Geoffrey Canada is president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone. In his 20-plus years with HCZ, Geoff has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform. In 2005, he was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News and World Report. The New York Times wrote that the project "combines educational, social, and medical services. It starts at birth and follows children to college. It meshes those services into an interlocking web, and then it drops that web over an entire neighborhood…The objective is to create a safety net woven so tightly that children…just can't slip through." HCZ has been featured on "60 Minutes," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," "CBS This Morning," "The Charlie Rose Show," and National Public Radio's "On Point," as well as in numerous print articles.

Kenneth I. Chenault is chairman and chief executive officer of American Express Company, serving in that capacity since 2001. He joined the company in 1981 as director of strategic planning and subsequently held a number of increasingly senior positions. Ken serves on the boards of IBM, The Proctor & Gamble Company, and numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the Smithsonian Institution’s Advisory Council for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. He also is a member of the Business Council and serves on the executive committee of the Business Roundtable. Ken holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in history from Bowdoin College. He has also received honorary degrees from several universities and awards from a wide variety of civic, social service, and community organizations.

Stephen B. Heintz is president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, an international foundation advancing social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Before joining the foundation, he was founding president of Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, a public policy research and advocacy organization working to enhance the vitality of American democracy and promote more broadly shared economic prosperity. He is also the chair of Independent Sector's Board of Directors. Stephen was previously executive vice president and COO of the EastWest Institute, where he worked on issues of economic reform, civil society development, and international security. Stephen devoted the first 15 years of his career to government service in the State of Connecticut, where he served as commissioner of social welfare and commissioner of economic development. Articles written by him have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal Europe. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University.

Judith Rodin is president of the Rockefeller Foundation. Previously president of the University of Pennsylvania and provost of Yale University, she was the first woman named to lead an Ivy League institution and the first to serve as the Rockefeller Foundation's president. Dr. Rodin has actively participated in influential global forums, including the World Economic Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton Global Initiative, and the United Nations General Assembly. Dr. Rodin also is a member of the African Development Bank’s High Level Panel. A research psychologist by training, she is the author of more than 200 academic articles and has written or co-written 12 books. Dr. Rodin serves on the board of several leading corporations and non-profits including AMR Corporation, Citigroup, Comcast, and the White House Council for Community Solutions. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University.

Wynton Marsalis is a jazz musician, trumpeter, composer, bandleader, advocate for the arts, and educator who has helped propel jazz to the forefront of American culture. He was the first jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Blood on the Fields, commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. He served as the Center’s artistic director as well as music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. A child prodigy, Wynton joined the band of acclaimed master drummer Art Blakey in 1980, performing with Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, Sweets Edison, Clark Terry, Sonny Rollins, and other jazz legends. In recent decades, he has produced more than 40 jazz and classical recordings which have won him nine GRAMMY® awards, and he has created major compositions for leading dance companies, symphonies, and choirs. Wynton regularly leads master classes, lectures, and concerts for students, inspired a comprehensive jazz appreciation curriculum for grades 4 through 9, and donates his time and talent to numerous nonprofits.