Elected in 2017, Mayor Barker has worked tirelessly with both his administration and City Council members to foster progress in all five wards. This includes investments in neighborhoods across the city (paving, water and sewer improvements and major facility projects); helping champion the Hattiesburg Public School District and seeing the school district achieve an “A” rating for three consecutive years; passing new mechanisms for investments in city parks; putting the city on solid financial footing; and securing over $100 million in federal, state and private funding, including grants for two railway overpasses in downtown Hattiesburg. In 2021, Hattiesburg voters re-elected him with an 85% margin, and he won every one of the city’s nine precincts – a testament to his inclusive and equitable leadership. 

As mayor, he has worked to build strong coalitions – relationships and partnerships – with the school district, local industry leaders throughout the pillars of the city’s economy (health care, military, education, manufacturing, tourism and small business) and more to champion a spirit of progress and optimism in the city’s future. 

Toby Barker learned to build diverse coalitions to get things done during his 10 years in the Mississippi Legislature. He built a reputation as a problem solver who worked hard, took tough votes and unapologetically fought for his Central Hattiesburg district. 

Outside of public service, Toby has worked with his family-owned Barker Advertising. Before being elected to the House, Toby served as director of the Southern Miss Business Assistance Center, and the center’s business incubator eventually became part of the offerings at the Accelerator in The Garden Innovation & Commercialization Park.  

Barker moved to Hattiesburg in 2000 to attend The University of Southern Mississippi, earning a B.A. in communications in 2004 and an M.S. in economic development in 2006. While at Southern Miss, he was heavily involved in the Student Government Association, being elected student body vice president as a freshman. He was also active in his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, as well as the Baptist Student Union and Men of Excellence. He served over two months as a summer missionary in Burkina Faso, West Africa and completed several short-term mission projects in Juarez, Mexico, New England, New Orleans and the Pacific Northwest. These mission trips led him into his field of economic development.   

Brakkton Booker is a National Political Correspondent with POLITICO based in Washington D.C. He writes on the intersection of race, politics, culture and power. He is also the author of The Recast newsletter he helped launch in 2021.

Prior to joining POLITICO he spent more than 17 years at NPR, serving in various roles including a National Desk reporter. During the nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd, he led NPR’s America Reckons with Racial Injustice vertical, where he tracked high-profile encounters of Black Americans and law enforcement.

He also covered both Senate impeachment trials of former President Donald Trump and has covered national elections dating back to 2012.

Originally from the Los Angeles area, Brakkton graduated from Howard University and got his first paid journalism gig as a CBS News desk assistant during the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

As Director of the Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) Federal Liaison Center, Brock leads coalition and advocacy efforts of the Public Finance Network in Washington DC. Her advocacy includes anticipating and responding to federal legislative and regulatory activities that impact the finance functions of state and local governments and public sector entities including tax reform, municipal securities disclosure and public pension and benefit issues. Brock also serves as staff on GFOA’s Debt Committee, working with committee members to develop best practices that promote sound financial practices for local, state and provincial governments. Prior to joining GFOA, Brock was a commercial bank relationship manager at a large national bank, serving as the sole bank liaison for government and university clients.   

Brent Bryant was appointed as Oklahoma City’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on July 12, 2019. He is responsible for the development and oversight of a $1.9 billion budget along with managing the City’s AAA rated debt program. He started his career with the City in 1991 as an Internal Auditor, earning promotions to Contract Coordinator, Management and Budget Analyst, Management and Budget Specialist, Interim Risk Manager and Business Manager and Economic Development Program Manager.  

As the Economic Development Program Manager, he has managed 16 of the City’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts with a $958 million budget. Bryant negotiated more than 40 development agreements leading to more than $2 billion in new private investment. 

As CFO, Brent oversees the Office of Management and Budget, Economic Development, Treasury, Risk Management, Accounting, Procurement and Debt. Bryant is certified as an Economic Development Finance Professional through the National Development Council. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Oklahoma State University in 1991 and a master’s degree in Public Administration – Public Finance from the University of Oklahoma in 2002.  

In 2006 Brent was recognized by OKCBusiness as one of 40 under 40 who have impacted Oklahoma City. Bryant is also a graduate of Leadership OKC Class 25 and was awarded the 2018 Stanley Draper Award for his efforts in revitalizing downtown Oklahoma City. 

He and his wife, Lori have two grown children, Courtney and Cooper. 

Sophia Cai is a White House reporter at POLITICO and co-author of West Wing Playbook, a daily newsletter covering Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government. 

Before joining POLITICO, she covered the 2024 presidential campaign for Axios, traveling the country to report on Trump’s bid for re-election and the broader GOP primary field. 

Previously, she covered the White House and Congress for Bloomberg News, where she was part of the team reporting on Trump’s last-minute airlift to Walter Reed, the 2020 election and the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection. 

