Brian J. McCabe serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). His office coordinates the collection and dissemination of research to support the policy development process within HUD. Since beginning the role in 2022, McCabe has worked on several key policy issues, including commercial to residential conversions and the future of rental assistance programs.

Charity R. Clark is the 28th Attorney General of Vermont, and is the first woman to be elected to the office. She has made protecting Vermonters a trademark of her administration, suing Monsanto for PCB contamination of Vermont’s waterways and schools, bringing a case against Meta for Instagram’s harm to young users’ mental health, and shepherding an historic comprehensive data privacy bill through the Vermont Legislature. She also has worked to bring focus to the issues of sexual and domestic violence.

Attorney General Clark has served as an Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff at the Vermont Attorney General's Office and as an attorney in private practice in Burlington, Vermont and New York City. Before she entered law school, Attorney General Clark was a policy analyst at the Vermont Governor’s Office under Governor Howard Dean.

Attorney General Clark grew up in southern Vermont working in her family’s grocery store, Clark’s IGA. She is a graduate of Burr & Burton Academy in Manchester, the University of Vermont, and Boston College Law School. Attorney General Clark is an avid skier and hiker, completing the Long Trail in 2021. She is chair of the board of her town library and serves as a justice of the peace.

Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica is a nationally recognized environmental and progressive leader, and an economics expert on energy subsidies. Erich has worked to reform U.S. tax and budget policy to reduce pollution and increase clean energy. His core belief that the solution to the climate crisis rests at the intersection of justice and the environment has shaped Friends of the Earth’s strategy and mission. Under Erich’s tenure, Friends of the Earth’s supporter base has grown to more than two million people.

Erich serves as the chair of the board of the Partnership Project and Partnership Project Action Fund. He is a former Democracy Initiative board member, a former board member of the Safe Energy Communication Council and former chair of the Green Group.

Prior to becoming Friends of the Earth’s president in 2009, Erich served as the organization’s director of domestic programs, where he led campaigns to bring emerging technologies like nanotechnology and synthetic biology under greater public and regulatory control and to reform how the federal government manages and invests in our transportation system.

Jamie Minden serves as Senior Director of Global Organizing for Zero Hour, focusing currently on Zero Hour's campaign against liquified natural gas. She is a Junior at American University studying Environmental Studies and Sociology. Jamie has been organizing for climate justice since the age of 13 and has extensive experience in grassroots strategy, action planning, and storytelling. Among many grassroots commitments, she co-founded Sunrise Movement Silicon Valley and San Jose Youth Climate Strikes, served as a Teen Conservation Leader at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, organized with Fridays For Future D.C., and was a Natural Gas Subcommittee Chair on Congresswoman Eshoo's Congressional Student Advisory Board. Born and raised in the Bay Area, California, Jamie lived with the reality of extreme drought, wildfires, and floods from a young age. Her experience with perpetual climate chaos has fed her passion for organizing against systemic causes of the climate crisis.

James Zogby co-founded the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community, in 1985 and continues to serve as its president. He is Director of Zogby Research Services, a firm that has conducted groundbreaking surveys across the Middle East.

In September 2013, President Obama appointed Dr. Zogby to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. He was reappointed to a second term in 2015 and concluded his service in May 2017. He was twice elected Vice Chair.

Dr. Zogby is featured frequently on national and international media as an expert on Middle East affairs. Since 1992, Zogby has also written a weekly column on U.S. politics for the major newspapers of the Arab world. The column, “Washington Watch,” is currently published in 12 countries. In 2010, Dr. Zogby published the highly-acclaimed book, Arab Voices. His 2013 e-books “Looking at Iran: The Rise and Fall of Iran in Arab Public Opinion” and “20 Years After Oslo '' are drawn from his extensive polling across the Middle East with Zogby Research Services. His most recent book is, "The Tumultuous Decade: Arab, Turkish, and Iranian Public Opinion - 2019-2019" analyzes the fascinating transformations taking place across the Middle East region following the US withdrawal from Iraq and the Arab Spring.

