Kat Aaron is a project editor at the Investigative Reporting Workshop, where she writes about what has happened to poor and working people in America over the last forty years, and why. Before joining the Workshop, she was a staff writer at the Center for Public Integrity, where she wrote about the financial crisis and its origins. Until July 2008, she was the co-director of People’s Production House, a nonprofit journalism and media policy organization in New York City, and a producer with Pacifica Radio. From 1999 to 2005, she did policy and education work on subprime mortgage lending and other credit issues at the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project in New York.

Dr. Abraham has performed research in a wide variety of areas including renewable and sustainable energy generation and distribution and modeling of heat transfer and fluid flow processes. His work includes development of wind power, solar power, biofuels, and geothermal energy, and assessments of their potential to provide clean, renewable sources of power. Dr. Abraham is currently involved in a research project on ocean-temperature mapping; his work will improve our understanding of how ocean temperature rise as the Earth continues to warm.

Dr. Abraham frequently gives public lectures on the science of global warming. He is the co-founder of the Climate Science Rapid Response Team which works with media outlets to ensure accurate science is communicated to the broader public.

A Palestinian-Arab living in East Jerusalem. Ziad finished his major in International Relations and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ziad is the President of the Watan student movement. He is interested in Middle Eastern political issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founder of the Middle East Post and represents Palestinian youth at several international conferences. Ziad is also the Project Manager of “Common Ground Journalism” project that is made and supported by “Search for Common Ground” and works to advance professionalism and common ground reporting within Israeli and Palestinian Journalists.

Safir Ahmed spent 20 years as a journalist in both the traditional and alternative media, then spent a couple of years as Communications Director for state and national Democrats, followed by five years as an independent book editor (editing some of the leading Netroots bloggers), and currently serves as Editorial Director at CREDO Mobile, the nation's only progressive phone company.
Safir was a writer and Metro Editor at the Pulitzer-family paper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Editor of The Riverfront Times, the alternative weekly in St. Louis. He then served as Communications Director for the state Senate Democratic Caucus in Missouri and for the U.S. Senate campaign of Nancy Farmer of Missouri in 2004. Safir was also the Editor at AlterNet and then became an Editorial Consultant and Independent Book Editor.
Among the books Safir edited are three written by Markos Moulitsas: Crashing the Gate (co-authored with Jerome Armstrong), Taking On the System, and American Taliban. Safir also edited How Would a Patriot Act? by Glenn Greenwald, Thinking Points by George Lakoff, Anatomy of Deceit by Marcy Wheeler, and Mission Rejected by Peter Laufer. He has also served as editor for Hamza Yusuf, a leading Islamic scholar and cofounder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley.

Tanzila "Taz" Ahmed is a writer, community organizer and policy researcher based in Southern California. As an organizer, she has been working to create a political voice through the power of the vote. At the age of 25, she founded South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), a national organization that organizes South Asian American youth to have a political voice and get involved in the electoral process. In 2008 while working at the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA), she managed a three county-wide, eight language, six ethnicity, voter education and mobilization campaign in the Asian and Pacific Islander community in Southern California. In 2010, she was the campaign director with Jennifer Pae for Oakland City Council.

With a Master in Public Policy degree with concentrations in Asian American policy and racial/ethnic policy from UCLA's School of Public Affairs, she was part of a student led initiative to bring Critical Race Theory into public policy. While at UCLA, she had the privilege of working as a researcher in the Asian American community on various community projects, such as the Asian American Youth Vote report with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), and the Los Angeles taxi workers. Her thesis project entitled Barriers to Student Voting examines the various barriers that students in California face when exercising civic engagement. An experienced campaign trainer, Taz has led workshops with the EnviroCitizen, the League of Young Voters, and Campus Camp Wellstone.

An avid essayist, blogger, and poet, her writing developed around creating a counternarrative for the communities that she belonged to, whether youth, Muslim, South Asian or counterculture. Since 2006, she's been a contributing blogger at Sepia Mutiny.com, the largest South Asian American blog, where she writes about pop, music, politics, and anything tied to a Desi identity. Her writing has been featured on The Nation, Angry Asian Man, MTV Iggy, Taqwacore Webzine, Mideast Tunes, The SAALT Spot, Wiretap Magazine, Alternet, IMOW, PopandPolitics, Kahani, Falling Star Magazine and has been published in the books Mirror on America and Storming the Polls.