Kyle Cheney is a Congress reporter for POLITICO. Cheney joined the Congress team after covering the 2016 presidential election on POLITICO’s politics team. He covered the Republican primary field with a focus on the national GOP, the Republican National Convention and the internal machinations of the party as it adjusted to the emergence of Donald Trump. 

Cheney came to POLITICO in June 2012 to cover health care and spent two years covering the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and its political implications. He also covered the 2014 midterms for POLITICO’s Campaign Pro. He joined POLITICO after five years reporting on Massachusetts government and politics for the State House News Service, an independent wire service in Boston. 

Cheney, a New York native, graduated from Boston University in 2007 with a journalism degree after a semester as editor of BU’s independent student paper, The Daily Free Press. 

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther is serving his second term as the 53rd mayor of the City of Columbus, Ohio. He previously served on Columbus City Council from 2007-15, and was president of Council from 2011 until assuming the Office of the Mayor on January 1, 2016. Under his leadership, Columbus has been named “America’s Opportunity City” while setting new records for job creation and population growth.

Mayor Ginther is uniquely committed to working with community, business, and faith and labor leaders to promote equitable opportunities for every Columbus resident. Signature initiatives include launching the Comprehensive Neighborhood Safety Strategy to reduce violent crime while realizing the most significant policing reforms in city history, such as civilian oversight of police and deploying body-worn camera technology; reducing infant mortality; expanding universal pre-kindergarten; creating the city’s first-ever Office of Diversity and Inclusion and appointing the city’s most diverse mayoral leadership cabinet; forming the Columbus Women’s Commission to advance the well-being of women in the workplace; and establishing the Department of Neighborhoods to lead community-driven investments for revitalization.

Acknowledging mobility as the great equalizer, Mayor Ginther is working to provide reliable, consistent transportation options so that all Columbus residents have convenient, equitable access to jobs, education and health care. During his first year in office, the city was awarded the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge Grant, making Columbus America’s “Smart City.”

A proud graduate of Columbus City Schools, Mayor Ginther was originally elected to the Columbus Board of Education in 2001 and re-elected in 2005 before joining Council. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Earlham College, studied abroad at the University of Ulster and Queen’s College in Northern Ireland, and taught at public schools in Belfast and Derry. He also completed consecutive internships at the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, where he taught non-violence and dispute resolution.

Mayor Ginther, his wife Shannon and their daughter live in Columbus.

Victoria Guida is an economics correspondent at POLITICO and author of Capital Letter, a reported column that probes policies shaping the American economy and is closely read by policymakers and business executives. 

She provides front-line reporting about the people and institutions charged with safeguarding Americans’ wealth and wellbeing, with a particular focus on the Federal Reserve. 

From the dramatic shift in politics around trade to a housing affordability crisis and the looming challenge of rising government debt costs, she strives to provide policy analysis that is both sophisticated and accessible. 

Victoria has spent more than a decade covering economic policy, including the yearslong battle against inflation and the government response to the 2020 Covid pandemic. She has broken news about bank failures and rescues, exposed misconduct at federal agencies, and decoded Federal Reserve pronouncements. 

A Dallas native, she graduated from the University of Missouri with a double major in journalism and political science. She was previously a reporter for Inside U.S. Trade and began her career at the Charlotte Observer. 

Ward 6 Councilman and Council President Blaine A. Griffin represents one of Cleveland’s most diverse wards, encompassing the East Side neighborhoods of Fairfax, Larchmere, Little Italy, Woodland Hills, and parts of Buckeye-Shaker, University Circle, North Broadway, Slavic Village and Union-Miles.

Prior to serving on council, Councilman Griffin had been executive director of the city’s Community Relation’s Board for 11 years. He led a staff and board trustees in efforts to improve cross-culture relations throughout the city. The Community Relations Board also oversees police/community relations and youth initiatives.

Prior to City Hall, Councilman Griffin worked with the Cuyahoga Department of Justice Affairs. As a program officer, he managed community re-entry efforts and initiatives to help transition serious violent offenders from correctional facilities back into their communities. Councilman Griffin also served as a program director for the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland. He was responsible for the fiscal and operational oversight of the largest network of emergency food distribution sites in Cuyahoga County with a budget of more than $2.7 million. He managed seven staff members and more than 800 volunteers throughout Cuyahoga County to service 160 emergency food distribution centers.

Councilman Griffin began his community-based service work with the Harvard Community Services Center, as well as a community organizer and later program manager at East End Neighborhood House. While at Harvard Community Services Center, Councilman Griffin established a coalition of community residents, activists, and businesses to fight infant mortality and morbidity as part of the Healthy Family/Healthy Start project.

He is affiliated with a number of community and professional organizations: He is a member of Mount Sinai Ministries; member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity,

Inc.; F.B.I. Citizens Academy; Malone University Advisory Board; Ecclesiastes #120 Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons; and Bezaleel Consistory #15.

