Guest Speakers

Occasionally we bring guest speakers to our sessions. We feature former government leaders, journalists, those with a personal story relevant to a topic we are covering, and other opinion leaders in the areas of politics, policy and history.

  • Chuck Rosenberg

    Chuck currently works as a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC, as a senior counsel for a Washington, D.C. law firm, and as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches National Security Law and Policy at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. He is a graduate of Tufts University (BA), Harvard University (MPP), and the University of Virginia (JD). Chuck is also the host of the acclaimed podcast, The Oath, with seven million downloads, and counting. Chuck has held numerous senior positions in the United States Department of Justice –as the United States Attorney in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Texas, as the senior counselor for national security to one Director of the FBI, and as the Chief of Staff to another FBI Director, as counselor to the Attorney General of the United States, as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and as the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration –a position from which he resigned in 2017

  • Phillip W.D. Martin

    Phillip is a senior investigative reporter for The GBH News Center for Investigative Reporting, is a multi-award winning journalist. Honors include the 2019 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting, the National Society of Professional Journalists 2017 Sigma Delta Chi award for Best Investigative Reporting and the 2014 national Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Investigative Reporting. He is also the recipient of the 2013 New York Festivals Gold Award and the 2013 United Nations UNDPI Gold Award. He was part of a team of reporters that was honored in 2002 with a George Foster Peabody Award to NPR for coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. He has received numerous other journalism and civic engagement honors over the course of his career including AP, NABJ, regional Edward R. Murrow, AAJA, Rueban Salazar, Gabriel, Prized Pieces, PRNDI, Harry Chapin and Clarion awards. WGBH also awarded Phillip one of its highest honors, the Margret and Hans Rey Producer of the Year Award (2011-2012).

  • Jon Bierman and Myla Lerner

    Producers of What the Constitution Means to Me: In addition to producing What the Constitution Means to Me, Myla has produced: GlenGarry Glen Ross; End of the Rainbow; Hair, Finian’s Rainbow; and Pippin. Jon has produced or co-produced The Gin Game; Love Letters; All About Me; and Finnian’s Rainbow.

  • Bonnie Friedman

    Bonnie's career in the federal government spanned more than 30 years where she worked in communications and marketing in several agencies, including NIH, OSHA and the Small Business Administration. Later, building on her many years advocating for her husband through numerous hospitalizations, she wrote a book titled Hospital Warrior: How to Get the Best Care for Your Loved One. Bonnie joined our group to talk about her father's experience in the 45th Infantry "Thunderbird" division liberating Dauchau on the morning of April 29, 1945.

  • Jane Gozenpud

    We welcomed Jane Gozenpud to our Zoom discussion group in March, 2022, soon after Russia invaded Ukraine. She and her family immigrated to the US from Belarus when she was a child. She shared with our Zoom group many insights about Russia and Ukraine - born from her personal and professional experience.

  • Virginia Ford

    Virginia joined our Zoom discussion in April 2023. She was featured in a chapter in the Nikki Haley book we read "If You Want Something Done. We invited Virginia to talk about her experience as a parent advocate for school choice. Regardless of our participant's views on school choice, they very much enjoyed learning about Virginia's passion for creating educational opportunities for children and families.

  • Emily Sachar

    Emily, who is the CEO and Editor in Chief of the the Daily Catch, joined our group to talk about the news outlet's award winning coverage of its partnership with a Ukraine correspondent, Pavel Kuljuk. This coverage was the subject of NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. The Daily Catch is a private, non-profit, non-partisan, online newspaper devoted to reporting on about the Hudson Valley towns of Red Hook and Rhinebeck, N.Y