Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

US. Senator for New York

Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand is an American attorney and politician serving as the junior United States Senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. On March 17th, 2019 Senator Gillibrand announced her candidacy for the 2020 Presidential race. She withdrew her candidacy in August of 2019 after failing to qualify for the third presidential debate.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand became the first member of Congress to post her official public schedule, personal financial disclosure, and federal earmark requests online. Senator Gillibrand’s number one priority in the U.S. Senate is to rebuild the American economy by creating good-paying jobs, helping small businesses get loans, and partnering with the private sector to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

Throughout her time in the Senate, Senator Gillibrand has championed a range of issues, from the fight to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” that prevented homosexuals from serving openly in the military; to the passage of the STOCK Act, which made it illegal for members of Congress to financially benefit from inside information; to providing permanent health care and compensation to the 9/11 first responders and community survivors who are sick with diseases caused by toxins at Ground Zero. Senator Gillibrand worked to bring Democrats and Republicans together to win these legislative victories.

Senator Gillibrand spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017, and co-hosted The American Spirit Awards 2011.

Twitter:  @SenGillibrand

John Podhoretz

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John Podhoretz

Writer, editor, columnist

John Mordecai Podhoretz is an American writer. He is the editor of Commentary magazine, a columnist for the New York Post, the author of several books on politics, including Bush Country and Can She Be Stopped?: Hillary Clinton Will Be the Next President of the United States Unless..., and a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. (1)

Podhoretz spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017 on the panel “Press Under Fire”, alongside Steven Brill, Floyd Abrams, and Elizabeth Spayd.

Twitter: @jpodhoretz

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(1) Material from Wikipedia.

Elizabeth Spayd

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Elizabeth Spayd

The New York Times public editor

Elizabeth Spayd is currently the public editor at The New York Times. Previously, she was editor in chief and publisher at The Columbia Journalism Review and a longtime editor at The Washington Post. (1)

Spayd spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017 on the panel “Press Under Fire”, alongside Steven Brill, Floyd Abrams, and John Podhoretz.

Twitter: @spaydl

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(1) Material from The New York Times. (Author: Sydney Ember)

Floyd Abrams

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Floyd Abrams

American attorney

Floyd Abrams is Senior Counsel in Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP's litigation practice group. Floyd has a national trial and appellate practice and extensive experience in high-visibility matters, often involving First Amendment, securities litigation, intellectual property, public policy and regulatory issues. He has argued frequently in the Supreme Court. Floyd's clients have included The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case and others, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Time Magazine, Business Week, The Nation, Reader's Digest, Hearst, AIG, and others in trials, appeals and investigations. (1)

Floyd, who served as chairman of Mayor Edward Koch's Committee on Appointments, New York City, served as the Chairman of the New York State Zenger Commemoration Planning Committee. Previously, he served as the Chairman of the Communications Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, as well as Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and of the Press of the Individual Rights Section of the American Bar Association and of the Committee on Freedom of Expression of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association. Floyd served on the Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Defense in 2003-4 and as the Chair of the New York State Commission on Public Access to Court Records in 2004. For fifteen years, Floyd was the William J. Brennan, Jr. Visiting Professor of First Amendment Law at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. (1)

Abrams spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017 on the panel “Press Under Fire”, alongside Steven Brill, John Podhoretz, and Elizabeth Spayd.

(1) Material from the Cahill website.

Seth Masters

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Seth Masters

Investor, advisor

Seth J. Masters currently serves as a member of the Strategic Advisory Board at Wealthtechs Inc. Masters served as Chief Investment Officer of Bernstein Global Wealth Management and Executive Vice President of Alliance Bernstein Holding L.P. from 2013-2017. Masters was also the Chief Investment Officer at Blend Strategies & Defined Contribution Investments, and has published numerous articles and appeared on many television programs dealing with investment strategy

Master spoke on the “Economic Investment Environment” at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Secretary John Kerry

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John Kerry

Former U.S. Secretary of State

On February 1, 2013, John Forbes Kerry was sworn in as the 68th Secretary of State of the United States, becoming the first sitting Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman to become Secretary in over a century. Secretary Kerry joined the State Department after 28 years in the United States Senate, the last four as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He retired in 2017 after President Obama left office.

