Skip to main content

VOICES 20th Anniversary Remembrance Symposium | Speakers

 

Michael Barasch
Michael Barasch was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1981 and has worked exclusively for law firms representing seriously injured victims of accidents and medical malpractice. After over a decade of trying major personal injury cases, Mr. Barasch joined forces with Jim McGarry.

They have won hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on behalf of thousands of accident victims, many of them catastrophically injured. They have been lead counsel in several multi-plaintiff litigations. Mr. Barasch and his colleagues take special pride in the work they have done on behalf of injured New York City firefighters, winning landmark decisions that have shaped the law on their behalf. After helping scores of firefighters receive awards in their individual cases, the firm was thrust into the legal problems of those killed and injured in the World Trade Center attacks, representing the families of dozens of firefighters killed, as well as over 1,000 first responders who sustained permanent respiratory illnesses from the toxic dust at the WTC site.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein appointed Mr. Barasch as liaison counsel on behalf of all rescue workers injured or killed, and he worked closely with Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master of the Victim Compensation Fund, to expand the rules of the Air Transportation Safety and Systems Stabilization Act. When the VCF closed in 2004, the firm fought to reopen it because many clients continued to be diagnosed with new illnesses caused by the toxic dust, and/or they were found disabled after they had received an award for a non-disabling injury.

In January 2011 President Obama signed the Zadroga Act into law, named in honor of the firm's client, NYPD Detective Jimmy Zadroga, who died of pulmonary disease in 2006 caused by WTC toxins. As a result, $2.4 billion has been made available for medical care and $2.7 billion has been set aside for compensation to those whose health has gotten worse since 2003. Mr. Barasch and his colleagues currently represent more than 5,000 sick first responders and residents."

 

Richard Ben-Veniste
Richard Ben-Veniste has practiced law, specializing in complex civil litigation and white collar criminal cases in Washington, D.C. and New York City since 1968, where he began his career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

From 1973-1975, Mr. Ben-Veniste served as one of the lead prosecutors on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, prosecuting the principal Watergate cover-up case against Richard Nixon’s top aides, H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and John Mitchell, among others. From 1995 to 1996, he acted as Chief Counsel (Minority) for the Senate Whitewater Committee. Mr. Ben-Veniste was a presidential appointee to the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group, which mandated the declassification of more than 8 million pages of documents relating to World War II era war crimes. From 2003 to 2004, Mr. Ben-Veniste served as one of ten commissioners on the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (9/11 Commission).

In 2009, he served on a task force created by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to assess the national alert system and make recommendations for improvement, and in 2011 was appointed to the Aspen Homeland Security Group. Richard served on the NSA Advisory Board legal panel from 2014-2017, providing advice to the Director of NSA and its office of General Counsel. From 2017-2019, he was a legal analyst for CNN. Richard currently practices law in Washington as a partner at Mayer Brown LLP.

 

Rupa Bhattacharyya
Rupa Bhattacharyya has a distinguished career in public service. In July 2016, she was appointed by the Attorney General to serve as the Special Master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and was created by Congress to compensate those who suffered personal injuries or died as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the rescue, recovery, and debris removal efforts undertaken in its aftermath. Rupa joined DOJ in 1996 through the Attorney General’s Honors Program as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Division. As a Civil Division litigator, she defended government entities ranging from the Departments of State, Defense, and the Treasury, to the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Election Commission, to the United States Census Bureau and the Selective Service Commission, as well as individual government employees sued in their individual capacities. She was awarded the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement for Trial Litigation, as well as three Special Commendations from the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division for Outstanding Service. In August 2008, Rupa accepted a Senior Executive Service position as the Deputy Assistant General Counsel for International Affairs at the Department of the Treasury. In that capacity, Rupa supervised a team of attorneys handling legal activities relating to a broad range of international economic, financial, and regulatory matters, and in 2012, she received an Exceptional Service Award from the Secretary of the Treasury.

In April 2012, Rupa returned to DOJ as a Director in the Torts Branch, with oversight over the Office of Constitutional and Specialized Tort Litigation. In that capacity, she managed three offices: the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which has paid in excess of $3.4 billion to more than 4,700 people since the Program’s 1988 inception under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act; the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act program, which has awarded more than $2 billion in compassionate compensation to eligible claimants under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act; and the Constitutional Torts staff, which defends constitutional tort claims brought against federal officials sued in their individual capacities in federal district courts and reviews and makes determinations on requests for individual capacity representation from federal employees.

Prior to her legal professional career, Rupa served as a law clerk for the Honorable Julia Smith Gibbons, then of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and now of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Rupa graduated from Harvard Law School and has a Master’s degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Her undergraduate degree is from Tulane University in her hometown of New Orleans.

 

Robert Brackbill
Dr. Brackbill was the founding Principal Investigator for the World Trade Center Health Registry. He is currently Research Director for the Registry having served in this position for over 6 years.

Dr. Brackbill has a PhD in experimental psychology from University of Minnesota and an MPH in Epidemiology from University of California, Berkeley. He has done research in numerous areas of public health including occupational safety and health, behavioral risk factors, Sexually Transmitted Infections and behavioral correlates of HIV/AIDS, integrated public health surveillance, and currently 9/11 disaster related physical and mental health conditions, health related functioning, and quality of life. Dr. Brackbill has over 100 publications with over 6500 citations.

 

Joseph Cavalcante
Joe helps workers access their benefits on the most complex workers’ compensation and Paid Family Leave claims and also handles all fatality claims. Prior to this position, he was an agency spokesperson for more than 10 years, representing the Board publicly and writing many of our publications.

He’s also been the Board’s point person on World Trade Center issues. Before joining the Board, Joe’s broad work experience includes teaching as a college instructor, writing as a freelancer, and positions in health insurance, the software industry and at FEMA.

 

Stephen M. Clark
Steve currently serves as the Superintendent of the National Parks of Western PA, which include Flight 93 National Memorial, Johnstown Flood National Memorial, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, Fort Necessity National Battlefield and Friendship Hill National Historic Site.

