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Featured Experts and Interviewees
Thom Hartmann is the nation's #1 progressive radio talk show host (also simulcast as TV in 40 million homes by Dish Network/Free Speech TV), and the New York Times bestselling, 4-times project Censored winning author of 22 books in print in 17 languages on 5 continents. Last year, Talkers Magazine name Thom Hartmann as the 8th most important talk show host in America (10th the two previous years), and for all three years the #1 most important progressive host, in their "Heavy Hundred" ranking. Thom has spent much of his life working with and for the international Salem relief organization (www.saleminternational.org) and he and his wife Louise founded a community for abused children in New Hampshire (www.salemchildrensvillage.org) and a school for learning disabled and ADHD kids (www.hunterschool.org). As an entrepreneur, he's also founded several successful businesses which still are operating, and lived and worked with his wife, Louise, and their three children on several continents. He was born and grew up in Michigan, and retains strong ties to the Midwest, although he and Louise now live in Washington D.C., complete with a radio/TV studio and their attack-cat, Higgins.
Alan Stuart Blinder is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Since 1978 he has been Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is among the most influential economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc, and is "considered one of the great economic minds of his generation." Blinder served on President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors (Jan 1993 - June 1994), and as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from June 1994 to January 1996. Blinder's recent academic work has focused particularly on monetary policy and central banking, as well as the "offshoring" of jobs, and his writing for lay audiences has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
David Brock is the author of four political books, including The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy (Crown, May 2004). In his preceding book, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative (Crown, March 2002), a 2002 New York Times best-selling political memoir, he chronicled his years as a conservative media insider. Brock was the recipient of the New Democrat Network’s first award for political entrepreneurship. He currently serves on the board of Progressive States Network, an organization created to support progressive state legislators. He is the CEO of Media Matters for America.
Robert Lloyd "Bob" Crandall (born December 6, 1935) is the former president and chairman of American Airlines. Called an industry legend by airline industry observers, Crandall has been the subject of several books and is a member of the Hall of Honor of the Conrad Hilton college. He received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Rhode Island. Robert Crandall was raised in Rhode Island. Before the passing of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act, Crandall was one of the act's loudest opponents. In 1985, Crandall succeeded Albert Casey as American's chairman and CEO. During the latter period of Crandall's tenure as CEO, investor concern over airline bankruptcies and falling stock prices caused Crandall to remind his employees about the dangers of investing in airline stocks. Known for his candor, Crandall later told an interviewer, "I've never invested in any airline. I'm an airline manager. I don't invest in airlines. And I always said to the employees of American, 'This is not an appropriate investment. It's a great place to work and it's a great company that does important work. But airlines are not an investment.'" Crandall noted that since the airline deregulation of the 1970s, some 150 airlines had gone out of business. "A lot of people came into the airline business. Most of them promptly exited, minus their money," he said.
Donna F. Edwards is the U.S. Representative for Maryland's 4th congressional district, serving since a special election in 2008. A lawyer and long time community activist, she defeated 15-year incumbent Albert Wynn in the 2008 Democratic primary and won a special election to fill the remainder of his term. She was officially sworn in two days later, becoming the first African American woman to represent Maryland in the United States Congress. She is working to help pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would effect a repeal of the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Edwards earned her first degree from Wake Forest University, where she was one of only six black women in her class. After working for Lockheed Corporation at the Goddard Space Flight Center with the Spacelab she attended and earned a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire.
Leo W. Gerard is the International President of the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC. The U.S.W is the dominant union in paper, forestry products, steel, aluminum, tire and rubber, glass, chemicals, and petroleum.
Jakada Imani is working to help bring an end to the cycle of violence that plagues much of urban America and promote reinvestment in our cities using smart solutions and uplifting alternatives to violence and incarceration. A long-time community activist, Jakada became the Ella Baker Center's Executive Director in 2007, after serving as a lead strategist and chief team member on some of their most high profile campaigns. Before joining the Ella Baker Center he helped launch or lead a number of important Bay Area organizations, including Empowered Youth Educating Society (EYES). Born and raised in Oakland, California, Jakada is the father of four powerful and creative young girls. You can read his articles in Ella's Voice as well as follow his contributions to City Brights and Huffington Post.