Shortly before he graduated from Yale University, Secretary Kerry enlisted to serve in the United States Navy, and went on to serve two tours of duty. He returned home from Vietnam with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. Back in the United States, Secretary Kerry began lifelong fight for his fellow veterans as a co-founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and later as a United States Senator who fought to secure veterans’ benefits, the extension of the G.I. Bill for Higher Education, and improved treatment for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Kerry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1982, and 2 years later, he was elected to the United States Senate where he served for 28 years. In 2009, Secretary Kerry became Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. In 2010, as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary Kerry was instrumental in the ratification of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) Treaty, a vital nuclear arms reduction agreement with Russia that helps steer both countries away from dangerous nuclear confrontations. He also held senior positions on the Finance, Commerce, and Small Business committees, as well as served as a member of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, where he worked across party lines to try and reduce the country’s debt and strengthen our economy.

Kerry was awarded the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Twitter: @JohnKerry

Jane Abraham

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Jane Abraham

Full-time volunteer

Jane Abraham is a full-time volunteer with a wide range of experience on educational, cultural and social service boards. Currently, she serves as a member of the board of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. Prior to that, she served as a member of the board of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance. Jane is also a member of the board of The Nurturing Network, an international charitable organization that responds to the immediate and comprehensive needs of a woman facing the crisis of an unplanned pregnancy and chairman of the board of the Susan B. Anthony List, a bipartisan, pro-life organization devoted to elected more pro-life women to political office. Abraham was nominated to the American Museum of Women's History Congressional Commission by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. (1)

In her professional career, Abraham was a senior Republican Party official at both the state and national levels and also was the founder of Abraham Strategies, LLC, a strategic marketing, government affairs and event planning business. (1)

She was hosted by The Common Good at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Honorary Advisory Board Member: Silda Wall Spitzer

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Silda Wall Spitzer is a prominent businesswoman, lawyer, and former first lady of New York State. Currently, she is director and principal at NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm investing in environmental opportunities, including energy efficiency, clean energy, waste-to-value, and environmental products. She is also co-founder and CEO of New York Makers, the first digital marketplace and magazine for the state curating it’s best and most interesting makers, products, happenings, places, and ideas.

As First Lady of New York State, she worked to support the Administration’s goal to significantly reduce fossil energy consumption. She spearheaded initiatives to promote green buildings, alternative energy, and local food sourcing. Her "I LIVE NY" program engaged constituents to create livable communities and sustainable jobs.

Spitzer’s current environmentally-related nonprofit endeavors include serving as Vice Chair of the Urban Green Council, the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which advances sustainability in the urban built environment. She is also on the Advisory Board of The Sustainable Endowments Institute, and is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, and the New York State and City Bar Associations, Silda holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA summa cum laude and an Honorary Doctorate from Meredith College.

Spitzer presented the American Spirit Award for Citizen Activism to Teresa Shook at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017. She currently serves as a member of The Common Good Honorary Advisory Board.

Selected Media:

Teresa Shook

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Teresa Shook

Founder of the Women’s March

Teresa Shook is a retired lawyer in Hawaii and the founder of the Women's March. Shook created a Facebook event for a march in Washington, D. C. following the inauguration of Donald Trump. Within a single day, hundreds of thousands of individuals were "attending" the march's Facebook event. This surge in interest was a catalyst for creating the organization that led to the 2017 Women's March. (1)

In November 2018, Shook criticized the leadership of the Women’s March national organization as being “anti-Semitic and anti-gay rights”. Shook called for the Women’s March leadership to step down. (1)

Shook was presented with the American Spirit Award for Citizen Activism by Silda Wall Spitzer at the The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Twitter: @TeresaShookWM

(1) Material from Wikipedia.

John McCain ✝

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John McCain ✝

Former U.S. Senator from Arizona

John Sidney McCain III was a senator, soldier, and 2008 presidential nominee. As a young man in his twenties, he enlisted in the US Navy to follow in the footsteps of his father. He was deployed in Vietnam and ended his military service with the rank of Captain. During his tour in Vietnam, he was captured and was a prisoner of war for five and a half years.

McCain went on to become a House Representative for Arizona’s 1st congressional district in 1982 and was re-elected in 1984. McCain began his first term in the Senate in 1987. He went on to win five more terms all the way until 2018. McCain was the Republican nominee for the 2008 election running against Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

Senator McCain was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2017 and passed away on August 25th, 2018.

Senator John McCain was awarded the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service by Chele Chiavacci Farley at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Chele Chiavacci Farley

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Chele chiavacci farley

Investment banker, private sector adviser

Chele Farley is Managing Director of Mistral Capital International, which has invested over $1.6 billion in equity since inception in 1991. Her past Mistral transactions include deals with Goldman, Sachs (GSEMREF), Starwood Capital (Star Resorts), and Royal Dutch Shell. Farley sits on the Management Committee and Board of Palmilla San Jose Inmobiliaria (a real estate resort development in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico). She formerly was with UBS Capital and Goldman, Sachs & Co. (Investment Banking Division).

