This Program is open to Members and guests of Members only. The conversation will be off the record. Open to members and guests only.

When: May 17 at Noon
Where: Address provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Blair

More about Mark McKinnon

For three decades, Mark McKinnon has been helping to solve complex strategic challenges for causes, companies and candidates, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong and Bono.

McKinnon is an award-winning media producer and communications strategist who has served as principal media advisor for hundreds of corporate and political campaigns around the world. McKinnon has helped engineer five winning presidential primary and general elections. He has been awarded more than 30 Pollie and Telly awards, honoring the nation's best political and public affairs advertising.

According to Broadcasting and Cable magazine, McKinnon is one of "a handful of players behind every big decision, consensus or roadblock in Washington...putting a unique, sometimes hidden stamp on the outcome of today's debates." Politics Daily writes: "He's known for his originality in a field typified by copy-cats, a mellow personality in a world populated with high-strung brutes, and ecumenical urges in a profession dominated by its unadulterated partisans."

"McKinnon is evidence that principled centrism is not an oxymoron," wrote John Avalon in a Daily Beast column about the 25 Best Centrist Pundits. "McKinnon piloted John McCain's 2008 primary campaign to victory. But he announced in advance that if Barack Obama won the democratic nomination, he would ride off into the sunset rather than participate in the negative attacks he knew would be required. This is unheard of in the world of modern politics, where partisanship trumps principle as a matter of course."

Former President George W. Bush says of McKinnon, "I was really impressed by Mark's creativity, and I was particularly impressed by his honesty." Senator John McCain, in his typical straight-talk fashion, remarks, "He's almost a genius." And President Barack Obama calls McKinnon "a class act."

McKinnon is co-founder of No Labels, a non-profit organization dedicated to bipartisanship, civil discourse and problem solving in politics, and is co-chair of Arts+Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers. President Bush appointed McKinnon to serve as a governor of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He currently serves on the boards of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Change Congress, an organization dedicated to campaign finance reform, and has taught at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Program is open to Members and guests of Members only. One must RSVP to attend. Guest list will be enforced.

When:May 17 at 6:00 p.m.
Location:  Bis on Main - 10213 Main Street, Bellevue, WA
*Valet available behind the restaurant*
RSVP: Brittni

More about Jon Yasuda:
Jon leads Opportunity International's efforts to bring savings-based microfinance services to people living in poverty in the developing world, with a particular emphasis on rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to joining Opportunity, Jon spent 25 years in the broadcasting industry, culminating in the role of president and CEO of Asian Media Group, overseeing the strategic planning and operations of two television stations in Los Angeles and Honolulu. He also spent 14 years in sales, marketing and management of Spanish language television and radio stations.

Jon joined Opportunity in 2008 as a regional director covering the Los Angeles area. In 2009, Jon was promoted to vice president of resource development, with responsibility for major gift fundraising in the western third of the United States. In November 2010, Jon was promoted to senior vice president responsible for the growth of the private sector development program, including individual, business, private foundation and planned giving.

Jon has always been active in community service and currently serves on the board of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). He also has served as president of the board of Pasadena Christian School, and as a board member of both the Boy Scouts of America (Monterey County) and the American Red Cross (Monterey County). In May 2001, the city of Los Angeles honored him for his outstanding community service in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Jon received a B.A. in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. He and his wife, Silvia, live in the Chicago area and have two young adult daughters, Andreana and Danielle.

Program is open to Members and guests of Members only. One must RSVP directly to Beth Harris to attend. Guest list is enforced.

When: May 23 6:30 p.m.
Where: Location provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Beth

More about Philip Auerswald:
Philip Auerswald is a senior fellow in Entrepreneurship, focusing on Expeditionary Economics, for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Auerswald also is an associate professor at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. His work focuses on entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation.

Auerswald is the co-editor of Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization, a quarterly journal from MIT Press about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, reports, and research papers, including Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Taking Technical Risk: How Innovators, Executives, and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks(MIT Press: 2001).

Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, Auerswald was a lecturer and assistant director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He has been a consultant to the National Academies of Science, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Washington and a BA in political science from Yale University.

Program is open to Members and guests of Members only. One must RSVP directly to attend. Guest list is enforced.

When: May 24 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Location provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Kim

More about Philip Auerswald:
Philip Auerswald is a senior fellow in Entrepreneurship, focusing on Expeditionary Economics, for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Auerswald also is an associate professor at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. His work focuses on entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation.

Auerswald is the co-editor of Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization, a quarterly journal from MIT Press about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, reports, and research papers, including Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Taking Technical Risk: How Innovators, Executives, and Investors Manage High-Tech Risks(MIT Press: 2001).

Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, Auerswald was a lecturer and assistant director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He has been a consultant to the National Academies of Science, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Washington and a BA in political science from Yale University.

Open to Members only. Invitation is nontransferable.

When: June 7 at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Address provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Blair
Attire: Business attire [no jeans,collaredshirts required] out of respect for General Mattis.

More about General James N. Mattis, Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM)

Gen. James N. Mattis serves as commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), located in Tampa, FL.

Gen. Mattis has commanded at multiple levels. As a lieutenant, he served as a rifle and weapons platoon commander in the 3rd Marine Division. As a captain, he commanded a rifle company and a weapons company in the 1st Marine Brigade.

As a major, he commanded Recruiting Station Portland. As a lieutenant colonel, he commanded 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, one of Task Force Ripper's assault battalions in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. As a colonel, he commanded 7th Marines (Reinforced).

Upon becoming a brigadier general, he commanded first the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and then Task Force 58, during Operation Enduring Freedom in southern Afghanistan. As a major general, he commanded the 1st Marine Division during the initial attack and subsequent stability operations in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In his first tour as a lieutenant general, he commanded the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and served as the deputy commandant for combat development. He also commanded the I Marine Expeditionary Force and served as the commander of U.S. Marine Forces Central Command.  Previous to this assignment, he served as both NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation from 2007-2009 and as commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command from 2007-2010. 

Gen. Mattis, a native of the Pacific Northwest, graduated from Central Washington State University in 1972. He is also a graduate of the Amphibious Warfare School, Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the National War College.

John Yoo authored the "Torture Memos" and was recently cast immunity.

Open to Members and Guests only. Must RSVP to Sarah@gen-next.com to attend. Adding program to calendar does not constitute RSVP.

When: June 13
Where: Location upon RSVP
RSVP: Sarah

John Yoo, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice & Professor of Law at Berkeley

John Yoo is a professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he has taught since 1993. From 2001-03, he served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on issues involving foreign affairs, national security, and the separation of powers. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995-96, where he advised on constitutional issues and judicial nominations.

Professor Yoo received his B.A., summa cum laude, in American history from Harvard University. In law school, he was an articles editor of the Yale Law Journal. He clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit. He joined the Boalt faculty in 1993, and then clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Professor Yoo was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School in 2003 and at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1998. In 2006, Professor Yoo held the Distinguished Fulbright Chair in Law at the University of Trento (Italy). He has received fellowships from the Olin Foundation (for work on treaties and constitutional law) and the Rockefeller Foundation (for a book on the effects of globalization on American constitutional law). He has received the Bator Award for excellence in legal scholarship and teaching from the Federalist Society.

Professor Yoo has published articles on foreign affairs, national security, and constitutional law . He is the author of The Powers of War and Peace: Foreign Affairs and the Constitution after 9/11 (University of Chicago Press, 2005) and the forthcoming War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006).

Open to Members and their guests only-invitation is non transferable.

When: June 14 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Provided Upon RSVP
RSVP: Blair

More about Bill Gertz

Bill Gertz is Senior Editor of The Washington Free Beacon, (freebeacon.com) and National Security Columnist for The Washington Times (www.washingtontimes.com).

Bill is the author of six books, four of which were national bestsellers. His second book, "The China Threat: How the People's Republic Targets America," (Regnery) was released in November 2000. His book, "Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led to September 11," was published in August 2002 and was a national bestseller.

Bill wrote "Treachery: How America's Friends And Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies," in 2005, a candid look at the growing problem of arms proliferation. The book was a national bestseller. In 2006, his fifth book was published. "Enemies: How America's Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets -- And How We Let It Happen," was a bestseller and is a critical look at recent spy cases and counterintelligence failures. It also calls for using aggressive counterintelligence techniques to stop Islamist extremists in the global war on terrorism.

His latest book, "The Failure Factory: How Unelected Bureaucrats; Liberal Democrats and Big Government Republicans Are Undermining America's Security and Leading Us to War," was published in September 2008. It is a critical look at the problem of an out-of-control government bureaucracy.

Bill writes a weekly column called Inside the Ring, a chronicle about the ups and downs of the U.S. national security bureaucracy.

He also has written articles for National Review, The Weekly Standard and Air Force Magazine. Bill also has been a media fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.

