Sam Daley-Harris is President and founder of RESULTS Educational Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to mass educational strategies to generate the will to end world hunger. RESULTS Educational Fund organized, and Daley-Harris founded, the February 1997 Microcredit Summit held in Washington, DC. The Summit was attended by more than 2,900 participants from 137 countries and launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by 2005.

Mr. Daley-Harris is also founder and President of RESULTS, an international citizens' lobby dedicated to creating the political will to end hunger and poverty. Mr. Daley-Harris is author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government, about which President Jimmy Carter said, "[Daley-Harris] provides a road map for global involvement in planning a better future."  

In 2007, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus said, "No organizations have been as critical a partner in seeing to it that microcredit is used as a tool to eradicate poverty and empower women than RESULTS and RESULTS Educational Fund's Microcredit Summit Campaign."

In 1995, Daley-Harris received The Temple Award for Creative Altruism from the Institute of Noetic Sciences and, in 1997, he received the Caring Award from the Caring Institute. In 2003 Daley-Harris received the Warner Woodworth Humanitarian Service Award from the Marriott School at Brigham Young University and that same year received the Elliott Black Award from the American Ethical Union. In 2007 Daley-Harris received the Susan M. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award from Grameen Foundation.

Mr. Daley-Harris lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife Shannon, who is a consultant with the Religious Affairs Division of the Children's Defense Fund. Their son Micah was born in May 1998 and daughter Sophie was born in May 2001.

Wayne Gilchrest is a former member of the United States House of Representatives who represented Maryland's 1st congressional district from 1990 to 2008. Prior to leaving office, he cosponsored the legislation to establish a U.S. Department of Peace, making him the first Republican to come on to the legislation.

Wayne joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating high school in 1964. He earned the rank of Sergeant in Vietnam where, as a platoon leader, he was wounded in the chest. He was decorated with the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Navy Commendation Medal. Today he is a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Military Order of the Purple Heart.

In 1969, he received an associate's degree from Wesley College in Dover, Delaware. He then spent a semester in Kentucky studying rural poverty in Appalachia. He went on to receive a bachelor's degree in history from Delaware State College in 1973, and was a teacher at Kent County High School on the Eastern Shore before embarking upon his congressional career.

He is a member of many moderate Republican groups such as the Republican Main Street Partnership, Republicans for Environmental Protection, and the Republican Majority For Choice. He was also the co-chairman of the Congressional Climate Change Caucus together with Democrat John Olver (MA-1). Wayne was a Republican co-sponsor of Rep. Marty Meehan's "Military Readiness Enhancement Act" which would repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Though he initially supported the Iraq War, Wayne’s support waned as the occupation became increasingly violent. Expressing his support for the Iraq Study Group Report, he called on setting a timetable for withdrawal, and also joined 16 Republicans and 229 Democrats voting in favor of House Concurrent Resolution (H.CON.RES) 63, a non-binding resolution expressing disapproval for the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.
 

Ondray T. Harris was confirmed by the United States Senate as the Director of the Community Relations Service (CRS), U.S. Department of Justice, on March 13, 2008. It is a four-year term appointment. Mr. Harris was nominated for this position by the President on May 22, 2007, and was designated the Acting Director while awaiting Senate confirmation.

Before serving at CRS, Mr. Harris was Deputy Chief of the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prior to becoming a Justice Department lawyer, Mr. Harris served as a partner at the law firm of LeClair Ryan in its Richmond, Virginia, Headquarters Office. At LeClair, his practice was concentrated in the area of labor and employment law, which entailed counseling and representing employers in matters of personnel policies, Title VII discrimination suits, as well as other issues such as FMLA, FLSA, OHSA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Age Discrimination, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia's Office of the Attorney General. As an Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Harris represented the Commonwealth and litigated cases in federal and state courts dealing with Title VII, the First Amendment, as well as other issues. As Assistant Attorney General, he was also counsel for the Virginia Council on Human Rights. Before becoming an attorney, for a brief period, Mr. Harris was a banker.

Mr. Harris received a Bachelor's degree in history from Hampden-Sydney College and a Juris Doctorate from Washington & Lee University.

Bob Koehler is a long-time Chicago-based journalist, editor, teacher, public speaker, poet and fiction writer. He works as an editor at Tribune Media Services and is also nationally syndicated by Tribune. He has won awards for his writing at the local, state and national levels, and continues to generate intense reaction among readers, having been thanked profusely, called a hero of democracy, had his life threatened and being wished an inoperable brain tumor.  A reader once called Bob "blatantly relevant" and he uses that phrase as his byword every week.

Bob writes about politics from outside the unspoken assumptions of mainstream journalism. He sees his column as a wedge of outrage into that mainstream, a means of interrupting the conversation that accepts as given war, poverty, social inequity and environmental degradation, and takes the state of our democracy for granted. On his website, commonwonders.com, Bob describes the column as "part political brawl, part secular prayer." 

Bob has appeared in hundreds of newspapers, large and small, and is regularly posted on many widely read Internet sites. A widower and single father with a daughter who is a recent college grad, Bob is currently working on a book about our long, slow shift from a culture of violence and the dawning of the paradigm of peace. He is active in the men's movement and an enthusiastic participant in the evolution of human consciousness.

