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Before joining HHS, Mark H. Greenberg directed the Georgetown University Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy, a joint initiative of the Georgetown University Law Center and the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. In addition, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). He previously served as the Executive Director of CAP's Task Force on Poverty and as CLASP’s Director of Policy. During his career, Mr. Greenberg has written extensively on issues relating to federal and state welfare reform efforts; workforce policy issues affecting low-income families; child care and early education policy; tax policy; poverty measurement; and a range of other low-income issues. In addition, he frequently provided technical assistance to state and local governments regarding poverty reduction strategies. Prior to coming to D.C., Mr. Greenberg worked at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in Florida and the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Greenberg is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Ellen Fitzpatrick, a professor and scholar specializing in modern American political and intellectual history, is the author and editor of six books and has appeared regularly on PBS’s *The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer*. She has been interviewed as an expert on modern American political history by the *New York Times*, the *Wall Street Journal*, the *Los Angeles Times, USA Today*, the *Boston Globe*, the *Washington Post*, CBS’s *Face the Nation*, and National Public Radio. She is the Carpenter Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire, where she has been recognized for Excellence in Public Service

Shirley Sagawa, co-founder of the sagawa/jospin consulting firm, was named a "Woman to Watch in the 21st Century," by *Newsweek* magazine, and one of the "Most Influential Working Mothers in America" by *Working Mother* magazine. A national expert on children's policy and philanthropy, she has been called a "founding mother of the modern service movement" in the United States. She is currently a fellow with the Center for American Progress. She has served as a presidential appointee in both the first Bush and Clinton Administrations. As Deputy Chief of Staff to First Lady Hillary Clinton, she advised the First Lady on domestic policy and led the planning for White House Conferences on Philanthropy, Partnerships in Philanthropy, and Teenagers. Sagawa was instrumental to the drafting and passage of legislation creating the Corporation for National Service and AmeriCorps. After Senate-confirmation as the Corporation’s first chief operating and policy officer, she led the development of new service programs for adults and students, including AmeriCorps, and directed strategic planning for this new government corporation. She is a graduate of Smith College, the London School of Economics and Harvard Law School, where she served on the Harvard Law Review.

Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., began his duties as the twelfth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on July 17, 2009. As Administrator, he leads the NASA team and manages its resources to advance the agency's missions and goals. Bolden's confirmation marks the beginning of his second stint with the nation's space agency. His 34-year career with the Marine Corps included 14 years as a member of NASA's Astronaut Office. After joining the office in 1980, he traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions. His flights included deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first joint U.S.-Russian shuttle mission, which featured a cosmonaut as a member of his crew. Prior to Bolden's nomination for the NASA Administrator's job, he was employed as the Chief Executive Officer of JACKandPANTHER LLC, a small business enterprise providing leadership, military and aerospace consulting, and motivational speaking. A resident of Houston, Bolden was born Aug. 19, 1946, in Columbia, S.C. He graduated from C. A. Johnson High School in 1964 and received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. Bolden earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical science in 1968 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. After completing flight training in 1970, he became a naval aviator. Bolden flew more than 100 combat missions in North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, while stationed in Namphong, Thailand, from 1972-1973. After returning to the U.S., Bolden served in a variety of positions in the Marine Corps in California and earned a master of science degree in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1977. Following graduation, he was assigned to the Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Md., and completed his training in 1979. While working at the Naval Air Test Center's Systems Engineering and Strike Aircraft Test Directorates, he tested a variety of ground attack aircraft until his selection as an astronaut candidate in 1980. Bolden's NASA astronaut career included technical assignments as the Astronaut Office Safety Officer; Technical Assistant to the director of Flight Crew Operations; Special Assistant to the Director of the Johnson Space Center; Chief of the Safety Division at Johnson (overseeing safety efforts for the return to flight after the 1986 Challenger accident); lead astronaut for vehicle test and checkout at the Kennedy Space Center; and Assistant Deputy Administrator at NASA Headquarters. After his final space shuttle flight in 1994, he left the agency to return to active duty with the operating forces in the Marine Corps as the Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Bolden was assigned as the Deputy Commanding General of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the Pacific in 1997. During the first half of 1998, he served as Commanding General of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Forward in support of Operation Desert Thunder in Kuwait. Bolden was promoted to his final rank of major general in July 1998 and named Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces in Japan. He later served as the Commanding General of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Calif., from 2000 until 2002, before retiring from the Marine Corps in 2003. Bolden's many military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in May 2006.

