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a TV Movie. The same year, he portrayed Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher, for which he was nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2015, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Infinitely Polar Bear and also received BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for his role in the drama Spotlight.

As an environmental activist, Ruffalo has focused his efforts on combating fracking in New York state. Receiving an environmental award at Dickinson College in early 2015, Ruffalo notably told graduates, "I'm here to tell you that 'activist' is not a dirty word." Living that message, Ruffalo founded the Solutions Project, which pushes for 100 percent renewable energy, and is active with Water Defense, a group dedicated to clean water initiatives.

Ruffalo spoke at The Common Good on the Clean Energy and the Water Defense Fund in 2012.

Twitter: @MarkRuffalo

Jeffrey Sachs

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Jeffrey Sachs

Economist, policy analyst

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned professor of economics, leader in sustainable development, senior UN advisor, bestselling author, and syndicated columnist whose monthly newspaper columns appear in more than 100 countries. He is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership, and has twice been named among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders.

Professor Sachs served as the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. He was appointed University Professor at Columbia University in 2016 and also serves as Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Sustainable Development Goals, and previously advised both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria.

Professor Sachs is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on economic development, global macroeconomics, and the fight against poverty. His work on ending poverty, overcoming macroeconomic instability, promoting economic growth, fighting hunger and disease, and promoting sustainable environmental practices has taken him to more than 125 countries. Over the past thirty years, he has advised dozens of heads of state and governments on economic strategy in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He was among the outside advisors to Pope John Paul II on the encyclical Centesimus Annus and currently works closely with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on issues of sustainable development.

Dylan Ratigan

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Dylan Ratigan

Businessman, political commentator

Dylan Jason Ratigan is an American businessman, author, film producer, former host of MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show, former contributor to The Huffington Post, and political commentator for The Young Turks. He was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 21st Congressional District.

The former Global Managing Editor for Corporate Finance at Bloomberg L.P., Ratigan has developed and launched more than six broadcast and new media properties.

Ratigan was hosted by The Common Good in 2012: Dylan Ratigan “Greedy Bastards”.

Twitter: @DylanRatigan

Karim Sadjadpour

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Karim Sadjadpour

Policy analyst

Karim Sadjadpour is an Iranian-American policy analyst at the Carnegie Endowment. He has been "chief Iran analyst" at the International Crisis Group, a contributor to BBC TV and radio, CNN, National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour and Al-Jazeera, and has also appeared on the Today Show, Charlie Rose, Fox News Sunday and the Colbert Report. He contributes regularly to publications such as the Economist, Washington Post, New York Times, International Herald Tribune and Foreign Policy.

Sadjadpour spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2018.

Twitter: @ksadjadpour

Bobby Sager

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Bobby Sager

Businessman

Bobby Sager has spent the last decade of his life traveling around the globe giving away his money to make whatever difference he can.

In 2000, Bobby founded the Sager Family Traveling Foundation and Roadshow. He and his family traveled to some of the poorest nations on earth, living in villages and cities in developing countries. Always looking for the most efficient and sustainable way to solve any issue, Bobby believed the best way to solve pressing issues was through catalyzing the efforts of other leaders, no matter where or who they were. The family traveled the globe, meeting those leaders and setting up projects to assist their efforts, whether in a mountain tent or jungle prison. Additionally, he began recruiting other high-powered business leaders to use their considerable skills in the service of something larger, through his involvement with the Young Presidents Organization, which counts among its members over 20,000 leaders in 100 countries.

Sager was hosted by The Common Good in 2010 for a Meet & Greet,

Andrew Rasiej

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Andrew Rasiej

Founder of the Personal Democracy Forum

Andrew Rasiej is a serial social entrepreneur and founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, an annual conference and website about the intersection of technology, politics, government and advocacy. He is also the co-founder of techPresident.com, an award winning blog that covers how the White House, the federal government, and Congress are using the web, and how technology is empowering new levels of citizen engagement throughout the United States. He is also the founder of MOUSE.org, a not-for-profit focused on 21st century public education, co-founder of Mideastwire.com, which translates Arabic and Farsi news and opinion pieces into English. Rasiej serves as Chairman of the NY Tech Meetup, a 20,000 member organization of technologists, venture funders, marketers, etc. representing the start up, technology, and innovation industry in New York City.

