A native Washingtonian from southeast D.C., Patience has nearly 20 years of experience in nonprofits, philanthropy, and the public sector. As Executive Director of Flamboyan DC, she maximizes the impact of the organization’s education work by building and sustaining an equity-focused, high-functioning team that produces catalytic and sustainable results, and … Read more

Gerri Mason Hall is a recognized thought leader, strategist and voice for Inclusion. At Sodexo, she recently assumed responsibility for driving the Better Tomorrow Plan in the Americas. For the last five years, she led the people function for North America empowering over 160,000 employees to achieve their potential. Gerri … Read more

Mary Catherine Toker was most recently Vice President of Global Government and Public Affairs for General Mills, Incorporated. In this capacity, she led the company’s public and government affairs organization and provided strategic leadership on a broad range of public … Read more

Eric serves as Vice President of Government Affairs for the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). Before joining AF&PA, he worked in government affairs for Elanco Animal Health and Kraft Foods, served as senior professional staff for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, served as a senior … Read more

Eric Silva is a founding principal at North South Government Strategies. He began his career in Washington as a Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center and the Corporation For Enterprise Development before serving as an aide to Senator James … Read more

Jim Scheibel is a Professor of Practice in the School of Business at Hamline University, teaching courses in nonprofit management, public administration and civic studies. His career and volunteer work has been about building community and developing leaders for our … Read more

Dennis Hertel has provided legislative advocacy on behalf of his clients for more than twenty years, following his service as a six-term Member of Congress from Michigan. He is the Founder/Vice President of the Global Democracy Initiative that provides election … Read more

Lou Gerber worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to a United States Senator and, later, as a legislative assistant to a Congressman. For 38 years, he represented the Communications Workers of America (CWA) before Congress, rising to become … Read more