He is a 34 year veteran of the National Park Service, starting his career in 1986 at two of the parks he now manages. Prior to joining the NPS, Clark also worked with the Pennsylvania State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service.

Prior to his current assignment, Steve served as the Chief Ranger for the Northeast Region as well as the Branch Chief of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services for the region.

Other Park assignments include serving as the Chief Ranger at Biscayne National Park and Virgin Islands National Park. He also served as a Park Ranger at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and Shenandoah National Park.

Significant detail assignments include serving as the Superintendent at Congaree National Park, Chief of Visitor Protection in Washington DC for the NPS, two details as Chief Ranger at Gulf Islands National Seashore in the aftermath of the Mississippi Canyon oil spill in 2010 and response to Hurricane Maria in October of 2017.

Clark holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resource Management with a concentration in Park Management from Slippery Rock University and an Associate’s degree in Wildlife Technology from the Pennsylvania State University.

He is also a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, along with completing the Executive Management Program at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Steve enjoys spending time in the outdoors, especially golfing and fishing, and is an avid baseball fan. He especially enjoys time with his three daughters Brieanna, Erin, and Makenna, and his 5 grandchildren.

 

Senator Susan M. Collins
Susan M. Collins, Maine’s senior United States Senator, was first elected to the Senate in 1996. She ranks 11th in Senate seniority and is the most senior Republican woman. Senator Collins has earned a national reputation for working across party lines.

For the past eight consecutive years, she has ranked as the most bipartisan member of the U.S. Senate by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Senator Collins and Senator Joe Lieberman authored landmark legislation overhauling our nation’s intelligence community, improving its effectiveness while protecting civil liberties. Known for her Maine work ethic, Senator Collins has cast more than 7,900 consecutive votes and holds the longest perfect voting record in the history of the U.S. Senate.

 

Michael Crane, M.D.
Dr. Crane has long experience in both occupational medicine and administration. Before joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Crane spent 16 years as Chief Medical Officer of Con Edison of New York.

In 2002 he established a medical monitoring and treatment program for Con Edison workers who assisted in recovery efforts at the WTC site. Dr. Crane is currently Deputy Director of the Mount Sinai WTC Monitoring and Treatment Program.

 

John P. Dearie
John P. Dearie is the managing attorney of The Dearie Law Firm, P.C., and has represented individuals and their families in claims to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for nearly ten years. John is a lifelong New Yorker, born in Manhattan, and raised in the Bronx and Westchester County.

After graduating from Regis High School in New York. Following law school, John worked as an associate attorney in the Corporate and Financial Services Department of Willkie Farr and Gallagher LLP. In 2011, John joined The Dearie Law Firm, P.C., which was started by his father 30 years ago. John lives in Brooklyn with his wife, their nine-month old son, and a miniature Australian Shepherd.

 

Mark Desire
Mark Desire is an Assistant Director with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. He works in the Department of Forensic Biology, New York City’s DNA crime lab and the largest of its kind in North America. During his 24 years of employment, he has investigated thousands of criminal and missing persons cases.

He is the manager of the World Trade Center DNA Identification Team, a unit dedicated to advancing the science and helping return loved ones to their families. Mark has been recruited by the United Nations, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and several foreign countries to assist in locating the missing and design protocol to further this ability.

 

John M. Eubanks
With extensive experience investigating terrorist organizations and terrorist financing in the Middle East, John Eubanks represents victims, survivors and their families in litigation designed to bankrupt the financiers of terror.

A former private counterterrorism investigator, John litigates for foreign terror victims and victims of international human rights abuses in areas including Iraq, Libya, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. He was a key member of the team that prosecuted Linde et al. v. Arab Bank Plc, the first litigation against a financial institution brought to trial under the Anti-Terrorism Act. He is also a member of the team litigating against al Qaeda's alleged financiers and supporters arising out of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. John oversees Motley Rice’s litigation against Iran for its role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in addition to claims filed with the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund arising out of judgments entered against Iran for the firm’s 9/11 clients.

 

John Feal
On September, 12, 2001, John Feal and his team of Construction Demolition experts were called to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan to aid in the cleanup and recovery mission.

While supervising his team roughly 8,000 pounds of steel came loose, crushing his left foot. After11 weeks in the hospital, doctors amputated half of his foot. John went through years of surgeries and innumerable hours of therapy; as well as extensive hospital stays and mounting medical expenses. Once out of the hospital, John made it his mission to alleviate the Heroes of 9/11 from the burdens he experienced and created the FealGood Foundation. The foundation assists First Responders and others who have been physically or mentally injured as a result of their rescue, recovery and clean up efforts at the WTC site.

 

Gordon W. Felt
Gordon W. Felt completed a BA in Elementary Education at Ohio Wesleyan University ‘85 and a MS in Special Education from The Bank Street College ‘87. Gordon was Executive Director of Camp Northwood Inc. from 1988-2019.

This socially therapeutic residential summer camp served a population of autistic spectrum, socially anxious and learning challenged students in need of structured and supportive summer experience. Recognized by the American Camp Association for excellence in programming, Camp Northwood attracted campers from across the country and around the world.

On September 11, 2001, Gordon’s eldest brother, Edward P. Felt was killed aboard United Flight 93 as the passengers and crew members fought to retake control of their plane. Since those early days as our country struggled to make sense of the loss of thousands of our citizens, Gordon has been a spokesperson for the Families of Flight 93. During the development phase of the Flight 93 National Memorial, Gordon served as a member of the Flight 93 National Memorial Federal Advisory Commission, President of the Families of a Flight 93 and member of the Flight 93 National Memorial Executive Committee. In his capacity as President of the Families of Flight 93 Inc., Gordon accepted a Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the passengers and crew members of United 93. He also presented remarks at the Dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial, Commissioning of the USS Somerset, Dedication of a plaque honoring the 40 heroes of Flight 93 in the US Capitol Building and Annual commemorative services in remembrance of September 11th. In 2015, Gordon received the Service Citizen’s Award from the United States Department of the Interior “In recognition of voluntary service and providing exceptional leadership in the creation of Flight 93 National Memorial.”

