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ray dalio

A Businesses legend and philanthropist who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.

Mr. Dalio will receive the American Spirit Award for Business Leadership. 

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Ambassador bill taylor

Diplomat, veteran and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor is vice president, Strategic Stability and Security at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He recently served as chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. During the Arab Spring, he oversaw U.S. assistance and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria. Ambassador Taylor also famously and bravely served a key witness in the Ukraine impeachment inquiry. 

Ambassador Taylor will receive the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service.

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jon meacham

Jon Meacham is an american writer, reviewer, historian, presidential biographer, and pulitzer prize-winning author. Meacham has led a life discussing and analyzing leadership on past American presidents and historical events, while providing thoughtful and engaging conversations. He also continues to contribute as a writer for The New York Times Book Review, contributing editor of Time, and has written pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Garden & Gun. 

Mr. Meacham will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Thought Leadership.

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Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson

American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator. Dr. Tyson has been an influential voice surrounding the subjects of astrophysics and aerospace. Additionally, his interests and research has contributed to the fields of cosmology, stellar evolution, galactic astronomy, bulges, and stellar formation.

Dr. Tyson’s work also spreads in the world of filmography as being host for multiple science based shows most notably NOVA, Cosmos, and StarTalk. As well as an abundant of appearances in other documentaries and TV shows.

Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson will be presented with the American Spirit Award for Public Integrity. which recognizes Dr. Tyson’s exceptional commitment to honesty, truth, and science. 

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Lt. Col (ret.) Alexander Vindman

United States Army Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Alexander Vindman is a highly decorated service member and former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC). 

Vindman was brought to national attention after his actions when he testified before the United States Congress regarding the Trump–Ukraine scandal. His testimony provided evidence that resulted in a charge of abuse of power in the impeachment of 45th President Donald Trump.

Mr. Vindman will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service. 

public service.

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Dr. Fiona Hill

Former U.S. National Security Council official, Fiona Hill is a British-American foreign affairs specialist and academic. Hill’s position on the council specialized in Russian and European affairs. Dr. Hill received national attention when she in November 2019 was a witness in the House hearings regarding the impeachment inquiry during the first impeachment of Donald Trump. 

Additionally, Hill also was awarded her Ph.D. in history from Harvard University and currently, is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Dr. Fiona Hill will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service.

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Ambassador (ret.) Marie Yovanovitch

American diplomat and senior member of the United States Foreign Service. Ambassador Yovanovitch has a remarkable career working as a representative of the United States into countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and the Ukraine. Yovanovitch was also a key figure in Trump’s first impeachment trial. 

Ambassador Yovanovitch will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Distinguished Public Service.

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Ken Burns

Ken Burns and his collaborators have produced and directed some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made. A renowned and prolific American filmmaker, Burns is known using archival footage and photographs in his documentary films, which often showcase major events in U.S. history.

Mr. Burns will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Public Integrity, which highlights his exceptional commitment to honesty, truth, and storytelling.

(Ret.) Senator Bob Corker

An American businessman and politician the Honorable Bob Corker served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2015 to 2019.

Senator Corker will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Public Service. 

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Carolyn Maloney

American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 12th congressional district since 2013, and previously for New York's 14th congressional district since 1993. 

Representative Maloney was the first woman to represent New York City's 7th Council district. On October 17, 2019, Maloney was chosen by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to become Acting Chair of the House Oversight Committee after the death of Elijah Cummings. She won the election to officially succeed Cummings on November 20. 

U.S. Representative Maloney will be presented the American Spirit Award for Public Service.

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Clarissa Ward

Accomplished American television journalist and chief international correspondent for CNN. Ward over the years has reported on some of the biggest international events over the past decade. Holding a degree from Yale University, Ward also holds an honorary doctor of letters degree from Middlebury College. 

Before taking on her role for CNN, Ward had formerly worked with CBS News, based in London. As well as previously also being the Moscow-based news correspondent for ABC News.

