A leading voice in public interest law for more than thirty years, Nan Aron is President and Founder of Alliance for Justice, a national association of over 100 public interest and civil rights organizations. Nan guides the organization in its mission to advance the cause of justice for all Americans, strengthen the public interest community's influence on national policy and foster the next generation of advocates.

In 1985, Nan founded AFJ's Judicial Selection Project, now the country's premier voice for a fair and independent judiciary and a major player in the often-controversial judicial nominations process. Notable accomplishments include helping to defeat Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987; supporting the nomination of Roger Gregory, the first African American judge in the Fourth Circuit, in 2001; and organizing the effort that helped support ten Senate filibusters against President George W. Bush's most extreme judicial nominees.

In addition to increasing judicial advocacy, Nan has led Alliance for Justice to expand its programs to support the participation of nonprofit and foundation staff in public life. AFJ’s workshops, technical assistance and publications encourage lobbying, involvement in ballot measures and election activities. Nan has also developed advocacy training for young people through the creation of programs that educate and inspire students to engage in social justice activism, including producing more than a dozen award-winning films on immigration, courageous judges, and gun violence.

Nan is the author of Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond and has appeared as an expert in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Vanity Fair and National Public Radio. She is a frequent guest speaker at universities, law schools, corporations, nonprofits and foundations.

Prior to founding AFJ, Nan was a staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, where she challenged conditions in state prison systems through lawsuits in federal and state courts. As a trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she litigated race and sex discrimination cases against companies and unions.

Garlin Gilchrist II is Director of New Media at the Center for Community Change. Before joining the Center, Gilchrist was a Software Engineer at Microsoft, Social Media Manager for the 2008 Obama campaign in Washington, and co-founder of The SuperSpade: Black Thought at the Highest Level, a leading Black political blog. Mr. Gilchrist co-founded blacknetaction, a diverse, strategic collective online activists, and is the Senior Policy Analyst for Technology at the Northwest Progressive Institute. As part of the New Organizing Institute's Trainer & Speakers Bureau, Gilchrist trains activists, candidates and staffers on utilizing new media in their work. Garlin brings experience and passion for transformative communication and connection to the Boards of the National Black Programming Consortium, the Media and Democracy Coalition, Reclaim The Media, and the YES! Magazine Communications Advisory Board.

Ari Rabin-Havt is Vice President for Research and Communications at Media Matters. Previously, Rabin-Havt was the Managing Director of the Media Matters Action Network. In 2008 Rabin-Havt served as Deputy Director of Progressive Accountability, a joint project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Media Matters Action Network, where he was responsible for, among other things, producing a feature length documentary titled Third Term, focusing on the similarities between John McCain's and President Bush's policies. Throughout his career he has worked with numerous progressive politicians and organizations including former Vice President Al Gore, the Alliance for Climate Protection, the ONE campaign, and the ACLU among others.