Bill has an international reputation. Vyachaslav Trubnikov, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, called him a "tool of the CIA" after he wrote an article exposing Russian intelligence operations in the Balkans. A senior CIA official once threatened to have a cruise missile fired at his desk at The Washington Times after he wrote a column critical of the CIA's analysis of China. China's communist government also has criticized him for his news reports exposing China's weapons and missile sales to rogues states, accusing him of "spreading lies about China." The state-run Xinhua news agency in 2006 identified Bill as the No. 1 "anti-China expert" in the world. Bill insists he is very much pro-China -- pro-Chinese people and opposed to the communist system. U.S. State Department official Nicholas Burns, frustrated by Bill's prolific news reporting on internal information about U.S. national security and foreign affairs, only half-joking once compared him to Moamar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.

Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey stated: "When I was DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] Bill used to drive me crazy because I couldn't figure out where the leaks were coming from. Now that I've been outside for two years, I read him religiously to find out what's going on." Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson told the author: "We talk about your stories at Cabinet meetings." Defense Secretary William S. Cohen once remarked to a Chinese general that Bill "has access to more intelligence information than anyone I know." Senior CIA officials, too, have criticized him during closed hearings before Congress regarding his news reporting based on extraordinary access to classified information.

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld once told him: "You are drilling holes in the Pentagon and sucking out information."

Among his major newspaper exclusives were reporting first on a Chinese submarine secretly sailing undetected within 5 miles of the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk in October 2006; how the Pentagon activated its missile defense system in June 2006 in preparation for the possible shootdown a North Korean missile launch; China's deployment of a new class of attack submarines; details of Russia's covert involvement in removing weapons from Saddam Hussein's Iraq; and details of North Korean government involvement in counterfeiting U.S. currency. Other exclusives have included reports that North Korea test fired a new 100-mile range cruise missile, and how French and U.S. companies violated U.S. export rules by selling oil-related equipment to Iran.

He also was the first to disclose how China is building up short-range missiles opposite Taiwan, and how China had exported ballistic missile technology to Pakistan, a disclosure that led to the imposition of U.S. economic sanctions against China and Pakistan. He also was the first to report that the U.S. National Security Agency issued a top-secret intelligence report warning of a terrorist attack in Yemen - hours after terrorists attacked the guided missile destroyer USS Cole in Aden harbor.

Bill has been a guest lecturer at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.; the Central Intelligence Agency; the National Defense University at Fort McNair, Washington, DC; and the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC. He has participated in the National Security Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

He studied English literature at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., and journalism at George Washington University, Washington, DC. In September 1999, Bill was awarded the Western Journalism Center award for investigative journalism. The United States Business and Industrial Council awarded him the "Defender of the National Interest Award" in June 1998, and in 1997 The Washington Times recognized him for excellence in achievement.

Program is open to Members and guests of Members only. One must RSVP to attend. Guest list will be enforced.

When: June 21st at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Brittni

More on DJ Peterson
Demosthenes James Peterson (familiarly known by his initials, "DJ") is the director of Corporate Advisory Services at Eurasia Group. DJ has more than 20 years of experience as a thought leader and consultant on political trends and their implications for markets and businesses around the world. His clients include many of the leading companies in energy, mining, infrastructure, real estate, automotive, IT, professional services, consumer goods, and retail.

After receiving his BA from Duke University, DJ received his MA and PhD in political science from UCLA, where he focused on politics and government in Russia. Prior to joining Eurasia Group in 2006, he spent more than 15 years at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, where his final position was as a senior political scientist and acting director of the firm's environment, energy, and economic development program. Previously, DJ served as a consultant to the National Intelligence Council and the Central Intelligence Agency, and spent some time at the Wilson Center in Washington as a public policy scholar. DJ has published more than 50 articles, reports, and book chapters and his work has been cited by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the US Congress.

Eurasia Group is the world's leading global political risk research and consulting firm. By providing information and insight on how political developments move markets, we help clients anticipate and respond to instability and opportunities everywhere they do business.

When: June 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Address provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Bailey

More About Richard Riordan:

Born in Flushing, New York, Richard J. Riordan, a partner at Bingham McCutchen law firm, graduated from Princeton University and Michigan Law School. After his service in the Korean War Riordan moved to California. A well-established and highly respected attorney, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Riordan first entered public service as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993 to 2001 and then California's Secretary for Education until 2005. His appointment as California Secretary for Education in 2003, marked Governor Schwarzenegger's first cabinet appointment.

Riordan was also a founding member of the nationally-acclaimed LEARN school reform effort, and a founding board member for L.A.'s BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow), a nationally recognized after-school program serving thousands of children in Los Angeles' underserved neighborhoods.

In 1981, Riordan created the charitable foundation that bears his name with one goal in mind: to teach children how to read and write. Through its signature "Rx for Reading" program, the Riordan Foundation has distributed some 21,700 computers to 2,100 schools in 40 states and enabled the purchase of 128,000 books for elementary classroom libraries.

