Featured Topics
January 23, 2014
Experts for the 2014 State of the Union
In preparation for the 2014 State of the Union, WMC SheSource provides a list of women who are experts on politics and political speeches, income inequality and the minimum wage, climate change and clean energy, Obamacare, NSA reform, immigration reform, and foreign policy around Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Egypt and conflict resolution.
Expert Spotlight
Donna R. Hoffman
Professor
University of Northern Iowa
For interviews on politics of the speech.
POLITICS AND POLITICAL SPEECHES
Donna R. Hoffman, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Northern Iowa, focuses on both electoral politics and presidential rhetoric. She is the co-author of Addressing the State of the Union: The Evolution and Impact of the President’s Big Speech. Professor Hoffman’s research on presidential rhetoric examines the way that presidents communicate their policy agendas with both Congress and the public, especially through State of the Union addresses.WMC SheSource
Featured Expert
Jodi Enda
Assistant Managing Editor for Special Projects
CNN Politics Digital
For interviews on politics of the speech.
Jodi Enda is a nationally known, award-winning journalist specializing in politics and policy. As a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Knight Ridder Newspapers, she covered the White House, Congress, presidential campaigns and national news.
Featured Expert
Melanie L. Campbell
CEO & President
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Inc.
For interviews on politics of the speech.
Melanie Campbell is an expert and passionate advocate on issues impacting African Americans, women, immigrants and youth and the intersection of how politics, public policy, race, gender, class and age impacts quality life for all Americans.
Featured Expert
Vinca LaFleur
Partner
West Wing Writers
For interviews on politics of the speech.
Vinca LaFleur is a Partner at West Wing Writers, an executive speechwriting firm based in Washington, D.C. Her more than fifteen years of speechwriting, ghostwriting, and editing experience include three years on the National Security Council staff as Director for Speechwriting and Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton.
Featured Expert
Atima Omara
President & Chief Strategist
Omara Strategy Group
For interviews on politics of the speech.
Atima Omara is a recognized leader and speaker on engaging youth, women, and people of color in the political process. She is the first African American President of the Young Democrats of America (YDA), the nation’s largest youth partisan organization, in YDA’s 81 year history.
Featured Expert
Heidi Shierholz
Senior Economist and Director of Policy
Economic Policy Institute
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
INCOME INEQUALITY, MINIMUM WAGE, POVERTY
Heidi Shierholz is a labor market economist with the Economic Policy Institute. She has researched, written, and spoken widely on the economy and economic policy, particularly as it affects middle- and low-income families in regards to employment, unemployment, labor force participation, and wage, income and wealth inequality. She has also focused on young workers, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, the effects of immigration on wages in the US labor market.
Featured Expert
Mimi Abramovitz
Bertha Capen Reynolds Professor in Social Policy
Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and The Graduate Center City University of New York
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
Mimi Abramovitz teaches at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Dr. Abramovitz has written extensively about the issues of women, work, poverty, social welfare policy as well as the impact of public policy on the delivery of human services and the history of activism among low-income women.
Featured Expert
Mary Gable
Public Policy Analyst
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
Mary Gable joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2006 where she analyzes public policies affecting low-income people. She previously directed programs serving people in poverty nationwide and conducted an independent evaluation of New Jersey’s welfare program. Her areas of interest include poverty, social services and welfare policy, child care, low-wage work, and homelessness.
Featured Expert
Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Incite Unlimited
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever is the Host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Focus Point with Avis Jones-DeWeever. An expert on poverty and income equality, Dr. Jones-DeWeever is an accomplished scholar, writer, and public speaker and an authority on race, gender and the economy.
Featured Expert
Heidi Hartmann
Founder and former President
Institute for Women's Policy Research
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
Heidi Hartmann is the President of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Dr. Hartmann is a co-author of Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave; Equal Pay for Working Families; and Survival at the Bottom: The Income Packages of Low-Income Families with Children.
