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SPEAKER
BIOGRAPHIES
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As
First Lady, Mrs. Bush made an historic trip to Afghanistan in
2005 and witnessed firsthand the progress achieved by the Afghan
people after the fall of the Taliban regime. She visited the Women's
Teacher Training Institute in Kabul, which is training women to
lead classrooms that girls were once forbidden to enter. She met
with President Hamid Karzai and expressed America's continued
support for Afghanistan's new democracy, whichensures equal rights
for women and men. Mrs. Bush's involvement in Afghanistan began
in2001, when she delivered the weekly presidential radio address
to call attention to the plight
of women and children suffering under the Taliban.
A former teacher and librarian, Mrs. Bush convened in 2001 a Summit
on EarlyChildhood Cognitive Development, providing a forum for
prominent scholars and educatorsto share research on the best
ways for parents and caregivers to prepare children for lifelong
learning. She is an enthusiastic proponent of teacher recruitment
programs such as Teach for America, The New Teacher Project and
Troops to Teachers.
As the leader of former President George W. Bush's Helping America's
Youth initiative, Mrs. Bush has listened closely to the concerns
of young people, parents and community leaders throughout the
country. She draws attention to proven programs that help children
avoid such risky behaviors as drug and alcohol use, early sexual
activity and
violence, and highlights the need for a caring adult role model
in every child’s life.
In September 2001, Mrs. Bush joined the Library of Congress to
launch the first National Book Festival. The Festival has grown
each year, drawing more than 120,000 book-lovers from across the
nation to Washington, D.C. in 2008. In 1995 Mrs. Bush established
the Texas Book Festival, and it continues to thrive today. In
2006 Mrs. Bush
hosted leaders from around the world for the White House Conference
on Advancing Global Literacy, showcasing successful, culturally
aware literacy programs from a diversity of countries. Her leadership
of this effort led to her current role as Honorary Ambassador
for
the United Nations Literacy Decade.
Laura W. Bush is an advocate for women’s health and has
been an active participant in campaigns to raise awareness of
breast cancer and heart disease, both in the U.S. and around the
world. She partnered with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute in The Heart Truth campaign and the Red Dress project.
And she traveled to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates and Panama to help launch international partnerships
for breast cancer awareness and research in collaboration with
the U.S. Department of State, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
A hiking and camping enthusiast and strong supporter of our national
parks, Mrs. Bush has spotlighted the glories and needs of the
parks through her many visits as First Lady. As Honorary Chair
of the National Park Foundation, she has worked to promote the
Junior Ranger program to encourage children to become active stewards
of our national
parks. And she has helped start Preserve America, a national initiative
to protect ourcultural and natural heritage.
Laura Bush was born in Midland, Texas, to Harold and Jenna Welch.
She holds aBachelor of Science degree in education from Southern
Methodist University and a master’s degree in library science
from the University of Texas. She taught in public schools in
Dallas, Houston and Austin and worked as a public school librarian.
In 1977, she met and married George Walker Bush. They are the
parents of twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna
and son-in-law, Henry Hager. |
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Peter
Hillary made his 2nd climb of Mt Everest recently, in celebration
of the 50th Anniversary of the Climbing of Mt Everest by his father,
Sir Edmund Hillary.
When Peter Hillary first climbed Everest in 1990, he made history
as the first son to have followed in his father’s footsteps
to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. And in 1999,
they did it again: with Peter’s expedition in Antarctica,
they became the first father and son to establish new routes across
Antarctica to the South Pole.
Peter has been on over thirty mountaineering expeditions. He has
written six books, made numerous documentaries including two for
National Geographic, he operates an adventure travel business
and a charitable foundation that funds schools and hospitals at
the foot of Mount Everest.
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Tom
Brokaw, one of the most trusted and respected figures in broadcast
journalism, is a special correspondent for NBC News. In this
role, he reports and produces long-form documentaries and provides
expertise during election coverage and breaking news events
for NBC News.