David M. Green is President/CEO of Contra Costa Federal Credit Union, a $590 million credit union headquartered in Martinez, CA. He began his credit union service in 1981 as a staff auditor with Roe, O'Rourke & Clark (now McGladrey & Pullen), one of the largest CPA firms in the nation specializing in credit unions, in the Brisbane and Los Angeles offices. David was steadily promoted until he was appointed Audit Manager in which he managed and directed credit union audits, IT reviews, and consultation engagements. David has been with Contra Costa Federal Credit Union since 1992 when the Credit Union was $120 million in assets and as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer was instrumental in introducing to the members a full array of electronic services, including debit cards, home banking, bill payment, mobile banking and electronic statements while maintaining an above-average return on assets and net worth to asset ratio. David is a CPA licensed in the state of California. He is also committed to the spirit of volunteerism by serving as the Audit Committee Chairman of the California Credit Union League and previously served on the board of directors and finance committee of a nonprofit social services agency. David was also a member of Toastmasters for twelve years and attained the level of Advanced Toastmaster.
David Cay Johnston is the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times who revealed that Enron did not pay taxes, that some companies use a Bermuda mail box to escape American taxes and that Congress raises your income taxes if you get seriously ill, using the money to finance tax cuts for the richest Americans. He retired from The Times in April 2008 after 13 years there. His acclaimed book Free Lunch, is a national bestseller exposing the massive transfers of wealth from the poor, middle class and affluent to the super rich. He is also the author of Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich and Cheat Everyone Else, a national best seller on our tax system that won the 2004 Investigative Book of the Year award. His first book was Temples of Chance, an expose of the casino industry. He began his journalism career at The San Jose Mercury News. He covered student radicals, land use and local governments from 1968 to 1973. Born in San Francisco on December 24, 1948, Mr. Johnston studied economics and law at the University of Chicago in 1973. He also studied at Michigan State and San Francisco State University in 1972 and 1973 to 1975.
Van Jones is the Co-Founder and President of Rebuild the Dream. Van is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and American Progress Action Fund. He is focusing on “green-collar jobs” and how cities are implementing job-creating climate solutions. Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean energy economy. He is a co-founder of three successful nonprofit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All. He is also the best-selling author of the definitive book on green jobs, The Green Collar Economy. Jones served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009 and is currently a senior policy advisor at Green For All. He also holds a joint appointment at Princeton University as a distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Robert Kuttner is a founding co-editor of The American Prospect and a contributing columnist to Business Week's "Economic Viewpoint." His editorial column on political economy originates in the Boston Globe, and is syndicated nationally by The Washington Post to about twenty major daily papers. His commentaries are heard on National Public Radio and he regularly appears on TV programs such as the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Previously, Kuttner was the longtime economics editor of The New Republic and taught at Brandeis, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, and Harvard University's Institute of Politics. He was a founder of the Economic Policy Institute, and serves on its board. His other positions have included national staff writer on the Washington Post, chief investigator of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and economics editor of The New Republic. For four decades, Bob's intellectual and political project has been to revive the politics and economics of harnessing capitalism to serve a broad public interest. He has pursued this ideal as a writer, editor, teacher, lecturer, commentator and public official. The Squandering of America, exploring the political roots of America's narrowing prosperity and the systemic risks facing the U.S. economy, is Bob’s seventh book.
Kimber Lanning is an entrepreneur and economic specialist who works to cultivate vibrant, sustainable communities and inspire a higher quality of life throughout Arizona. Lanning is actively involved in fostering cultural diversity, economic self-reliance, regional planning, and responsible growth in the greater Phoenix area. She is the founder and Executive Director of Local First Arizona, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising public awareness of the positive economic and environmental impacts of supporting locally owned businesses.
