Ed Asner

Ed Asner is known for his political views, particularly his stance on the war in Iraq, as well as playing Lou Grant on two television series in the 1970s and '80s.

Asner served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild, in which capacity he opposed US policy in Central America. He played a prominent role in the 1980 SAG strike. He has also been active in a variety of other causes, such as the movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Asner served as the spokesman for 2004 Racism Watch. In April 2004, he wrote an open letter to "peace and justice leaders" encouraging them to demand "full 9-11 truth" through an organization called the "9-11 Visibility Project."

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte is known worldwide for his accomplishments as a recording artist and concert singer, as an actor and a producer, and for his commitment to human rights.

Belafonte has a long and distinguished campaigning record. He became the entertainment industry’s first cultural adviser to the Peace Corps in the early 1960s. He was a leading architect of the civil rights movement. And in l985, he helped bring together 45 top performers to record the song ‘We Are the World’, which raised millions of dollars for emergency assistance in Africa.

Lester Brown

Lester Brown is an environmental and economics analyst who devotes his time to solving environmental issues around the world. He has written over 50 books on global environmental issues such as Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, and Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth. He has also authored several book series and e-series and has published articles in numerous magazines and journals. He is affiliated with over 35 different environmental organizations. In 1974, he founded the World Watch Institute and, in 2001, the Earth Policy Institute.

Brown earned a degree in Agricultural Science from Rutgers University in 1955. Following his graduation he spent six months in India, living among the rural population and studying the food/population crisis. He has a Masters Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Maryland and in Public Administration from Harvard. He has served as an advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture and was appointed Administrator of the Department’s International Agricultural Development Service.

The Washington Post has called Lester “one of the world’s most influential thinkers.” The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as “the guru of the environmental movement.” The Library of Congress notes his writings to “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”

Brown has received numerous awards, including: 23 honorary degrees, a MacArthur Fellowship, the 1987 United Nations’ Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize. Recently he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Italy, the Borgstrom Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and appointed an honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Hillary Brown

As a former design director and Assistant Commissioner at New York City's Department of Design and Construction, Hillary Brown founded its Office of Sustainable Design. She was managing editor of the nationally and internationally recognized City of New York High Performance Building Guidelines, co-author of the U.S. Green Building Council's State and Local Green Building Toolkit, and author of Implementing High Performance Buildings. Additionally, she envisioned and has co-authored the just-released High Performance Infrastructure: Best Practices for the Public Right-Of-Way for New York City and the Design Trust for Public Space.

Ben Cohen

Co-Founder Of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Ben and Jerry have been recognized for fostering their company’s commitment to social responsibility by the Council on Economic Priorities, which awarded them the Corporate Giving award in 1988 for donating 7.5 percent of their pre tax profits to nonprofit organizations through the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, and by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which named them U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year in 1988 in a White House ceremony hosted by President Reagan.

Ben Cohen is on the boards of various organizations, and is an active founding member of Businesses for Social Responsibility, an organization that works to promote socially responsible business practices.

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg graduated from Harvard in 1952 summa cum laude in Economics. He spent a year studying at King’s College, Cambridge University, on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. He was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University and earned his Ph.D. in Economics in 1962.

Ellsberg served as a rifle platoon leader, operations officer, and rifle company commander in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1954 to 1957. He has also worked as a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation and as a consultant for both the Defense Department and the White House. In 1964 he joined the Defense Department as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense. Ellsberg also served two years at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. He specialized in understanding problems associated with the command and control of nuclear war plans, and crisis decision-making.

In 1967 he worked on the top secret McNamara study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam, later know as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969 Ellsberg photocopied the 7,000-page study and provided it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New York Times, the Washington Post, and several other newspapers. Twelve felony counts were filed against him. And he faced a possible sentence of 115 years. However, in 1973, his trial was dismissed on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which eventually led to the convictions of various White House aides. These events factored significantly into the impeachment proceedings against and eventual resignation of, President Nixon.

Following the publication of his bestseller book, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg received several non-fiction book awards. In December of 2006 Ellsberg was awarded the Right Livelihood Award or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ in recognition “for putting peace and truth first, at considerable personal risk, and dedicating his life to a movement to free the world from the risk of nuclear war.”