Dr. Zogby has also been personally active in U.S. politics for many years; in 1984 and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1988, he led the first ever debate on Palestinian statehood at that year’s Democratic convention in Atlanta, GA. In 2000, 2008, and 2016, he served as an advisor to the Gore, Obama, and Sanders presidential campaigns.
For the past 3 decades, Dr. Zogby has served in leadership roles in the Democratic National Committee. He currently serves as Chair of the DNC Ethnic Council, an umbrella organization of Democratic Party leaders of European and Mediterranean descent. He served on the DNC’s Executive Committee from 2000 to 2017 and for more than a decade as Co-Chair of the party’s Resolutions Committee.

In 1975, Dr. Zogby received his doctorate from Temple University’s Department of Religion, where he studied under the Islamic scholar Dr. Ismail al-Faruqi. He was a National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Fellow at Princeton University in 1976 and is the recipient of a number of honorary doctorate degrees.

Josh Fox is best known as the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning writer/director of GASLAND Parts I and II (HBO). He is internationally recognized as a spokesperson and leader on the issue of fracking and extreme energy development. In 2017, he was awarded his third Environmental Media Association award for Best Documentary for his latest film, HOW TO LET GO OF THE WORLD AND LOVE ALL THE THINGS CLIMATE CAN’T CHANGE (HBO), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, toured the world theatrically and was released on HBO in June 2016. In 2017, he produced, co-directed, and co-wrote AWAKE, A DREAM FROM STANDING ROCK (Netflix) with indigenous filmmakers Doug Good Feather and Myron Dewey, which premiered on Netflix and toured to hundreds of locations around the world.

After graduating from Oberlin College and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (MPA 1975), Les co-founded the Labor Institute (1976), a non-profit organization that designs research and educational programs on occupational safety and health, the environment and economics for unions, worker centers and community organizations. In addition to his most recent book, Wall Street’s War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed are Destroying the Working Class and What to do about it (Chelsea Green 2024), he is also the author of Defiant German, Defiant Jew (Amsterdam Publishers, 2020) he is the author of Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice (Labor Institute Press, 2015, 2016, 2018), How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour (John Wiley and Sons, 2013); The Looting of America, (Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2009); The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi, (Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2006). The Mazzocchi story won the Independent Publisher Award for best biography.

He is currently helping to build a national economic educational train-the-trainer program with unions and community groups. All proceeds from his books are donated to non-profit organizations.

Michael is Champlain Housing Trust’s Chief Executive Officer having joined the leadership team in December 2007 and being appointed CEO in January, 2021.
He has over 40 years of community and economic development experience both at the non-profit and municipal level. He worked at Burlington’s Community and Economic Development Office (CEDO) from its creation and was its longest serving Director. Prior to CEDO, he was employed as Executive Director for several non-profit organizations including the King Street Center. Michael is also a founder and partner of the independent community development consultant group, Burlington Associates, where he worked with Community Land Trusts around the country. He serves on the Board of the National NeighborWorks Association, the Grounded Solutions Network and leads the CEO forum of the Housing Partnership Network. He is the Chair of HPIex, a national insurance cooperative that provides workers comp, health care and property and liability insurance to members of the Housing partnership Network. Michael is a graduate of Achieving Excellence, a leadership program of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and NeighborWorks America. He holds a BA degree
from Goddard College.

Michael Weinstein co-founded Aids Healthcare Foundation and serves as its President. Since 1986, Mr. Weinstein has been a leader in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Before becoming involved in HIV/AIDS related issues in the 1980s, he was a Businessman and Graphic Designer. He serves as a Director of bioLytical Laboratories Inc. Mr. Weinstein served as the Co-Ordinator of the Stop the AIDS Quarantine Committee and then as an Executive Director of the Los Angeles AIDS Hospice Committee. In 2001, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Whittier College for his career achievements.

Mike Pieciak currently serves as Vermont’s 31st State Treasurer in January 2023. During his term, Mike has focused on expanding access to housing, investing in climate resilience, and rebuilding the middle class. Mike previously served six years as the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. During the pandemic, Mike served on the COVID-19 pandemic response team.

Mike grew up in Brattleboro and graduated cum laude from Union College with a degree in political science. He received his law degree summa cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the “Miami Law Review.” Mike currently resides in Winooski with his partner Will and English Setter Jetty.

