Neal A. Baer
Neal A. Baer, M.D. is a Harvard-trained physician, practicing pediatrician, and award-winning television writer and producer. He formerly served as executive producer of the series “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “ER”. His most recent show, “The Beast”, was purchased by Fox for the 2017-18 season.
Sandy Banks
In 36 years at the Los Angeles Times, Sandy Banks served as a reporter, editorial writer, assistant metropolitan editor and director of the newsroom’s diversity efforts. She was part of the team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Ev Boyle
Ev Boyle, the former Associate Director of CCLP and the founding director of Civic Teach USC, leads a new nonprofit, launched by Los Angeles tech leaders, whose mission is to channel the resources and expertise of LA’s tech sector to support and accelerate the work of LA’s most impactful nonprofits and social enterprises.
Jeremy Curtin
Jeremy Curtin served until December 2009 as coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs in the U.S. State Department, where he was the government’s senior public diplomacy officer.
Matthew Dowd
Matthew Dowd is a political consultant who currently serves as a special correspondent and analyst for ABC News. He writes a regular column for various publications.
Charlie Firestone
Charlie Firestone is Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and a Vice President of the Aspen Institute. His work at Aspen focuses on the impact of new technologies on democratic, economic and social institutions, and the development of new communications policy models and options for the public interest.
Dan Glickman
Dan Glickman is a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, based in Washington, DC. He previously served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1995-2001 and as chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Matthew Graham
Matthew Graham is the former visiting director for the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. He previously held positions as Vice President (head of product) for the Los Angeles Times and as Vice President of audience and product at USA TODAY Sports.
Peter Hirshberg
Peter Hirshberg is chairman of City Innovate Foundation and the Re:imagine Group, which develops strategies and marketing in a world of empowered and connected audiences and customers.
Kirk W. Johnson
Kirk W. Johnson is the founder of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies and the author of To Be a Friend is Fatal: the Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind. His forthcoming book, about the natural history heist of of the century, will be published by Viking in the spring of 2018.
Cinny Kennard
Cinny Kennard, Executive Director at The Annenberg Foundation, is an award-winning broadcast journalist and media executive who served as managing director/managing editor of NPR West from 2003 to 2009.
Jill Leovy
Jill Leovy is a journalist and author of “Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America”, a New York Times bestseller, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and California Book Award winner for nonfiction. Leovy also worked for two decades as a reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times.
Jack Lerner
Jack Lerner is a Clinical Professor of Law at the UC Irvine School of Law and the Director of the Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic.
Irshad Manji
Irshad Manji is an international bestselling author and Muslim reformer. After publishing two seminal books about why and how to achieve liberal reform within Islam, Ms. Manji founded the Moral Courage Project.
John Markoff
John Markoff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote for The New York Times’ science and technology beat for 28 years, where he was widely regarded as the paper’s star technology reporter.
Nicco Mele
Nicco Mele is the director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He took over leadership of the Center in 2016 after serving as Senior Vice President and Deputy Publisher of the Los Angeles Times and as the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Geneva Overholser
Geneva Overholser served as director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism from 2008 until 2013. She was editor of The Des Moines Register from 1988 to 1995, where she led the paper to a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. While at the Register, she also earned recognition as Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation.
Adam Clayton Powell III
Adam Clayton Powell III is the Director of Washington Programs for CCLP, which includes public forums on subjects ranging from public service and online media to the future of journalism. He also leads CCLP’s new initiative on mobile phones as a platform for public service.
Todd S. Purdum
Todd Purdum is a senior writer at POLITICO and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He was formerly with The New York Times, where he worked for 23 years, covering politics from city hall to the White House.
Kit Rachlis
Kit Rachlis is the editor of the Washington, D.C. based, political magazine The American Prospect and an award-winning editor who spent nearly a decade as editor-in-chief of Los Angeles Magazine.
Orville Schell
Orville Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York City. He was previously dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dan Schnur
Dan Schnur is Director of the Los Angeles arm of the American Jewish Committee. Previously, he served as the Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.
Greta Van Susteren
A 25 year news industry veteran, Greta Van Susteren has served as a host for all three major news networks, CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC. She was recently named one of the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes Magazine.
Derek Shearer
Former U.S. Ambassador to Finland Derek Shearer is Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He handles the college’s international relations, directing the expansion of its international affairs programs, and serves as Director of the McKinnon Center for Global Affairs.
David Westphal
David Westphal is adjunct professor of journalism in the Studio 20 digital program at New York University. Previously, he was Editor-in-Chief of the California HealthCare Foundation’s Center for Health Reporting and Washington editor of McClatchy Newspapers.
Morley Winograd
Morley Winograd is the co-author (with Michael D. Hais) of Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation is Remaking America. He previously served as senior policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore.
Jessica Yellin
Jessica Yellin is a political journalist whose award-winning career includes reporting for CNN, ABC, and MSNBC. At CNN she covered the White House, Capitol Hill, and domestic politics. Her documentary on President Obama aired throughout the 2012 election.
Narda Zacchino
Narda Zacchino is an author and award-winning journalist who served as a top editor at the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Center for Investigative Reporting. Her most recent book, California Comeback: How a “Failed State” Became a Model for the Nation, was released in 2016.
Senior Policy Fellow
Geoffrey Baum
A former C-SPAN executive producer, Geoffrey Baum is past president and a member of the California Community Colleges board of governors and former managing director of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.
Senior Research Fellow
Mark Latonero
Mark Latonero is a professor and a fellow at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York City. His research focuses on emerging communication technology and social change with specific interests in human rights. His recent work examines the intersection of technology and human trafficking.