Howard Dean’s groundbreaking campaign for the U.S. Presidency and subsequent four years as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee have provided him with both an insider's view and a reformer's commitment to the economy, foreign trade policy and international relations. His 12 years as Governor of Vermont and his Chairmanship of the National Governor's Association have given him vast knowledge of domestic issues. His skillful stewardship of the party as Democratic National Committee chair began in 2005 and continued through the inauguration of President Barack Obama. As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Governor Dean made the Democratic Party competitive in every race, in every district, in every state and territory, while integrating national and state party operations and standing up for Democrats' core values.
Dean currently serves as a Senior Strategic Advisor and Independent Consultant for the Government Affairs practice at Dentons where he focuses on healthcare and energy issues. He is a frequent contributor to MSNBC.
Dean also serves on the Board of the National Democratic Institute, a democracy building organization chaired by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. He has extensive experience in Southeastern Europe including in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Balkans. He also has an extensive knowledge of Iraqi and Iranian affairs, and has spent time in China and Myanmar as a result of his NDI activities. He has been active in anti human trafficking efforts in Asia and in the United States. He lectures frequently in Europe, and is currently teaching a course on the Politics of American Foreign Policy at the Jackson Institute at Yale.
Drawing on his extensive experience in politics and healthcare, Governor Dean delivers a sharp, in-season speech to help groups and businesses plan for the future. His presentation brings the current debates into focus and offers a closer look at the impact the economy, budget deficit, healthcare, and the future of Social Security and Medicare are having on the country, and what to expect from the next four years.
Governor Dean gained national prominence as a U.S. presidential candidate in 2004, and he served as the Governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003. During that time, he created a record that promoted equality and opportunity for his constituency employing a philosophy of fiscal responsibility advocating low taxes, reduced government spending and minimal government debt. His successes prompted Governing magazine to proclaim him "Public Official of the Year" in 2002. His leadership roles also include turns as chairman of the National Governors' Association, the Democratic Governors' Association, and the New England Governors' Conference
He led the Democratic Party to success as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. He is credited with pioneering an energetic 50-state strategy and the development of 21st century campaign tools that helped Democrats make historic gains in the 2006 and 2008 elections.
After achieving national prominence in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president, Governor Dean founded Democracy for America to build on the groundswell of support and the wave of new energy sweeping the Party, and continues to serve as a consultant to the organization. Since 2004, Democracy for America has been working with the grassroots to elect fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates to all levels of government - local, state, and federal - all over the country.
Edward Marx, is the former Chief Information Officer for the Cleveland Clinic, and is now serving as an independent consultant and advisor.
Edward earned his B.S. in psychology and a M.S. in design, merchandising and consumer sciences from Colorado State University.
Edward began his career serving in the OR prior to physician services at Poudre Valley Health System. Recruited to Parkview Episcopal Medical Center, he served as CIO for its management services organization and director over physician systems. In 1997, he joined HCA as chief technologist for its physician services organization. In 1999, Edward moved to University Hospitals, a multi-hospital academic health system. In 2003, he became CIO and served five years before being recruited by Texas Health. Ed served as the Senior Vice President/CIO of Texas Health for almost 8 years. As an organizaiton, his team went on to win every major healthcare award for technology to include the Davies Award and CIO of the Year. In 2015, Ed spent over two years as executive vice president of the Advisory Board on loan to New York City Health & Hospital where he reported to the CEO and provided technology leadership. Concurrent with his healthcare career, he served 15 years in the Army Reserve, first as a combat medic and then as a combat engineer officer.
Edward is active with professional organizations, advisory boards and higher education. He is a Fellow of both the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). He is on the CHIME Faculty for the CIO Boot Camp, training aspiring health care technology professionals. He served as president of the Ohio and Tennessee Chapters of HIMSS and chaired the Membership Services Committee. Edward served on the CIO advisory boards for HP, Cisco, AT&T, KLAS and Microsoft. He also served on boards for Texas Christian University, University of Texas at Dallas, and Southern Methodist University. Additionally, Edward was the governor-appointed chairman of the Texas Health Services Authority, providing leadership over Texas health information exchange for 8 years.
The HIMSS/CHIME 2013 CIO of the Year, Edward is branded as one of the top 10 disruptive forces in healthcare. Team accolades include perennial rankings on the Computer World “100 Best Places to Work,” HIMSS “Top Ten Places to Work,” American Hospital Association “Most Wired,” Health Leaders “Marketing Awards,” CHIME, AHA and CIO “Most Innovative,” Information Week “Top 100,” and the Project Management Institute “Top Projects.” Several of his team have been recognized as “Ones to Watch.” Edward was recognized by both CIO and Computer World as “Top 100 Leaders” and the Dallas Business Journal as “Newcomer of the Year.” He has won the coveted “People’s Choice” award (HISsies) for top health care CIO four years in a row (2010-2013). Texas Health hospitals and clinics achieved the EMRAM Stage 7 designation and won the coveted “Davies Award” for best use of technology to enable business and clinical outcomes. Beckers identified Ed as the “Top 25 most influential executives in healthcare” as well as the “Top 26 smartest healthcare IT professionals.” Beckers identified Edward as the 2015 “top healthcare IT executive” and the 2016 “17 Most Influential Leaders in Healthcare.”