Michael Lind is the Whitehead Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the author, with Ted Halstead, of The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (Doubleday, 2001). He is also the author of Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics (New America Books/Basic, 2003) and What Lincoln Believed (Doubleday, 2005). Mr. Lind has been an editor or staff writer for The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and The New Republic. From 1991 to 1994, he was executive editor of The National Interest. He has also been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School. Mr. Lind has appeared on C-SPAN, National Public Radio, CNN and PBS. Mr. Lind's first three books of political journalism and history, The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution (Free Press, 1995), Up From Conservatism: Why the Right Is Wrong for America (Free Press, 1996), and Vietnam: The Necessary War (Free Press, 1999) were all selected as New York Times Notable Books. His ground-breaking study of American grand strategy, The American Way of Strategy: U.S. Foreign Policy and the American Way of Life was published by Oxford University Press in October 2006.
Lou Mattis is the retired Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Winthrop, Inc. a global research based pharmaceutical, consumer and household product manufacturing and marketing company and Co-Chairman of Sanofi Winthrop, a global pharmaceutical Joint Venture. His professional career spanned over three decades of international business leadership from marketing management to start ups in developing countries to general management of businesses in Asia, Europe and Latin America to leadership of a $3 billion global corporation. Lou participated in the design and implementation of four major corporate mergers, led several international joint ventures and the conceptualization and execution of a $4 billion multinational alliance which was the first of its kind in the industry. In 1993 he was named "Pharmaceutical Executive of the Year" by Pharmaceutical Executive" magazine and "Outstanding Alumnus" by The A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. He served as a director of Solomon Brothers Asset Management and on a number of corporate, association, non-profit and philanthropic boards including chairing The Advisory Board of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University; Governor of The Center For Creative Leadership; The National Council for Health Education; The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and The Non-Prescription Drug Manufacturers Association.
Lawrence E. Mitchell, an internationally prominent business law scholar, is the Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler- Baker & Hostetler Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He is the author of The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed Over Industry (2007), which was awarded ForeWord Magazine's 2007 Gold Medal as Best Book of the Year in Business and Economics and a 2008 "IPPY" Silver Medal in Finance and Economics. Dean Mitchell is the author of several books, includingCorporate Irresponsibility: America's Newest Export (2001) and is the author of many law review articles and two casebooks. Dean Mitchell has written extensively on matters of corporate governance, law, and ethics, among other things, and is a founder of the Progressive Corporate Law school, named after his 1995 anthology, Progressive Corporate Law. A graduate of Williams College and Columbia University Law School, Dean Mitchell practiced corporate law in New York from 1981 to 1987.
Nomi Prins is a journalist and Senior Fellow at Demos. Her latest book is: It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street (Wiley, September, 2009). She is the author of Other People’s Money: The Corporate Mugging of America (The New Press, October 2004), a devastating exposé into corporate corruption, political collusion and Wall Street deception. Other People's Money was chosen as a Best Book of 2004 by The Economist, Barron's and The Library Journal. Her book Jacked: How "Conservatives" are Picking your Pocket (whether you voted for them or not) (Polipoint Press, Sept. 2006) catalogs her travels around the USA; talking to people about their economic lives. Before becoming a journalist, Nomi worked on Wall Street as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, and running the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London. Nomi has appeared in numerous television programs internationally and her writing has been featured in major news publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian UK, and The Nation.
Bernie Sanders was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving 16 years in the House of Representatives. He is the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history. Born in Brooklyn, Bernie was the younger of two sons in a modest-income family. After graduation from the University of Chicago in 1964, he moved to Vermont. Early in his career, Sanders was director of the American People’s Historical Society. Elected Mayor of Burlington by 10 votes in 1981, he served four terms. Before his 1990 election as Vermont's at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York. The Almanac of American Politics has called Sanders a "practical" and "successful legislator." He has focused on the shrinking middle class and widening income gap in America that is greater than at any time since the Great Depression. Other priorities include reversing global warming, universal health care, fair trade policies, supporting veterans and preserving family farms. He serves on five Senate committees: Budget; Veterans; Energy; Environment; and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Drew Westen, Ph.D. is a clinical, personality, and political psychologist and neuroscientist, and Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University. He formerly taught at the University of Michigan, Harvard Medical School, and Boston University. Dr. Westen is the author of three books and over 150 scholarly articles. He frequently comments on political and psychological issues on radio, television, and in print. He is the author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, and is the founder of Westen Strategies, LLC, a strategic messaging consulting firm. He has advised a range of candidates and organizations, from presidential and congressional campaigns to major progressive organizations to the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses.