On December 1, 2004, Brokaw stepped down after 21 years as the
anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News. He has received
numerous honors, including the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement
Award, the Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and he was inducted
asa fellow into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. In addition, Brokaw hasreceived the Records of Achievement
Award from The Foundation for the National Archives; the
Association of the U.S. Army honored him with their highest
award, the George Catlett MarshallMedal, first ever to a journalist;
and he was the recipient of the West Point Sylvanus Thayer Award,
in recognition of devoted service to bringing exclusive interviews
and stories to public attention.
His insight, ability and integrity have earned him a dozen Emmys
and two Peabody and duPont awardsfor his journalistic achievements.
In 2003, NBC Nightly News was honored with the prestigious
Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast, representing the program's
fourth consecutive win inthis category.
Over the years at NBC, while anchoring NBC Nightly News and
Today, Brokaw also reported on 25 documentaries on subjects
ranging from race, AIDS, the war on terror, Los Angeles gangs,
Bill Gates, literacy, immigration and the evangelical movement.
In addition to his long form
documentaries, Tom Brokaw Reports, he has collaborated with
NBC News' Peacock Productions for Discovery's Emmy-winning documentary
Global Warming: What You Need to Know with TomBrokaw, and History
Channel's two-hour documentaries, 1968 with Tom Brokaw and KING.
In 2006, Brokaw reported on race and poverty in Separate and
Unequal, which was awardedan RTNDA/Unity Award. The documentary
took an honest look at the progress that's been made, and the
problems that persist, 40 years after the civil rights movement.
In 2005, Brokaw returned to primetime for the first time since
leaving the anchor desk withThe Long War, an in-depth report
on the war on terror. He traveled around the world - to Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, France and Washington D.C. - to
interview world leaders,
intelligence experts and those personally affected by the events
of Sept. 11 for this documentary.
Prior to stepping down as anchor of Nightly News, Brokaw traveled
to Iraq in June 2004 tocover the handover of power and reported
for five days for all NBC News programs and MSNBC. In addition
to interviewing a mix of newsmakers including Iraq's interim
president Ghazi Al Yawer,
General David Petraeus, the American General who is charged
with rebuilding the Iraqi security forces, and securing an exclusive
interview with General Ricardo Sanchez, the man who was in
charge of the American forces in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was
captured, Brokaw patrolled the dangerous Baghdad streets in
a humvee convoy with the First Cavalry Division, and also reported
on
student life in Baghdad with the class of 2004.
Brokaw was the only network evening news anchor to report from
Normandy, France during the D-Day 60th Anniversary ceremonies
in June 2004. He had exclusive interviews with French
President Jacques Chirac in Paris and President George W. Bush
at the American Cemetery Normandy Beach in Colleville-sur-Mer,
France on June 6, the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.
Brokaw
was the first and only anchor to report from the scene the night
the Berlin Wall fell, and was the first American anchor to travel
to Tibet to report on human-rights abuses and to conduct an
interview with the Dalai Lama. Brokaw has also reported in documentaries
of international importance, including The Road to Baghdad where
he documented the path to possible war with Iraq through the
eyes of half a dozen
people at the center of the crisis, and The Lost Boys, a story
about how the ongoing war in Sudan forced the "lost boys"
out of their villages in the 1980s, which won a National Press
Club Award.
The
NBC News anchor also has a distinguished record as a political
reporter. He hasinterviewed every president since Lyndon Baines
Johnson and has covered every presidentialelection since 1968.
Brokaw was NBC's White House correspondent during the national
trauma of
Watergate (1973-1976). From 1984 to 2004, he anchored all of
NBC'spolitical coverage, includingprimaries, national conventions
and election nights, and moderated nine primary and/or general
election debates.
Complementing
his distinguished broadcast journalism career, Brokaw has written
articles,essays and commentary for several publications including
The New York Times, The WashingtonPost, The Los Angeles Times,
Newsweek, Time, The New Yorker, Men's Journal, Sports Illustrated,Life,
National Geographic, Outside and Interview.
In 1998, Brokaw became a best selling author with the publication
of The GreatestGeneration. Inspired by the mountain of mail
he received from his first book, Brokaw wrote The Greatest Generation
Speaks in 1999. His third book, An Album of Memories, was published
in 2001.
In November 2002, Brokaw's fourth best selling book A Long Way
from Home, a reflective look about growing up in the American
Heartland, was released. In his fifth best-selling book, BOOM!