Born May, 1987 in Morocco. I have attended Preparatory School for entrance exams at French Grande Ecole, and got my admission for HEC Paris. During my Freshman year, I enrolled in a B.A. in Sociology at Sorbonne University, focusing on Quantitative polling techniques, Political Sociology and Sociology of Economics. The teachings were so engaging I thought it would be interesting to apply them to the Moroccan context, and so I started to read about Moroccan sociology, and from time to time, post an article on the subject. In 2008 I used to post in French (on a now defunct blog).
In 2010, during my gap year at a French Asset Manager, I got fed up with the low number of visitors, so I decided to stop blogging altogether, then changed my mind, and in order to improve my language, decided to blog exclusively in English. That was "The Moorish Wanderer" blog. As it turned out, the readership was higher than the All-French times.

Since 2007, I have been a member (and a board member) of a Moroccan society, "Capdema: Cap démocratie Maroc", a group of young students or Moroccans in active life who share ideals of democracy and human rights. Capdema organizes lectures, events with political and Human Rights figures. Lately, we have produced our own memorandum on the upcoming constitutional reforms in Morocco, with many more comprehensive documents to follow.

This year is my final year at HEC Paris, where I am majoring in Monetary and Financial Economics. I am preparing for an academic career (most likely in Game Theory and Econometrics) either in pure Economics or applied political science.

My interests are eclectic: Economics of course, Sociology, but also Public Management, constitutional law and keen interest in Military issues (tactics, strategies, hardware and organization)

Before graduating from high school, Elliot Anderson signed up for the U.S. Marine Corps. Serving as a machine gunner for four years on active duty and three years in the inactive reserve (including a combat deployment to Afghanistan), he returned a decorated marine. He received numerous medals awarding his service, including the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, three Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, a Combat Action Ribbon, and the Rifle Expert Badge. After his return from duty, Elliot searched for a place to call home and build his future. Nevada turned out to be the perfect fit.

Once moving to Nevada in 2005, Elliot immediately became recognized by many as an individual with a strong work ethic who was dedicated to improving our community. While serving as the Interim Chair of the Nevada Democratic Veterans and Military Families Caucus, he helped to raise funds in order to send care packages to America’s men and women overseas. Elliot also previously served as the Nevada State Captain for VoteVets.org, working to empower and elect to office America’s veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Elliot not only continues to work hard at all he does, but has made a commitment to use these experiences to advocate for better communication between residents and the elected officials who represent them.

In the military, in school, and in his civilian life, Elliot gained unique qualifications which differentiate him from others. While serving our country, he learned how to negotiate in order to find common ground between disagreeing parties, and also the importance of fighting for those who don’t have a voice of their own. While attending UNLV and being employed full time, he earned a B.A. in Political Science Magna Cum Laude, finishing with a 3.9 grade point average. His involvement with numerous community organizations established him as a leader in grassroots and community outreach.

Elected a Nevada Assemblyman in 2010, Elliot works hard to encourage an atmosphere of political involvement within his district, as well as focusing on improving education throughout Nevada.

Jay Angoff, Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Jay Angoff is Senior Advisor to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. He also served as the first Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, the Office responsible for implementing the insurance reform provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which is now part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Prior to joining HHS, Mr. Angoff was a partner at the law firm of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC. He has also served as Insurance Commissioner of Missouri and chaired Missouri’s Commission on Health Insurance Reform. In addition, he has served as Deputy Insurance Commissioner of New Jersey and special assistant for health insurance policy to New Jersey governor Jim Florio; as the Director of the Private Health Insurance Group at CMS; as counsel to the National Insurance Consumer Organization; and as Vice-President for Strategic Planning at Quotesmith.com, an internet insurance broker and quotation service. Mr. Angoff began his career as an antitrust lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and Vanderbilt Law School.

John Aravosis is a Washington, DC-based writer and political consultant, and the editor of the AMERICAblog family of sites, including AMERICAblog News (americablog.com), AMERICAblog Gay (gay.americablog.com) and AMERICAblog Elections: The Right's Field (elections.americablog.com). Since 1995, John has been one of the country’s top political Internet experts. He has a law degree and master in foreign service from Georgetown, and has worked in the US Senate, the World Bank, the Children’s Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. John speaks five languages and has advised international NGOs on Internet advocacy in Asia, Africa and Europe.