Dorothy J Maver, Ph.D., is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good. She is President & CEO of Peace Partnership International and her work in education, politics and grassroots community organizing is focused on applied peacebuilding and the global call for ministries and departments of peace.

Dot served as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace and was the National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President 2004.   She is a co-founder of the Vermont Peace Academy, and a founding board member of the Center for Cooperative Principles. An innovative educator with a teaching background in Health, Physical Education, Psychology and Philosophy at both the high school and university levels, she is on faculty with Polaris College, Denmark, was part of the 2008 lecture series at the Graduate Institute, CT, USA and taught at Norwich University, VT USA. Dot is active in community coalition building with her youth/adult partnership model based on shared responsibility and shared leadership. In the world of fast-pitch softball Dr. Dot is known for her revolutionary fast-pitch hitting technique, The Maver Method: Secrets of Hitting Success; she is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom; and is a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at conferences worldwide.

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Mike Robbins is an expert in teamwork, communication, and the power of appreciation. He delivers keynote addresses, leads customized seminars, and works one-on-one in a way that empowers people and organizations to work together effectively and be more successful. Mike has inspired thousands of people to reach new levels of awareness and success, both personally and professionally through his talks, seminars, and writing. He is the author of the book, Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation , the author of the audio program The Power of Appreciation, and a contributing author of Chicken Soup for the Single Parent's Soul.

Mike's work is informed by his experience playing college and professional baseball. A standout pitcher at Stanford University, Mike helped lead his team to the Pac-10 Conference Championship and an appearance in the College World Series. He was named to the All-Conference team, nominated as an academic All-American, and voted "Most Inspirational" by his fellow teammates. Mike was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and played three seasons before arm injuries ended his playing career at the age of 24. Mike subsequently worked in sales and business development for two Internet start-up companies, achieving a great deal of success in a very short time. When the dot-com "bubble" burst in 2000, Mike followed a deeper passion – helping and inspiring individuals and groups – and started working full time as a speaker, author, and coach.

Mike has worked with some of America's top organizations and institutions such as AT&T, Apple Computer, UC Berkeley, the U.S. Department of Labor, New York Life Insurance, Stanford University, Chevron, Kaiser Permanente, and many others. He is a member of the National Speakers Association and is one of less than 10% of the professional speakers in the world to have earned the prestigious Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation. Mike has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and on Fox Sports Television.

In addition to serving on the board of The Peace Alliance, Mike is also a board member Challenge Day, a powerful youth organization that focuses on peace, healing, and personal development for teens.

Mike lives in Concord, CA (San Francisco Bay Area) with his wife Michelle and their two young daughters, Samantha and Annarose.

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Ocean Robbins is founder and director of YES! — "Helping Visionary Young Leaders Build a Better World," which he founded in 1990, at age 16. Ocean has spoken in person to more than 200,000 people and facilitated many dozens of gatherings for young leaders from 60+ nations. Ocean is author of "Choices for Our Future: A Generation Rising for Life on Earth," and has served as a board member for Friends of the Earth, Creating Our Future, the Turning Tide Coalition, EarthSave International, and OmniCenter.

In 2002, he was selected by Utne Reader as one of 30 "Young Visionaries" under age 30, and by Audubon and Time as being among the heroes of the new millennium. He is a 2008 recipient of the Freedom’s Flame Award, and of the national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Community Service by an Individual 35 Years Or Younger. He and his beloved wife Michele are the parents of River and Bodhi Robbins, identical twin boys born in 2001. You can read a more extensive biography of Ocean here.  Check out this video Ocean helped co-produce.

Lisa Schirch is a professor of peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. A former Fulbright Fellow in East and West Africa, Schirch has worked in over 20 countries with communities and government leaders. She is the program director of the 3D Security Initiative, which promotes civil society perspectives on conflict prevention and peacebuilding in US security policymaking. With colleagues in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU, Schirch consults with a network of strategic partner organizations involved in peacebuilding activities throughout the U.S., Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Schirch has written five books and numerous articles on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Her current research interests include civil-military dialogue and the intersection of security and climate change, sustainable development, the media, and conflict prevention. She is a frequent public speaker and has TV and radio experience discussing U.S. foreign policy. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.

Swami Beyondananda--Steve Bhaerman is an author and humorist who has spent the past 20 years disguised as Swami Beyondananda, the "Cosmic Comic." Swami's comedy has been called "irreverently uplifting" and "comedy disguised as wisdom" as well as "wisdom disguised as comedy." As the Swami, Steve is the author of four books: Driving Your Own Karma, When You See a Sacred Cow Milk It for All It's Worth, Duck Soup for the Soul and his latest, Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction.

On the serious side, Sounds True has released a 5-CD set featuring Steve and cellular biologist Bruce Lipton called Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and How to Get There From Here. Their book with the same title will be out in 2009. Steve also writes a spiritual/political blog called "Notes From the Trail," and has launched a new website Heartland Security. Swami and Steve can be found online at www.wakeuplaughing.com.