Nancy J. Altman has a fifty-year background in the areas of Social Security and private pensions. She is president of Social Security Works and chair of the Strengthen Social Security coalition.
Ms. Altman is the author of The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble (John Wiley & Sons, 2005) and The Truth About Social Security: The Founders’ Words Refute Revisionist History, Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings (Strong Arm Press, 2018). She is also co-author of Social Security Works for Everyone! Protecting and Expanding the Insurance Americans Love and Count On (The New Press, 2021) and Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All
Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Ms. Altman to a six-year term, starting October 1, 2017, on the Social Security Advisory Board. The seven-person Board is a bipartisan, independent federal government agency established in 1994 to advise the President, Congress, and the Commissioner of Social Security.
From 1983 to 1989, Ms. Altman was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and taught courses on private pensions and Social Security at the Harvard Law School. In 1982, she was Alan Greenspan’s assistant in his position as chairman of the bipartisan commission that developed the 1983 Social Security amendments.
From 1977 to 1981, she was a legislative assistant to Senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo) and advised the Senator with respect to Social Security issues. From 1974 to 1977, she was a tax lawyer with Covington & Burling, where she handled a variety of private pension matters.
Ms. Altman chairs the Board of Directors of the Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of beneficiary rights. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, and the Institute for America’s Future. In the mid-1980’s, she was on the organizing committee and the first board of directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance.
Ms. Altman has an A.B. from Harvard University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Stephanie Kelton is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University and a Senior Fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research. She is author of the New York Times bestseller, The Deficit Myth, and star of the award-winning documentary film, Finding the Money. Kelton served as chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Democratic staff) and as an advisor to the 2016 and 2020 Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns. She was named by POLITICO (2016) as one of the 50 people most influencing the policy debate in America, as one of the 50 people who defined 2019 by Bloomberg Businessweek, as one of Barron’s top 100 Women in Finance (2020 & 2021), and by Prospect Magazine (2020) as one of the World’s Top 50 Thinkers. In addition to her many academic publications, she has been a contributor at Bloomberg Opinion and has written for the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Reports, CNN, and others. Professor Kelton advises policymakers across the globe and is a regular commentator on national radio and broadcast television.

Bernie Sanders is serving his third term in the U.S. Senate after winning re-election in 2018. His previous 16 years in the House of Representatives make him the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history.

Born in 1941 in Brooklyn, Sanders attended James Madison High School, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago. After graduating in 1964, he moved to Vermont. In 1981, he was elected (by 10 votes) to the first of four terms as mayor of Burlington. Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress.

The Almanac of American Politics calls Sanders a “practical and successful legislator.” Throughout his career he has focused on the shrinking American middle class and the growing income and wealth gaps in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Sanders in 2014 passed legislation reforming the VA health care system. Congressional Quarterly said he was able “to bridge Washington’s toxic partisan divide and cut one of the most significant deals in years.”

Today, Sanders remains on the veterans committee and was tapped by Senate leadership to be the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. He also serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he has focused on global warming and rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. He is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he has championed efforts to transform our energy system from fossil fuels to renewable power sources like solar and wind. He also sits on the Senate Budget Committee, which he was chairman of last Congress, and led the committee’s fight against corporate greed.

Saru Jayaraman (JD, Yale, MPP Harvard) is an academic at UC Berkeley and the President of One Fair Wage, which organizes to raise wages and end subminimum wages nationwide. She was named one of CNN’s “Top10 Visionary Women”, a White House Champion of Change, a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award winner, the San Francisco Chronicle ‘Visionary of the Year’ and most recently an Irvine Foundation Leadership Award Winner. Saru authored Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press), Forked: A New Standard for American Dining (Oxford University Press), and One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America (New Press) and has appeared on MSNBC, HBO, PBS, CBS, and CNN.

Sara Nelson has served as the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014, representing 50,000 of aviation’s first responders at 19 airlines. She has been a union Flight Attendant since 1996 when she started flying at United Airlines. Sara designed the successful payroll support program that was a historic Worker’s First relief program that kept aviation workers connected to their paychecks, healthcare, and other benefits for 16 months during the COVID pandemic, while banning stock buybacks and dividends across the industry and capping executive compensation for 2 years after the relief period ends. Sara believes Labor should set the agenda every time.

