2017 NewDEAL Leaders Attendees – NewDEAL

Anthony Foxx

Rachel Walsh — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 16:16:30 +0000

Anthony Fox

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Foxx, a former mayor of Charlotte, was sworn in as the 17th U.S. Secretary of Transportation after receiving a 100-0 confirmation vote and entered an agency under distress. Congress had not approved a long-term surface transportation bill in more than a decade. The entire government faced sequestration funding and, within six months, was shut down entirely for 16 days. Rather than scale back the agency’s ambitions, Foxx plowed forward and, as a result, had one of the most consequential runs in the history of the Department.

Foxx developed the Obama Administration’s first surface transportation bill and worked on a bipartisan basis to get its congressional incarnation, the FAST Act, passed. He consolidated the Department’s innovative financing programs and accelerated permitting policies into a new Build America Bureau and put a new executive director in place before my departure. He embraced technology by pushing forward new rules governing the commercial use of drones, blueprinted the most comprehensive national policy on autonomous vehicles in the world, and launched the Department’s first, and the Administration’s most successful, Smart City Challenge, engaging more than 70 cities to develop their own strategies to incorporate new technologies into their transportation networks. He placed nearly $30 billion in discretionary federal grants around the country, giving rise to a national pipeline of projects now poised to seek innovative financing, including the NY-NJ Gateway Project, Chicago Union Station, Florida East Coast High Speed Rail, and Texas Central Railway.

Foxx currently commutes between Chevy Chase, Maryland and New York City but still calls North Carolina home.

Megan Barry

actualize — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 10:06:29 +0000

Megan Barry

Former Mayor | Nashville, TN

In 2015, following eight years of service on the Metropolitan Council, Megan Barry was elected the first woman mayor of Metro Nashville on a platform of being a pro-business progressive who would keep Nashville moving forward. In 2016, Barry worked with labor organizations and the business community to create the Nashville Construction Readiness Partnership, a pre-apprenticeship program and employee database that will connect local workers to training for good-paying construction jobs during Nashville’s building boom, while helping developers find local workers for their job sites. To connect youth to opportunity and hope, Barry created Opportunity NOW, a youth employment initiative with a goal of putting 10,000 of Nashville’s youth aged 14-24 into paid, meaningful jobs or internships in the public and private sectors. Barry has also sought to address the lack of affordable housing by investing $10 million per year for low-income housing opportunities and creating the Housing Incentive Pilot Program (HIPP), which is designed to encourage mixed-income rental housing options throughout the community. In addition to these initiatives, Mayor Barry has remained focus on investing in Nashville’s public schools, building better transit infrastructure, and promoting public safety in a way that improves the quality of life for all.

Libby Schaaf

join.us — Wed, 13 May 2020 14:25:39 +0000

Libby Schaaf

Former Mayor | Oakland, CA

Former Mayor Libby Schaaf was born and raised in Oakland, which she proudly describes as, “The most unapologetic Sanctuary City in America.” During her tenure, Oakland underwent an economic revitalization and building boom, as well as cut gun violence in half.

Her “17K/17K Housing Plan” helped increase Oakland’s affordable housing production, stabilize rents, and decrease evictions. Her innovative public-private partnerships Keep Oakland Housed and Cabin Communities are credited with preventing 1,800 families a year from losing their housing while resolving some of Oakland’s most unsafe street encampments. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Mayor Schaaf to California’s first Council of Regional Homeless Advisors.

She created Oakland’s first Department of Transportation, whose equity-based paving plan is the first of its kind in the nation and will make previously underserved neighborhoods safer while addressing the city’s decades-old infrastructure backlog.

Mayor Schaaf is most proud of launching the Oakland Promise, a bold cradle-to-career initiative to send more low-income Oakland kids to college. The Oakland Promise gives every baby born into poverty a $500 savings account at birth. The Oakland Promise has sent more than 1,400 Oakland students (and counting) to college with scholarships and mentors.

Clarke Tucker

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:30:15 +0000

Clarke Tucker

Senator | Little Rock, AR

Clarke Tucker serves in the Arkansas State Senate. Previously, he served in the Arkansas House of Representatives, where he represented District 35 from 2015 to 2019.

Representative Tucker focused on improving early childhood education in Arkansas, both in terms of improving support for Pre-K education and by working to establish Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) on a statewide basis. DPIL is a literacy program that provides age appropriate books for children between birth and age 5 on a monthly basis for just over $2 per book. Representative Tucker also worked hard on criminal justice reform, aiming to improve behavioral health services for the criminal justice population in an effort to reduce crime and prison populations. In that regard, he has served as Co-Chair of the Legislative Task Force on Behavioral Health Treatment Access.

Representative Tucker also led an effort to enact several pieces of ethics legislation to increase government transparency and accountability. For example, Representative Tucker is working to require disclosure of dark money sources in Arkansas campaigns, and he has enacted legislation to enhance the criminal penalties for elected officials who accept bribes. Representative Tucker is also working to pass paid maternity leave for state employees. Perhaps most important, in the spring of 2016, Representative Tucker helped shepherd the appropriation for Arkansas’s version of Medicaid expansion through a difficult legislative process.

Warwick Sabin

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:30:11 +0000

Warwick Sabin

Former Representative | Little Rock, AR

Warwick Sabin is the President and CEO of Deep South Today, the networked hub of nonprofit newsrooms serving the Southern region of the United States.

Deep South Today includes Mississippi Today, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for its investigative series on Mississippi’s sprawling $77 million welfare scandal. The Deep South Today network expanded to New Orleans in 2022 with the launch of the Verite newsroom, which covers inequities facing communities of color, and it plans to broaden its reach into nearby states.