Twitter: @Rasiej

Anthony Scaramucci

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Anthony Scaramucci

Journalist, businessman

Anthony Scaramucci is the founder of SkyBridge Capital. Mr. Scaramucci was the co-host of Wall Street Week, the iconic financial television show revived in 2015 and currently airing on the Fox Business Network. He is the author of three books: The Little Book of Hedge Funds, Goodbye Gordon Gekko and Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole, a 2016 Wall Street Journal best-seller in the business category. Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, Mr. Scaramucci was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co.

In 2016, Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® – New York Award in the Financial Services category. Mr. Scaramucci is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, and a board member of the Business Executives for National Security (BENS). He was a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2012. In November 2016 he was named to President-elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee.

Scaramucci briefly served as the White House Director of Communications in July, 2017. Trump fired him ten days after he began the job at the advice of his Chief of Staff, possibly in response to controversial statements made by Scaramucci within the first week of his work.

Scaramucci was spoke on “Growing the Economy and Jobs – Comments on the Trump Agenda”, moderated by Omeed Malik, at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Twitter: @Scaramucci

Jed Rakoff

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Jed Rakoff

U.S. Judge

Jed Rakoff served as law clerk to the late Honorable Abraham Freedman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He then spent two years in private practice at Debevoise & Plimpton before spending seven years as a federal prosecutor with the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. For the last two of those years, he was Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Prosecutions Unit. He then returned to private practice where he was a partner first with Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Ferdon, and then with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He headed both firms’ criminal defense and civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) sections.

On October 11, 1995, Rakoff was nominated by President Bill Clinton to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 29, 1995, appointed on January 4, 1996, and entered on duty on March 1, 1996. On December 31, 2010, he assumed senior status.

On April 13, 2013, Rakoff was on a list released by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) of Americans banned from entering the Russian Federation over their alleged human rights violations. The list was a direct response to the so-called Magnitsky list revealed by the United States the day before. On March 20, 2014, Rakoff was listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.

Rakoff received the American Spirit Award for Public Service from Richard Farley at The Common Good’s American Spirit Awards 2015.

Kori Schake

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Kori Schake

Foreign policy expert

Kori Schake has held several high positions in the U.S. Defense and State Departments and on the National Security Council, and was a foreign-policy adviser to the McCain-Palin 2008 presidential campaign. Schake is currently the Deputy-Director General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Schake's first government job was with the U.S. Department of Defense as a NATO Desk Officer in the Joint Staff's Strategic Plans and Policy Division from 1990 to 1994. She also spent 2 years (1994–1996) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Strategy and Requirements.

During President George W. Bush's first term, she was the director for Defense Strategy and Requirements on the National Security Council. Projects she contributed to include conceptualizing and budgeting for continued transformation of defense practices, the most significant realignment of U.S. military forces and bases around the world since 1950, creating NATO's Allied Command Transformation and the NATO Response Force, and recruiting and retaining coalition partners for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Schake spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2018.

Twitter: @KoriSchake

Emily Rafferty

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Emily Rafferty

President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emily Rafferty is president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive art museum, which she has served since 1976. Ms. Rafferty has also served since 2008 as chairwoman of NYC & Company, the City’s official tourism and marketing agency. In addition, Ms. Rafferty is a member of the board of directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. In 2012, she received the New York University Lewis Rudin Award for Exemplary Service to New York City, and was named one of New York’s 100 most influential women by Crain’s New York Business between 2009 and 2013.

Rafferty provided an update on the Smithsonian Women’s Museum in Washington D.C. at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019 and spoke about constructing the Women’s History Museum at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Amir Peretz

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Amir Peretz

Israeli Politician

Amir Peretz was the former defense minister of Israel and former leader of the Labor Party. He left both posts in 2007 after failing to win reelection as Chairman of the Labor Party. Peretz also served as Defense Minister when the second Lebanon War broke out between Israel and Lebanon.

In 1988, Peretz was elected a member of the Knesset, where he continues to be a member. In 1994, he was the head of the powerful Histadrut union federation. During this time, Peretz was cooperative with the government in a series of structural and financial reforms that moved Israel towards a more market-oriented economy. In 1999, Peretz resigned from the Labor Party and formed his own party, One Nation. The party was successful, winning two seats in the Knesset in the 1999 elections and three in 2003. As Israel’s social programs became dismantled by market-oriented reforms, Peretz became popular with Israel’s working class, leading to the merger of One Nation and Labor.