The New York Times called her "America's most powerful flight attendant" for her role in helping to end the 35-day Government Shutdown, InStyle Magazine placed her on their Top 50 Badass Women list, and Fast Company put her on the cover of their Summer 2021 magazine with the headline, “Workers Strike Back.” Sara often says corporations have money and control but workers have power, and the Labor Movement is for all working people. She encourages women everywhere to join unions and run unions. She believes Flight Attendants can play a pivotal role in building worker power with more public contact than almost any other job and connectivity around the world.

Robert Reynolds grew up in Westfield, Massachusetts, and joined the Army as an Infantryman at 17 years old and served from 2006 to 2010, deploying to Iraq in 2007 when he was 18 with the 10th Mountain Division 4-31 Infantry out of Fort Drum New York. After the Military, Robert moved to California in 2012 and worked as a firefighter with Cal Fire in San Luis Obispo and then Riverside County from 2012 to 2017. In 2018, Robert started experiencing trouble with PTSD symptoms which led him to travel to the West Los Angeles VA to be a part of the PTSD Combat Track program offered at the Domiciliary. Through a series of unfortunate events, Robert was able to experience firsthand some of the many barriers that Veterans face when approaching the VA for much needed services. It was through these events he encountered the unhoused Veterans on San Vicente Blvd, just outside the gates of the VA. The discovery of 40+ Veterans, some of them combat Veterans, sleeping outside of the VA grounds on the street coupled with learning about the history of the VA land and the many years of misuse, Robert became fueled with a drive to help these Veterans gain accessibility and equity within the VA system as well as to ensure that the land that was deeded to the U.S. government in 1888 as a Soldiers Home was restored for that very purpose today. Robert was able to successfully work as a liaison between the unhoused Veterans on San Vicente Blvd., the stakeholders in the community surrounding the VA, law enforcement and the leadership of the West LA VA to get the Veterans inside of the gates and into what is now known as CTRS (Tiny Home Village). Robert continues to dedicate himself to advocating on behalf of the unhoused Veteran population in Los Angeles and will continue until every Veteran is housed and has equal accessibility to their home at the West LA VA campus.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is the President & CEO of Hip Hop Caucus. Rev Yearwood is the Host of the award-winning climate and environmental justice podcast The Coolest Show, Senior Advisor of Bloomberg Philanthropies Beyond Petrochemicals Campaign, and one of the most innovative advocates and strategists for racial justice and climate justice. He is a White House Champion of Change for Climate leadership and according to Rolling Stone he is a “New Green Hero.”

Cynthia A. Fisher is Founder and Chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, a nonprofit organization seeking healthcare price transparency, giving power to American consumers – patients, employers, and unions – to lower their costs of care and coverage through a functional marketplace and choice.

Cynthia is best known for her pioneering work as Founder and CEO of ViaCord, Inc., a leading, price transparent umbilical cord blood stem cell banking company which she started in 1993. In 2000, she co-founded and was president of the cellular medicines company, ViaCell, Inc., of which ViaCord became a division. ViaCell went public in 2005, was acquired by PerkinElmer, and exists today under the ViaCord brand.

Cynthia also serves on the public company boards of the Boston Beer Company, Inc. and Easterly Government Properties, Inc. She serves on the Florida Council of 100 and the board of the National Park Foundation, and she previously served on the board of directors of Water.org.

Cynthia holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS and honorary Doctorate of Science from Ursinus College.

Kevin Morra is a multiple-Award winning Producer/Director and Partner at the creative agency and film production company Swift River Productions, located in Los Angeles and New York City. Kevin has created, written, produced, and directed critically acclaimed content in over twenty countries including primetime television series for HBO, Bravo, MTV, VH1, IFC, ABC, DIY, and ESPN as well as commercial projects for major international brands including Microsoft, PayPal, Wynn Resorts, Adidas, NFL, T-Mobile, and more. Kevin has also Produced/Directed a number of socio-political documentaries around the world, including in South Africa, Northern Ireland, Israel, and South Sudan.