Gordon and his wife Donna currently live in Central New York where they raised their two daughters.

 

Mary Fetchet
Mary Fetchet is Founding Director of Voices Center for Resilience, formerly known as Voices of September 11th, an organization she co-founded following the death of her 24 year-old son Brad on 9/11.

Her unique background as a mother of a victim, along with 27 years of experience as a clinical social worker, influenced VOICES innovative approach to providing long-term support services for thousands of 9/11 families, survivors and responders. Ms. Fetchet is equally committed to helping communities impacted by other tragedies, by sharing lessons learned and working collaboratively with public-private partnerships in the United States and abroad. She has co-authored several important scientific publications examining the long-term needs of victims’ families, and has published best practices, tip sheets and training.

A strong advocate for the rights of victim's families and survivors, mental health care, and public policy reforms, she advocated for the notification of human remains, the creation of the 9/11 Memorial and was instrumental in the establishment of the 9/11 Commission. She testified before the U.S. Congress on 5 occasions. Ms. Fetchet has received several awards including induction into the Hall of Fame at Columbia University School of Social Work, ABC News Person of the Year, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Making a Difference.

 

Anthony Gardner
Anthony Gardner is a public administration professional who has worked on 9/11 related issues since 2001. In honor of his brother Harvey, who was killed in the terrorist attacks, he founded the September 11th Education Trust/WTC United Family Group in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

He served as an advisor on the 9/11 Memorial & Memorial Museum planning efforts and as a consulting party in the World Trade Center Section 106 process. Mr. Gardner was a vocal advocate for the preservation of the footprints of the World Trade Center Twin Towers, which now serve as the setting for the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s primary exhibitions.

Mr. Gardner joined the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2015 and served as the Senior Vice President of Government & Community Affairs until 2020. In this role, he developed and managed a broad range of public/government affairs initiatives that advanced the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s relations with members of the 9/11 community, government officials/entities, and furthered its educational mission.

Mr. Gardner holds an M.A. in Museum Studies and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management both from Seton Hall University and a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from the Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration. Mr. Gardner currently serves on several boards and advisory groups including the onePULSE Foundation Chairman’s Ambassadors Council.

 

Scott Gassman
Scott sat at his 23rd Floor World Trade Center North Tower 1 desk when the first plane hit, on 9.11.01. Scott was an Assistant Vice President of Organizational Change for Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield. July, 2001, Scott and his boss were guests on the John F. Kennedy Naval Ship for thirty hours.

Scott videotaped two hours of the ship’s operation. The weekend before 9/11, Scott and his video team edited the Kennedy video to eighteen minutes. The finished video went down with the WTC building. Gassman recovered by interviewing and videotaping colleagues to share 9/11’s impact on them. In April, 2002, Scott created an LLC, Idea Juice.

 

Allison Gilbert
Allison Gilbert is an Emmy award-winning journalist and author of numerous books, including the much-anticipated, forthcoming biography of Hearst newspaper columnist Elsie Robinson, to be published by Basic Books, in 2022.

On 9/11, Allison was a producer at WNBC-TV and was nearly killed by falling debris when the second tower collapsed. She is the official narrator of the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s historical exhibition audio tour, the only female journalist to be so honored. To mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks, she is executive producer of two film projects in collaboration with the 9/11 Museum and course creator, Wondrium: a documentary called, "Reporting 9/11 and Why It Still Matters” and a 20-part series entitled, "Women Journalists of 9/11: Their Stories.” Both projects explore what it was like to be a working journalist covering the terrorist attacks 20 years ago and how the aftermath changed journalists and media forever. Featured journalists include Tom Brokaw, Savannah Guthrie, Maggie Haberman, Linda Wertheimer, Scott Pelley, and many others.

 

Alice Greenwald
Alice Greenwald has been the Director of the 9/11 Memorial Museum since 2006. As director, Ms. Greenwald is responsible for creating the museum that tells the stories of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993.

She is in charge of developing programming, preparing exhibits, choosing artifacts, designing educational components, organizing and coordinating all the operational details of the museum. Before joining the 9/11 Memorial Museum, Greenwald served as Associate Museum Director for Museum Programs for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Greenwald has also served as Executive Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia; Acting Director, Curator and Assistant Curator of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum in Los Angeles; and Curatorial Assistant at the Maurice Spertus Museum in Judaica, Chicago.

 

Fred Guttenberg
Fred Guttenberg began his public life after the murder of his beautiful 14 year old daughter Jaime. The day after the murder, Fred attended a public vigil in Parkland. While there, the Mayor asked him to speak. His words shook a nation.

Only four months prior to this, Fred’s brother Michael passed away in October 2017 from cancer related to his service in 9/11. He was one of the original first responders and was trapped in the WTC as it collapsed. Amazingly, the room that they hid out in did not collapse and Michael and his team of physicians spent 16 days at ground zero taking care of others Following his involvement in these two distinctly American Tragedies, Fred has traveled the country talking about both events but also talking about perspective, perseverance, and resilience. He discusses pivotal moments in our life and how we respond to those moments. Fred’s mission ultimately led him to write his new book Find The Helpers. Fred Guttenberg’s professional life previously included over a decade of experience management with Johnson and Johnson, followed by almost 15 years as an entrepreneur, with 19 Dunkin Donuts, which he sold in November 2016.

 

Robert T. Haefele
Mr. Haefele spent 30 years practicing civil litigation, including asbestos, tobacco, mesh, and other mass torts. His area of primary emphasis involves anti-terrorism and human rights, analyzing and litigating complex, domestic, and international matters to meet clients’ goals of justice and accountability while simultaneously achieving positive social change.

