PDA Entertainment Search Results

Name Description
R.W. Apple, Jr. For 30 years, R. W. Apple, Jr. has roamed the United States and the world, traveling close to a quarter of a million miles a year as an eyewitness to history during the most eventful periods in the modern era. The Chief Correspondent for The New York Times, R.W. Apple, Jr. has known and interviewed every President since Lyndon B. Johnson, plus Senators, Governors and world leaders on five continents. Few journalists of our time have seen as many great events; for that reason he is a sought-after commentator on television in the United States and abroad. He participates regularly in major international forums discussing diplomatic, economic and military questions.
Coach Carter Coach Carter is a coach, author, educator and inspiration for the movie Coach Carter, featuring Samuel L. Jackson. The movie recounts Carter’s decision to literally lock his undefeated, state play-off bound basketball team out of the gym and force them to hit the books. Coach Carter is an advocate for Richmond's youth and is active in his community. He is diligent in providing them with opportunities to build meaningful relationships with their peers and caring adults, and recognizes the advantages inherent in a sound sports program. In October, 2000 he announced his plans to travel from Richmond High School to the steps of the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Using only a kick scooter, Carter traveled for 3 days to Sacramento hoping to draw awareness to the deteriorating state of our schools and the need for students, parents, teachers, and school board officials to commit to making a difference. His efforts proved successful, and subsequently Richmond High received building enhancements and computers from the Office of the Secretary of Education. Under the direction and guidance of Coach Carter, in December of 2000, 11 students from Australia arrived in the U.S. to promote peace and to learn first hand what it takes to be an American high school basketball player. Coach Carter found a way to bring something positive to the lives of Richmond High students, where heroes and positive role models are few and far between. Using basketball as the common bond, the intention of the visit was to offer these students an opportunity to meet each other, gain awareness about each others' culture and communities, and to learn hands-on about what it takes to be a top-notch American athletic. Carter feels that exchanges such as these are needed to promote a more just and peaceful place for us all to live in.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a prominent, often controversial author, film maker and critic of Islam. She was a member of the Tweede Kamer (the Lower House of the States-General of the Netherlands) for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from January 30, 2003 until May 16, 2006. Hirsi Ali has had to maintain a high level of security due to threats against her life for voicing views critical of certain aspects of Islam. For example, her film Submission, directed by Theo van Gogh (who himself was assassinated for his works), made her one of the targets of the Hofstad Network. On May 15, 2006, officials of the Netherlands government cast doubt on Hirsi Ali's status as a Dutch national, due to concerns related to the fact that in order to obtain refugee status in the Netherlands she had provided false information. She later used the same false information when she applied for, and was granted, Dutch citizenship. The Dutch minister of immigration and integration, Rita Verdonk, moved to annul her citizenship, a move that was overridden by order of the Prime Minister. She released to the New York Times personal letters from her father and other family members that affirmed her story about fleeing a forced marriage. On June 27, 2006, the Dutch government announced that Hirsi Ali would keep her Dutch citizenship. On May 16, Hirsi Ali announced resignation from parliament and confirmed her previous statement that she would move to the United States to work at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Her prospective arrival in September 2006 was welcomed by Deputy US Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.