Kevin is a co-Founder of “Power to the Patients,” the non-profit organization fighting for a more honest, affordable, and accessible healthcare system across the United States through price transparency. Kevin has worked alongside several well-known individuals including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Henry Rollins, Kevin Hart, Chris Pratt, Courtney Cox, Fat Joe, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Bridges, and artist Shepard Fairey and has produced and recorded live musical performances with a long list of bands including Radiohead, Iggy Pop, Sinead O’Connor, Foo Fighters, and Slayer. Kevin has an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a BBA from The George Washington University. Outside of his professional life, Kevin has traveled extensively throughout the world playing rugby, mountaineering, and delivering humanitarian aid in areas throughout Africa and Ukraine.

Cora Opsahl is the Director at the 32BJ Health Fund, a self-insured Taft-Hartley benefit fund that sets comprehensive design parameters to ensure the 200,000 members and families of SEIU 32BJ have easy and sustained access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. Since becoming Health Fund Director in 2021, Ms. Opsahl has prioritized a data-driven approach to healthcare; focusing on reducing trend; solving the affordability challenge on behalf of union members; and most important, keeping members at the center of every decision.

Under her leadership, the 32BJ Health Fund has saved more than $35 million annually—which it has reinvested in new and better benefits, including the first fertility benefit for members—by removing New York-Presbyterian hospitals and physicians from its network, transitioning to a new pharmacy vendor and pharmacy group purchasing coalition, and establishing an expanded Centers of Excellence program. Most recently, Ms. Opsahl conducted an innovative medical RFP, stipulating that all finalists must have a signature ready contract drafted by the Health Fund prior to award. By including the Health Fund drafted contract in the RFP process, the Fund was able to negotiate a contract that brought unprecedented visibility and increased accountability to the 32BJ Health Fund benefit.

Cora Opsahl is regarded as an expert in pharmacy benefit management and previously worked at Express Scripts, where she held a variety of roles, ranging from Medicare Part D to operations to strategy and acquisitions. She earned an MBA from Saint Louis University.

Chris Deacon is a distinguished consultant and legal expert in employer-sponsored healthcare, advocating for cost-effective strategies that benefit both employers and employees. As a seasoned national speaker and a reliable source for industry publications, she stands out for her integrity and impactful content in healthcare discussions. Her leadership at VerSan Consulting, LLC is marked by innovative solutions that have significantly reduced healthcare expenditures.

Deacon's tenure at the New Jersey Department of Treasury was notable for implementing cost-saving measures exceeding $3 billion, reflecting her commitment to fiscal responsibility and healthcare quality. Her comprehensive legal and regulatory expertise was honed in her roles as Deputy Attorney General and as Special Counsel to Governor Christie. Deacon is a Rutgers Law School graduate with a BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University. She currently resides in Moorestown New Jersey with her three children, Coleman Emer and Collins, partner Stephen, and Twitch, the family dog.

Nika Soon-Shiong is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fund for Guaranteed Income (F4GI), a public charity that builds community-designed technologies to implement cash transfer programs in 12 American cities – including the first guaranteed income program for currently incarcerated people. She directed F4GI’s flagship pilot, the Compton Pledge and its expansion across city lines to the Long Beach Pledge.

Nika is a doctoral candidate at Oxford University, where her research focuses on universal digital infrastructure and citizenship in India. While pursuing her PhD, Nika served as Public Safety Commissioner of West Hollywood, where she advocated for reallocating dollars away from the sheriff’s department towards social services.

Previously, she worked in the President’s Office of the World Bank to establish the Disruptive Technology Initiative. She supported an operation providing an ID to 100 million West Africans and a social insurance platform for informal sector workers. Nika was also a movement researcher in South Africa, organizing nationwide campaigns that changed the course of education and procurement policy.

She is the Board Chair of One Fair Wage and sits on the board of the Compton Community Development Corporation and Committee to Protect Journalists. She is an Executive Team member of JusticeLA and National Council member of Equal Education.