Ellsberg now lives in Berkley, California, with his wife, Patricia Marx Ellsberg. Ellsberg serves as a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, government wrongdoing, and the urgent need for patriotic whistle-blowing.

Ross Gelbspan

For over thirty years, Ross Gelbspan worked as a reporter, writing for the Philadelphia Bulletin, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. As a senior editor at the Boston Globe until his retirement in 1992, he directed and edited a series of articles on job discrimination in Boston – this series won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The issue of global warming, however, dominates his career, and though now retired from daily journalism, Gelbspan continues to have his considerable voice heard.

Ross Gelbspan's books: Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis--And What We Can Do to Avert Disaster; The Heat Is on: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription.

Susan Joy Hassol

As a climate change communicator, analyst, and author, Susan Joy Hassol is known for her ability to communicate science for the layperson. Her communication skills enable the general public and policy makers to better understand complex environmental issues. She provides valuable information on how to reduce negative impacts on the environment in the areas of energy, recycling, and commonly used chemicals.

Hassol earned a B.A. in Public Communications summa cum laude in 1981 from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, and Maxwell School of Public Affairs and Citizenship. Since then she has been involved in environmental research and education, and works towards improving the understanding of climate change science and solutions.

She has authored several reports, including Impacts of a Warming Arctic, a synthesis report of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. She spent four years in the Arctic with over 300 scientists from around the globe. In November of 2004, she testified about the impact of Arctic warming before the U.S. Senate. In 2006 the Climate Institute honored her for her “excellence in climate science communication.”

In 2006 Hassol wrote HBO’s global warming documentary Too Hot Not To Handle. She has also authored a synthesis report of the U.S. National Assessment in 2000, on the consequences of climate change titled, Climate Change Impacts on the United States. In 2006, she co-authored a chapter on Arctic climate impacts in the book, Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change.

Along with many other projects, Hassol has appeared on national television and several radio shows, to discuss climate change. She has addressed many audiences, including the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. She continues to work as an independent analyst and climate science communicator, writing and speaking widely on climate change issues.

Mark Hertsgaard

Mark Hertsgaard is a San Francisco-based independent journalist and author. He currently writes as the environment correspondent for The Nation, and is the political correspondent for US satellite broadcaster, LinkTV.

Mark Hertsgaard's books include: The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World; Earth Odyssey: Around the world in search of our environmental future; Nuclear, Inc.: The Men and Money Behind Nuclear Energy; On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency.

Mimi Kennedy

Mimi Kennedy is both an actor and activist. She was born in Rochester, New York, where she began her acting career at the age of twelve. She has worked on various human rights, environmental, and labor issues, and has studied nonviolent social action with the Reverend James Lawson. Her work for peace and human rights has drawn her to many different parts of the world.

Kennedy was a signatory to the 9/11 Truth Statement. Along with her involvement in several progressive activist causes, Kennedy most notably serves as National Chairperson of the Board for Progressive Democrats of America, which promotes peace and justice. She was a charter member of Artists United to Win Without War.

Kennedy is widely known for her television role as Abbie O’Neil (Dharma’s mom), on the hit series “Dharma and Greg.” She has appeared widely on TV, in theatre, and in movies such as “Erin Brockovich” and “Pump Up the Volume.” She has also appeared on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect.”

Kennedy and her husband, Lawrence Edwin Dilg, have two children.

Paul Rogat Loeb

Paul Loeb has spent over thirty years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment. Born in California, Loeb attended Stanford University and New York’s New School for Social Research.

Loeb has written several widely praised books, including Nuclear Culture, Hope in Hard Times, Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus, Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time, and The Impossible Will Take a Little While. He has written for a range of publications for large newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals.

Loeb’s dedication and work with various colleges and universities around the nation has helped to inspire the American Democracy project, which currently involves over 200 campuses. His work and inspiration are both deeply moving and motivating.

Loeb has received various awards for his books, including the American Book Association’s Nautilus Award for the best social change book. He is said to “bring hope for a better world in a time when we so urgently need it.” (Millard Fuller, founder, Habitat for Humanity.)

Edward Mazria AIA

Edward Mazria is an internationally-recognized architect, author, educator and visionary with a long and distinguished career. His award-winning architecture and planning projects span over a thirty-five year period and each employs a cutting-edge environmental approach to design. He is the author of numerous published works, including the 'bible' of solar design, The Passive Solar Energy Book, which is currently in use worldwide.