Dr. Keith Ablow Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist, writer and television personality who treats men and women across the country, in Europe and in Asia who come from every corner of society—college students, married couples, Fortune 500 executives, the homeless, mental health professionals and high-ranking government officials. In addition to Dr. Ablow’s ongoing work with patients, he has testified as an expert witness on forensic psychiatry in some of America’s most highly-publicized trials. The root of Ablow’s unique ability to "reach" patients and the foundation of his writing is that all of us suffer, that none of us is born evil, and that we must be helped to confront the truth about our lives. Ablow graduated Brown University and the Johns Hopkins Medical School. While a medical student, he worked as a reporter for Newsweek magazine and a freelancer for the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun, as well as a medical editor and producer for Lifetime Medical Television in New York and Los Angeles. He also wrote his first book, a guide to gaining admission to medical school and preserving one’s humanity during the four grueling years that follow. Following his studies, Ablow entered a psychiatry residency at Tufts/New England Medical Center hospitals (where he is now an assistant professor). He continued to write about psychiatry and social issues for publications such as U.S. News and World Report and USA Today. He also wrote three more books: How to Cope with Depression, To Wrestle with Demons, and Anatomy of a Psychiatric Illness. In 1990, Dr. Ablow’s close friend and fellow psychiatry resident was murdered. This tragedy prompted him to write Without Mercy, a true crime book examining the killer’s life and the use of the insanity defense at his trial. After residency, Ablow served as medical director of the Tri-City Mental Health Centers, one of the country’s oldest networks of community psychiatry clinics. He also was medical director of Heritage Health Systems, a state-wide spectrum of medical, psychiatric and addiction facilities. Today, Ablow is busier than ever. His USA Today bestselling psychiatric thrillers featuring Dr. Frank Clevenger include Denial, Projection, Compulsion, Psychopath, Murder Suicide and The Architect. His true crime book, Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, hit the New York Times Bestseller list this year. He is a contributing editor to Good Housekeeping magazine, and his columns have appeared there, as well as in The New York Times and Cosmopolitan. He is also a frequent guest on programs including Oprah, Tyra, Good Morning America, Good Day NY, Catherine Crier Live and many others. Dr. Ablow is now at work on a self-help book (Little, Brown, April, 2007) that will make his healing philosophy and techniques available to readers everywhere. His syndicated talk show, Dr. Keith Ablow, produced by Telepictures and LMNO TV, will begin airing across the nation in September.
Ken Burns Ken Burns Celebrated documentary filmmaker Program Title: An Evening With Ken Burns Ken Burns has been making documentary films for more than twenty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War (1990) and Baseball (1994). Stephen Ambrose, the historian, has said of Ken's films, "More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source." JAZZ (a GM Mark of Excellence Presentation that will air on PBS in January, 2001) is Burns's third epic documentary, a ten-part that follows this most American of art forms from its origins in blues and ragtime through swing, bebop and fusion. As with The Civil War and Baseball, which with JAZZ constitute a unique trilogy of American life and culture, Burns explores in detail the culture, politics and dreams that gave birth to this most integral part of American history and life. As he wrote in the introduction to the companion book (Knopf, 2000), "having grappled with many Constitutional issues in our Civil War series and many other films, and having explored our national pastime and its exquisite lessons in our series on Baseball, we have over the last six years struggled to understand the utterly American art form of jazz. Ken's epics have received numerous accolades. The Civil War was the highest rated series in the history of American public television and attracted an audience of 40 million during its premiere in September 1990. The columnist George Will said, "If better use has ever been made of television, I have not seen it and do not expect to see better until Ken Burns turns his prodigious talents to his next project." The series was honored with more than 40 major film and television awards. The eighteen and a half hour long Baseball, for which Ken was also the director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer, music director and executive producer, attracted more than 45 million viewers. David Bianculli of the New York Daily News said that the film "resonates like a Mozart symphony." Time Magazine wrote that "Baseball is rich in drama, irresistible as nostalgia, and...an instructive window into our national psychology." The film won numerous awards, including an Emmy, the CINE Golden Eagle Award, the Clarion Award, and the Television Critics Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sports and Special Programming.
Richard Butler UN arms negotiator and executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) which was charged with the disarmament of Iraq from 1997 to 1999. Prior to that Richard Butler was Australian Ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations. He is now a diplomat in residence at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Matthew Cossolotto Founder and president, Matthew Cossolotto, has enjoyed a multifaceted communications career that includes eight years as a congressional aide followed by senior-level speechwriting and executive communications positions at GTE, Pepsi-Cola International and MCI, where he served as speechwriter to Chairman and CEO William G. McGowan. Over the years, Matthew has developed speeches and/or coached speakers for a variety of prestigious venues, including the Economic Club of Detroit, the National Press Club, Houston Forum, Cleveland City Club, SuperComm, the Microsoft CEO Summit, and the UN General Assembly. The author of HabitForce! How to Kick the Habits of F.A.I.L.U.R.E. and Adopt the Habits of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., Matthew conducts customized “Harness Your HabitForce!” workshops and presentations for a variety of audiences, including corporations, associations, students and at-risk youth, professional and educational organizations, and community groups. His HabitForce!-based, personal change and empowerment programs focus on helping people and organizations recognize, reject and replace the patterns of thought and behavior that hold them back. He is a principal faculty member for the Transformative Leadership Summits sponsored by the Liminal Group. In addition to his HabitForce! and Podium Power presentation skills workshops, Matthew speaks to audiences about the Shakespeare authorship mystery and about ways to reform our democracy. He is currently working on several writing projects, including a new book entitled: "There’s No Such Thing As Public Speaking".
