María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is an American broadcast journalist and executive producer. Since 2016, O'Brien has been the host for Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, a nationally syndicated weekly talk show produced by Hearst Television. She is chairwoman of Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production company and distributor that she founded in 2013. She is also a member of the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Carol Bellamy is an American nonprofit executive and former politician. She is chair of the board of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF). Previously, she was director of the Peace Corps, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and president and CEO of World Learning. She is also the chair of children's rights advocacy organization ECPAT International, working to end the sexual exploitation of children. After three terms in the New York State Senate, she was the first woman to be elected to any citywide office in NYC as President of the New York City Council, a position she held until her unsuccessful bid for Mayor of New York in 1985; she was the second to last person to hold this position.
O, The Oprah Magazine, also known simply as O, is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. In 2021, Winfrey and Hearst rebranded it as Oprah Daily.
Harpo Productions is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. The name "Harpo" is "Oprah" spelled backwards and it was also the name of her on-screen husband in the film The Color Purple (1985).
Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator. She is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a member of the AFL–CIO. She is the former president of the United Federation of Teachers.
Joel Irwin Klein is an American lawyer and school superintendent. He was the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system in the United States, serving more than 1.1 million students in more than 1,600 schools. He was succeeded by Cathie Black in January 2011.
The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,800 separate schools. The department covers all five boroughs of New York City, and has an annual budget of $38 billion. The department is run by the Panel for Educational Policy and New York City Schools Chancellor. The current chancellor is David C. Banks.
The New York City Schools Chancellor is the head of the New York City Department of Education. The Chancellor is appointed by the Mayor, and serves at the Mayor's pleasure. The Chancellor is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the department as well as responsible of all New York City Public Schools. The Chancellor is also a member of the New York City Panel for Educational Policy. The current Chancellor is David C. Banks.
Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries.
Carine Roitfeld is a French fashion editor, former fashion model, and writer. She is the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, a position she held from 2001 to 2011. In 2012, she became founder and editor-in-chief of CR Fashion Book, a bi-annual print magazine headquartered in New York City.
Michelle Ann Rhee is an American educator and advocate for education reform. She was Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools from 2007 to 2010. In late 2010, she founded StudentsFirst, a non-profit organization that works on education reform.
Debbie Almontaser is an American schoolteacher and community activist of Yemeni descent. She was the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, a New York Arab-themed public school, named after the Christian Arab poet Khalil Gibran.
Oprah Gail Winfrey, also known mononymously as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
David Milton Steiner is executive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and professor of education at Johns Hopkins University. His previous appointments include New York State Commissioner of Education in the New York State Education Department; director of arts education at the National Endowment for the Arts; founding director of the City University of New York Institute for Education Policy at Roosevelt House and the Klara and Larry Silverstein Dean at the Hunter College School of Education; and member of the Maryland State Board of Education and Maryland Commission for Innovation and Excellence in Education. Steiner currently serves on the boards of the Core Knowledge Foundation and Relay Graduate School of Education. Most recently, he was appointed to the Practitioner Council at the Hoover Institute, Stanford University.
Hannelore Kraft is a German politician. She served as the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017. Kraft was the first woman to serve as head of government of this state and was the third woman to become head of a state government in Germany. Between 1 November 2010 and 31 October 2011, she was the President of the Bundesrat, again the first woman to hold the office. She is the former leader of the SPD North Rhine-Westphalia and served on the SPD's federal executive from November 2009 until May 2017, and was one of the four federal deputy chairs.
Dennis M. Walcott is the former Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. He succeeded Cathie Black, who resigned in April 2011 after only three months on the job. He was succeeded as chancellor by Carmen Fariña. He is the president and chief executive officer of Queens Public Library.
Deborah Kenny is an American educator, author of Born to Rise and the founder and Chief Executive of Harlem Village Academies, a network of charter schools in Harlem, New York.
Carmen Fariña is a former New York City Schools Chancellor and head of the New York City Department of Education. Announced by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio on December 30, 2013, she was the first New York City chancellor to have had schools supervision training and experience since Board of Education chancellor Rudy Crew.
Christopher D. Cerf is an American education administrator and attorney who previously served as the state-appointed Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools in New Jersey.
Lorraine Elizabeth Branham was an American newspaper editor and the Dean of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She was considered one of the most important African American academics in journalism and was well known for her mentoring of young journalists.