Robert represents more than 6,600 family members and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He is co-liaison counsel and an active member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for Personal Injury and Death Claims in In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, seeking to expose and bankrupt the alleged financiers and supporters of al Qaeda. Robert also played a central role in In re September 11th Litigation, involving more than 50 personal injury and wrongful death clients against the aviation and aviation security industries for their alleged failure to detect and prevent the 9/11 attacks.

Robert has also represented terrorism victims in litigation against Arab Bank for allegedly supporting Hamas.

Jane Harman
Jane Harman, Distinguished Fellow and President Emerita, Wilson Center, is an internationally recognized authority on U.S. and global security issues, foreign relations and lawmaking.

A native of Los Angeles and a public-school graduate, she went on to become a nine-term member of Congress, serving decades on the major security committees in the House of Representatives. Drawing upon a career that has included service as President Carter’s Secretary of the Cabinet and hundreds of diplomatic missions to foreign countries, Harman holds posts on nearly a dozen governmental and non-governmental advisory boards and commissions.

 

Governor Thomas H. Kean
On December 16, 2002, Tom Kean was named by President George W. Bush to head the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. The Commission’s work culminated on July 22, 2004, with the release of the 9/11 Commission Report.

The 9/11 Commission Report quickly became a national bestseller. Its recommendations resulted in the largest intelligence reform in the nation’s history.

Kean served as the chairman of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, a nonprofit entity created with private funds to continue the Commission’s work of guarding against future attacks.

As Governor, Kean was rated among America’s most effective state leaders by Newsweek magazine; noted for tax cuts that spurred 750,000 new jobs; a federally replicated welfare reform program; landmark environmental policies; and more than 30 education reforms. He delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Republican National Convention. He was re-elected for a second term by the largest margin in state history. While Governor, he served on the President’s Education Policy Advisory Committee and as chair of the Education Commission of the States and the National Governor’s Association Task Force on Teaching. He remains one of the most popular governors in New Jersey’s history.

Tom Kean served as president of Drew University from 1990 until 2005. During his 15 year tenure, he focused on shaping Drew into one of the nation’s leading small liberal arts universities by stressing the primacy of teaching, the creative use of technology in the liberal arts, and the importance of international education. During Kean’s presidency, applications to Drew increased by more than 40%; the endowment nearly tripled; and more than $60 million was committed to construction of new buildings and renovation of older buildings, principally student residence halls.

Kean served on several national committees and commissions. He headed the American delegation to the UN Conference on Youth in Thailand, served as vice chairman of the American delegation to the World Conference on Women in Beijing, and served as a member of President Clinton’s Initiative on Race. He also served on the National Endowment for Democracy. He holds more than 30 honorary degrees and numerous awards from environmental and educational organizations.

Kean currently serves as chairman of the board of Carnegie Corporation of New York. In addition he has served on a number of corporate boards and is chair of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, co-chair of JerseyCan and is co-chairman with Congressman Lee Hamilton of the National Security Preparedness Group. He serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Seeing Eye and is the former chair of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation the nation’s largest health philanthropy. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, American Academy of Art & Sciences and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

He holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. from Columbia University Teachers College and has served as a trustee of both institutions. Kean is the author of The Politics of Inclusion, published by The Free Press and is co-author of Without Precedent, published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. He writes a regular column for The Star Ledger with former Governor Brendan Byrne and appears as a regular commentator on New Jersey Network News. His wife is the former Deborah Bye of Wilmington, Delaware. The Keans have twin sons, Tom and Reed, and a daughter, Alexandra, and reside in Bedminster, New Jersey.

 

Mike Kelly
Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for The (Bergen) Record of New Jersey and the USA Today Network as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books.

His latest book, “The Bus on Jaffa Road,” chronicles a single act of terrorism and what happened as the American families of the victims attempted to seek justice through U.S. courts. The book, which was published in 2014, has been described by reviewers as “destined to become a literary classic”, “non-fiction at its very best” and a “masterpiece” that “goes deep below the rhetoric on the ‘war on terror’.”

Kelly’s first book, “Color Lines,” published in 1995, told the story of one town’s struggles to achieve racial harmony after a white police officer shot and killed an African-American teenager. The Washington Post called the book “American journalism at its best.”

Kelly’s “Fresh Jersey,” a collection of his columns about New Jersey, published in 2000, was described as “wonderful, touching, funny, perceptive” by best-selling novelist Mary Higgins Clark.

Kelly’s newspaper journalism has taken him to homeless colonies, drug dens, prisons and courtrooms as well as assignments in Iraq, Africa, Cuba, Malaysia, Israel (the West Bank and Gaza) and Northern Ireland. He has covered many major stories, including the 9/11 attacks, the Clinton impeachment, the 9/11 Commission, Hurricane Katrina, the Bridgegate scandal and a ground-breaking series on disenchanted voters who supported Donald Trump’s presidency. For more information, please check his website: www.mikekellywriter.com

 

James P. Kreindler
James P. Kreindler joined Kreindler & Kreindler LLP in 1983 and became a partner in 1987. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College. He received his J.D. degree from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. He began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorneys' Office.

Currently, Mr. Kreindler is the co-chair of the Plaintiffs' Committee in the 9/11 Litigation on behalf of the 9/11families to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its role in the9/11 attacks. The lawsuit alleges that members of the government of Saudi Arabia provided critical financial and logistical support to the 9/11 hijackers prior to September11 , 2001. This case is the first case to proceed under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act , also known as JASTA, passed by Congress in 2016.A longtime specialist in aviation accident and terrorist litigation, Mr. Kreindler previously took the lead role as a member of the Plaintiffs' Committee in the Pan Am 103families' lawsuit against Pan Am and Libya. That litigation resulted in the largest financial recovery for a single disaster in the history of aviation-nearly $3 billion.

 

Noah Kushlefsky
Noah Kushlefsky is the Managing Partner of Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, a law firm that is dedicated to advocating for the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks and their families. He and his firm took a lead role in the original WTC litigation on behalf of people killed on the day of the attack, and were leaders representing claimants in the original VCF.