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Acclaimed as an eloquent commentator and formidable intellectual force on multicultural and African American issues, Gates has held additional appointments at Yale, Cornell, and Duke. Born and raised in Piedmont, West Virginia, Gates grew up during a period of racial transition in the 1950s and 1960s. Currently, Professor Gates is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center, the first comprehensive scholarly online resource in the field of African American Studies and Africana Studies. He is co-editor with K. Anthony Appiah of the encyclopedia Encarta Africana published on CD-ROM by Microsoft. His latest book is Finding Oprah’s Roots, Finding Your Own, a meditation on genetics, genealogy, and race. His other recent books include America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans, African American Lives, and The Annotated Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 2006, Professor Gates wrote and produced the PBS documentary called African American Lives, the first documentary series to employ genealogy and science to provide an understanding of African American history. In 2007, a follow-up one-hour documentary, “Oprah’s Roots: An African American Lives Special,” aired on PBS, further examining the genealogical and genetic heritage of Oprah Winfrey, who had been featured in the original documentary. Professor Gates is currently at work on a four-hour sequel to “African American Lives,” which is scheduled to air in February 2008. In addition to writing, Professor Gates has had a profound impact on the literary world by authenticated and facilitated the publication of Our Nig, or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, by Harriet Wilson, the first novel published by an African American woman. As well as The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts, dating from the early 1850s and now considered one of the first novels written by an African American woman. Through out his long and decorated career, Gates has been a part of many writing, publishing and editorial endeavors. Professor Gates earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge, and his B.A. summa cum laude in History from Yale University. He became a member of Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year at Yale.
Alexander Haig One of the Most Decorated Military and Civilian Figures of Our Time Upon graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1947, Alexander M. Haig was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army, serving in Japan with the 1st Cavalry Division and on the staff of General Douglas MacArthur, in the Korean War with the X Corps and as aide to Lieutenant General Edward M. (Ned) Almond, and in Europe. He served in the Pentagon from 1962-1965 and in Vietnam in 1966-1967 as battalion and brigade commander, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism. Among his many other military decorations are the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple heart, and decorations from Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Morocco, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Portugal. In January 1969, he became the Senior Military Advisor to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Dr. Henry Kissinger, and later became Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In 1972, he was promoted to full General. During his four years in the White House, he served as the personal emissary of the President to negotiate the Vietnam ceasefire and the return of U.S. prisoners of war. He also coordinated President Nixon’s historic visit to China. General Haig was serving as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army when President Nixon named him White House Chief of Staff, at which point he retired after twenty-six years in the Army. In October 1974 at his request, President Ford recalled him to active duty as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. European. Two months later he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, responsible for the integrated military forces of NATO. In 1979, he resigned his post and retired from the Army. He was elected president and COO of United Technologies Corporation, also serving on its board of directors. In January 1981, he was sworn in as the 59th U.S. Secretary of State. General Haig is currently chairman of his own advisory firm, Worldwide Associates, Inc., assisting corporations around the world in providing strategic advice on global, political, economic, commercial and security matters. He is host of the weekly television program, “World Business Review,” and is a member of the board of directors of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, Inc, MGM Mirage, inc., Indevus Pharmaceuticals, inc., and the Chairman of the Board of DOR BioPharma, Inc. He was a founding Director of America Online, Inc. General Haig is the author of two books: Caveat: Realism, Reagan and Foreign Policy (1984), and his autobiography, Inner Circles: How America Changed the World – A Memoir (1992).
Henry J. Heimlich, MD Famous medical researcher, surgeon and developer of the “Heimlich Maneuver.”