Edward is an active communicator. His blog, “CIO Unplugged,” receives thousands of hits monthly. A frequent magazine contributor and conference speaker, he is active with social media via Twitter and LinkedIn.
A passion for athletics, Edward has completed over 100 triathlons, including multiple Ironman and Escape from Alcatraz races. A member of TeamUSA, he placed in the top 25 (age group) at the 2014 World Duathlon (standard) Championships in Spain and top 100 overall at the World Championship Duathlon (long course) in Switzerland. The only athlete to make both teams, he also raced for TeamUSA at each of the 2015 and 2016 World Championships. Ed became the first athlete to qualify for all 3 Duathlon race distances at the 2017 national championships and will represent TeamUSA at the 2018 world championships. Ed also climbs mountains and is focused on reaching the summit of the highest peaks on each continent. Ed and his wife Simran have five kids ages 14-28. Simran is a nurse and a fitness enthusiast. They share a love for dancing, specifically Argentine Tango and Bachata. Edward published his first book in 2014 called, “Extraordinary Tales of a Rather Ordinary Guy”. His second book, “Voices of Innovation” will be published in 2018.
John C. Goodman is one of the nation’s leading thinkers on health policy. He is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of the widely acclaimed book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis (2012). The Wall Street Journal calls him "the father of Health Savings Accounts." Modern Health Care says he is one of four people who have most influenced the changes shaping our health care system.
Goodman is the author of eight other books, including Leaving Women Behind: Modern Families, Outdated Laws (2007); and Patient Power (1993), the condensed version of which sold more than 300,000 copies and is credited with playing a pivotal role in the defeat of Hillary Clinton’s health reform.
He has authored numerous editorials in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, The Los Angeles Times and many others.
Goodman regularly appears on television, including CNN, CNBC and the FOX News Channel. He appeared on many William F. Buckley Jr. Firing Line shows, and was Buckley’s debating partner on a number of two-hour prime time debates—including such topics as the flat tax, welfare reform and Social Security privatization.
He regularly briefs members of Congress on economic policy and frequently testifies before congressional committees. He is the author or co-author of more than 50 published studies on such topics as health policy, tax reform and school choice. Goodman has an active speaking schedule and has addressed more than 100 different organizations on public policy issues.
Goodman received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from Columbia University. He has taught and done research at Columbia University, Stanford University, Dartmouth University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas.
He received the prestigious “Duncan Black Award” in 1988 for the best scholarly article on public choice economics.
Aaron Miri is the chief information officer for Dell Medical School and UT Health Austin. He brings more than a decade of health care experience driving growth and innovation, leading both provider and commercial health care enterprises and providing thought leadership and close collaboration with state and federal representatives. As CIO, Miri is passionate about humanizing technology by collaborating with clinicians, technology partners and business champions to truly transform health care delivery for consumers, patients and providers.
In 2018, Miri was congressionally appointed by Senator Chuck Schumer to the Health and Human Services (HHS), federal Health IT Advisory Committee, established under the 21st Century Cures Act. He was federally appointed by HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell to serve on the HHS Health IT Policy Committee established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Miri is the prior chair of the Health Care Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) National Public Policy Committee and serves as an expert adviser to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and to other congressional panels engaged in numerous Health IT policy topics.
Miri brings a deep understanding of how to leverage digital health and the latest technology to accelerate health care delivery across the continuum of care.
Prior to joining UT, Miri served as the chief information officer for Imprivata, the health care IT security leader, where he helped to build and transform a global commercial enterprise focused on health care cyber security. Prior to Imprivata, he was the chief information officer for Walnut Hill Medical Center, lauded by Forbes Magazine as the hospital that Steve Jobs would have built. Miri has successfully led organizations that achieved the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award, HIMSS Level six and HIMSS Level seven EMRAM status, HITRUST CSF designation and led the first provider organization to receive the SECURETexas Health Information Privacy and Security certification awarded through the Texas Health Services Authority.
Miri received his Master of Business Administration, with honors, from the University of Dallas and his Bachelor of Science in management information systems from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a certified health care chief information officer through the College of Health Care Information Management Executives, a distinguished fellow with the Health Information Management Systems Society and he is a project management professional with the Project Management Institute. Miri was previously recognized as a 2015 and 2016 CIOs to Know by Beckers Hospital Review and was honored with the 2016 Computerworld Premier 100 Technology Leaders award and 2017 Texas Health IT Leadership Award.