Since the VCF reopened in 2010, Noah and his firm have been representing thousands of claimant injured in the aftermath of the attacks and have worked tirelessly to assure that the VCF and World Trade Center Health Program provide health care and reasonable compensation for its clients and for all victims for their lifetimes. Kreindler & Kreindler is also one of the law firms heading current litigation against the sponsors of the terror attacks, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In addition to his extensive work on behalf of the 9/11 community, in his career Noah has litigated wide variety of complex cases in courtrooms across the country, involving commercial and general aviation accidents, complex general tort litigation, environmental torts and mass torts.

 

Stefanie Langsam
Stefanie Langsam has over 25 years of broad-based management and leadership experience. She worked on the original VCF from January 2002 until it closed in 2004, and was quick to return to the DOJ as a consultant in 2011 when the opportunity arose to support the reopened VCF.

Stefanie held key positions on the leadership team, and had a lead role in the implementation of the changes required by the December 2015 reauthorization. In June of 2016, Stefanie became a VCF Deputy Special Master, directly in charge of all VCF day-to-day operations, including the claims management system, internal and external communications, Helpline, data and reporting, payment processing, document management, claim review support activities, and contract management. In 2020, Stefanie received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. She was also selected by Federal Computer Week as a 2020 Federal 100 winner, which recognizes leaders from throughout the Federal IT community who had the greatest impact in 2019.

 

James J. Laychak
James J. Laychak became the full time Execuitve Director of the Pentagon Memorial Fund (PMF) in January of 2020. Working with the new board, his focus is to raise the funds to design and build the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center.

After losing his younger brother in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, Mr. Laychak became involved inthe process of creating a memorial on the grounds of the Pentagon to honor the 184 men, women and children killed there on September 11, 2001. Mr. Laychak worked to establish the PMF, the non-profit tax-exempt organization responsible for raising the funds to design, build and maintain the Pentagon Memorial. From the earliest stages, Mr. Laychak served as member of the Steering Committee that helped guide the project’s site selection and design competition, including the juried process to pick the final concept design for the memorial.

Mr. Laychak has led the PMF since its inception and has served as primary public spokesperson for the PMF with the press and television news organizations. Mr. Laychak developed and executed the strategic plan that enabled the PMF to raise the money needed to design and build the Pentagon Memorial which was dedicated on 9/11/2008. Mr. Laychak led the execution of the fundraising plan that raised $25M over a four-and-a-half-year period. He also acted as the primary liaison between family members, senior leadership within the Pentagon, and the design-build firm throughout the construction phase of the Pentagon Memorial.

After the Pentagon Memorial was dedicated in 2008, Mr. Laychak guided the transition of the PMF to an organization focused on designing and building a visitor education and conference center near the Pentagon Memorial. Working closely with the Pentagon’s Washington Headquarters Service and Arlington National Cemetery, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center (VEC) will be a short walking distance from the Pentagon Memorial. When completed, the VEC will complement the Pentagon Memorial and will complete the 9/11 story. The VEC will provide a place to educate future generations about the acts of heroism and bravery that took place at the Pentagon on 9/11 and how our government responded to the 9/11 attack.

 

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman
Now Senior Counsel at the law firm of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres LLP in New York, Joseph I. Lieberman was for 24 years a member of the U.S. Senate from Connecticut. At the end of his service in January 2013, he was Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and a senior member of the Armed Services Committee.

Through both Committee positions, he became a leader in protecting the security of the American people and supporting American international leadership. Senator Lieberman is known as a national leader who works across party lines to get things done and who speaks his conscience regardless of the political consequences.

Before his election to the Senate in 1988, Senator Lieberman served 10 years in the Connecticut State Senate and 6 years as Connecticut's Attorney General. In 2000 he was the Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States. Senator Lieberman also serves on the board of several nonprofit organizations including the McCain Institute.

Senator Lieberman is married to Hadassah Freilich Lieberman. Together they have four children and 12 grandchildren.

 

Matthew J. McCauley
Matt was a 9/11 First Responder himself and has been dedicated to representing both the 9/11 First Responders and civilian survivors that were either injured or developed illnesses after the attack. As a former NYPD Police Officer and a Paramedic, he and others advocated for the passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010.

He also advocated the extension to the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to aid both first responders and civilian survivors. Named Advocate of the Year by John Feal from the FealGood Foundation, he has been recognized numerous times for his commitment to the 9/11 community. He continues assist the FealGood Foundation, 9/11 Health Watch, and other groups with developing legislation supportive of the 9/11 Community.

 

Joe McNally
Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographer whose prolific career includes assignments in nearly 70 countries. McNally is known world-wide as not only one of the top, technically excellent photographers of his generation.

But his charming demeanor, confidence and humor make him a sought-after choice from CEO’s to celebrities to commercial and magazine clients alike. He is among the rare breed of photographer who has bridged the world between photojournalism and advertising, amassing an impressive commercial and advertising client list including FedEx, Nikon, ESPN, Adidas, MAC Cosmetics, Land’s End, General Electric, Epson, MetLife, USAA, New York Stock Exchange, Lehman Brothers, PNC Bank, and the Beijing Cultural Commission. McNally is equally comfortable climbing buildings or lighting a telescope to capturing quiet, sensitive subject matter with confidence in medical surroundings.

He has shot numerous cover stories and highly complex features for the National Geographic, LIFE, and Sports Illustrated, where his research skills and unmatched preparedness were highly valued. McNally won the first Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Journalistic Impact for a LIFE coverage titled, “The Panorama of War.” He has been honored numerous times by Communication Arts, PDN, Graphis, American Photo, POY, and The World Press Photo Foundation. He has also adapted to the Internet driven media world where his work is regularly cited in social media surveys as sources of inspiration and industry leadership. McNally is a proud Nikon Ambassador and also a recent member to the Capture One Ambassador team.