John Hennessy The founder of MIPS Computer Systems Inc., is currently serving as the 10th President of Stanford University. He earned his Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University, and his Master's degree and Ph.D. in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Hennessy became a Stanford faculty member in 1977. In 1984, he used his sabbatical year to found MIPS Computer Systems Inc. to commercialize his research in RISC processors. In 1987, he became the Willard and Inez Kerr Bell Endowed Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Hennessy served as director of Stanford's Computer System Laboratory (1989-1993), a research center run by Stanford's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments. He was chair of the Department of Computer Science (1994-1996) and Dean of the School of Engineering (1996-1999). Hennessy and David A. Patterson have written two well-known books about computer architecture, Computer Organization and Design: the Hardware/Software Interface (2 editions; latest is ISBN 1558604286) and Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (3 editions, latest is ISBN 1558603298). They have been widely used as textbooks for graduate and undergraduate courses since 1990.
Immaculee Ilibagiza Immaculee Ilibagiza is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and author of Left to Tell and Led by Faith. Immaculee is a living example of faith put into action. Immaculees life was transformed dramatically during the 1994 Rwandan genocide when she and seven other women spent 91 days hiding, huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastors house. She emerged to find that nearly her entire family had been brutally murdered. Immaculee found solace and peace in prayer and began to pray from the time she opened her eyes in the morning to the time she closed her eyes at night. Through prayer, she eventually found it possible, and in fact imperative, to forgive her tormentors and her familys murderers. This is a powerful presentation of faith and forgiveness.
Eugene Jarecki Eugene Jarecki is an award winning dramatic and documentary filmmaker and visiting senior fellow at Brown Universitys Watson Institute. After training at Princeton as a stage director, Jarecki turned to film in 1992, and his first short film, Season of the Litterbees, premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival before winning both a Student Academy Award and the Time Warner Grand Prize at the Aspen Film Festival. His most recent film, Why We Fight, won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He also directed the award-winning film The Trials of Henry Kissinger, 2001s dramatic feature The Opponent, and Quest of the Carib Canoe. His experience behind the camera and tackling challenging topics makes Jarecki an exciting keynote speaker. In 2008, Eugene Jarecki released, The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril. The book reveals America at a crossroads, and focuses on what can be done to get the country back on track. Examining American military might, it is a unique appraisal of the balance of power in American democracy and what can be done to preserve our goverment as a beacon of hope around the world.
Major General John G. Castellaw Major General John G. Castellaw talks on “Iraq, Afghanistan and the Road Ahead in the Global War on Terrorism.” General Castellaw will provide a clear picture of the current situation in Iraq. He will provide insight into the rebuilding process and the road ahead in America’s fight against extremists in one of the most dynamic areas of the world.
Kwame Kilpatrick Since taking office in 2002 as the youngest mayor of any major U.S. city, Kwame M. Kilpatrick has led tremendous growth in the city of Detroit including the biggest housing and commercial construction boom in 50 years, the largest road and infrastructure improvement program in decades, and a $2-billion overhaul of Detroit’s riverfront. After decades of decline, Detroit is experiencing a revival thanks to Mayor Kilpatrick’s leadership that has been recognized by media including the New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and the Financial Times of London.