Dorothy Allison grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, the first child of a fifteen-year-old unwed mother who worked as a waitress. Now living in Northern California with her partner Alix and her teenage son, Wolf Michael, she describes herself as a feminist, a working class story teller, a Southern expatriate, a sometime poet and a happily born-again Californian. The first member of her family to graduate from high school, Allison attended Florida Presbyterian college on a National Merit Scholarship and studied anthropology at the New School for Social Research. An award winning editor for *Quest, Conditions*, and *Outlook*—early feminist and Lesbian & Gay journals, Allison's chapbook of poetry, *The Women Who Hate Me*, was published with Long Haul Press in 1983. Her short story collection, *Trash* (1988) was published by Firebrand Books. *Trash* won two Lambda Literary Awards and the American Library Association Prize for Lesbian and Gay Writing. Allison received mainstream recognition with her novel *Bastard Out of Carolina,* (1992) a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award. The novel won the Ferro Grumley prize, an ALA Award for Lesbian and Gay Writing, became a best seller, and an award-winning movie.It has been translated into more than a dozen languages. *Cavedweller* (1998) became a national bestseller, *NY Times* Notable book of the year, finalist for the Lillian Smith prize, and an ALA prize winner. Awarded the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction, Allison is a member of the board of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. A novel, *She Who*, is forthcoming.

Dominique Jacob Smith, MD, FACOG College: Northwestern University Evanston, IL Medical School: Washington University St. Louis, MO Residency: Cook County Hospital Chicago, IL Academic Appointment: Assistant Professor of OB/GYN Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA Certification: Board Certified by The American College of OB/GYN In Practice Since: 1996

George has been a dedicated student of Theosophy for more than 25 years.

Alim Qasimov and his daughter Fargana exemplify the explosive artistic energy that results when a powerful musical model ignites the spark of young talent. “To be a musician, there has to be a fire burning in you,” explained the elder Qasimov. “It’s either there or it isn’t. I’m convinced that if young people have this spark—call it inspiration, call it spiritual fire – they can perform any kind of music. It could be pop, folk, or classical, but whatever it is, they’ll stand out.” Fargana Qasimova’s talent gravitated naturally toward the music she heard from her father: Azerbaijani classical music, known as mugham, and the repertoire of popular bardic songs sung by ashıqs—singer-songwriters who might be considered modern-day troubadours. Mugham may be performed in a purely instrumental form, but the performance medium most favored among Azerbaijanis is the voice. Vocalists typically perform the lead role in a trio that also includes tar and kamancha as well as a frame drum (daf) played by the vocalist. This trio style of performance provided the starting point for Alim Qasimov’s innovative treatment of mugham.

Patrick O’Donnell is the critically acclaimed author of *Beyond Valor*, which won the Colby Circle Award for Outstanding Military History, as well as *Into the Rising Sun*, *Operatives*, *Spies*, and *Saboteurs*, *We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder With the Marines Who Took Fallujah*, and most recently *The Brenner Assignment*. As a combat historian, O’Donnell was the only civilian to spend three months in Iraq in uniform and conduct oral histories of our troops in battle. He literally fought with the marines in Fallujah, was ambushed several times, and dragged a mortally wounded marine from battle. O’Donnell is also the founder of the Drop Zone (www.thedropzone.org), an award-winning web site dedicated to preserving the oral histories of veterans.