Featured Expert
Fatima Goss Graves
President and CEO
National Women's Law Center
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
Fatima Goss Graves is Vice President for Education and Employment at the National Women’s Law Center, where she works to promote the rights of women and girls at school and in the workplace. She works to advance equal pay for equal work, expand opportunities for women in nontraditional fields, and ensure the development of fundamental legal principles of equal opportunity.
Featured Expert
Emma Coleman Jordan
Professor of Law
Georgetown University Law
For interviews on income inequality, jobless benefits, minimum wage, poverty.
Emma Coleman Jordan is best known for establishing the field of economic justice in legal theory, and for her work in financial services and civil rights. She is author of the textbook, Economic Justice: Race, Gender, Identity and Economics Professor Jordan is a regular commentator on economic justice issues and the financial service industry.
Featured Expert
Brenda Ekwurzel
Senior Climate Scientist and Director of Climate Science for the Climate and Energy Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
For interviews on climate change, clean energy.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND CLEAN ENERGY
Brenda Ekwurzel works on the national climate program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). She is leading UCS's climate science education work aimed at strengthening support for strong federal climate legislation and sound U.S. climate policies.
Featured Expert
Daphne Wysham
Senior Methane Policy Coordinator
Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
For interviews on climate change, clean energy.
Daphne Wysham is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and is the founder and director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network (SEEN). She has worked on research and advocacy at the intersection of climate change, human rights, fossil fuels, international finance, carbon markets and sustainable economies since 1996. SEEN's pathbreaking research has resulted in shifts in public policy and investment at the national and international level.
Featured Expert
Soma Bhadra
CEO
PROTEUS Consulting
For interviews on climate change, clean energy.
Soma Bhadra, CEO of PROTEUS Consulting, is an Innovation Consultant and Technology Integrator across Water, Energy, and CleanTech Sectors. Soma has the intuitive ability for identifying gaps in markets and developing new markets in those gaps.
Featured Expert
Kateri Callahan
President
Alliance to Save Energy
For interviews on climate change, clean energy.
Kateri Callahan is President of the Alliance to Save Energy. The Alliance’s mission is to advance energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security.
Featured Expert
Paula DiPerna
Special Advisor
Carbon Disclosure Project
For interviews on climate change, clean energy.
Paula DiPerna is a strategic environmental and philanthropic policy advisor, and writer. She served formerly as President of the International division of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), with special responsibility for China, India, Korea and other emerging markets. While at CCX, DiPerna led the development and expansion of CCX membership among emitters of greenhouse gases (ghgs), which eventually became the largest baseline of capped emissions of any nation in the world.
Featured Expert
Elise Gould
Senior Economist
Economic Policy Institute
For interviews on Obamacare.
OBAMACARE
Elise Gould is director of health policy research at the Economic Policy Institute. Her research areas include employer-sponsored health insurance, inequality and health, poverty, mobility, and the employer tax exclusion.
Featured Expert
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CLL
Senior Lecturer: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Founder and Board President: Health Equity Initiative; Editor-in-Chief: Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health; Author: Health Communication: From Theory to Practice
For interviews on Obamacare.
Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA is a health and international communication, public health, and global health specialist with more than 20 years of experience in a variety of settings, including the United States and several countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Currently, she is Founding President and CEO of Health Equity Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building community, capacity, and strategic communication resources for health equity.
Featured Expert
Barbara Glickstein
Public Health Nurse, Producer / Host
Barbara Glickstein Strategies
For interviews on Obamacare.
Barbara Glickstein is a public health nurse executive, health policy expert and broadcast journalist. She is the co-founding director of the Center for Health Media and Policy at Hunter College, City University of New York. For the past 25 years, she has produced and hosted “Healthstyles,” an award-winning, weekly program on public radio in New York City.
Featured Expert
Diana N Derige
Chief Strategy Officer
Birth Center Equity
For interviews on Obamacare.