Dr. Henry Lee Dr. Henry C. Lee is one of the world’s foremost forensic scientists. Dr. Lee’s work has made him a landmark in modern-day criminal investigations. He has been a prominent player in many of the most challenging cases of the last 45 years. Dr. Lee has worked with law enforcement agencies in helping to solve more than 6000 cases. In recent years, his travels have taken him to England, Bosnia, China, Brunei, Bermuda, Middle East, South America and other locations around the world. Dr. Lee’s testimony figured prominently in the O. J. Simpson trial, and in convictions of the “Woodchipper” murderer as well as hundreds of other murder cases. Dr. Lee has assisted local and state police in their investigations of other famous crimes, such as the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, the 1993 suicide of White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the murder of Chandra Levy, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart and the reinvestigation of the Kennedy assassination. Dr. Lee is currently the Chief Emeritus for the Scientific Services and was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the State of Connecticut from 1998 to 2000 and served as Chief Criminalist for the State of Connecticut from 1979 to 2000. Dr. Lee was the driving force in establishing a modern State Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Connecticut. In 1975, Dr. Lee joined the University of New Haven, where he created the school’s Forensic Sciences program. He has also taught as a professor at more than a dozen universities, law schools, and medical schools. Though challenged with the demands on his time, Dr. Lee still lectures throughout the country and world to police, Universities and civic organizations. Dr. Lee has authored hundreds of articles in professional journals and has co-authored more than 30 books, covering the areas, such as; DNA, Fingerprints, Trace Evidence, Crime Scene Investigation and Crime scene reconstruction. His recent books; Famous Crimes Revisited, Cracking Cases and Blood Evidence have been well received by the public. Dr. Lee has been the recipient of numerous medals and awards, including the 1996 Medal of Justice from the Justice Foundation, and the 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Science and Engineer Association. He has also been the recipient of the Distinguished Criminalist Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; the J. Donero Award from the International Association of Identification, and in 1992 was elected a distinguished Fellow of the AAFS. Dr. Lee was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. Dr. Lee first worked for the Taipei Police Department, attaining the rank of Captain. With his wife, Margaret, Dr. Lee came to the United States in 1965, and he earned his B.S. in Forensic Science from John Jay College in 1972. Dr. Lee continued his studies in biochemistry at NYU where he earned his Masters Degree in 1974 and Ph.D. in 1975. He has also received special training from the FBI Academy, ATF, RCMP, and other organizations. He is a recipient of seven honorary Doctorate Degrees from Universities in recognition of his contributions to Law and Science.
Chris Lowney Chris Lowney, formerly a Jesuit, was named a Managing Director of J.P. Morgan & Co. while still in his thirties and held senior positions in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and London. He served on Morgan's Asia-Pacific, European and Investment Banking Management Committees, accumulating a wealth of multinational experience at a company regularly ranked one of "America's Most Admired Companies" by Fortune magazine. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Lowney was a Jesuit seminarian for seven years. During that time, he taught and studied at Jesuit institutions in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Fordham University, where he also received his M.A. and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is holder of honorary Doctoral degrees from Marymount Manhattan University and from the University of Great Falls. Lowney serves on the Board of Directors of Nativity Middle School and on the Board of Regents of St. Peter's College. He lives in New York, where he serves part-time as Special Assistant to the President of the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), the leading U.S.-based Catholic charity providing health care programs and services to people in need around the world. He has travelled to Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, and India to help launch CMMB's major initiatives targeted at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. At least twenty percent of Lowney's royalties from the U.S. editions of his works are donated to charities providing education and health care to impoverished children in the developing world. Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World was the #1 ranked bestseller of the CBPA and was named a finalist for a 2003 Book of the Year Award from ForeWord magazine. Now available in paperback after four hardcover printings, it has already been translated into more than a half-dozen foreign languages. A Vanished World, recently published by Free Press/Simon & Schuster, has been awarded a starred review by Publishers Weekly. Mr. Lowney is a popular speaker on topics as varied as leadership, business ethics, and inter-religious dialogue, with engagements in some two-dozen U.S. cities and in non-U.S. locations as diverse as the Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, Colombia, and Spain.
Martha Montoya Martha Montoya is the Founder and President of Los Kitos and a Board Member of the Latino Business Association. Montoya built Los Kitos Entertainment LLC, which focuses on syndication of the Los Kitos bilingual cartoon strip to over 300 Spanish language newspapers in the U.S., the licensing of the characters to over 25 licensees, and LKELLC, which offers U.S. Hispanic market entry services to a variety of organizations. The Los Kitos cartoon strip can be read daily in newspapers worldwide, on the Internet, and heard in America and abroad through a weekly radio broadcast. Montoya has received many honors, including the Film Advisory Board Cartoonist of the Year Award, the National Hispanic Publications Cartoonist Award, Latin Business Association Latina Entrepreneur of the Year, Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year for 2002 by California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Hispanic Business 2002, and Hispanic Magazine 2003 honoring her as one of the 100 most influential people in the U.S. market. Montoya earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of La Salle, Bogota, Colombia.