 

Scott Neil
Scott Neil is a retired Special Forces Veteran with significant executive, operational and combat experience, having served as a Senior Advisor to several General Officers, Senior Civilian Policy Makers, National Members of Interagency Task Forces as well as several House and Senate Committee Members.

Following the tragic events of 9/11, he conducted numerous successful special operation combat missions as part of the Commander’s In-Extremis Forces, one of the first to lead the Direct Action and Counter-Terrorism charge into Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa. Scott’s carrier highlights include serving as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Director of US Special Operation Command's Interagency Task Force (IATF) at MacDill AFB, FL. Provided subject matter expertise and leadership on counter-terrorism activities supporting unique intelligence, operations, inter-agency planning and collaboration of U.S. Government strategic, special operations, counter-terrorism missions.

While serving at the 4 Star Headquarters, Scott provided leadership and mentoring for over 143 senior field grade special operations officers, service members, senior federal agency representatives, and contract personnel engaged in strategic planning and coordination in support of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).Additionally, Scott served as the Special Operation Command's Crisis Action and Time Sensitive Planning Sergeant Major for the Commander during all emergency and emerging overseas contingency operation utilizing Special Operation Forces. Scott also served as a Board Member and Operational Advisor toa number of critical organizations such as his role as the Director of Special Operation Command’s Science and Technology.

 

Mark O’Grady
Mark O’Grady is Professor Emeritus at Pratt Institute and received his BFA from the Cooper Union and an MFA from Louisian Tech University. Mark’s wife, Marijo, passed away in August of 2020 from a 9/11 related cancer.

Dr Marijo Russell O’Grady was the Associate Vice President and Dean for Students at Pace University in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 2001. She actively worked to evacuate all students and staff that day and the next. She is the co-author of the book Crisis, Compassion, and Resiliency in Student Affairs where she contributed a chapter chronicling her experiences on 9/11. Mark and Marijo and their son James are long time downtown New York residents.

 

Connie Palmer
Connie Palmer is a licensed clinical social worker who is an experienced teacher, therapist and school counselor with more than thirty years of experience working with youth and their families. She is currently a Grief Educator for Imagine, a Center for Coping with Loss in Mountainside, NJ.

She is also the owner of Therapeutic Learning Connections which offers social, emotional learning workshops for schools, community organizations and workplaces.

 

George Pataki
George Pataki was the 53rd governor of the State of New York. He was elected to his first term taking office January 1, 1995, reelected to a second term by over 1 million votes and reelected to a third term by almost 3/4 of 1 million votes in 2002.

Pataki led New York through the September 11 attacks and their aftermath and oversaw the rebuilding of lower Manhattan with the award winning Memorial, Memorial Museum and Plaza, and a network of private sector office towers culminating in the Freedom Tower soaring 1776 ft. tall.

Governor Pataki is senior counsel to the global law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright in its New York City office and focuses on energy, infrastructure and environmental issues.

 

Bob Pennington
“Bob” Pennington served over 30 years in the US Army, 26 years as a Green Beret. He served as both an Assistant Detachment Commander and Detachment Commander. He also held positions at the Company level as an Operations Warrant, Executive Officer and Company Commander and the Battalion level as a Senior Warrant Officer Advisor.

As America’s response to the 9/11 attacks, then CW2, Pennington served as the Assistant Detachment Commander for Operational DetachmentAlpha-595 during their historic campaign, conducting textbook Unconventional Warfare operations while on horseback against a formidable Taliban and Al Qaeda Force, 10-times the strength of the allies. Now featured in several books (“The Hunt for Bin Laden”, “The Horse Soldiers” and others), and films (major motion picture “12 Strong” and the documentary film, “Legions of Brothers”), Bob has been a guest speaker numerous times for the Special Forces Qualification Course, educational briefings and charity events.

Bob has co-authored books and manuals covering Special Forces operations in the conduct of Unconventional Warfare. Bob is the recipient of many combat and peacetime awards, as well as a 2020 inductee as a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment, as well as a 2020 inductee into the Georgia Military Veteran’s Hall of Fame. He also received a Special Commendation from the Governor of Georgia and honored through a State Resolution by the Georgia House of Representatives for his military service.

 

Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Perry is the Principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy and a Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at NW University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health, College of Science, Health & Engineering, LTU, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world. Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Dr. Perry's most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, was released in 2021.

Dr. Perry was on the faculty of the Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry at the University of Chicago School of Medicine from 1988 to 1991. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Perry served as the Trammell Research Professor of Child Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. During this time, Dr. Perry was also Chief of Psychiatry for Texas Children's Hospital and Vice-Chairman for Research within the Department of Psychiatry. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Perry served as the Medical Director for Provincial Programs in Children's Mental Health for the Alberta Mental Health Board. He continues to consult with the government of Alberta on children’s issues and serves as a founding member of the Premier’s Council of Alberta’s Promise.

Dr. Perry has conducted both basic neuroscience and clinical research. His neuroscience research has examined the effects of prenatal drug exposure on brain development, the neurobiology of human neuropsychiatric disorders, the neurophysiology of traumatic life events and basic mechanisms related to the development of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. His clinical research and practice has focused on high-risk children. This work has examined the cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and physiological effects of neglect and trauma in children, adolescents and adults. This work has been instrumental in describing how childhood experiences, including neglect and traumatic stress, change the biology of the brain – and, thereby, the health of the child.

His clinical research over the last twenty years has been focused on integrating emerging principles of developmental neuroscience into clinical practice. This work has resulted in the development of innovative clinical practices and programs working with maltreated and traumatized children, most prominently the Neurosequential Model©, a developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach to clinical work (NMT), education (NME) and caregiving (NMC). This approach to clinical problem solving has been integrated into programs at dozens of large public and non-profit organizations serving at-risk children and their families.