Farley received both a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and sits on Stanford’s New York Alumni Board as well as the Archeology Center Advisory Board of the University. Along with former Senator Bill Bradley, she is Co-Chair of the East Coast Advisory Board of QuestBridge, the leading conduit for students with a family income below $60,000 annually to attend a university. She is also active with the Alzheimer’s Association and Co-Chaired the Association’s Rita Hayworth Gala in New York in October 2010 which raised over $1.7 million.

Farley ran as a Republican candidate against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2018, and has now announced her 2020 campaign against Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

She hosted events at The Common Good in 2016: Commentary on the 2016 Presidential Election with Bill Kristol - September 22, 2016 and 2017: Rethinking the Afghanistan War with Erik Prince - October 3, 2017. She also presented the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service to Senator John McCain at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017.

Twitter: @CheleFarley

Marc Busch

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Marc Busch

Writer

Marc L. Busch is an expert on international trade policy and law. He serves as a member of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Standards and Technical Trade Barriers, a public-private group reporting to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative. He has addressed a wide variety of governments and international institutions, including the Advisory Center on WTO Law, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the World Bank and the United Nations. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on Airbus-Boeing litigation, and before the Canadian Senate on softwood lumber litigation. In 1999 he published his first and only book, Trade Warriors: States, Firms, and Strategic-Trade Policy in High-Technology Competition.

Busch spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017 on the “New Era of Global Trade”.

David Burstein

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David Burstein

CEO and Founder of Run for America

David Burstein is the CEO and Founder of Run for America, a citizen-powered movement to re-imagine politics, reinvigorate government, and restore the promise of America for the 21st century. Run for America strategically recruits, trains, and works to elect a new generation of leaders to Congress who are committed to a solutions-first, future-focused, and innovative approach to tackling our major national challenges. RFA Candidates serve their communities by ending gridlock, increasing participation and bringing citizens together, expanding the electorate to win elections and build a lasting grassroots network of supporters across the country and political spectrum. David is also the author of Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaping Our World and the founder and former Executive Director of Generation18, a nonpartisan young voter engagement organization.

Burstein spoke at both The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017 and The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2016.

Twitter: @davidburstein

Orville Schell

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Orville Schell

Writer

Orville Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society in New York. He is a former professor and Dean at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Schell worked for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, covered the war in Indochina as a journalist, and has traveled widely in China since the mid-70s. (1)

Schell is the author of fifteen books, ten of them about China, and a contributor to numerous edited volumes. He has written widely for many magazine and newspapers, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Time, The New Republic, Harpers, The Nation, The New York Review of Books, Wired, Foreign Affairs, the China Quarterly, and The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. (1)

Schell is a Fellow at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, a Senior Fellow at the Annenberg School of Communications at USC and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Schell is also the recipient of many prizes and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Overseas Press Club Award, and the Harvard-Stanford Shorenstein Prize in Asian Journalism. (1)

Schell spoke at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2017 on “Global Threats and Opportunites” in China and North Korea.

Twitter: @orvilleschell

(1) Material from the Asia Society website.

Rep. Joe Kennedy III

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Rep. Joe Kennedy III

Politician

Elected in November of 2012, Congressman Joe Kennedy III represents Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District.

Prior to seeking office, Kennedy served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Assistant District Attorney in both the Middlesex County, Cape and Island’s District Attorneys’ Offices. A graduate of Harvard Law, he was an active member of the school’s Legal Aid Bureau – a pro-bono law firm that provided legal services to low-income families around Boston. During that time he also co-founded an after school program for at-risk youth in the Boston area with his wife, Lauren.

Earlier in his career Joe served as a member of the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. He has also worked as an international development analyst for the United Nations’ Millennium Project and as an anti-poverty consultant abroad.

He spoke at The Common Good in 2013: Rising Leaders: Power Breakfast with Congressman Joseph Kennedy III, in 2015: Meet & Greet: Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III, and in 2017: Discussion on Challenges and Opportunity in Congress.

Twitter: @RepJoeKennedy

William Floyd Weld

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William Floyd Weld

Former Governor of Massachusetts

William Floyd Weld is an American attorney, businessman, and Republican politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. Weld is running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 election.