Tyler Perry Tyler Perry became America's most successful young playwright and the writer, producer and co-star of the box office hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman. But it was a long hard road. In 1992 Perry wrote letters to himself in an effort to deal with his childhood pain. These would provide the basis for the musical I Know I've Been Changed about adult survivors of child abuse. Tyler Perry saved $12,000 and moved to Atlanta in 1992, where he tried to stage the play. Initially, however, I Know I've Been Changed was a flop. Hardly anyone came to the shows and over the next 6 years, Tyler Perry found himself homeless on several occasions, and doing dozens of different jobs to support his determination that the play would succeed. He had come to the point of giving up on the show, when in 1998, the turning point came. I Know I've Been Changed opened at the House of Blues and sold out eight times over before moving to the Fox Theater where it sold out 9,000 seats for two shows. Since then Tyler Perry has been on a roll. His next production, Woman Thou Art Loosed based on the book by Bishop T.D. Jakes grossed over $5 million in five months. Further productions including I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Behind Closed Doors, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, Madea's Class Reunion, Meet the Browns, and Madea Goes to Jail have meant that the once broke Perry has now earned tens of millions of dollars.
Morgan Spurlock Morgan Spurlock is an independent documentary film director, TV producer, and screenwriter, known for the documentary film Super Size Me, in which he demonstrated the health effects of McDonald's food by eating nothing but McDonalds three times a day, every day, for one month. Spurlock is also the executive producer and star of the reality television series 30 Days.
Tom Tso Tom Tso played a pioneering role in establishing modern Anglo-American law and legal processes in the Navajo Nation while upholding tribal values, independence, and integrity. As the first Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation Supreme Court at its establishment 1985, Tom served as its widely respected leader until his disability retirement in 1991. After graduating from high school in 1965, Tom served as a Marine, earning the Purple Heart in 1966 for wounds he sustained as a sergeant in Vietnam. His training in legal services began in 1970, at the Navajo Legal Aid and Defender Services, where he was an interpreter, investigator, and court advocate. In 1978, he was appointed director of the Tribal Law and Development Litigation Unit of Department of Native Affairs-People's Legal Services, Inc. In March 1982, Tom was appointed District Court Judge, where he presided over civil, criminal, and juvenile cases for four years before being appointed Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation. At his confirmation in 1985, Tom said, "No person can be guaranteed fairness and impartiality from the courts unless the judges and courts are free to carry out their duties without the possibility of any type of influence from any other person or government body." Because the Navajo Nation operates without a constitution, there has been serious debate about the role of the tribal courts in deciding legal issues about the structure of the Navajo Nation government. Tom's calm and steady efforts to maintain the independence and primacy of the Navajo judiciary over Navajo Nation affairs and to keep the court's focus on its judicial mission amid intense controversy won praise from every quarter. Tom rejects the melting pot image where "everybody blends together to form an indistinguishable mixture. This is fine for people who come to this country and want to jump into the pot. The real measure of tolerance and respect may well be how successfully the outside world can coexist with tribes." Tom has been particularly successful in helping non-Native Americans better understand the Navajo emphasis on traditional relationships with nature and the effect this has on cases involving natural resources and the environment.
Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American media mogul and philanthropist. He is perhaps best known for founding CNN and Turner Classic Movies and his $1 billion pledge to the United Nations. Turner served as vice chairman of Time Warner Inc., a position he assumed in October 1996, following the merger of Time Warner Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. As vice chairman, Turner oversaw the Time Warner cable networks division, which consists of the assets of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., including the domestic and international arms of Cable News Network (CNN), Cartoon Network, Headline News, TBS Superstation, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Turner Network Television (TNT), as well as Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), Cinemax, Warner Bros. International Networks, and Time Warner's interest in Comedy Central and Court TV. He also oversaw New Line Cinema and the company's professional sports teams-Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves, National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks and the Thrashers, Atlanta's National Hockey League expansion team. In January 2001, he became vice chairman of AOL Time Warner subsequent to the merger between Time Warner and AOL in 2000 - a position he retained until he resigned in May 2003. Turner's media empire began with his father's billboard business which he took over at the age of 24 after his father's death. Purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the assemblage of the Turner Broadcasting System. His Cable News Network (CNN) revolutionized news media, coming to the forefront covering the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Years later he originated the "superstation" concept, transmitting the station's signal to cable systems nationwide via satellite. Turner has made his mark as one of the most influential philanthropists in the US. Originator of the Goodwill Games in 1985, he is also president of the Turner Foundation, the Turner family's private grant-making organization, which focuses on population and the environment. Turner is also chairman of the United Nations Foundation, a charitable organization he founded to support UN causes, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Turner, the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, is an active environmentalist and has received numerous civic and industry awards and honors, including being named Time magazine's 1991 Man of the Year and Broadcasting's Man of the Century in 1999, he was also inducted into the Cable TV Hall of Fame in 1999. In 1995, Turner accepted, on behalf of the team, the Atlanta Braves' first World Championship trophy, and in August 2000, he was inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. In January 2002, Turner opened the first Ted's Montana Grill, which specializes in bison burgers, in Columbus, Ohio with his partner, George W. McKerrow Jr., founder of the Longhorn Steakhouse chain and several other successful restaurants. Ted's Montana Grill expects to open up to forty more restaurants in the next few years.