Griffin is a graduate of the Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levine College of Urban Affairs Leadership Academy and the Cleveland Leadership Center’s Leadership Cleveland; Class of 2014, as well as a German Marshall Memorial Fellow.

Councilman Griffin, originally from Youngstown, moved to Cleveland in 1993. He and his wife of 26 years, Jeanette, and their three sons live in the Larchmere neighborhood of Ward 6. Griffin graduated from Malone College in Canton, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. He was reelected in November 2021, and first started representing the ward in May 2017.

Amanda Karras is the Executive Director / General Counsel of the International Municipal Lawyers Association. In this capacity, Ms. Karras oversees IMLA’s governance and staff.  Ms. Karras also oversees IMLA’s legal advocacy efforts with the United States Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, and state appellate courts by reviewing and evaluating requests for IMLA’s amicus assistance, advising the legal advocacy committee regarding potential amicus cases and their significance to local government, coordinating case strategies with IMLA’s amicus authors, and drafting and revising amicus briefs. Ms. Karras has authored numerous amicus briefs including at the Supreme Court merits and petition stage as well as in federal circuit courts. Ms. Karras also coordinates the Local Government Legal Center’s work at the Supreme Court.  Additionally, Ms. Karras leads a number of working groups for IMLA on emerging issues. Ms. Karras has also co-taught a course on local government law at George Washington University Law School.  Prior to joining IMLA, Ms. Karras worked in private practice in Boston, Massachusetts, focusing on employment law and litigation, first with Ropes & Gray, LLP and later with Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP. Ms. Karras received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Colby College and earned her Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School, graduating magna cum laude. Ms. Karras served as an Articles Editor for the Suffolk University Law School Law Review. Ms. Karras is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, and the United States Supreme Court. 

Rosie Rios is the Chair of America 250, the United States Congressional Commission planning the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. She served as the 43rd Treasurer of the United States and was the CEO of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Mint, including Fort Knox with oversight over 4,000 employees and a $5 billion budget. She also initiated and led the efforts to place a portrait of a woman on U.S. currency for the first time in over a century. Following her eight-year tenure, she was appointed as a Visiting Scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University with a focus on Millennials and Post-Millennials and resumed her role as CEO of Red River Associates, an investment management consulting firm and a co-host of several reality series focused on pre-IPO investments. Rosie served twice on the Treasury/Federal Reserve Transition Teams on behalf of President Barack Obama at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and again during the pandemic economy of 2020 on behalf of President Biden. 

Rosie’s entire career has focused on real estate finance, economic development, and urban revitalization in both the public and private sectors. Prior to her presidential appointment in Treasury, she was Managing Director of Investments for MacFarlane Partners, a $22 billion real estate investment management firm based in San Francisco. She is a graduate of Harvard University and was selected as the first Latina in Harvard’s 388-year history to have a portrait commissioned in her honor. The portrait was unveiled in Winthrop House in 2019. She currently serves on the board of American Family Insurance, Ripple Labs, Inc., and Fidelity Charitable Trust and was previously a board member for the Alameda County Employees Retirement Association (ACERA) prior to her time in the Obama Administration. Her personal passion includes serving as Founder and CEO of EMPOWERMENT 2026, an initiative that facilitates the physical recognition of historical American women in classrooms and public spaces across the country.  Rosie is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was honored as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century.  

Elena Schneider is a national political reporter at POLITICO, where she covers the 2024 presidential campaign. In 2022, she was a part of the POLITICO team that won the Toner Prize for their coverage of the fall of Roe v. Wade. Before jumping to presidential politics in 2020, Schneider reported on House, Senate and gubernatorial races during the 2018 and 2016 cycles at POLITICO. She also worked as a news assistant and a freelancer for The New York Times’ D.C. bureau. Her work has also appeared in The Texas Tribune and Texas Monthly. She earned a master’s and a bachelor’s in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Schneider is a North Carolina native. 

Director of Government Affairs Ana D. Schwab works with communities, special districts and stakeholders on matters regarding water, wastewater, environmental and infrastructure issues. Ana draws on her years of experience working in Washington, D.C. to track, advance and guide the development of legislative and regulatory language to build solutions for clients. Ana utilizes the nexus of legal, policy, funding and regulatory processes to advance clients’ goals. 

Accomplishments include playing an instrumental role in the passage of land transfer legislation and amendments to legislation regarding primary water and infrastructure funding and regulatory policy, as well as other pieces of legislation and amendments. Additionally, Ana secured federal funding for water, wastewater and recycling projects. She works with key stakeholders on developing funding and infrastructure solutions for cross borderwater pollution. 