Peretz was hosted by The Common Good in 2011: Middle East Briefing with Amir Peretz.

Twitter: @amirperetz

Chemi Peres

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Chemi Peres

Managing General Partner and Co-Founder of Pitango

Chemi Peres is a Managing General Partner and Co-Founder of Pitango. In 1992, he founded the Mofet Israel Technology Fund, an Israeli venture capital fund publicly traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Prior to Mofet, Chemi held managerial positions at Decision Systems Israel (DSI). Chemi also served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force for 10 years.

He currently serves on the boards of numerous Pitango portfolio companies. Chemi also serves as a board member in several non-for-profit organizations. He is chairman of the Peres center for Peace, board member at Social Finance Israel and serves on the board of Governors of The Jewish Diaspora Museum.

Peres spoke at The Common Good in 2017: "No Room for Small Dreams: Courage, Imagination and the Making of Modern Israel".

Twitter: @chemiperes

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi

U.S. Speaker of the House

Nancy Pelosi was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 1987, winning a special election of California’s 8th district. As a member of the House of Representatives, she has served on the Appropriations Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2002, Pelosi was selected to be the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, making her the first woman in history earn the honor. Four years later, she again broke new ground for women in U.S. politics. After the Democrats won majorities in both the House and the Senate in the 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi was chosen to become the first woman to take the post of speaker of the House.

As the leader of the Democratic Party in the House under a Republican president, Pelosi was a vocal critic of President George W. Bush’s stance on the war in Iraq and advocated for the withdrawal of troops from the region. Pelosi remained House speaker until November 2010, when Republicans gained control of the House and elected John Boehner to the role, relegating Pelosi to minority leader. After Democrats reclaimed control of the House in the 2018 midterms, Pelosi was once again elected House speaker at the beginning of 2019, placing her on the front line in the battle with President Donald Trump over his demand for $5.7 billion for a wall spanning the U.S.-Mexico border. The stalemate turned into a contentious 35-day government shutdown, with the speaker drawing most of the president’s ire for her control over congressional funding. However, shortly after Pelosi effectively canceled the traditional State of the Union address, scheduled for January 29, President Trump agreed to temporarily reopen the government.

Speaker Pelosi was hosted by The Common Good in 2012: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Twitter: @NancyPelosi

Senator Gary Peters

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Senator Gary Peters

Politician, businessman

Elected in 2014, Senator Gary Peters represents the State of Michigan in the U.S. Senate. In the U.S. Senate, Peters’ top priority is to continue supporting job creation and economic growth to strengthen small businesses and the middle class. Senator Peters is committed to working with members of both parties to find commonsense, practical and bipartisan solutions to the challenges facing Michigan and our nation.

Senator Peters began his public service as a Rochester Hills City Councilman in 1991. In 1994, Peters was elected to the Michigan State Senate where he represented communities in Oakland County. Peters later served as the Michigan State Lottery Commissioner where he generated a record amount of funding for our public schools. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008. In Congress, Senator Peters has led efforts to eliminate wasteful and unnecessary spending, and is continually working to responsibly reduce the deficit.

In the 114th Congress, Senator Peters serves on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Joint Economic Committee.

Twitter: @SenGaryPeters

Sharon Patrick

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Sharon Patrick

Founder of McKinsey’s Media and Entertainment Practice

Sharon graduated from Stanford and Harvard Business School and founded McKinsey’s Media and Entertainment Practice. She was elected as the Firm’s third woman Partner, and then became President of Cablevision’s cable programming company, creating and leading networks like AMC, Bravo, and Sports Channels. She eventually founded her own entrepreneurial company, The Sharon Patrick Company, and then co-founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Sharon designed MSO’s business model, led its highly successful IPO, and went on to become the Company’s President and CEO.

Today, Sharon is deeply interested in philanthropy. She is involved in ecology and animal protection, cultural arts, inner city education, and politics.

Patrick presented the Changemaker Scholarships to Jamie Margolin and Alexandria Villaseñor at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards, 2019.

Representative Adam Schiff

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representative Adam Schiff

U.S. Representative for California's 28th congressional district

Congressman Adam Schiff represents California's 28th Congressional District. Schiff currently serves as the Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. 