Nika speaks Spanish, Italian, Xhosa and beginners Hindi. She earned her Master’s degree in African Studies and Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

I currently serve as a City Councilor for the Central District of Burlington, VT. This district, made up of Wards 2 and 3, is easily one of the most diverse areas in the entire state with the exception of some neighborhoods in Winooski, VT. I previously served as a Police Commissioner and on a special committee to review policing policies. I was pulled into public service in 2019 after multiple Use of Force lawsuits were filed against our city and police department. During the past few years I have engaged in countless conversations about community safety, equity in policing, and equity in governance. Two things I repeat often is that we must put people over politics and that the truth matters. I was born and raised in NYC and came to Vermont the fall of 1982 to attend the University of Vermont. As a Black woman I was able to build a safe space for myself by mostly spending time and making friends with people who were involved in music and the arts as they were more accepting. My radio show, the Cultural Bunker, is celebrating 40 years of broadcasting on two area public radio stations. I play music and knit to keep sane.

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak was elected Mayor of Burlington on March 5th, 2024. She was sworn in as the City's 43rd Mayor on April 1st 2024. She is the first woman, and first out LGBTQ+ person to serve as chief executive. Mulvaney-Stanak previously served in the Vermont House of Representatives, where she was an active member of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. In her time as a State Representative, Mulvaney-Stanak advocated for policy changes to improve the State's unemployment system, and she worked diligently to ensure the voices of marginalized people were heard in the policy making process.

In her first months as Mayor, Mulvaney-Stanak's top priorities are community safety, and delivering a City budget for FY25 that acknowledges affordability concerns of residents, and maintains the level of services that residents, businesses and visitors expect and deserve.

Jon Queally is the managing editor of Common Dreams, a nonprofit and independent news organization, where he has worked since 2007. He lives with his family outside of Portland, Maine.

Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, is University Distinguished Professor and Virginia H. Donaldson Professor in Translational Science in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science, University of Vermont. Dr Higgins directs the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, an NIH-supported research center. He is Principal Investigator on multiple NIH grants on the general topic of behavior and health, including an NIGMS Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) award, a NIDA/FDA Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science award, and a NIDA institutional training award. He has held many national scientific leadership positions, including terms as President of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and the American Psychological Association’s Division on Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse. He has received numerous national awards for research excellence including a NIH-MERIT Award (NIDA, 2001-07), the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis 2022 Translational Science Award, and the College on Problems of Drug Dependence 2022 Nathan B. Eddy Memorial Award (i.e., career achievement award). He is the author of more than 450 journal articles, invited book chapters, and edited volumes and therapist manuals in behavior and health.

Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure joined the Office of the First Lady to serve as the Chair of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research in November 2023.
Dr. Mazure comes to the White House from the Yale School of Medicine, where she is the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women’s Health Research, and Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology.
After three years at the National Institutes of Health and fellowship training at Yale, Dr. Mazure joined the Yale faculty — becoming an active clinician and NIH-funded researcher. She was the Director of Psychiatry’s Adult Inpatient Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and has held a variety of other leadership roles, including Associate Dean for Faculty at Yale School of Medicine, Scientific Director of NIH-funded interdisciplinary grants establishing Specialized Centers of Research, and Principal Investigator of NIH-funded junior faculty training grants.
She created Women’s Health Research at Yale, the university’s interdisciplinary research center on the health of women and the interplay of sex, gender, and health. The center studies a wide breadth of topics from cardiovascular disease to cancers. Since its inception in 1998, the center has been recognized as a national model for launching research, translating findings, sharing health information with the public and policymakers, and providing mentored training in interdisciplinary team science.
Her internationally-recognized research contributions have focused on depression, one of the greatest causes of disability for women in the U.S. and globally, and the sex-and-gender-specific relationship of stress to depression as well as co-occurring addictive behaviors (such as smoking, and opioid use and misuse). Current research targets the intersection of biological and social factors affecting the health of women, gender-specific strategies for promoting resilience, and health policies that serve to advance economic stability for women.