Diana Derige is a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich. She focuses on funding opportunities that enable the foundation to make progress in ensuring that all children can grow and thrive by having love, good parenting, high-quality food, physical activity, interaction with nature and access to healthcare. Prior to joining the foundation in 2010, Derige worked for more than 10 years in public health, public policy, advocacy and community-based philanthropy.
Featured Expert
Heather Hurlburt
Senior Fellow
Human Rights First
For interviews on NSA reform.
Heather Hurlburt is the Executive Director of the National Security Network, an organization whose priorities include working with political leaders, experts and advocates to create a safer, saner foreign policy. Hurlburt brings nearly two decades of experience developing, shaping and communicating US foreign policy.
Featured Expert
Nora Bensahel
Professor of Practice
Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
For interviews on NSA reform.
NSA REFORM
Dr. Nora Bensahel is Deputy Director of Studies and a Senior Fellow at The Center for a New American Security. She recently co-authored Hard Choices: Responsible Defense in an Age of Austerity, and Sustainable Pre-eminence: Reforming the U.S. Military at a Time of Strategic Change. Her other research interests include stability operations, counterinsurgency, civilian capacity for operations abroad, and coalition and alliance operations.
Featured Expert
E. Gabriella Coleman
Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy (Asst Professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies)
McGill University
For interviews on NSA reform.
Professor Gabriella Coleman is the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University. Trained as an anthropologist, she teaches, writes, and researches on the ethics of computer hacking with a focus on open source software and the protest ensemble Anonymous. She reguarly comments on digital activism, surveillance, free speech and censorship on the news.
Featured Expert
Sarah Granger
Head of Content & Editorial (Editorial Director)
Hunters
For interviews on NSA reform.
Sarah Granger has over 20 years of experience in technology and new media, including policy, politics and social good. She is a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project and co-chairs their cybersecurity expert group. She founded the Center for Technology, Media & Society, based in Silicon Valley, dedicated to educating, informing and connecting stakeholders around converging topics like transparent e-government, high-tech workplace flexibility, and gender bias online.
Featured Expert
Juliette Kayyem
Faculty
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
For interviews on NSA reform.
Juliette N. Kayyem is presently the national security and foreign policy columnist for The Boston Globe and is on the faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She most recently served for President Obama as Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Kayyem is the author of numerous books and articles on counterterrorism and national security, and her column is distributed worldwide by the New York Times wire.
Featured Expert
Pramila Jayapal
Member of Congress
U.S. House of Congress
For interviews on immigration reform.
IMMIGRATION REFORM
Pramila Jayapal is a leading national advocate for immigrant, civil and human rights. She is the founder of OneAmerica, Washington state's largest immigrant advocacy organization, where she served as Executive Director for almost eleven years. She has been a leading voice nationally for comprehensive immigration reform, serving on the executive committee of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, a national coalition of the largest state-based immigrant rights organizations that developed coordinated field and advocacy strategies to move federal immigration policy reform forward
Featured Expert
Michele Wucker
Founder and CEO
Gray Rhino & Company
For interviews on immigration reform.
Michele Wucker is President of the World Policy Institute, a nonpartisan center for global thought leadership. She is the author of LOCKOUT: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right and Why The Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians and the Struggle For Hispaniola.
Featured Expert
Doris Meissner.
Senior Fellow
Migration Policy Institute
For interviews on immigration reform.
Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), is a Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, where she directs MPI’s work on US immigration policy. She also contributes to MPI’s work on international immigration policymaking in an era of globalization and national security, the politics of immigration, administering immigration systems and government agencies, and migration management cooperation with other countries.
Featured Expert
Margie McHugh
Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
Migration Policy Institute
For interviews on immigration reform.
Margie McHugh is the Co-Director of the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy at the Migration Policy Institute. The Center is a national hub for leaders in government, community affairs, business, and academia to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to respond to the challenges and opportunities that today's high rates of immigration pose for local communities across the United States.