His experience as a clinician and a researcher with traumatized children has led many community and governmental agencies to consult Dr. Perry following high-profile incidents involving traumatized children and youth including the Branch Davidian siege in Waco (1993), the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), the Columbine school shootings (1999), the September 11th terrorist attacks (2001), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the FLDS polygamist sect (2008), the earthquake in Haiti (2010), the tsunami in Tohoku Japan (2011), the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings (2012), and the Camp wildfire in California (2018) among many others.

Dr. Perry has published over 500 journal articles, book chapters and scientific proceedings and is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, including the T. Berry Brazelton Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award, the Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare, the Alberta Centennial Medal and the 2014 Kohl Education Prize. He serves on the Board of Directors of multiple organizations including Prevent Child Abuse America and the Ana Grace Project.

He has presented about child maltreatment, children's mental health, neurodevelopment and youth violence in a variety of venues including policy-making bodies such as the White House Summit on Violence, the California Assembly and U.S. House Committee on Education. Dr. Perry has been featured in a wide range of media including 60 Minutes, National Public Radio, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS News and the Oprah Winfrey Show. His work has been featured in documentaries produced by Dateline NBC, 20/20, the BBC, Nightline, CBC, PBS, as well as dozen international documentaries. Many print media have highlighted the clinical and research activities of Dr. Perry including a Pulitzer-prize winning series in the Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine, US News and World Report, Time, Newsweek, Forbes ASAP, Washington Post, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Dr. Perry, a native of Bismarck, North Dakota, was an undergraduate at Stanford University and Amherst College. He attended medical and graduate school at Northwestern University, receiving both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Dr. Perry completed a residency in general psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The University of Chicago.

 

Dr. Joan Reibman, M.D.
Joan Reibman, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine at New York University/Bellevue Hospital. She is the Medical Director of the NYU/Bellevue Asthma Center.

The program initiated to provide state-of the art care and research in asthma and the Medical Director of the HHC World Trade Center Environmental Health, a treatment program for community members with WTC-related illness. She has been involved in health studies of adverse health effects in the community from environmental exposures to WTC since2001. In addition, Dr. Reibman has been the recipient of multiple NIH awards and is the Principal Investigator for the New York Consortium of the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Centers.

 

Tim Roemer
Tim Roemer, former U.S. Member of Congress, 9/11 Commissioner, and Ambassador to India, is Executive Director and Strategic Counselor at APCO Worldwide. He works with clients on government relations and provides strategic advice.

With his background in international trade, education policy, and national security, Ambassador Roemer is a trusted consensus-builder, problem solver and international expert.

In 2009, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to India, one of America’s largest diplomatic missions. During his time in office, Ambassador Roemer helped move India from being America’s 25th largest trading partner to 12th. He oversaw the signing of the Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative, which broadened U.S. – India coordination in intelligence, homeland security, border security, money laundering, and terrorist financing. He worked with the U.S. Government to assist India on the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership. Ambassador Roemer strengthened U.S. cooperation with India in technology transfers and sales in the defense and space industries.

Earlier, Ambassador Roemer proudly served for 12 years in the United States Congress as the Representative for Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District. Coming from a family of educators, he fought to improve access, standards and achievement for American education. He was known for his bipartisan work on getting laws passed and his insights on the Intelligence Committee. Ambassador Roemer was appointed to serve on the 9/11 Commission and helped pass the Commission’s recommendations into law. Later, he was a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Presidential Task Force on Combating the Ideology of Radical Extremism, the 21st Century National Parks Commission, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, and the 9/11 FBI Review Commission.

Ambassador Roemer is a board member of the United States India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and a member of the Aspen Institute’s US-India Strategic Dialogue. He is also a member of the U.S.-India Friendship Council Advisory Group and the Center for American Policy’s U.S.-India 21st Century Institute. He is a strategic adviser to Issue One, a non-profit organization working on a non-partisan basis to address the insidious impact of big money on American democracy. Ambassador Roemer has traveled around the United States to speak on national security, market entry, and the U.S.-India relationship at numerous conferences and public venues, including Columbia, Notre Dame, Tufts, Indiana and UCSD universities, among others. He is also a lecturer at the Washington Campus Executive MBA Program.

He completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of California at San Diego. He earned a master’s and a doctoral degree in American government from the University of Notre Dame with his dissertation on: “The Senior Executive Service: Retirement and Public Personnel Policy”. Both schools have recognized his achievements with distinguished alumnus awards.

Ambassador Roemer is married to Sally Johnston Roemer. They have four children, Patrick, Matthew, Sarah, and Grace and live in Great Falls, Virginia. They attend St. Thomas à Becket Catholic Church. He collects first edition books and overpriced baseball cards and has a dog named Hoosier.

 

Dr. Rebecca Rosen
Dr. Rebecca Rosen is the Mental Health Director of the WTC Environmental Health Center at Bellevue, Gouverneur, and Elmhurst hospitals. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the psychiatry department of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

She serves as the Mental Health Director of the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center, a Clinical Center of Excellence in the treatment of WTC related injuries. Our program, which serves the survivor population, is located at 3 sites including Bellevue Hospital Center, Elmhurst Hospital and Gouverneur Hospital. I am also a clinical psychologist and treat patients in the program.

She has an abiding interest in the WTC survivors’ highly interrelated medical and mental health challenges – challenges faced by patients worldwide who are victims of terrorist violence. Understanding PTSD, anxiety, and depression in the context of comorbid chronic medical conditions in the WTC survivor population has been the focus of my research as well, with the hope that greater understanding of this complex interaction will lead to ever-more effective ways to treat patients.

 

Dr. Barbara Sampson
Dr. Barbara Sampson was appointed the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York in December 2014. In this role, she oversees investigations into deaths in New York City, and the operation of the largest DNA laboratory in the nation. She is the first woman appointed to lead the Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).

Dr. Sampson brings years of experience to her new role at OCME. Prior to her appointment as Chief, she served as the Acting Chief Medical Examiner following the retirement of long-time Chief Dr. Charles Hirsch in 2013. She has also served as First Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Senior Medical Examiner, and Cardiovascular Pathology Consultant, among other positions since 1998, when she joined the agency as a Fellow in Forensic Pathology.