Rich Roth is the senior vice president, chief strategic innovation officer of CommonSpirit Health, a new $29 billion nonprofit health system operating 142 hospitals and 700+ care centers in 21 states that is dedicated to advancing health for all people.
A leading voice in health care innovation, Mr. Roth leads CommonSpirit Health’s efforts to create and test novel services, programs, partnerships, and technologies – from within and outside of health care – that challenge the status quo and have the potential to reduce the cost of care, improve quality, and increase access to services. Anticipating emerging trends and technologies, Mr. Roth’s goal is to incubate, study, and scale efforts to improve care.
Mr. Roth holds a master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from West Chester University. He regularly advises venture capital organizations and co-manages Dignity Health’s Strategic Investment Fund.
Christine Brocato is the System VP of Strategic Innovation at CommonSpirit Health, the parent company of Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives. In close partnership with operational leaders , Christine co-leads innovation projects related to care automation, transportation, addressing social determinants, and ambulatory care transformation.
Christine is passionate about helping vulnerable and Medicaid populations receive access to patient- centered care and access to social resources that prevent health disparities. She has more than 15 years of healthcare management experience, with leadership roles that shaped business strategy, corporate development initiatives and product roadmaps at Genentech, Abbott Vascular, and Kaiser Permanente. Christine is a board observer for Ascension Ventures.
Christine has an MBA from Georgetown University and Bachelors of Science in Combined Sciences from Santa Clara University. Christine lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two daughters. In her free time, she advocates for closing the digital divide for Oakland’s youth as an active Board Member of TechExchange.
Dr. Medell Briggs, MD, MPH, MSHS is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician and nationally recognized healthcare improvement advisor, speaker, and best-selling author. She is also the founder and CEO of Contour Health Solutions, a national clinical advisory firm that partners with health innovators and investors to achieve high performance and profits by implementing technology that improves the quality, safety, and efficiency of medical services.
Dr. Medell’s mission is to advance health among all communities through health education, community-corporate partnerships, and healthcare system redesign. As a practicing emergency physician, Dr. Medell is known for being compassionate, approachable, and providing a sense of peace to her patients during medical crises. When outside of the emergency department, Dr. Medell works with organizations and communities to develop successful strategies to promote mental, physical, and social well being.
Dr. Medell prides herself in building a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence in all that she does.
Dr. Medell is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she also serves as the Director of Quality for Emergency
Medicine. She is an improvement advisor certified by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and is trained in Lean Healthcare and Six Sigma Improvement methodologies. She has received several awards of recognition, including the “2015 Top Healthcare Professionals Under 40” from the National Medical Association.
Dr. Medell received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree with honors from UCLA in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She completed her Doctorate of Medicine (M.D.) degree from Harvard Medical School, Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree from Harvard School of Public Health, and Master of Science in Health Services (M.S.H.S.) degree from UCLA School of Public Health. She completed her residency training in emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center where she also served as Chief Resident.
Sarah Kliff is one of the country's leading health policy journalists, who has spent nearly a decade chronicling Washington's battle over the Affordable Care Act. Her reporting has inspired new legislation in Congress, been cited by the Supreme Court, and resulted in multiple hospitals revising their billing policies.
Sarah is an investigative reporter at the New York Times, focused on health care.
Before joining the Times, Sarah was a senior policy correspondent at Vox.com,. Her last project there focused on the high cost of emergency room care, and relied on a crowdsourced database of more than 2,000 patient bills that her readers submitted to Vox.
That series resulted in more than $100,000 in medical debt being reversed, hospitals implementing new billing policies, and new legislative proposals in Congress and the California legislature.
At Vox, she was also the creator and host of the Impact, a podcast about how policy effects people.
Prior to joining Vox, Sarah covered health policy for the Washington Post, where she was a founding writer at Wonkblog, a blog dedicated to making complicated policy easily understandable. She has also covered health policy for Politico and Newsweek magazine.
Sarah's work has impact: the Supreme Court cited Sarah's work in their 2012 decision upholding the health care law. After she broke news in early 2017 that Republican legislators had exempted their own coverage from their Obamacare repeal bill, the House of Representatives took a vote to close that loophole.
She is the recipient of multiple reporting awards, including fellowships from the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Sarah is a frequent television guest and has appeared on CBS, PBS, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. She enjoys public speaking and, most recently, has presented at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the Colorado Health Institute and the California Health Care Foundation.
Sarah is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. She resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband, son, and a very friendly beagle named Spencer.