Featured Expert
Shannon O'Neil
Senior Vice President
Council on Foreign Relations
For interviews on immigration reform.
Shannon O'Neil is Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her expertise includes U.S.-Latin America relations, trade, energy, and immigration. She is the author of Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead, which analyzes the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last three decades and why these changes matter for the United States.
Featured Expert
Barbara Slavin
Distinguished Fellow
The Stimson Center
For interviews on foreign policy.
Barbara Slavin is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor.com, a website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. She is the author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation and is a regular commentator on US foreign policy and Iran. She has covered such key foreign policy issues as the US-led war on terrorism, policy toward "rogue" states, the Iran-Iraq war, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Featured Expert
Andrea Strimling Yodsampa
CEO
DEPLOY/US
For interviews on foreign policy.
Andrea Strimling Yodsampa, PhD, is a scholar and practitioner whose work focuses on inter-agency, civil-military, multinational, and government-NGO cooperation in peacebuilding, stabilization and reconstruction, and disaster relief. She is Principal Investigator on several US Government – sponsored research efforts on civil-military cooperation, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation.
Featured Expert
Lauren Wolfe
Journalist
For interviews on foreign policy.
Lauren Wolfe is an award-winning journalist who has written for publications from The Atlantic to The Guardian. She is the director of WMC’s Women Under Siege, a project on sexualized violence in conflict originated by Gloria Steinem at the Women’s Media Center in New York. The project includes a live, crowd-sourced map of sexualized violence in Syria, WomenUnderSiegeSyria.crowdmap.com. She serves on the advisory committee of the Nobel Women’s Initiative’s International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict.
Featured Expert
Lisa Schirch
Richard G. Starmann Chair in Peace Studies
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
For interviews on foreign policy.
Dr. Lisa Schirch is the Alliance for Peacebuilding’s Director of Human Security. Schirch’s current research interests include the design and structure of a comprehensive peace process in Afghanistan, conflict assessment and program design, civil-military relations, and the role of the media in peacebuilding. Schirch has worked as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program to develop their peacebuilding and conflict response strategy, and at the World Bank, USAID, the US Foreign Service Institute and many US military academies where she teaches civil military relations.
Featured Expert
Mouna Ghanem
Co-Founder
Syrian Women’s Forum for Peace
For interviews on foreign policy.
Mouna Ghanem is the Coordinator of the Syrian Women’s Forum for Peace. She is also Vice- President of the Syrian political movement Building the Syrian State. A senior gender advisor with extensive experience in the Arab region, Mouna worked for more than a decade as the Deputy Representative for UNFPA in Syria and chaired the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs.
Featured Expert
Anna Therese Day
Independent Journalist & Social Media Researcher
For interviews on foreign policy.
Anna Therese Day is an independent journalist and social media researcher, specializing in global civil society organizing, new media activism, and Middle East politics. Ms. Day has reported on the ground from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel & the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Syria, Turkey, and the United States, with extended time in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories.
Featured Expert
Patricia DeGennaro
Strategic Geopolitical Analyst and Political Military Consultant
For interviews on foreign policy.
FOREIGN POLICY
Patricia (Tricia) DeGennaro is an adjunct professor at New York University’s Department of Politics where she teaches courses on international security, civilian and military relations and US foreign policy. In addition to her work as a professor, she is a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute and a professional service provider and a subject matter expert on Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Arab Gulf States, Pakistan and Iran for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.
Featured Expert
Rebecca Anne Sive
President, Lecturer and Academic Director
The Sive Group, Inc./ Women in Public Leadership Executive Education Program at The University of Chicago
For interviews on politics of the speech.
Rebecca Sive, a public affairs strategist, political commentator, organizer and speaker, is author of Every Day Is Election Day: A Woman's Guide to Winning Any Office, from the PTA to the White House, a practical, inspirational guide for women who want to achieve political leadership and influence public policy.
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