Before joining Best Best & Krieger LLP, Ana served as a legislative coordinator and legislative assistant at two national law firms. She also served as professional staff for two members of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Throughout his career, Greg Stanton has worked tirelessly to deliver results for Arizona families. Serving as Phoenix mayor from 2012 to 2018, he focused on building an economy rooted in innovation and trade. Under his leadership, Phoenix created thousands of quality jobs and recently saw the highest wage growth in the nation. 

Congressman Stanton has earned a reputation for working across the aisle to get things done. His biggest accomplishments in Phoenix were passed with bipartisan support: the City’s investment in the biosciences and higher education, support for small businesses, and national recognition for leadership on LGBT equality.  In 2015, Stanton won reelection and successfully led one of the most ambitious transportation initiatives in the country—a bipartisan, voter-backed plan to extend Phoenix’s light rail system, expand bus service, and improve thousands of miles of roadways over the next 35 years. 

During his time in Congress, Stanton has focused on planning for the state’s water future, investing in public transportation and infrastructure, building Arizona’s economy of the future and lowering costs for working families. 

Stanton is a member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. 

Before his election as mayor, Representative Stanton served nine years on the Phoenix City Council and as Arizona’s Deputy Attorney General. He attended Marquette University on the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and earned a law degree from the University of Michigan. 

Greg and his wife Nicole have two children. 

Rick Su is a Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he teaches and writes in the areas of local government law, immigration, and federalism. His research focuses on the intersection between cities, immigration, and the criminal justice system. His work has appeared in the Columbia Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Emory Law Journal, and North Carolina Law Review. He is also a co-author of the casebook “State and Local Government Law.” 

Su received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 2001 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2004. After graduating from law school, he clerked for The Honorable Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and worked in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He started his teaching career at the University at Buffalo School of Law, where he won the faculty teaching award in 2009 and 2015. He was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School in 2015 and Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in 2018. 

John Thune grew up in Murdo, South Dakota. His interest in politics was sparked at a young age after making five of six free throws during a freshman high school basketball game. He was later greeted by a spectator who said, “I noticed you missed one.” That spectator happened to be a well-known sports enthusiast and then-South Dakota U.S. Rep. Jim Abdnor. The introduction was the start of a friendship that ignited Thune’s career in public service. 

Senator Thune received his undergraduate degree at Biola University and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Dakota. Upon completion of his master’s degree in 1984, he married Kimberley Weems, a native of Doland, South Dakota. 

His attraction to public service took him to Washington, D.C., to work for that sports enthusiast and then-U.S. Sen. Jim Abdnor. He then served at the Small Business Administration under an appointment from President Ronald Reagan. 

In 1989, Senator Thune and his family returned to South Dakota, where he served as the executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party. In 1991, then-Gov. George S. Mickelson appointed him to be state railroad director, a position he held until 1993, when he became executive director of the South Dakota Municipal League. 

In 1996, with a shoestring budget and the support of family and friends, Thune won his first term as South Dakota’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was re-elected to a second term by the largest margin in South Dakota history. He returned again to Washington in 2001 to serve his third term in the House. 

Senator Thune then honored his 1996 campaign pledge to serve only three terms in the House. After a narrow loss in a U.S. Senate race in 2002, he won his current Senate seat in 2004, when he made history by defeating a sitting Senate party leader for the first time in 52 years. 

In 2010, Senator Thune was elected to serve a second term in the Senate in a rare unopposed race. He was only the third Republican and the only South Dakotan to run unopposed for the Senate since direct elections were created in 1913 and was elected to a third term in 2016. In 2022, he became the second South Dakotan in history to be elected to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate.  

For the 119th Congress, Senator Thune serves on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and the Finance Committee. He also serves as the Senate Majority Leader and has previously served as the Senate Republican Whip from 2019-2024, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee from 2009–2011, and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference from 2012-2018. 

Senator Thune and his wife Kimberley live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and they have two grown daughters and six grandchildren. In his free time, the senator enjoys spending time with his family, pheasant hunting and running. 

Lee Zeldin was sworn in as the 17th Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on January 29, 2025.

Administrator Zeldin has dedicated his life to public service. He is currently in his 22nd year in the United States military, having deployed to Iraq in 2006 with the Army’s Elite 82nd Airborne Division and continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve. He served in the New York State Senate from 2011-2014 and later represented New York’s 1st Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 2015-2023.

During his eight years in Congress, Zeldin worked across party lines to preserve the Long Island Sound and Plum Island. He supported key legislation that became historic, bipartisan success stories like the Great American Outdoors Act and Save our Seas Act to clean up plastics from our oceans. He also led the fight for Sea Grant, combated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, voted for the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, and supported clean energy projects on Long Island.

At just 23, Lee became the youngest attorney in New York State at the time.

Born and raised in Suffolk County, New York, Lee and his wife Diana are proud parents to their twin daughters, Mikayla and Arianna.