Most recently, Mr. Mazria has reshaped the national and international dialogue on climate change to incorporate building design and the 'Building Sector'. He is the founder of Architecture 2030, an innovative and flexible research organization focused on protecting our global environment. He developed and issued the 2030 Challenge, a measured and achievable strategy to dramatically reduce global GHG emissions and fossil-fuel consumption by the year 2030. He speaks nationally and internationally on the subject of architecture, design, energy and climate change and has taught architecture at several universities including the University of New Mexico, University of Oregon and UCLA. His numerous awards include AIA Design Awards, AIA Design Innovation Award, American Planning Association Award, Department of Energy Awards, “Pioneer Award” from the American Solar Energy Society, first recipient of the Equinox Award presented on the 50th anniversary of construction of the world’s first commercial solar building, and most recently a 2008 National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation. He is a fellow of the Design Futures Council

Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben is an internationally renowned educator, environmentalist, and author. His writings are often focused on global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering.

Following graduation from college, McKibben joined The New Yorker magazine as a staff writer. He has since published many essays and written many books, including: The End of Nature (1989), The Age of Missing Information (1992), and Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007). McKibben is a frequent contributor to various publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside Magazine. He is also a board member of and contributor to Grist Magazine.

During the summer of 2006, McKibben led one of the nation’s largest demonstrations against global warming in American history. In 2007 McKibben founded Step It Up, a program in which over 300 events were held throughout the United States demanding Congress to enact significant curbs on carbon emissions.

McKibben has received numerous awards, including Guggenheim and Lyndhurst Fellowships and the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000. He currently lives in Ripton, Vermont with his wife Sue Halpern, also a writer, along with their daughter. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and currently organizing the 350.org initiative.

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono attended the prestigious Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Then began her lifelong work in the arts, including poetry and conceptual pieces. She is now recognized as an uncompromising and influential visionary artist. When once asked what kind of artist she was, Yoko answered, “I deal with music of the mind.” She pushes the boundaries of art, music, film, and theatre media.

Perhaps one of the most epic and monumental points of Yoko’s life was when she met John Lennon. The creative, artistic, and intellectual passions shared between Yoko and John eventually led them to marry. The two enjoyed expressing political voices through their art, and the couple’s mantra was John Lennon’s famous “Give Peace a Chance.” They staged a series of conceptual events to promote world peace during the Vietnam Era.

Since John’s death Yoko has remained active, releasing three music albums, engaging in two concert tours, and composing two off-Broadway musicals. She has also remained an avid activist for peace and human rights. In 2002, Yoko inaugurated her own peace award by giving $50,000 prize money to artists living “in regions of conflict.” In 2004, she remade her song “Everyman…Everywoman…,” in support of same-sex marriage. And in January of 2008, Yoko took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times that read “IMAGINE PEACE.”

Winnie Singh

Winnie Singh is a committed social entrepreneur, mentor, trainer, and educator with more than 15 years experience at national and grassroots levels in public health, community mobilization, and advocacy. She places a special focus in the areas of HIV/AIDS and gender equity.

Singh was born in India and graduated from Miranda House, Delhi University, where she studied Psychology and Philosophy.

Her lifelong interest in humanitarian relief has been the driving force for many new social programs in Northeast India. Singh is the Executive Director of Maitri, an organization dedicated to helping women and children dealing with HIV and AIDS. She also founded MASSES, a recycling paper plant project in Shillong, India, where women infected and affected with HIV and AIDS work alongside women from the community. Singh also advocates passionately for women survivors of sexual violence and for health education.

Singh co-founded Global Walk, an educational travel organization dedicated to fostering peace through cultural exchange and understanding and ‘Aashirwad,’ an organization committed to serving the needs of senior citizens. She serves on several honorary and advisory committees, including The Institute of Environmental Management and Social Development.

Singh is married to Lt. Gen. Bhopinder Singh, who works with Winnie in making a significant positive difference in the lives of women and children by providing them a healthy future.

Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Transylvania. When Wiesel was just fifteen, the Nazis deported his family to Auschwitz. His father, mother, and younger sister all perished during the Holocaust. After the war, Wiesel studied in Paris, where he became a journalist. He was later persuaded to write about his experiences in the death camps, which he did so in his internationally acclaimed memoir, La Nuit or Night.