Clarissa Ward will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Courage for Journalism.

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R. Harrison

CEO, Art Director, Creative Director, co-Founder

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Jon Meacham 

American writer, reviewer, historian, presidential biographer, and pulitzer prize-winning author. Meacham has led a life discussing and analyzing leadership on past American presidents and historical events, while providing thoughtful and engaging conversations. He also continues to contribute as a writer for The New York Times Book Review, contributing editor of Time, and has written pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Garden & Gun. 

Mr. Meacham will be receiving the American Spirit Award for Thought Leadership.

CEO, Art Director, Creative Director, co-Founder

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R. Harrison

CEO, Art Director, Creative Director, co-Founder

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David rubenstein

David M. Rubenstein is a founder and Co-Executive Chairman of Carlyle, one of the top 3 largest private equity firm by capital raised. He is chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, chairman of the Smithsonian Institution, chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and president of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

Prior to The Carlyle Group, Mr. Rubenstein was Deputy Assistant to President Carter for Domestic Policy. From 1975 to 1976, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. He also  hosts The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations, which airs on Bloomberg Television and many PBS stations.

He had previously written The American Story: Interviews with Master Historians. He is known for is remarkable philanthropy efforts and was the editor for the University of Chicago Law Review. 

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Kai Bird

Kai Bird is an author and columnist who has written on numerous topics and won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography on Oppenheimer. His books have received critical acclaim and popular success, including The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, which was a New York Times best-seller. His memoir, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

In January 2017 he was appointed Executive Director and Distinguished Lecturer of CUNY Graduate Center's Leon Levy Center for Biography. He is also the recipient of the McArthur Genius Grant for research and writing. 

charlie cook

Cook is considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on American politics and U.S. elections. He is the editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report which serves as one of the leading sites and informational platforms for election predictions and results in the United States. He is also a political analyst for NBC News and National Journal.

 Since the 1984 US presidential election, Cook has provided election night commentary for various television networks. The Wall Street Journal has referred to Cook as “the Picasso of election analysis” and the Washington Post has called him "perhaps the best non-partisan tracker of Congressional races.”

In 2010, Charlie was the co-recipient of the American Political Science Association’s prestigious Carey McWilliams award to honor “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics."

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Anita dunn

Dunn is one of the nation’s most highly regarded communications strategists, bringing decades of experience to bear for political, corporate, nonprofit and advocacy clients. A leading expert on message delivery, Anita has managed presidential debate preparations and has media- and message-trained dozens of political candidates and Fortune 100 executives.

She served as  White House Communications Director and as a Senior Adviser to President Obama and his campaigns. During her time there Anita directed conventional and new media communications strategies, as well as research, speechwriting, television booking, presidential events and cabinet affairs press.

She currently serves as the Managing Director for SKDKnickerbocker and is also a senior advisor to Joe Biden's presidential campaign . 

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Rick Wilson

Rick Wilson is a longtime Republican political strategist, infamous negative ad-maker, and commentator. He has successfully worked for numerous GOP campaigns including, presidential, senate, mayoral and gubernatorial. Since 2015, he's been a leading conservative critic of Donald Trump. He went on to co-found The Lincoln Project, a group of Republican and conservative leaders who are critical and oppose Donald Trump. 

A pioneer of and leader in the Never-Trump movement, Wilson released the best-selling Everything Trump Touches Dies in August 2018. In the book, Wilson brings his dark humor and biting analysis to confront the absurdity of American politics in the Age of Trump. He mercilessly takes down Trump and exposes the damage Trump has done to the country, to the Republican Party Wilson served for decades, and to the conservative movement that has abandoned its principles for the worst president in American history.

Wilson writes several opinion and columns for newspapers like The Daily Beast, Politico, and The Federalist. 

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Senator al Franken

Al Franken is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota. He gained notoriety for his work on Saturday Night Live.