A well-known expert in the field of forensic pathology, Dr. Sampson has published widely on forensic pathology and microbiology, including 29 articles and 4 book chapters, and serves as an Associate Editor of the journal Cardiovascular Pathology. She holds Board Certification in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology as well as Forensic Pathology, and is particularly committed to the advancement of graduate medical education at a national level.

Dr. Sampson has extensive experience in research, and she is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Young Investigator Award from the Society of Cardiovascular Pathology and the E.R. Squibb and Sons Senior Thesis Prize for Contribution to Scientific Research, among others. She serves as President of the Society of Cardiovascular Pathology, and as a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners, the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

A native of New York City, Dr. Sampson earned her Bachelor's degree at Princeton and obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Rockefeller University. She earned her degree in medicine at Cornell University Medical College, followed by a residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

 

Jeremy Schaap
One of ESPN’s most respected and longest-tenured personalities, Jeremy Schaap has been with the network since 1994. He hosts both E:60 and Outside the Lines, ESPN’s showcase journalism shows, as well as the award-winning weekly radio show and podcast The Sporting Life.

Schaap has covered most major sports and sporting events, including the summer Olympics, the winter Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, the Tour de France, the European soccer championship, the World Series, the Super Bowl, the U.S. Open (golf and tennis), Wimbledon, the French Open, the men’s Final Four, the women’s Final Four, the New York City marathon, the NBA playoffs, the World Cup of Hockey, the Daytona 500, the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes, the college football national championship game, the Breeders’ Cup, world championship boxing, the Special Olympics World Games, the Invictus Games, the X Games, and even, yes, chess boxing.

 

Janny Scott
Janny Scott is a journalist and the author of two books, The Beneficiary: Fortune, Misfortune, and the Story of My Father and A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother. She was a reporter for The New York Times for fourteen years. Before that, she was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey.

Her first book was a New York Times bestseller and one of Time magazine’s top ten nonfiction books of 2011. Her second was one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2019 and one of NPR’s Favorite Books of 2019.

 

Christopher Shays
Christopher represented the 4th District in Connecticut from 1987 to 2009 in the United States Congress. Before then, he served 13 years in the Connecticut General Assembly. A moderate Republican, socially progressive and fiscally conservative, Shays had a strong and successful record of reaching across the aisle to address our Nation’s problems.

The only Republican Congressman from New England re-elected in 2006, Shays was consistently recognized for his bipartisan leadership. During his 21 years in Congress, Shays rose to become a senior member of the Budget (Vice-chair), Financial Services, Homeland Security, and Government Reform (Vice-chair), committees, and Chaired the Reform Committee’s National Security Committee with oversight of the Defense and State Departments.

Shays was the primary author of the laws requiring: Congress to live by the acts it writes for the rest of the nation; Congressional gift ban; lobby disclosure; campaign finance reform. As chairman of the National Security Committee, he helped establish the: 9/11 Commission; Director of National Intelligence; Department of Homeland Security; and led 19 oversight trips to Iraq, meeting with our troops, Iraqi government officials, Shia and Sunni leaders, and their followers.

After Congress, Shays Co-chaired the Commission on Wartime Contracting. Then served as a Distinguish Fellow in Public Service at the University of New Haven, and later as a Resident Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Institute of Politics.

Christopher and his wife, Betsi, are former Peace Corps volunteers (Fiji). As a former volunteer, he championed the Corporation for National and Community Service, helping create AmeriCorps.

Christopher Shays is a graduate of Principia College, NYU’s Stern School of Business (MBA), and its Wagner School of Public Administration (MPA). Christopher and Betsi have a daughter Jeramy Alice, and now reside in St. Michaels, Maryland.

 

Bobby Valentine
Bobby Valentine is the Executive Director of Athletics at Sacred Heart University. Valentine spent 10 seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for the Dodgers, Padres, Angels, Mets and Mariners.

After his playing career, Valentine remained in baseball as a third-base coach for the Mets. He made his MLB managerial debut in 1985 with the Texas Rangers, and went onto become the winningest manager in Rangers history. Valentine took over the Mets in 1996 and led the squad to back-to-back postseasons, including a 2000 World Series appearance.

In 1994, Valentine accepted a management position in the Pacific League of Japan for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He returned to the states after a two-year stint, but went back to lead the Marines again from 2004-09, a tenure that included a 2005 Japan Series Championship.

Valentine also has experience in the broadcast booth. He can be found on the sets of SNY, covering the Mets, and on MLB Network. Valentine was part of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball announcing team, and also serves as NBC’s senior baseball analyst.

 

Jeff Van Gundy
Jeff Van Gundy joined ESPN in 2007 as an NBA analyst. He serves as analyst for The Finals on ABC, the Conference Finals, NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC and several regular-season and NBA Playoffs game. Van Gundy also contributes to NBA Draft coverage.

Prior to coming to ESPN, Van Gundy was the head coach of the Houston Rockets, where he had a 182-146 record. He also served as head coach of the New York Knicks from 1995-2002 and compiled a 248-172 record.

Van Gundy lives with his family in Houston. He graduated from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, where he played point guard for two seasons. Van Gundy helped Nazareth College to the NCAA Division III Eastern Regional title in 1984 and was honored with induction into the Nazareth College Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

 

Dr. Leigh Wilson, D.O., MPH
Dr. Leigh Wilson, D.O., MPH, Medical Director-Northwell Health Center of Excellence, World Trade Center Health Program Dr. Wilson has been the medical director for the Queens World Trade Center Health Program since April of 2013.

She is board certified in Internal medicine, Preventive Medicine, and Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She completed her Fellowship in Occupational Medicine at Yale-New Haven in2012. In addition, she holds a Master's in Public Health from UCLA in Industrial Hygiene.