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Now in his seventh season as Owner & CEO of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blanks passion and commitment to the team has never been more intense. Blank has distinguished himself as one of the most innovative and progressive owners in all of professional sports. Blank is also chairman, president and CEO of AMB Group, LLC, and chairman of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

Anne Wass, is president of the Massachusetts Teacher's Association. She has served on the MTA Board of Directors and state Executive Committee and has been president of her local association in Hanover at two different times. For many years, Wass has chaired the training program for new local presidents at the MTA Summer Conference in Williamstown. More than 100 local presidents have benefited from attending these sessions. Wass has won several awards honoring her abilities as a teacher. These include the Plymouth County Education Association's Honor Award and the PCEA's Loretta Quinlan Award.

Hollie Manheimer began work as the first and only executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation in January 1996. She graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College; received a Master's in English from New York University; earned her Juris Doctorate from Emory University Law School; and received a Master's in Communication from Georgia State University. When not serving the foundation, Hollie practices law with Stuckey and Manheimer, Inc. and serves as a pro hac vice judge of the Dekalb County Recorders Court.

Steven M. Walsh is serving his third term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He is the chairman of the Community Development and Small Business committee. An attorney by education, Steve is a member of the Ward 6 Democratic City Committee and the Democratic State Committee. He is a Rotarian and a Hibernian. He is a referee with the Association of New England Football Officials. He is also a commissioner with the Essex National Heritage Area, and a friend of Lynn Woods and Lynn and Nahant Beach.

President Mohler-Faria was the first member of his family to go to college. Three decades and four degrees later, he continues to cite the work ethic and moral fabric of his late father, a construction worker, and his late mother, a laborer in the cranberry bogs of Wareham and in the factories of New Bedford, as the standards by which he holds himself up to each and every day. In addition, Dr. Mohler-Farias optimistic outlook on life is a credit to the Cape Verdean community in which he grew up, and it is because so much of that communitys hopes and dreams were placed on his shoulders that he continues to be firmly rooted in the lives of tomorrows generation. President Mohler-Faria is the first person of color to lead Bridgewater State College and, at the time of his inauguration, was only the second Cape Verdean in the United States to be elected the president of a higher education institution. Shortly after becoming president, Dr. Mohler-Faria undertook an aggressive plan to expand the number of full-time, tenure-track faculty at the college. He also founded Connect, a Southeastern Massachusetts partnership dedicated to advancing the regional mission of public higher education; Connect members include Bridgewater State College, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Bristol Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Massasoit Community College and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Prior to becoming president, Dr. Mohler-Faria served for 11 years as the colleges vice president for administration and finance, during which time he oversaw the largest construction and renovation program in college history. He has also held numerous senior administrative positions at Mount Wachusett Community College, Bristol Community College and Cape Cod Community College. Dr. Mohler-Faria holds a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, masters and bachelors degrees in history from Boston University, and an associates degree from Cape Cod Community College. He has participated in the Oxford Roundtable, the Millennium Leadership Institute, the New England Resource Center for Higher Education and Harvard Universitys Institute for Education Management and Senior Executives Program.

Lynn Stuart, School Development Coach, worked in the Cambridge Public Schools as a bilingual teacher, curriculum specialist, primary education coordinator and principal of the K-8 Cambridgeport School. She works with students, teachers and families to create strong learning communities. Lynn serves on the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.