Back to Conference Index

	Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns was the undersecretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008, the Department of State’s third ranking official.  Prior to this assignment, Burns was the United States permanent representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and U.S. ambassador to Greece. Burns also served as spokesman of the Department of State and acting assistant secretary for public affairs for Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary Madeleine Albright.   Burns, a career senior foreign service officer, served for five years on the National Security Council staff at the White House. He was special assistant to President Clinton and under President George H.W. Bush, he was director for Soviet affairs.   Burns earned a degree in French from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) and subsequently earned a B.A. in European history from Boston College, and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He then received a masters degree with distinction from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in international economics and American foreign policy. He has received honorary doctorates from eight American universities.
	Charlie Cook Charlie Cook is the editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report and a political analyst for the National Journal Group, where he writes weekly for National Journal magazine and CongressDailyAM. He also writes a regular column for the Washington Quarterly, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and is a political analyst for NBC News.   Widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading authorities on U.S. elections and political trends, Cook has appeared on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs, as well as on Good Morning America, the Today Show, Nightline, Meet the Press with Tim Russert, and This Week. He has also appeared many times on CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, CNN and National Public Radio. Before joining the National Journal Group in June 1998, Cook wrote a twice-weekly column in Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill.   Charlie also served as an election analyst for CBS and NBC.
	Ralph E. Gomory Ralph E. Gomory retired in 2008 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, where he had been president since June 1989. Gomory joined IBM’s Research Division in 1959, after serving for three years in the Navy and as Higgins Lecturer and assistant professor at Princeton University. He was named an IBM Fellow in 1964 and became director of the Mathematical Sciences Department in 1965. He became IBM’s research director in 1970 and under his leadership, the Research Division made major contributions to the computer industry, such as invention of the relational data base, and also won two Nobel Prizes. Dr. Gomory is a member of the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Philosophical Society. He was elected to the Councils of all three societies.  He was a trustee of Hampshire College from 1977-1986 and of Princeton University from 1985-1989.  He served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) from 1984 to 1992, and again from 2001 to the present.  Dr. Gomory received his B.A. from Williams College, studied at Cambridge University and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University.
	Mark Zandi is chief economist and cofounder of Moody’s Economy.com, where he directs the company’s research and consulting activities. Mark’s research interests include macro, financial and regional economics. His recent research has studied the determinants of mortgage foreclosure and personal bankruptcy, analyzed the economic impact of various tax and government spending policies, and assessed the appropriate policy response to bubbles in asset markets. Mark also conducts regular briefings on the economy. He is quoted often in national and global publications, is frequently interviewed by major news media outlets, and is the author of Financial Shock, an exposé of the subprime financial crisis.   Mark was an economic advisor to the John McCain campaign for President, has provided advice to the Obama Administration, and regularly testifies in Congress. His most recent testimony has been on the economic impact of fiscal stimulus and the merits of providing government aid to the vehicle industry. Dr. Zandi received his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he did his research with Gerard Adams and Nobel laureate Lawrence Klein, and received his B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
William Graves	William P. Graves has been the president and chief executive officer of the American Trucking Associations, Inc., ('ATA') since January 2003. Graves served as governor of the State of Kansas from January 1995 to January 2003.  Graves recently completed 22 years of public service in the state of Kansas, highlighted by two terms as governor of Kansas.  Graves has been a director of International Speedway Corp., since September 3, 2003. He serves as a director of American Transportation Research Institute.   A graduate of Kansas Wesleyan University and Salina, Kansas native, he earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and attended graduate school at the University of Kansas.
Bill Jones	Bill Jones is vice chairman of O’Neal Industries responsible for all aspects of companies that are part of the O’Neal Industrial Metals Group.  He is also chairman of the MSCI Board of Directors.  Jones joined O’Neal in 1976 as an inside sales representative, holding a variety of sales and general management positions. He was named vice president for the Birmingham District in 1990, executive vice president in 1993 and president and CEO in 2000 before becoming vice chairman in November 2008.  Jones was named Metals Service Center Executive of the Year in 2006. He holds a degree in psychology from the University of Virginia.
James Miller	James Miller, partner and noted legislative strategist and advocate at Winston & Strawn’s Washington, D.C. office, focuses his practice on government affairs and is particularly experienced in tax, health care, and energy matters, which he combines with a litigator’s background to effectively represent a wide spectrum of clients before the U.S. Congress and executive branch departments and agencies. Prior to his private practice,. Miller served for four years as a senior treasury official in the administration of President George H.W. Bush with the responsibility of working with Congress for the enactment of the president’s tax policy. While serving for four years in the Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Justice, Appellate Section, Tax Division, he delivered more than 60 oral arguments in the U.S. Courts of Appeal. He also has worked as a policy advisor on several Senate, House, and presidential campaigns. Mr. Miller’s many years of federal government service and campaign work have enabled him to develop strong working relationships with senior government officials on Capitol Hill and in all executive branch departments and agencies, including the Executive Office of the President. Miller received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College. He received a J.D. in  from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
William Peck	Dr. William A. Peck is senior professor of engineered and applied sciences, director of the Center for Health Policy at Washington University, and former dean of the university’s medical school and vice chancellor for medical affairs for 14 years. He was named the first Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine in 2003.   Peck, a nationally recognized health-care leader, was the founding president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, and served as chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges and as chair of that group’s Council of Deans. He has advised the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Among many other honors, he holds the Washington University Clinical Teacher of the Year Award and the FDA Commissioner’s Award. Peck earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and a medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.