John Walsh A tireless advocate for victims’ rights and missing children, John Walsh has turned his passion for justice into the nation's number-one crime-fighting show, FOX’s America's Most Wanted. Then, from 2002 to February, 2004, NBC daytime aired The John Walsh Show; a new platform for Walsh to comment on current events and issues that are of concern to him. Walsh is no stranger to violent crime; in fact, his incredibly successful career as a host of a nationally televised program, and as an advocate for victims’ rights, was a career Walsh never anticipated. In the summer of 1981, Walsh was a partner in a hotel management company in Hollywood, Florida. He was living the American dream. He and his wife, Revé, had a beautiful six-year-old son, Adam, the joy of their lives. They never thought crime could touch them. But that joy was shattered on July 27th, 1981, when Adam was abducted and later found murdered. The Walshes have never received the closure that America's Most Wanted has brought the lives of so many crime victims. The prime suspect in Adam's murder, Ottis Toole, was never charged in the Adam Walsh case; he died in prison while serving life for other crimes, taking the truth to the grave with him. The story of the Walsh family's tragedy has been dramatized in the 1983 NBC television movie, Adam, and a 1986 sequel, Adam: His Song Continues. Following the airing of the broadcasts, a roll of missing children was featured, leading to the recovery of 65 youngsters. It wasn't long after Adam's death that the Walshes turned their grief into positive energy to help missing and exploited children. Battling bureaucratic resistance and legislative nightmares, John and Revé's work led to the passage of the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984. The latter Bill founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which maintains a toll-free hotline number (1-800-THE-LOST) to report a missing child or the sighting of one. In their son's memory, they also founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to legislative reform. Recently, the centers, originally located in West Palm Beach, Florida, Columbia, South Carolina, Orange County, California, and Rochester, New York, merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Walsh serves on the board of directors of the National Center. Back in 1984, Esquire Magazine voted John Walsh "one of the best of the new generation." Since then, Walsh's endless quest for justice has been trumpeted across the pages of newspapers and magazines around the nation including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and People Magazine, where Walsh was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People for 1996. And CBS portraits named him one of the 100 Americans Who Changed History. Walsh’s life has also been chronicled on A & E’s Biography program as well as on MSNBC’s Headliners and Legends with Matt Lauer. Law Enforcement officials around the nation have also honored Walsh for his efforts. In 1988 he was named the U.S. Marshals Man Of The Year, and two years later received the same honor from the FBI " the Bureau's highest civilian award. The U.S. Marshals also made Walsh an Honorary US Marshal in 2003 – an honor only bestowed upon seven other people in the agency’s history. Walsh has received hundreds of other honors, including the 1984 Father of the Year Award from the National Father's Day Committee. Walsh is the only private citizen to receive a Special Recognition Award by a U.S. Attorney General, and he's been honored in the Rose Garden four times by three presidents: Clinton, Bush (Sr.), and Reagan (twice). Today, Walsh continues his lobbying efforts, testifying before Congress and state legislatures on crime, missing children and victims' issues. His latest efforts include lobbying for a Constitutional Amendment for victims' rights.