Sugar Ray Leonard is one of the legendary sports icons of the 20th century whose very name epitomizes boxing and conjures the image of a champion. Having learned to box at the age of fourteen, Leonard's illustrious career includes three National Golden Gloves titles, two Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and the 1975 Pan-American Games crown. After winning a gold medal in boxing at the 1976 Olympic games, he turned professional to help his family defer mounting medical bills incurred because of his father's illness. Blinding speed, tremendous power and great charm turned Leonard into an immediate media favorite. The late Howard Cosell called Leonard the "new Muhammed Ali."
In 1977, at the age of 20, Leonard won his first professional fight, setting the stage for a collection of the most memorable fights in history. He went on to defeat some of the finest boxers of the modern era, including Wilfred Benetiz, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler, from whom Leonard won the world middleweight title. During his 20-year professional career, Leonard also won world titles in the welterweight, junior middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight divisions. He was the first boxer to win world titles in five different weight classes.
Leonard published his first autobiography (Viking Books) entitled THE BIG FIGHT: My Life In and Out of the Ring on June 7, 2011. In this unflinching and inspiring autobiography, the boxing legend faces his single greatest competitor: himself. Leonard's brutally honest and uplifting memoir reveals in intimate detail for the first time the complex man behind the boxer. The Olympic hero, six-time champion and beloved athlete waged his own personal battle with depression, rage, addiction, and greed. With honesty, humor, and hard-won perspective, Leonard comes to terms with both triumph and struggle-and presents a gripping portrait of remarkable strength, courage, and resilience, both in and out of the ring.
Leonard's sincere, charismatic personality coupled with his ring experience led to a successful career as a television broadcaster for NBC, ABC, FOX, HBO and ESPN. Leonard served as international commentator for the record breaking Mayweather vs. McGregor fight and served as FOX Sports analyst for their supporting programming. He also served as an analyst on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC Sports. His additional television credits include host and mentor for the first three seasons of the critically acclaimed series, Contender and competing on the hit ABC series, Dancing with the Stars. Leonard appeared in the critically acclaimed Paramount Pictures feature film The Fighter and served as a consultant on DreamWorks and Walt Disney Pictures’ hit film starring Hugh Jackman Real Steel.
Leonard has always been devoted to the community and to helping those in need. In 2009, Leonard and his wife, Bernadette established The Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation, which funds life-changing care & research for pediatric type 1 & type 2 diabetes. The Foundation is also committed to helping children lead healthier lives through diet and exercise. Leonard serves as co-chair for the Ambassadors of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and is the international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk for a Cure. He also participates in a variety of national and international causes benefiting children's charities.
Leonard has four children and lives in Southern California with his wife Bernadette.
John R. Bolton was appointed as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations on August 1, 2005, and served until his resignation in December 2006. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 2001 to 2005.
Throughout his distinguished career, Ambassador Bolton has been a staunch defender of American interests. While Under Secretary of State, he repeatedly advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction worldwide. He led negotiations for America to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so that the Bush Administration could proceed with a national missile-defense program.
During his tenure at the United Nations, he was a leading voice on the need for the Security Council to take strong and meaningful action against international proliferation and terrorism. He continued his efforts to prevent North Korea and Iran from gaining deliverable nuclear weapons. Along with France’s ambassador, Ambassador Bolton led the Security Council to approve a unanimous resolution to end the summer 2006 Hezbollah war on Israel, to authorize U.N. peacekeepers and to create an arms embargo against Hezbollah. He also assembled an international coalition that blocked the bid of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s Marxist strongman, to join the Security Council.
Ambassador Bolton was also an advocate for human rights while serving at the U.N. He arranged the Security Council’s first deliberations on Burma’s human rights abuses. He invited actor George Clooney
and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to brief the Security Council in September 2006 on the Khartoum regime’s mass murder of non-Arabs in Darfur, Sudan. “Every day we delay only adds to the suffering of the Sudanese people and extends the genocide,” Ambassador Bolton said. He engineered the Security Council’s approval of 22,500 U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, and he worked to pressure Sudan’s government to accept these personnel atop the 7,000 African Union soldiers already on site.
He has spent many years of his career in public service. Previous positions he has held include assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, 1989–1993; assistant attorney general, Department of Justice, 1985–1989; assistant administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982–1983; and general counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981–1982.
Ambassador Bolton is an attorney. Currently, he is of counsel at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, with a focus on counseling domestic and international clients in complex corporate, litigation, internal investigations, regulatory and competition matters. From 1974 to 1981, he was an associate at Covington & Burling in Washington, where he returned as a partner in the firm from 1983 to 1985.
He is the author of Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad (Simon & Schuster, November 2007) and How Barack Obama Is Endangering Our National Sovereignty Encounter Books, May 2010).
Ambassador Bolton currently serves as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit public policy center dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of freedom through research education and open debate. He is also a contributor to Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, and his op-ed articles are regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Ambassador Bolton was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College in 1970, and received his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1974. He currently resides in Maryland with his wife, Gretchen.