After leaving SNL, Franken went on to become a political activist including hosting a radio show, offering commentary and insights and writing several books. He supported military members and often worked on entertaining soldiers. He decided to run for the Senate and win. While in the Senate he supported same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and gun control. In addition, Franken was active in health care reform and fought to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. 

After leaving the Senate, he now hosts his own radio program The Al Franken Show on SeriousXM which covers global affairs, politics, the 2020 presidential election, and entertainment. 

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Jonathan Capehart

Jonathan Capehart is an American journalist and television personality. He writes for The Washington Post's PostPartisan blog and is a contributor for MSNBC.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Capehart was a researcher for NBC's The Today Show. Subsequently, he worked for the New York Daily News (NYDN), serving as a member of its editorial board from 1993 to 2000. At the time of his hiring, Capehart was youngest ever member of that newspaper's editorial board. In 2000, he left the NYDN to work at Bloomberg News. Afterward, he advised and wrote speeches for Michael Bloomberg, during Bloomberg's 2001 run for the mayoralty of New York City.

He joined the staff of The Washington Post as a journalist and member of the editorial board in 2007. He continues in that capacity and is a contributing commentator for MSNBC. He also hosts the Cape Up podcast, in which he talks to newsmakers about race, religion, age, gender, and cultural identity in politics.

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governor ned lamont

Governor Lamont got involved in public service shortly after college, founding a weekly newspaper in a town hit by the loss of its largest employer. Covering town meetings and the Board of Selectmen, he helped to bring voice and transparency to a community working to recover from job losses and reinvent itself. He later went on to started his own company, taking on the large and established giants of the telecom industry. Under his vision and stewardship, the company grew to serve over 400 of America's largest college campuses and 1 million college students across the nation.

In 2006 he would defeat incumbent Joe Lieberman for the Democratic nominee for Senate.In 2018 he was elected governor of Connecticut with his top priorities including: implementing electronic tolls on state highways, taxing online streaming services, restoring the property tax credit, legalizing marijuana for recreational usage, increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour, instituting paid family and medical leave, renegotiating contracts with public-sector unions, and legalizing sports betting.  

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ed rollins

Ed Rollins is a giant in the political world, having served as campaign consultant and advisor for numerous congressional, senatorial, gubernatorial and presidential campaigns and victories. 

During the Reagan administration, he served as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and Director of the Office of Political Affairs. He would go on to lead Reagan's re-election campaign in which he oversaw the 1984 election where Regan won 49/50 U.S. states 

 He was the first non-member of Congress to serve as the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Chief Political Advisor to the House Republican Leadership. He has gone onto manage successful campaigns for: Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Congressman George Nethercutt and Katherine Harris and currently serves as chairman of the Great America PAC. 

He was inducted into the Political Consultants Hall of Fame in 201 and was was also the recipient in 2010 of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

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michael schmidt

Schmidt is a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning correspondent for The New York Times. Over his fifteen years at the Times, he has covered the investigations of the Trump presidency, the Pentagon, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the war in Iraq. He continuously appears on MSNBC and NBC News. 

Michael has broken several high profile stories. Among them was that former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, wrote a series of memos on how the president asked for his loyalty and tried to interfere with the F.B.I.'s investigations. Michael was first to reveal the fact that Hillary Clinton exclusively relied on a personal email account when she was Secretary of State.

He recently released his book Donald Trump v. The United States  which tells the dramatic, high-stakes story of those who felt compelled to confront and try to contain the most powerful man in the world as he shredded norms and sought to expand his power.

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Ambassador joe paolino 

At just 29 years old, Joseph Paolino, Jr., earned the distinction of becoming the youngest mayor of any major city in the country and held the position of Mayor of Providence, Rhode island until 1991. In 1994, he was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Malta.

Following his political career, Mr. Paolino is now the managing partner at Paolino Properties, representing the fourth generation to lead his family business, which he has expanded into one of the largest property holding companies in the state of Rhode Island. He continues to stay involved with politics through his role as the Rhode Island representative on the Democratic National Committee.

governor ned lamont

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