A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to the United States house Committee before becoming the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and, later, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. He worked on a series of high-profile public corruption cases and later resigned in protest of an ethics scandal and associated investigations into Attorney General Edwin Meese.

Weld was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1990. In the 1994 election, he was reelected by the largest margin of victory in Massachusetts history. In 1996, he was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in Massachusetts, losing to Democratic incumbent John Kerry. Weld resigned as governor in 1997 to focus on his nomination by President Bill Clinton to serve as United States Ambassador to Mexico. However, due to opposition by socially conservative Senate Foreign Relations committee Chairman Jesse Helms, he was denied a hearing before the Foreign Relations committee and withdrew his nomination.

Weld was hosted by The Common Good in March of 2017: History in the Making: Post-Election Panel 2016, alongside Carl Bernstein and Kellyanne Conway, with moderator Alan Schwartz.

Twitter: @GovBillWeld

Richard Haass

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Richard Haass

American diplomat

Dr. Richard Haass is a veteran diplomat, a prominent voice on American foreign policy, and an established leader of nonprofit institutions. He is in his sixteenth year as president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, publisher, and educational institution dedicated to being a resource to help people better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.

From January 2001 to June 2003, Dr. Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he directed the policy planning staff and was a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, Dr. Haass also served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. From 1989 to 1993, he was special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and senior director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. In 1991, Dr. Haass was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal for his contributions to the development and articulation of U.S. policy during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Previously, he served in the Departments of State (1981–1985) and Defense (1979–1980), and was a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Haass is the author or editor of thirteen books on American foreign policy and one book on management. His latest book is A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order, published in 2017 by Penguin Press.

Mr. Haass was hosted by The Common Good in March of 2017: The Changing World Order: Richard Haass.

Twitter: @RichardHaass

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Sheldon Whitehouse

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Sheldon Whitehouse

American lawyer, politician

Sheldon Whitehouse served as Rhode Island’s Director of Business Regulation under Governor Sundlun before being recommended by Senator Pell and nominated by President Bill Clinton to be Rhode Island’s United States Attorney in 1994.  He was elected Attorney General of Rhode Island in 1998, a position in which he served until 2003.  On November 7, 2006, Rhode Islanders elected Sheldon to the United States Senate, where he is a member of the Budget Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), the Judiciary Committee, and the Finance Committee. 

The Common Good hosted a special conversation with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in February of 2017: Captured: The Corporate Infiltration of American Democracy.

Twitter: @SenWhitehouse

Yusuf Ziya Irbeç

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Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbeç ✝

Economist

Dr. Yusuf Ziya İrbeç was born in Kas, Antalya in 1959. He was an economist, foreign policy specialist and academician, and he served as a Member of the Turkish Parliament for Antalya and an Executive Board Member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in which he was the Deputy Convenor of Peace and Democracy Program. Dr. Yusuf Ziya İrbeç was also a member of Turkish Parliament, and was Clerk Member and Vice-Chairman of the European Union Harmonization Commission. He also served as a Member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European Union.

His experiences within the private sector and international institutions include the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK), Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Ankara Chamber of Commerce, and Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin.

Dr. Yusuf Ziya İrbeç passed away on June 19th, 2017.

He was hosted by The Common Good in 2013: Briefing on Turkey with Dr. Yusuf Ziya İrbeç – March 29, 2013, and in 2017: Special Meeting with Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec M.P. - January 30, 2017.

Carl Bernstein

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Carl Bernstein

Journalist

Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist and author.

In 1972, Bernstein was teamed up with Bob Woodward at The Washington Post, and the two did much of the original news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. He shared a Pulitzer Prize with Bob Woodward as a result of this work.

Bernstein's career since Watergate has continued to focus on the theme of the use and abuse of power through books and magazine articles, and has done reporting for television and opinion commentary. He is the author or co-author of six books: All the President's Men, The Final Days, and The Secret Man with Bob Woodward, His Holiness: John Paul II and the History of Our Time, with Marco Politi, Loyalties; and A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Additionally, he is a regular political commentator on CNN. He has written for Vanity Fair, where he is a contributing editor, Time, USA Today, Rolling Stone, and The New Republic.

Bernstein was hosted by The Common Good in 2010: Election Insurrection: The Mid-Term Elections 2010, in 2012: Aftermath: Supreme Court & Health Care with Carl Bernstein, Jeffrey Toobin & Susan Blumenthal – July 19, 2012, in 2016: Post-Election Panel 2016 - December 7, 2016, and in 2017: History in the Making: Post-Election Panel 2016 - March 17, 2017.

Twitter: @carlbernstein