As a writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor, Wiesel authored over 40 books dealing with Judaism, the Holocaust, and the moral responsibility of all people to fight hatred, racism, and genocide.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Wiesel as Chair of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. In 1980 he became the Founding Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He is also the Founding President of the Paris-based Universal Academy of Cultures. He has since received more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning.

Since 1976, Wiesel has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in Humanities at Boston University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is a professor in the Department of Religion as well as the Department of Philosophy. He has served as Distinguished Professor of Judaic Studies at the City University of New York, as well as the first Henry Luce Visiting Scholar in Humanities and Social Thought at Yale University.

Wiesel has received numerous awards for his literature and human rights activities, including The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the Medal of Liberty Award, and the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor. Wiesel received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986.

Wiesel and his wife Marion established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. They currently live in Connecticut.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Sheila Watt-Cloutier has devoted her career to improving the lives and livelihoods of Artic communities in the face of climate change and other human development challenges.

For over 10 years now, Ms. Watt-Cloutier has been a political leader representing indigenous communities in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia. From 1995 to 1998, she was the Corporate Secretary of Makivik Corporation, the Canadian Inuit land-claim organization established for Northern Quebec (Nunavik) under the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

In 1995, she was elected President of Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) Canada, a position she was re-elected to in 1998. ICC represents internationally the interests of Inuit in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

More recently, Ms. Watt-Cloutier has turned her attention to the effects of climate change on the Inuit people. In December 2005, she joined with 62 Inuit Hunters and Elders from communities across Canada and Alaska to launch one of the world's first international legal actions on climate change, contending that unchecked greenhouse gas emissions from the United States violated Inuit cultural and environmental rights.

Terry Tempest Williams

Terry Tempest Williams, a naturalist and fierce advocate for freedom of speech and environmental justice, is author of Refuge – An Unnatural History of Family and Place, An Unspoken Hunger – Stories from the Field, Desert Quartet, Leap, Red – Passion and Patience in the Desert, The Open Space of Democracy, and, most recently, Mosaic: Finding Beauty in a Broken World. Terry has served time in jail for acts of civil disobedience, testified before Congress on women’s health issues, and worked as “a barefoot artist” in Rwanda. Terry served as the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, and numerous anthologies worldwide. Terry has provided a crucial and compelling voice for ecological consciousness and compassionate social change.

 

 

Ed Blake, Advocacy Project Board Chair

With an extensive background in business management and marketing, as the Corporate Retail Operations Manager of a $27 billion dollar national company, Ed managed more than 400 employees in seven Western states and had responsibility for the sales and marketing execution of over 32 Fortune 500 companies.  In 2000 he left the national corporate structure in an effort to spend less time traveling away from home and shifted from a real estate investor to a real estate agent.  Two years later he became the Principle Broker for a local RE/MAX affiliate.

Ed has also served in many volunteer positions, including his 8 year tenure with the Salt Lake Valley Habitat for Humanity, culminating int he title of Board President.  He led a team of professionals that implemented the Habitat for Humanity ReStore currently in operation in Salt Lake City.  He established Capstone Asset Solutions, a successful national real estate sales company, and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer.

The Habitat for Humanity Community Service Award was presented to him in 2009, in addition to the Utah Philanthropy Day Heart and Hands Award.  Ed and his wife Linda make their home in downtown Salt Lake City.  They have four grown children and one granddaughter.

Gary Dodge

Gary Dodge is a shareholder in Hatch, James & Dodge, a small, specialized law firm whose practice is focused primarily on commercial litigation, business and energy. Gary received an undergraduate degree and a law degree from Brigham Young University in the late 1970s, clerked for the Honorable Monroe McKay of the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, and became a shareholder at the Salt Lake law firm now known as Parr Brown Gee & Loveless before joining his current firm. Throughout his career, Gary has represented a broad spectrum of energy clients, including industrial and commercial energy users, municipal and cooperative utilities, and energy project developers.  Gary’s current focus is energy, with a specific emphasis on development of renewable energy projects.  

Gary has long been a strong supporter of organizations championing civil and human rights for all.  Gary is particularly proud of his educational sponsorship of his three adult children who are actively engaged in good work throughout the country in non-profit and service-oriented professions.  Gary lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Kirsten, and their young son, Alexander. 