Dr. Mazure has served on the Advisory Committee for the NIH Office for Research on Women’s Health, provided testimony to the U.S. Congress (House and Senate) on the health of women, served on the planning committee for the First White House Conference on Mental Health, and was a fellow for the U.S. Congress’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
She has been an invited speaker at diverse venues, such as NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and the Sorbonne, and has been a featured expert on ABC’s “Prime Time Live” and in the BBC documentary “The Science of Stress.” Her edited books include “Does Stress Cause Psychiatric Illness?” and “Understanding Depression in Women: Applying Empirical Research to Practice and Policy.”
Her national honors include the Marion Spencer Fay Award from the Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, the American Psychological Association Distinguished Leadership Award from the Committee on Women in Psychology, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award from the National Organization for Women, and a U.S. Public Health Fellowship. Additional honors include Yale’s Stephen Fleck Clinician and Teacher Award and the Sidney J. Blatt Award for Excellence in Clinical Care, Teaching, and Research.

Dr. Deborah Richter, an addiction medicine specialist, has dedicated her career to improving healthcare in Vermont and beyond. With over 30 years of experience in primary care, she has served diverse communities, from the inner city of Buffalo to rural Vermont.

As a former president of Physicians for a National Health Program, Dr. Richter is a passionate advocate for a universal, publicly funded health care system. She has delivered numerous engaging speeches to various audiences, including community and church groups, Rotary Clubs, business organizations, and medical professionals, educating them about the benefits and necessity of comprehensive publicly funded healthcare reform.

Currently, Dr. Richter chairs Vermont Health Care for All, an organization committed to raising awareness about the advantages of universal health care systems. Her expertise and dedication to the cause earned her a prestigious 2-year fellowship from the Open Society Institute, enabling her to educate employers about the benefits of a universal health care system.

Dr. Richter has co-authored two books with the late former Health and Human Services Secretary Cornelius Hogan and journalist Terry Doran. Their most recent work, "Gridlock: The Unhealthy Politics of Health Care in Vermont," and their 2005 publication, "At the Crossroads: The Future of Health Care in Vermont," provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities within the healthcare system.

In recognition of her numerous contributions, Dr. Richter was featured in a New York Times article in May 2011 and was honored as one of the "Fifteen Extraordinary People Transforming the Way We Live" by Yes Magazine.
Dr. Richter resides in Montpelier, Vermont, with her husband.

Brenda Gagne is Chief of the St Francis/Sokoki Abenaki of Missisquoi VT. She's the President of the PAC(Parental Advisory Committe) and the Director of the Abenaki Circle of Courage, Inc. She has worked for Title VI Indian Education for 30 years. She was elected the executive director of t he Abenaki Self-help Association for 6 years. She wears multiple hats for our community such as funerals, celebration of life, social worker, teacher, grandmother, mother, sister, she is the cultural specialist for our school district etc.. She is a proud citizen of our heritage and loves to share knowledge with anyone who wants to learn.

Joseph Geevarghese, Executive Director of Our Revolution, has been organizing grassroots movements to drive progressive policy and political change for nearly 25 years.

After graduating from Georgetown Law in 2000, Joseph led the SEIU Hospital Accountability Project in Chicago, which mobilized over 25,000 low-income patients to fight against price gouging and predatory collection practices. Working alongside then State Sen. Barack Obama, chair of the Illinois Senate Health Committee, Joseph helped win major health care reforms that helped set the stage for federal action.

From 2007-2011, as the Deputy Director of the Change to Win Labor Coalition in Washington, Joseph coordinated the labor movement’s agenda with the Obama/Biden Transition Team, and helped create - and later advise - the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, chaired by then Vice-President Biden.

At the start of Obama’s second term in 2012, Joseph became the Executive Director of Good Jobs Nation and a key strategist behind the nationwide “Fight for $15 & Union” strike movement. Joseph organized over 20 walkouts by thousands of low-wage federal contract workers at the US Capitol, Pentagon and Smithsonian museums to demand Obama use executive action to improve labor standards. Working with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the campaign pushed President Obama to issue 3 historic executive orders to raise wages, crack down on labor law violators, and provide paid leave for over 20 million workers employed by federal contractors.

Since 2019, his leadership at Our Revolution continues to focus on mobilizing the grassroots to fight for progressive issues, elect progressive champions at every level of government, and transform the Democratic party into a true progressive party.