DALE ROBINSON ANGLIN is director of Press Forward, a national coalition investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news, and to scale the infrastructure the sector needs to thrive. Previously, Anglin served as the vice president for proactive grantmaking at the Cleveland Foundation, where she worked to align the foundation’s grantmaking initiatives to the ongoing needs of diverse communities in Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties. She also led the foundation’s journalism strategy, where she encouraged leaders to embrace local news and information as a community need and invest in a regional network of nonprofit journalism initiatives, including Signal Ohio.

THE REV. LIDDY BARLOW is executive minister of Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, the first woman to be installed in that role. She reports to the Council of Bishops and Judicatory Executives, who represent 28 Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox church bodies throughout greater Pittsburgh. As executive minister, Barlow sets a vision for Christian Associates and manages all of the organization’s projects and relationships. She is a key organizer of public worship services and events, including interfaith services after the earthquake in Turkey, the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and standing against bigotry after the demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia. She edits Christian Associates’ publications, including The Call newsletter, The Word in Our Voices series of sermon collections, and worship resources produced in partnership with community organizations.

MELODY BARNES is founding executive director of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, where she guides the organization on an action-oriented path to realizing democracy in both principle and practice. A dedicated public servant with more than 25 years of experience crafting public policy, Barnes served in the administration of President Barack Obama as assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Earlier in her career, Barnes was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and chief counsel to the late Senator Ted Kennedy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Barnes started her career in New York as an associate at Shearman & Sterling. She and David French are the inaugural Chautauqua Perry Fellows in Democracy, serving in the 2024–25 cycle.

DAVID FRENCH is an opinion columnist for The New York Times, where he writes about law, culture, religion, and armed conflict. He was previously a senior editor at The Dispatch, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a columnist at Time and a senior writer at National Review. French is a former constitutional litigator, past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and a New York Times bestselling author. His most recent book is Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation, in which he warns of the potential dangers to the country — and the world — if we don’t summon the courage to reconcile our political differences. He and Melody Barnes are the inaugural Chautauqua Perry Fellows in Democracy, serving in the 2024–25 cycle.

JILLIAN HANESWORTH is an Emmy-nominated spoken word artist, the poet laureate emeritus of Buffalo, New York, and a community organizer and activist. Born and raised on the east side of Buffalo, Hanesworth has developed a vision to use art and advocacy to help her community reimagine justice and work together to create a system where all people can thrive. Currently, she travels the country performing poetry and speaking on various topics including art for activism, the impacts of storytelling and the importance of honest and critical social and political conversations. In addition, Hanesworth oversees “Buffalo Books,” a nationally recognized program that aims to improve access to culturally relevant books for residents of the east side of Buffalo with the hopes of helping to increase literacy rates among Black and brown communities.

JEFFREY ROSEN is president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. At NCC, he hosts “We the People,” a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. Previously, Rosen was the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for The New Yorker. His newest book is The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. Other books include the New York Times bestseller Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft.

STEFANIE SANFORD is president of Civic Ventures at Alithi Consulting and Humanitae Philanthropy Advisors, where she leads efforts to improve civic knowledge and engagement, transcend polarization, and animate spirited and effective conversation across difference in multiple contexts and policy areas. She also serves as a senior advisor at the National Constitution Center. Over the last 20 years, Sanford has held executive roles in philanthropy, education policy, and government, including global policy and external relations for the College Board; president of the College Board Foundation; and director of U.S. program advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She currently chairs the board of trustees for the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, an organization dedicated to cultivating young people to be empowered citizens who are civically well informed, productively engaged, and committed to democracy.

THE HON. ROWAN D. WILSON is chief judge of the State of New York and the New York Court of Appeals, nominated on April 18, 2023, and confirmed by the New York State Senate on April 18, 2023. From 1984 to 1986, Wilson served as a law clerk to the Honorable James R. Browning, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, California. In 1986, he joined the firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City as an associate, and was elected to partnership there in 1991, in which position he continued until February 2017. His practice encompassed a wide variety of matters, including antitrust, intellectual property, securities and common-law fraud, contract, labor and employment, civil rights and first amendment issues. On January 15, 2017, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo nominated Wilson to serve as an associate judge of the Court of Appeals, and the New York State Senate confirmed his nomination on February 6, 2017.