Voices of the Sixties, Brokaw shares a series of remembrances
and reflections of the time based on his experiences and over
50 interviews with a wide variety of well known artists, politicians,
activists, business leaders, and journalists, as well as lesser
known figures, including a daughter of a former Mississippi
segregationist governor, Vietnam veterans, civil rights activists,
health care
pioneers, environmentalists, and war protesters.
Brokaw began his journalism career in 1962 at KMTV in Omaha,
Nebraska. He anchoredthe late evening news on Atlanta's WSB-TV
in 1965 before joining KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.Brokaw was hired
by NBC News in 1966 and from 1976-1981 he anchored NBC News'
"Today"
program.
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John
Hofmeister, upon retirement from Shell Oil Company, founded and
heads the not-for-profit nation-wide membership association, Citizens
for Affordable Energy. This Washington, DC-registered, public
policy advocacy firm exists to promote sound US energy security
solutions for the nation, including a range of affordable energy
supplies, efficiency improvements, essential infrastructure, sustainable
environmental policy, and public education on energy issues.
Hofmeister was named president of Houston-based
Shell Oil Company in March 2005, heading the US Country Leadership
Team, which included the leaders of all Shell businesses operating
in the United States. He became president after serving as group
human resource director of the Shell Group, based in The Hague,
The Netherlands.
As president of Shell, Hofmeister launched an
extensive outreach program, unprecedented in the energy industry,
to discuss critical global energy challenges. The program included
an 18-month, 50-city tour across the country during which Hofmeister
and other Shell leaders met with more than 15,000 business,
community and civic leaders, policymakers, and academics to
discuss what must be done to ensure affordable, available energy
for the future.
A business leader who has observed and participated
in the inner workings of general industries for more than 30
years, Hofmeister also has held key positions in General Electric,
Nortel, and AlliedSignal (now Honeywell International).
Hofmeister serves as the chairman of the National
Urban League and is a member of the US Department of Energy’s
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee. He also
serves on the boards of the Foreign Policy Association, the
United States Energy Association, and the National Association
of Manufacturers. Hofmeister is a fellow of the National Academy
of Human Resources. He also served as 2007 Chairman of the Greater
Houston Partnership.
Hofmeister
earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political
science from Kansas State University.
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In
the summer of 1960, 26-year-old Jane Goodall arrived on the
shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study the area's
chimpanzee population. Although it was unheard of for a woman
to venture into the wilds of the African forest, the trip meant
the fulfillment of Jane Goodall's childhood dream. As Jane Goodall
first surveyed the mountains and valley forests of the Gombe
Stream Chimpanzee Reserve, she had no idea her coming efforts
would redefine the relationship between humans and animals or
that this project would continue into the 21st century.
One
of Dr. Goodall's most significant discoveries came in her first
year at Gombe, when she saw chimps stripping leaves off stems
to make the stems useful for fishing termites out of nearby
mounds. This and subsequent observations of Gombe chimps making
and using tools would force science to rethink the definition
that separated man from other animals: "man the toolmaker."
Dr. Goodall also observed chimps hunting and eating bushpigs
and other animals, disproving the widely held belief that chimpanzees
were primarily vegetarians.
Dr.
Goodall defied scientific convention by giving the chimpanzees
names instead of numbers, and insisted on the validity of her
observations that the chimps had distinct personalities, minds
and emotions. She wrote of lasting chimpanzee family bonds.
Through the years her work yielded surprising insights such
as the discovery that chimpanzees engage in warfare.
Dr. Goodall established the Gombe Stream Research Center in
1964. Under the stewardship of Tanzanian field staff and other
researchers, it continues Dr. Goodall's work today, making it
one of the longest uninterrupted wildlife studies in existence.
In 1977, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife
Research, Education and Conservation to provide ongoing support
for field research on wild chimpanzees. Today, the mission of
the Jane Goodall Institute is to advance the power of individuals
to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment
for all living things. The Institute is a leader in the effort
to protect chimpanzees and their habitats and is widely recognized
for establishing innovative community-centered conservation
and development programs in Africa and the Roots & Shoots
education program in nearly 100 countries.