Vicky Newman

Vicky Newman, who received her PhD from Texas A&M University, teaches at the University of Utah in the Department of Communication and the Honors College. She developed the “New Meanings of the American West” program for the Honors College, which focuses on historical and contemporary perspectives of immigration. Vicky also works on environmental issues and the lives of animals.

Jill Sheinberg

Jill Sheinberg has an AB from the University of Michigan, an MA in Sociology from New School University, and a JD from Hofstra University School of Law. She practiced employment law and represented not-for profit organizations. In New York Jill taught legal research, writing, and moot court at Hofstra University School of Law. She served as a mediator at the Brooklyn Mediation Center and continued her mediation practice when she moved to Utah in 1995. Jill has served on many boards, including New York Civil Liberties Board, ACLU of Utah Board, National ACLU Board, Planned Parenthood, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Adopt-A-Native Elder. Jill headed the national outreach campaign for Heart of the Sea. She was a community organizer for Independent Television Service (ITVS) in Utah and has also worked with Working Films doing outreach for films. Jill was an organizer of Perry Street for Peace in New York City and later became involved in Women Strike for Peace. She is a founding member, past president, and current member of the board of HEAL Utah.

Kim Thronson

Kim Thronson has lived in Salt Lake City her entire life, and is a graduate of South High School, Intermountain College of Court Reporting and Stringham Real Estate School.  Her career has included work as a legal secretary, paralegal, court reporter for 8 years, and currently as a part-time real estate agent for Equity Real Estate.

Kim has been active in a number of community and charitable activities, including Board Member for Habitat for Humanity (co-chaired Annual Awards Banquet); Co-Chair of Madeleine Choir School annual auction; member of Jr. League; PTA Treasurer; SLC coordinator for US Marine Corp./Operation Santa; Board Member for Friends of the Children’s Justice Center; Live Auction Chair for Judge Memorial Catholic High School’s annual auction (2008 and 2009), and Board Member for the Salt Lake City Police Civilian Review Board. Kim has been married to Charles Thronson for 16 years, and together they have four children:  Patrick, Avery, Connor, and Nicholas.  

 

Jonathan M. Ruga, Education Project Board Chair

Jonathan Ruga, M.B.A., C.P.A., J.D., has spent the last 25 years as a lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. He is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Sentry Financial Corporation (www.sentryfinancial.com), a private company whose mission is to help companies grow, and to enhance the quality of life in our communities. One of Sentry’s major initiatives is to support the advancement of solar energy by providing financing and structuring services for solar energy projects.  Jonathan has co-authored five books on the topic of equipment leasing and finance, and currently serves on the boards of seven U.S. companies and one based in the United Kingdom.

In addition to his involvement with the High Road for Human Rights, Jonathan is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Greater Salt Lake (www.bgcgsl.org); Rowland Hall St. Mark’s School (www.rhsm.org); and the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law (www.law.utah.edu). For seven years ending in 2003, Jonathan was a Board member (and for one year was Chairman) of The Road Home (www.theroadhome.org).

Jonathan graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah College of Business with undergraduate degrees in accounting and finance, and with a Master of Business Administration degree, and obtained a law degree from the SJ Quinney College of Law, where he was a member of the Utah Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. In 2007, Jonathan received the Alumnus of the Year Award from the S.J. Quinney College of Law for his commitment to the law school and its students.  Jonathan and his wife, Tina, have three children (Jared, Ashlyn, and Jordan) and reside in Salt Lake City.

Deen Chatterjee

Deen Chatterjee teaches philosophy at the University of Utah and is the Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming multi-volume Encyclopedia of Global Justice and the Series Editor of Studies in Global Justice. His publications include, most recently, Democracy in a Global World: Human Rights and Political Participation in the 21st Century , The Ethics of Assistance: Morality and the Distant Needy, and Ethics and Foreign Intervention. Currently he is completing two books, one on the ethics of war and peace and the other on cosmopolitan justice. He is a member of the American Philosophical Association's Advisory Committee on Applied Ethics and has been a two-term member of the Association's Committee on International Cooperation. Deen has held visiting appointments at the University of Washington, New School University, University of Colorado, University of Oregon, and Harvard University. He has been a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the Institute on War and Morality at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and has sailed around the world for a semester as a visiting faculty on the "floating campus" of the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Shipboard Education.