Sabin served three terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2013-19, and in 2014, he was among 24 national political leaders awarded the Rodel Fellowship by the Aspen Institute for his “outstanding ability to work responsibly across partisan divisions and bring greater civility to public discourse.”

Before assuming his position at Deep South Today, Sabin was Chief Strategy Officer at Interfaith America, and previously he was the Executive Director of Strategic Engagement at the Aspen Institute. Earlier he was the Senior Director of U.S. Programs at Winrock International and the founding director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. From 2008-13 he was the publisher of the Oxford American magazine, and in 2009, he was named to the FOLIO:40, a list of the 40 most influential people in the national magazine industry. Sabjn’s additional professional experience includes serving as director of development for the Clinton Foundation, as well as working on Capitol Hill, at the White House, the U.S. Embassy in London, and at Foreign Affairs magazine. He is a Marshall Scholar and a Truman Scholar, and he holds an M.A. (Oxon) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a B.A. (summa cum laude) in Political Science from the University of Arkansas, where he graduated as valedictorian and was president of the student body.

He received the University of Arkansas Young Alumni Award in 2005 and was named to the Arkansas Business “40 Under 40” in 2003, and he has volunteered and served on the boards of directors for numerous community and nonprofit organizations and projects.

Andrew Platt

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:30:10 +0000

Andrew Platt

Former Delegate | Gaithersburg, MD

Andrew Platt was elected Delegate to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2014 and served from 2015 to 2019. He is a first generation college graduate who worked his way through school. After graduating, Andrew went to work for Donna Brazile, the Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation for the Democratic National Committee. Andrew then got a job on Capitol Hill working for the House Democratic Caucus, the legislative and communications hub for House Democrats. As a staffer for the Caucus, Andrew worked to help advance legislation to create jobs, grow our middle class, and protect Social Security and Medicare from drastic cuts. While working full-time on Capitol Hill, Andrew went to graduate school at night and received his Master’s degree.

Ed Lee

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:30:05 +0000

Ed Lee

Former Mayor / San Fransisco, CA

The first Chinese-American mayor in the history of San Francisco, Edwin M. Lee was mayor of San Francisco from 2010 until he sadly passed away in 2017. He was proud to represent a city famous for its creative spirit, open and welcoming residents, and long tradition of pursuing creative solutions for the challenges of today.

During his tenure, San Francisco added 140,000 jobs, helping drop unemployment below three percent. In 2014, Mayor Lee pledged to create 30,000 new and rehabilitated housing units by 2020, of which 50 percent would be affordable to working and middle-class families. So far, more than 17,000 units have come online for local residents. Under his watch, San Franciscans approved two major bond measures to help fund transportation infrastructure projects, and he authorized the Transportation Sustainability Fee, which will generate $1.2 billion for public transit initiatives over the next 30 years. He championed responsible pro-growth policies that benefit all residents, from attracting major corporations to San Francisco like Salesforce and Twitter, to supporting local legacy businesses through his Invest in Neighborhood initiative.

Dan Garodnick

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:29:59 +0000

Dan Garodnick

Former City Councilmember | New York, NY

Dan Garodnick was elected to the New York City Council in 2005, and Chaired of the Economic Development Committee. He served from 2005 to 2017. Garodnick established himself as a leader in the fight for affordable housing, spearheading the $4.5 billion tenant-backed bid for the purchase of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village. He led the fight for the sensible redevelopment of East Midtown Manhattan, allowing for additional commercial growth, while ensuring that the public sees improvements to area infrastructure and mass transit. Garodnick also authored some of the most important legislation to pass the Council in the past number of years, focusing on tenants rights, consumer protection, and green buildings.

Prior to his election, Dan was a litigator at the New York Law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, and a law clerk for the Honorable Colleen McMahon of the Southern District of New York. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Rob Werner

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:08:04 +0000

Rob Werner

City Councilmember | Concord, NH

Rob Werner is the New Hampshire State Director for the League of Conservation Voters, a national advocacy organization that works to turn environmental values into national, state, and local priorities. Rob formerly served as the National Field Director of Americans for Campaign Reform.

A public policy analyst and advocate, Rob has organized successful advocacy and legislative campaigns for the American Heart Association, Smoke-Free NH Alliance, and the American Cancer Society. Rob has extensive experience in the health care sector, working in the private, government, and non-profit areas.

Rob is a graduate of Northfield Mount Hermon School and the University of Vermont. He earned a Masters of Business Administration from Suffolk University as well as two certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School, Senior Managers in State and Local Government and Climate Change and Energy Policy. Rob is serving his sixth term on the Concord City Council, chairing the Energy and Environment Advisory Committee

Active in the Greater Concord, NH Chamber of Commerce, Rob serves on the State Government Affairs Committee. Rob serves on the board of the Harvard Club of New Hampshire and Chairs the Harvard Kennedy School New Hampshire Network. Rob is a graduate of Leadership New Hampshire and a member of the Bow, NH Rotary Club.

Brandon Whipple

actualize — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 11:08:04 +0000

Brandon Whipple

Former Mayor | Wichita, KS

Dr. Brandon Whipple was elected mayor of Wichita in 2019. He previously served in the Kansas House of Representatives for 7 years and was a professor at Wichita State University.

In December 2019, Mayor Whipple was honored to attend the biennial Seminar on Transition for Newly Elected Mayors at The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School where he participated in sessions on various topics including leading in times of crisis, supporting youth civic engagement, and effective policing.

Mayor Whipple graduated from Dover High School in Dover, New Hampshire, and also earned his Associate of Arts in liberal studies from Hesser College. He moved to Wichita in 2003 at age 21 in a year-long education-service mission with AmeriCorps. In that program he worked with at-risk youth at Wichita South High School, and ultimately made a decision to call Wichita home.