In addition to his committee work, Schiff has been fighting to enact tax relief for small businesses, to assist them with access to capital, and to remove burdensome regulations. Schiff has also been a leader on national security and foreign policy efforts in Congress, and has pushed for a broader strategy that emphasizes diplomacy, intelligence reform, and efforts to stabilize countries that are at risk of becoming future failed states.

Congressman Schiff has emerged as one of the most consequential members with leadership on many issues. He now serves on the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol tasked with discovering facts, circumstances and causes of the attack.

Prior to serving in the House of Representatives, Schiff completed a four-year term as State Senator for California's 21st State Senate District, chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Juvenile Justice and the Joint Committee on the Arts. During his time in Sacramento, he led legislative efforts to guarantee up-to-date textbooks in the classroom, overhaul child support, and pass a patient's bill of rights. Before serving in the Legislature, Schiff served with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles for six years, most notably prosecuting the first FBI agent ever to be indicted for espionage.

On January 05, 2022, Adam Schiff participated in January 6th Capitol Attack: One Year Later

Twitter: @RepAdamSchiff

David A. Paterson

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Governor David A. Paterson

55th Governor of New York

David Paterson served as New York’s 55th Governor from 2008 to 2010 following the resignation of former Governor Eliot Spitzer. During his tenure as Governor, Paterson is credited for drawing attention to New York’s fiscal woes, stretching the budget-drafting powers of his office, and enacting sweeping reforms on a wide range of issues facing New Yorkers. 

In 1985, at the age of 31, David A. Paterson was elected to represent Harlem in the New York State Senate, becoming the youngest Senator in Albany at the time. In 2003, he became the first non-white legislative leader in New York’s history when he was elevated to Minority Leader of the Senate. The former Governor, who is legally blind, made history again in 2004 when he became the first visually impaired person to address the Democratic National Convention, and again in 2007 when he became New York’s first African-American Lieutenant Governor. As Lieutenant Governor, he led the charge on several crucial issues for New York’s future including achieving legislation for stem cell research, working to prevent domestic violence, putting forth a statewide renewable energy strategy and championing the expansion of minority and women owned businesses in New York. The former Governor led the movement to create permanent reforms to health care in New York State, successfully negotiated an MTA bailout plan, and introduced landmark legislation to end legal discrimination against same-sex couples in New York.

Paterson was hosted by The Common Good in 2010: Leadership Series: David Paterson on New York Past and Present.

Twitter: @NYGovPaterson55

Kevin Phillips

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Kevin Phillips

Writer

Kevin Phillips is an American writer and commentator on politics, economics, and history. Formerly a Republican Party strategist, Kevin Phillips has become disaffected with his former party over the last two decades, and is now one of its most scathing critics. He is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio, and is a political analyst on PBS’ NOW with Bill Moyers.

Phillips was a strategist on voting patterns for Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign, which was the basis for his book, The Emerging Republican Majority. It predicted a conservative realignment in national politics and is widely regarded as one of the most influential recent works in political science. Phillips also was partly responsible for the design of the Republican “Southern strategy” of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

His book, Bad Money, examines America’s great shift from manufacturing to financial services. He also discusses America’s petroleum policies and the tying of the dollar to the price of oil.

Phillips was hosted by The Common Good in 2008 for a Meet & Greet.

Eric Schmidt

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Eric Schmidt

Businessman

In his time at Google in 2001, Eric Schmidt helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology.

From 2001 to 2011, Eric served as Google’s chief executive officer, overseeing the company’s technical and business strategy alongside founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Under his leadership, Google dramatically scaled its infrastructure and diversified its product offerings while maintaining a strong culture of innovation. From 2011 to 2015, Schmidt served as Executive Chairman at Google. and then as Executive Chairman of Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2017.

Eric is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council in the U.K. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as a fellow in 2007. He also chairs the board of the New America Foundation, and since 2008 has been a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In May 2012, Eric became a member of Khan Academy’s board of directors and the following year he joined the board of The Economist. In 2013, Eric and Jared Cohen co-authored The New York Times bestselling book, The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Businesses, and Our Lives. In September 2014, Eric published his second New York Times best-seller, How Google Works, which he and Jonathan Rosenberg wrote with Alan Eagle.

Schmidt was hosted by The Common Good in 2014 for a Meet & Greet.

Twitter: @ericschmidt