The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright

In 1997, Madeleine K. Albright was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. As Secretary of State, Dr. Albright reinforced America's alliances, advocated democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade and business, labor, and environmental standards abroad.

From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of the President's Cabinet. She is currently Principal of The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm, and Chair and Principal of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets.

Prior to Dr. Albright's return to public service in 1993, she was the Director of Women in Foreign Service Programs and a Research Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University. From 1989 to 1992, she served as President of the Center for National Policy. Dr. Albright was also a member of President Jimmy Carter's National Security Council and White House staff from 1978 to 1981, and from 1976 to 1978, she served as Chief Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie.

She is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Dr. Albright co-chairs the UNDP's Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute and the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security. Dr. Albright earned a B.A. with Honors from Wellesley College, and Master's and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University's Department of Public Law and Government, as well as a Certificate from its Russian Institute.

Dr. Albright is author of three New York Times best-sellers. Her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir, was published in 2003. In 2006, Dr. Albright published The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. Her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership was published in January 2008.

Speaker Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich is well known as the architect of the "Contract with America" that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in 40 years. Under his leadership, Congress passed welfare reform, the first balanced budget in a generation, and the first tax cut in sixteen years.

Newt is the founder of The Gingrich Group, a consulting firm focused on transformational change, and the Center for Health Transformation, which is a collaboration of public and private sector leaders dedicated to the creation of a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money. Gingrich is also General Chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, a unique non-partisan organization designed to rise above traditional gridlocked partisanship, to provide real, significant solutions to the most important issues facing our country.

Newt is also passionate about "green conservatism," which is an innovative, market-based, common sense approach to protecting the environment by rewarding conservation through incentives while fostering "green" economic growth and affordable energy. Green Conservatism values clean air and water, land preservation, prosperity, biodiversity, and sensible energy solutions for America.

Recognized internationally as an expert on world history, military issues, and international affairs, Newt serves as a Member of the Defense Policy Board. He is the longest-serving teacher of the Joint War Fighting course for Major Generals and teaches officers from all five services as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University. Newt serves on the Terrorism Task Force for the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Johns Hopkins University journal, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, and is an Advisory Board Member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Recently, Newt served as co-Chair of the UN Task Force, a bi-partisan Congressional effort to reform the United Nations.

Newt was first elected to Congress in 1978 where he served the Sixth District of Georgia for twenty years. In 1995, he was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives where he served until 1999. Time magazine named him Man of the Year for 1995. He received his Bachelor's degree from Emory University and Master's and Doctorate in Modern European History from Tulane University. Gingrich has published several fiction and non-fiction best sellers. His most recent books include Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America; Rediscovering God in America; A Contract with the Earth; Real Change and Days of Infamy.

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin, world-renowned historian, has been reporting on politics and baseball for over two decades. Mrs. Goodwin is the author of several books and has written for leading national publications. Her most recent work, a monumental history of Abraham Lincoln entitled Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, published in October 2005, joined the best-seller lists on its first week in publication, and soon reached #1 on the New York Times Best-Seller List. Team of Rivals won the 2006 Lincoln Prize for an outstanding work about the president and/or the Civil War, the inaugural New York Historical Society Book Prize, the Richard Nelson Current award and the New York State Archives History Makers Award. Steven Spielberg is developing a feature film about the book, set to star Liam Neeson as Lincoln.

In 1976, Mrs. Goodwin authored Lyndon Johnson & The American Dream, which became a New York Times best seller. She followed up in 1987 with the political biography, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, which stayed on the New York Times Best-Seller List for five months. In 1990, it was made into a six-hour ABC miniseries. Her next book, No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Home Front During World War II, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in April 1995, as well as the Harold Washington Literary Award, the New England Bookseller Association Award, the Ambassador Book Award, and the Washington Monthly Book Award. It was a New York Times best seller for six months.

Mrs. Goodwin is a commentator for NBC, and a consultant and on-air person for PBS documentaries on Lyndon B. Johnson, the Kennedy Family, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ken Burns’ The History of Baseball. She was the first female journalist to enter the Red Sox locker room. Mrs. Goodwin’s book, Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir, published in 1997, is about growing up in the 1950’s in love with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It has been a New York Times bestseller, as well as a Book of the Month Club selection. A Washington Post reviewer wrote, “This is a book in the grand tradition of girlhood memoirs, dating from Louisa May Alcott to Carson McCullers and Harper Lee.” It has been optioned for a musical.

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Dr. Robert Ballard

Dr. Robert Ballard, an accomplished oceanographer, is best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic. However, his impact is widespread in the areas of oceanography, oceanic exploration, deep water archaeological excavation and the integration of telecommunications technology in oceanic exploration. Dr. Ballard has received numerous degrees, honorary degrees and awards throughout his career. He has published 18 books and numerous scientific papers and articles, and has been featured in several National Geographic television programs.

Dr. Ballard created the JASON project, an educational program designed to inspire in students a lifelong passion to pursue learning in science, math and technology through exploration and discovery. He has conducted more than 100 deep-sea explorations using both manned and unmanned vehicles. Ballard’s most recent discoveries include the Mediterranean Sea finds of sunken remains of ships along ancient trade routes (1997), two ancient Phoenician ships off Israel, the oldest shipwrecks ever found in deep water (1999), and four 1,500-year-old wooden ships – one almost perfectly preserved – in the Black Sea (2000). In 2003 he used satellite and Internet 2 technologies via the Immersion Project to bring thousands of students around the world into direct contact with his expedition team while on location in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

Dr. Ballard is presently developing a joint MA/Ph.D. program in the new field of archaeological oceanography at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. He is a member of the NOAA Science Advisory Board and serves as 1 of 16 Commissioners on the President’s Commission on Ocean Policy. Dr. Ballard lives in Connecticut.

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PRESIDENT MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

Mikhail Gorbachev served as leader of the Soviet Union from 1985-1991. He is world-renowned and admired for streamlining and decentralizing the oppressive system he inherited. In an effort to secure relations with the West, Gorbachev signed two broad disarmament pacts, and ended Communist rule in Eastern Europe. He taught the world two new words: perestroika (governmental restructuring) and glasnost (political openness). As a result of his extraordinary achievements, Gorbachev was the recipient of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, and the Badge of Honor.

In 1992, Gorbachev became President of the Gorbachev Foundation, known as the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies. The Gorbachev Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation. Its purpose is to articulate and address the challenges of the post Cold War world, through the revisioning of global priorities. In 1993, Gorbachev founded Green Cross International, the environmental organization with a mission to help ensure a just, sustainable and secure future for all by fostering a value shift and cultivating a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility in humanity’s relationship with nature.

After graduating from Moscow State University with a law degree, Gorbachev joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1952, and acted as First Secretary for the Stavropol Komsomol City Committee from 1955 to 1958. He then gained reputation and experience in Stavropol politics. In 1971, he was elected as a member to the Central Committee, Communist Party (CCCP) of the Soviet Union. From 1978 to 1985, he served as Secretary for the CCCP with the responsibility for areas involving agriculture. Gorbachev also served as Deputy of the Supreme Soviet from 1970 to 1990, and acted as Chairman for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Soviet Union from 1984 to 1985. From 1985 to 1990, he was President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

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