John has also done a good deal of gay rights advocacy for nearly two decades now, earning him a place among the “Out 100” and as one of the Advocate's fifty “most powerful gay men and women in America.” Among his other accomplishments, he stopped Dr. Laura, bought Wesley Clark’s cell phone records for $89 (which forced Congress to ban the practice), and he’s the reason the world knows that Mary Cheney is a lesbian and Jeff Gannon was a hooker. John lives in Washington, DC and can be reached at john@americablog.com or on Twitter: @aravosis @AMERICAblog @AMERICAblogGay @AblogElections

A leading voice in public interest law for over 30 years, Nan Aron is President of Alliance for Justice, a national association of over 100 public interest and civil rights organizations. Nan, who founded AFJ in 1979, guides the organization in its mission to ensure that all Americans have the right and opportunity to secure justice in the courts and to have their voices heard when government makes decisions that affect their lives. Nan is nationally recognized for her vast expertise in public interest law, the federal judiciary and citizen participation in public policy. She is the author of Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond and has appeared as an expert in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Vanity Fair and National Public Radio. She has a B.A. from Oberlin College and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve.

Sarah Audelo is the Senior Manager of Domestic Policy at Advocates for Youth. She works sexual and reproductive health policy for young people including: comprehensive sex education, GLBTQ rights, HIV prevention, contraceptive access, and abortion rights. Before joining Advocates, Sarah was a high school special education teacher in La Joya, Texas as part of the Teach for America program.

Carla Axtman is an expert in online community building and social media, working for a national nonprofit based in Oregon. She’s also an editor for the state-based progressive blog, BlueOregon (www.blueoregon.com) and is considered one of the most influential political bloggers in the state.

Carla spent the first 20 years of her career as an elementary school educator in Washington State and in Oregon. She began political blogging as a hobby in 2004, helping to launch two successful Oregon-based blogs. She left the education world in 2007 to be the Netroots Outreach Coordinator for U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley’s campaign. Her work with the local and national netroots is widely credited with helping boost Merkley to a primary victory and on to a win in the general election.

When taking a break from trying to change the world, Carla can be found at home in the Beaverton, Oregon area dabbling in gardening, photography and travel.

Bruce is the Staff Attorney for Earthworks. Based in Durango, Colorado, Bruce has worked on oil and gas issues throughout North America, at local, state, national and international levels. He helped develop the language for the federal FRAC Act and has drafted state, county and city legislation and ordinances regulating oil and gas, including model regulations for Montana, Colorado and New Mexico. Currently, Bruce is in the thick of the local, state and federal discussions surrounding hydraulic fracturing.

Prior to joining Earthworks and the Oil & Gas Accountability Project, Bruce was legal counsel for Diné CARE, a Navajo environmental organization on the Navajo Nation. He was a co-founder and director of community programs for Round River Conservation Studies during the 1990s.

Bruce and his family live on a small ranch where they raise goats, a few cows and generate about one-third of the electricity they use from a wind turbine and solar panels. He also serves on the board of 4CORE, which coordinates low-income weatherization for the 5 counties of southwestern Colorado.

Aspen Baker is the leading voice in the nation on the personal experiences of women with abortion. She is the Executive Director of Exhale, an award winning pro-voice organization that works nationally to change the culture around abortion. An innovative national nonprofit, Exhale utilizes new technologies to promote wellbeing and foster community amongst women after abortion; and to develop listening and storytelling practices that create abortion peace. As a spokesperson for Exhale, Ms. Baker has been featured in a variety of media outlets across the country, including T.V. and radio, on such programs as CNN Headline News, Fox National News, Ladies Home Journal, New York Times Magazine, National Public Radio, San Francisco Chronicle, Alternet, Bust and many more. Aspen serves as a Public Ethics Commissioner in the City of Oakland, California; is a 2011 fellow with Emerge California; and recently, she earned an award as a "Local Hero" by San Francisco's KQED.

The Executive Director of the League of Young Voters Education Fund, Rob "Biko" Baker is a nationally recognized leader. He has organized town hall meetings and used social networking to motivate young people to get involved in the civic process. Baker has served as the deputy publicity coordinator and young voter organizer for the Brown and Black Presidential Forum. He has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News and MSNBC, has interviewed luminaries Cornell West, Russell Simmons, and Howard Dean, and he has also written a number of articles for America's biggest online outlets, including the Huffington Post. Baker is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, and serves on the New Organizing Institute's board as well as CIRCLE's research advisory board.

Jessica Baldwin-Philippi is a PhD Candidate in Communication Studies at Northwestern University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of political communication, new media, and rhetoric. Her work is fundamentally concerned with how engagement with new technologies can restructure forms of political participation and ideas about citizenship. Her dissertation takes up these ideas by investigating how political campaigns' engagement with new media shapes practices of political participation and influences public understandings, expectations, and ideals of participatory citizenship.

Her work can be found at jessebp.wordpress.com.