Currently Riordan is Chairman of the Board of the Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF), a consortium of Los Angeles Public Charter Schools.

In addition to Riordan's education work for young students, he co-founded The Riordan Programs at The Anderson School at UCLA with Professor William Ouchi, The Riordan Programs consist of The Riordan Scholars Program and The Riordan Fellows Program, serving high school students and college students/recent college alumni respectively.

Riordan has three children and three grandchildren. Riordan is an ardent reader and an avid bicyclist.

Open to Members and Guests only. Invites are not transferable. Must RSVP to Sarah to attend. Adding program to calendar does not constitute a RSVP.

When: June 28 at noon
Where: Location provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Bailey

More about Henrik Fisker:

Henrik Fisker is the leading automobile designer and CEO of Fisker Automotive. He graduated from the Swiss campus of California's Art Center College of Design in 1989. He began his career at BMW in Germany, where he was recognized as one of the most celebrated automotive designers of the last twenty years. Some of his most distinguished creations include the Aston Martin DB9, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and BMW Z8 Roadster featured in the James Bond film, "The World Is Not Enough."

Henrik Fisker previously served as President and CEO of BMW's California-based subsidiary, DesignworksUSA; as Design Director for Aston Martin; and Creative Director of Ford Motor Company's London-based design and creativity center, Ingeni. In 2005, he co-founded Fisker Coachbuild with Bernhard Koehler with the vision to "create and deliver Design Excellence - no matter what field of design.  From concept to realization."  Their designs convey a sense of timeless beauty. Dedicated to defining and developing new futures, Fisker Coachbuild is committed to looking at the big picture and expanding their vision in to other industries.

Fisker Automotive was launched in 2007 as a joint venture between Quantum Technologies and Fisker Coachbuild.  Fisker Coachbuild has been designated as the exclusive design house for the luxury hybrid American Car Company. Criticized for outsourcing production, Fisker Automotive defends its' decision to maintain the leanest manufacturing and proudly boasts to be the only car company in the world without a costly product-planning department in a constant effort to remain modern, light and fast. Its long awaited plug-in sports sedan, the Fisker Karma, is now being delivered to customers nationwide. Fisker has already begun development on a higher volume, lower cost model, Project Nina, a 4-door sport sedan.

Headquartered in Anaheim California, Fisker Automotive now employs about 650 people and another 100 employees are preparing the Delaware plant to begin the pilot production for the Project Nina sport sedan.

Open to Members and Guests only. Invites are not transferable.  Must RSVP to attend. Adding program to calendar does not constitute RSVP.

When: July 19th at 6:00 p.m.
Where: TBD
RSVP: Brittni

More about Jake Cusack:

Jake Cusack is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who served in Iraq from 2005 to 2008.  A graduate of University of Notre Dame, he was commissioned as a Marine Officer and served as a Sniper Platoon Commander and Intelligence Officer in Iraq. Notably, he led in the capture of the kidnappers of American hostage Jill Carroll, and was awarded the Bronze Star for his work against foreign fighters on the Syrian border. He has subsequently worked as a researcher, consultant, and private equity investor in Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, UAE, and the West Bank. His writings have been published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek; he has presented at the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees, the Council on Foreign Relations, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and on National Public Radio. Cusack is finishing his final year in a joint graduate program at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School.

This program is open to Members and invited guests only.  Entry will only be permitted to confirmed guests.

When: July 26 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: TBD
RSVP: Bailey

About Michael Pento:

Mr. Michael Pento is the President of Pento Portfolio Strategies and serves as Senior Market Analyst for Baltimore-based research firm Agora Financial.

Pento Portfolio Strategies provides strategic advice and research for institutional clients. Agora Financial publishes award-winning newsletters, critically acclaimed feature documentaries and international best-selling books.

Mr. Pento is a well-established specialist in the Austrian School of economics and a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, FOX Business News and other national media outlets. His market analysis can also be read in most major financial publications, including the Wall Street Journal. He also acts as a Financial Columnist for Forbes, Contributor to thestreet.com and is a blogger at the Huffington Post.

Prior to starting Pento Portfolio Strategies and joining Agora Financial, Mr. Pento served as a senior economist and vice president of the managed products division of another financial firm. There, he also led an external sales division that marketed their managed products to outside broker-dealers and registered investment advisors.

Additionally, Mr. Pento has worked for an investment advisory firm where he helped create ETFs and UITs that were sold throughout Wall Street.  Earlier in his career Mr. Pento spent two years on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.  He has carried series 7, 63, 65, 55 and Life and Health Insurance Licenses. Mr. Pento graduated from Rowan University in 1991.

