Panelists

Meet our Fall 2020 Speaker

Yamiche Alcindor

White House Correspondent, PBS NewsHour; NBC and MSNBC Political Contributor

In today’s ever-changing political landscape, Yamiche Alcindor has become a go-to voice in analyzing the most critical issues of our time, for Democrats and Republicans alike. As the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour and an NBC and MSNBC Political Contributor, Alcindor begins her day around 5 a.m., methodically unraveling the steady stream of breaking news to help her listeners – and your audience – make sense of it all.

Alcindor’s knack for following the story has taken her to places like Belgium for the 2018 North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting. She traveled to Helsinki, Finland, for President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and McAllen, Texas, to chronicle life on the US/Mexican border and gauge the impact of President Trump’s family separation policy.

As an MSNBC contributor, Alcindor often appears on Morning Joe, Andrea Mitchell Reports, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Meet the Press. Earlier in her career, she was a national reporter for The New York Times, writing about politics and social issues, and a journalist with USA Today.

The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Alcindor has written extensively on the intersection of race and politics. She has covered the impact of President Trump’s policies on the working-class, immigration, and breaking news coming out of the Middle East and Asia. She reported on the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, the legacy of President Obama as well as how police killings affect communities and children.

Named “Emerging Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists, Alcindor has become a steadily rising voice in journalism. She earned a master’s degree in broadcast news and documentary filmmaking from New York University and a bachelor’s in English, government and African American studies from Georgetown University.

Meet our Fall 2019 Speaker

Chuck Todd, NBC News political director and moderator of “Meet the Press,” spearheads the network’s premier political coverage, offering his sharp analysis and translation of Beltway politics across all platforms – zeroing in on what really matters in Washington and why.

His success as moderator of “Meet the Press,” the longest-running show in television history and #1 most-watched Sunday show, inspired “MTP Daily”, 5 p.m. weekdays on MSNBC, and his podcast The Chuck ToddCast. In commemoration of its 70 years, “Meet the Press” launched its first-ever documentary film festival in November 2017 in collaboration with the American Film Institute.

Prior to taking the helm of “Meet the Press” in September 2014, Todd served as NBC News chief White House correspondent (2008-2014), traveling around the world with President Obama and reporting on the main pillars of his presidency, including the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

He is the author of “How Barack Obama Won” (2009) and “The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House” (2014).

In 2007, Tim Russert, then-Washington bureau chief and “Meet the Press” moderator, recruited Todd to join NBC News as the network’s political director – a title Chuck still holds proudly today. Prior to joining NBC News, Todd worked at the National Journal’s “The Hotline” for 15 years, serving for six of those years as the editor-in-chief.

Todd is a native of Miami and currently resides in Arlington, Va. with his wife, Kristian, and two children.

Follow Todd on Twitter and on Facebook.

Meet our Spring 2019 Speaker

Congressman Stephen Cohen is a fourth-generation Memphian who has represented Tennessee’s 9^th Congressional District since 2007, and now serves as chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

He also serves as a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on the Ethics Committee and on the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (The Helsinki Commission). He served as a State Senator from 1982 to 2006, as a Shelby County Commissioner from 1978 to 1980 and had a private law practice from 1978 to 2006.

His first elective office was as a delegate and vice president at Tennessee’s 1977 Constitutional Convention. Cohen is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (1971) and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law (1973).

Meet our Fall 2018 Panelists

 

Seung Min Kim is a White House reporter for The Washington Post, covering the Trump administration through the lens of Capitol Hill. Before joining The Washington Post in 2018, she spent more than eight years at Politico, primarily covering the Senate and immigration policy.

Education: University of Iowa, BS in Journalism and Political Science; American University, MA in Journalism

 

 

David Winston is the president of The Winston Group, a Washington, D.C. strategic planning and survey research firm. Winston has served as a strategic advisor to Senate and House Republican leadership for the past 10 years. He was formerly the Director of Planning for Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and advises center-right political parties throughout Europe. Additionally Winston was a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation where he did statistical policy analysis and econometric modeling. In the private sector, he has advised Fortune 100 companies on strategic planning and brand reputation.

Winston has lectured at The Wharton of School of Business, MIT, Harvard, and the National War College. His writings have appeared in a variety of publications, and he authored the chapter on Strategy for the college textbook Campaigns and Elections American Style. He is credited for originating the concept of “security mom” and played a key role in developing the narrative “where are the jobs” for the 2010 election cycle. Winston is an election analyst for CBS News, and frequently appears on cable and network news.

 

Celinda Lake is one of the Democratic Party’s leading political strategists, serving as tactician and senior advisor to the national party committees, dozens of Democratic incumbents, and challengers at all levels of the electoral process. Celinda and her firm are known for cutting-edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education, and have worked for a number of institutions including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA), AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, IAFF, Sierra Club, NARAL, Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, The Next Generation, EMILY’s List, VoteVets Action Fund, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Her international work has included work in Liberia, Haiti, Ukraine, South Africa, and Central America. In 2008, Celinda worked as pollster for Vice President Biden. Celinda is one of the nation’s foremost experts on electing women candidates and on framing issues to women voters.