Geralyn Dreyfous

Geralyn Dreyfous has a wide background in the arts, long experience consulting in the philanthropic sector, and is active on many boards and initiatives. She founded the Philanthropic Initiative in Boston, which guides families of wealth in strategic giving opportunities. In the film arena, Geralyn taught Documentary and Narrative Writing with Dr. Robert Coles at Harvard University and was a founder of the DoubleTake Community Service Corporation, which publishes DoubleTake Magazine. She also founded the DoubleTake Summer Institute, which brought educators, activists and emerging storytellers together to explore the connections between service, moral inquiry, and storytelling. A filmmaker as well, Geralyn produced “The Day My God Died,” a documentary on the trafficking of children for sex. She also produced the 2004 Academy Award-winning documentary “Born Into Brothels” about the children of Calcutta prostitutes. The documentary spawned the Kids With Cameras Foundation to sell the photography of children in brothels, enabling them to attend school and leave the brothels.

Tom Guinney

For nearly 30 years, Tom Guinney has been Partner and Chief of Operations, Gastronomy, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, the parent company for The New Yorker, Market Street Grill, Market Street Oyster Bar, Market Street Broiler. Growing from a handful of employees in 1978, the firm is now a major employer in Utah's important hospitality, convention, and tourist industry, employing more than 600 individuals in restaurants in downtown Salt Lake City, near the University, Cottonwood and at the RiverPark in South Jordan.

Tom is also a partner in Gastronomy’s real estate ventures, including the Salt Lake Hardware Building, the Ford Motor Building and the Firestone Building. All this involvement might lead you to think of Tom as a native Utahn, but the fact is, he grew up in the restaurant business in Newport Beach, California, by beginning his restaurant career as a dishwasher when he could barely reach the sink. From there, it has been a long and distinguished path, and it’s probably fair to conclude by saying that Tom Guinney has served more lobster, clams, shrimp, halibut and fresh salmon than anyone else in Utah.

Dennis Haslam

Jazmynn Pok

Jazmynn graduated Cum Laude from Westminster College with a dual honors degree in Environmental Studies and Political Science.  She is currently volunteering at the Maliheh Free Clinic, and hopes to continue her education to become a Physician Assistant and offer medical services to underserved populations.  Jazmynn has been involved in human rights issues since she was young partially due to the fact that her father escaped from Cambodia in 1975 with his three siblings and mother.  They came to join her grandfather who was then obtaining his Masters at UCLA. Jazmynn enjoys learning about progressive approaches to important issues including environmental sustainability, women’s rights, and History of Southeast Asia. 

Jazmynn has been involved with High Road since its conception, as she followed Rocky from his post as Mayor to his creation of High Road for Human Rights. Jazmynn has been crucial in helping High Road build relationships with High Schools and students because she believes that students in High School are the age range in which people develop passions and the benefits of community service including maintaining a social consciousness.  Jazmynn spends her free time with her five sisters and two brothers when she’s not helping out in the community.

Robert Newman

Robert Newman is Dean of the College of Humanities, Associate Vice President for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Professor of English at the University of Utah. He authored, co-authored or edited six books, including Uncommon Threads: Reading and Writing About Contemporary America; Centuries Ends, Narrative Means; Joyce’s Ulysses: The Larger Perspective; and Understanding Thomas Pynchon. He has also published numerous articles on twentieth and twenty-first century literature and culture. Robert serves as General Editor of the Cultural Frames, Framing Culture series published by University of Virginia Press. He is Executive Director of the Human Experience Coalition, a comprehensive web-based initiative currently focused on human rights issues.

Richard Sheinberg

Richard Sheinberg holds a JD and LLM in International Law from the New York University School of Law. He practiced corporate and transactional law in New York for several years then left the active practice of law to become a senior executive officer in a worldwide cosmetics and toiletries business. Richard moved to Park City, Utah where he has been engaged as a principal in real estate development. He is completing an innovative housing project that involves the re-use and complete retrofit of a Veterans Administration Hospital. Richard currently serves as the Board Chair and President of the Summit Land Conservancy and as a member of the Board of the Youth Winter Sports Alliance. Richard served as the board Chair of the Kimball Art Center and the Stratton Mountain School and as a board member of the Sugar Bowl Foundation.