In January 2006, Dr. Goodall, DBE, was honored as an Officer
of the French Legion of Honor for her work with primates and
her extraordinary efforts to encourage positive action around
the world as well as theconservation, development and education
programs of the Jane Goodall Institute. The Légion d'Honneur,
established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, is France’s
most prestigious honor. Past award recipients include oceanographer
and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau, anti-Holocaust and human
rights activist Elie Wiesel, and deaf and blind activist Helen
Keller.
Dr. Goodall's scores of honors include the Medal of Tanzania,
the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious
Kyoto Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and
Scientific Research 2003, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life
Science, and the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. In April
2002 Secretary-General Annan named Dr. Goodall a United Nations
“Messenger of Peace.” Messengers help mobilize the
public to become involved in work that makes the world a better
place. They serve as advocates in a variety of areas: poverty
eradication, human rights, peace and conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS,
disarmament, community development and environmentalism. In
2003, Queen Elizabeth II named Dr. Goodall a Dame of the British
Empire, the equivalent of a knighthood.
Dr. Goodall has received honorary doctorates from numerous universities,
including: Utrecht University, Holland; Ludwig-Maximilians University,
Munich; Stirling University, Scotland; Providence University,
Taiwan; University of Guelph and Ryerson University in Canada;
Buffalo University, Tufts University and other U.S. universities.
Dr. Goodall's list of publications is extensive, including two
overviews of her work at Gombe—In the Shadow of Man and
Through a Window—as well as two autobiographies in letters
and a spiritual autobiography, Reason for Hope. Her many children's
books include Grub: the Bush Baby, Chimpanzees I Love: Saving
Their World and Ours and My Life with the Chimpanzees. The Chimpanzees
of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior is recognized as the definitive
work on chimpanzees and is the culmination of Jane Goodall's
scientific career. She has been the subject of numerous television
documentaries and is featured in the large-screen format film,
Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002). Most recently, Dr. Goodall
wrote Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating in 2005.
Today,
Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about
the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises,
and sharing her message of hope for the future. She continually
urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility
and ability to effect change through consumer action, lifestyle
change and activism.
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Critics
have called Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, “spectacular,”
“extraordinary,” “incredible,” and “riveting.”
It has been a New York Times best-seller for more than two years,
has sold more than two million copies, been translated into 16
languages, and is being made into a movie by Paramount. Its numerous
awards include the Christopher Award, the American Library Association’s
Alex Award, and the Books for Better Living Award.
In The Glass Castle, Walls describes growing up in the desert
of the American Southwest and then in a West Virginia mining town
with her three siblings and the brilliant, unorthodox, irresponsible
parents who manage at once to neglect them, love them, and teach
them to face their fears.
The story is at times harrowing and at times hilarious as the
children go without food and indoor plumbing yet are encouraged
to read Shakespeare and dream of the beautiful glass house they
will all one day build.
Despite
all her hardships, Walls develops the determination to leave West
Virginia on her own at the age of sixteen, move to New York City,
enroll in Barnard College and eventually become a well-known columnist
for New York magazine and MSNBC.com and a television personality.
This
inspirational book has been taught at universities in courses
on literature, psychology, parenting, child development, and poverty.
Walls has spoken at colleges, corporations, and business associations
about overcoming hardship and the keys to turning adversity to
your advantage. Rosie O’Donnell called The Glass Castle
“a beautiful, brave, transformative book….The best
book I’ve read in years.” And the Atlanta Constitution
said, “Charles Dickens has nothing on Jeannette Walls…Dickens’s
scenes of poverty and hardship are no more audacious and no more
provocative than those in the pages of this stunning memoir.”
Walls lives in the Virginia piedmont with her husband, the writer
John Taylor. She has appeared on Prime Time Live, Good Morning
America, Larry King Live, Oprah, and the Diane Rheem Show.
Her
follow-up to The Glass Castle, Half Broke Horses: A True Life
Novel, was released in October 2009, and was an immediate New
York Times best-seller. It has been selected by Independent Book
Sellers as their “Best Read” for October, and was
called “essential reading” by Library Journal.
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