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Tan Swiston, married to her best friend, Rob, is a long-time Newton resident, homeowner and working parent, and has always been active in the community. A former IT executive turned real estate agent and a chronic volunteer, Greer is stepping up to the plate to further serve Newton. Greer has been appointed by the Governor's office to serve as a Commissioner on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women as well as the Judicial Nominating Commission. A community volunteer since childhood, Greer has been a Girl Scout, participated in walkathons, telethons and jumpathons. Following family tradition, Greer has served in the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association (GBCCA) in various capacities for almost 30 years, including Youth Leader, Executive Committee member and currently as a teacher at the Huaxin Chinese Language School for children. Greer has a reputation for bringing people together. Whether it be organizing a companywide weekly sushi social, reviving an alumni club or organizing Newton Parents for Education, Greer appreciates the value of community, communication and comraderie. Making most of those skills, Greer served on the Board of the Newton League of Women Voters of Newton, is currently serving on the Board of NewTV and has volunteered as a tutor for the Newton Public Schools. Greer has participated in fundraisers, field clean-ups and school appreciation activities. She serves as a Girl Scout troop leader, soccer coach, and ran the Little League concession stand at Lyons field for two years. Trained as a software engineer, Greer has worked in the High Tech industry in places like NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, CA, dot com start-ups along the 128 circle as well as venerable corporations the likes of Fidelity Investments and Merrill Lynch in downtown Boston and Cambridge. Over nearly two decades in the computer industry, Greer rose steadily through the ranks as a respected technologist and moved into senior management rounding out her technical skills with quality control, project management and overall office operations and finance management.

I work on the emergence of nationalism in modern China, both in the early twentieth century and in the contemporary era. I am particularly interested in the impact of China's war with Japan in the 1930s and 1940s on the development of Chinese politics, society, and culture.

Harvard graduate and author of five books (including two national bestsellers), Broughton Coburn is a premier authority on the culture and environment of the Himalaya, where he has lived and worked for two of the past three years

Richard Florida is author of the global best-seller *The Rise of the Creative Class*. His latest book, *Who's Your City?* also a national and international best seller. His previous books, especially *The Breakthrough Illusion and Beyond Mass Production*, paved the way for his provocative looks at how creativity is revolutionizing the global economy. Florida is a regular correspondent for the *Atlantic Monthly* and a regular columnist for *The Globe and Mail*. He has written for *The New York Times*, *The Wall Street Journa*l, *The Washington Post*, *The Boston Globe*, *The Economist*, and *The Harvard Business Review*. He has been featured as an expert on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, NPR and CBS, to name just a few. Florida is one of the world's leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. International diplomats, government leaders, filmmakers, economic development organizations and leading Fortune 100 businesses have benefited from his global approach to problem-solving and strategy development.

Ed Blackman is currently a Senior Process Engineer with Spectrum Health. His professional background also includes work as a Project Leader for Priority Health (insurance), Meijer (retail) and Holland Home (healthcare). Ed is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt by the American Society for Quality, certified in Labor Standards by HB Maynard, a Lean instructor/facilitator, and has a Masters degree in Organizational Behavior Management (Behavioral Psychology) from Western Michigan University. In addition to working at Spectrum Health, Ed is an Adjunct Professor that has taught courses in Mathematics, Psychology as well as Business.

John Claggett "Jack" Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is a former United States ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican United States senator from Missouri. He is an ordained Episcopal priest. Danforth is married to Sally D. Danforth and has five adult children.

Since 1992, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn has served as executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, DC-based organization dedicated to the preservation of the Constitutions religious liberty provisions. In addition to his work as a long-time activist and lawyer in the civil liberties field, Lynn is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, offering him a unique perspective on church-state issues.

Patrick Hemingway was the second son of Ernest Hemingway, and the author's first child with second wife Pauline Pfeiffer. Patrick was affectionately known within the family as "Mouse," a nickname given to him by his father. He lived in East Africa for most of his adult life, running a safari firm in the savanna called Tanganyika Tour Safaris. Patrick was a White Hunter and a big-game guide, taking European princes, wealthy adventurers, and curious tourists on hunting expeditions in the bush. During dangerous political times, he served as honorary game warden for the nations of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. He became so familiar with the wild that he was appointed by the United Nations to teach game conservation in Africa. After his retirement, he moved to Montana, to a small house at the edge of the Bridger Mountains, where he has lived in relative seclusion for the past quarter-century.