Ed has spoken all around the world,  including the World Economic Forum in Davos and recently at the Google Ideas SAVE Conference in Dublin.  60 Minutes featured the Quilliam Foundation in 2011, which you can view HERE.

Open to Members and Guests only. Invites are not transferable. Must RSVP to Sarah to attend. Adding program to calendar does not constitute a RSVP.

When: September 12 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Location Provided Upon RSVP
RSVP: Sarah

More about Ed Husain:

Ed Husain, Co-Founder and Quilliam ambassador, is the celebrated author of 'The Islamist', shortlisted for the George Orwell Prize for best political writing. Formerly an activist of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) and Jamat-e-Islam front organizations in the UK, Ed has now become a strong critic of extremism and Islamism. He is an advocate of Muslim engagement in mainstream politics as citizens, and not as separatist, anti-western polemical ideologues with Islamist agendas. He worked for the British Council in Syria and Saudi Arabia (2003-2005). Since publication of his book by Penguin in 2007, Ed regularly contributes to media discussions on Islam, Muslims, identity, terrorism, and multiculturalism, with articles published in The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail, New Statesman and Prospect magazine.

Born and raised in London, Ed holds an MA in Middle East studies from SOAS, University of London, and is currently a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC.

Program is open to Members and guests of Members only.  Must RSVP to attend.

When: September 13 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Location Provided Upon RSVP
RSVP: Blair

More on Kevin Chavous:

Kevin P. Chavous is a noted attorney, author, and national school reform leader. He currently heads The Chavous Group, an education consulting firm, and is a founding board member and senior advisor to the American Federation for Children. He also presides as board chair for Democrats for Education Reform and is a former chair and board member for the Black Alliance for Educational Options.
 
A former member of the Council of the District of Columbia and a former council chairman for D.C.’s Education Committee, Mr. Chavous has been at the forefront of change within Washington’s public school system. He was integral in shaping Washington’s three-sector education partnership with the federal government. This union not only yielded 50 million new federal dollars for D.C. public and charter schools, but it also led to the first federal scholarship program granting 2,000 low-income children the opportunity to attend private schools.
 
In recent years, Mr. Chavous has continued to support charter schools and parental choice programs across the country. Most notably, he spearheaded a team working with Governor Bobby Jindal that helped pass a scholarship bill giving low-income children the chance to attend private schools in New Orleans. That program was recently expanded statewide.  In 2008, Mr. Chavous served on the education policy committee of the Obama for President campaign.  
 
Mr. Chavous is an accomplished author, having published Serving Our Children: Charter Schools and the Reform of American Public Education and his new book, Voice of Determination: Children that Defy the Odds. Mr. Chavous writes a regular education blog for The Huffington Post and his editorials have appeared in several prominent newspapers.  Mr. Chavous remains a highly sought after public speaker.
 
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Mr. Chavous graduated from Wabash College, where he was an NCAA All-American in basketball. He earned his law degree from Howard University School of Law and was the president of his graduating class. Mr. Chavous lives in Washington, D.C.

Open to Members and their guests only-invitation is not transferable. Must RSVP to attend.

When: September 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Where:  Address provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Beth

More about Scott Flanders: 

On July 1, 2009, Flanders became chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), a media and lifestyle company that markets the world-renowned Playboy brand through a wide range of media properties and licensing initiatives. He also serves as a member of the board of directors for the company. Flanders is responsible for PEI's strategic direction and global business operations, which include print, online, television and licensing.

After 40 years as a NYSE public company, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and Flanders partnered to take PEI private with Rizvi Traverse in a transaction that closed March 4, 2011.

Prior to joining Playboy, Flanders spent three years as chief executive officer of Freedom Communications. He oversaw Freedom's newspapers, television stations and interactive media businesses, a portfolio with annual revenues totaling nearly $1 billion. Flanders served as an independent director on Freedom's board for five years before joining the company as CEO. During his board tenure, Freedom recapitalized with two private equity firms, The Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners.

As chairman and chief executive officer of the Columbia House Company, a position he held from 1999 to 2005, Flanders oversaw the world's oldest and largest direct marketer of music and video products, with revenues totaling more than $1 billion. At the request of the board, Flanders facilitated a leveraged buyout of Columbia House by The Blackstone Group. Columbia House was later sold to Bertelsmann in a transaction that closed in July 2005.

After beginning his career as a tax and business consultant with PWC, Flanders spent 14 years with Macmillan Publishing working in four of the company's operating units. He rose to president of Macmillan USA in 1993 and established the company as the largest computer book publisher, the first publisher of books about the internet and the first publisher to sell books online.

A board member of eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH), Flanders also serves as president of the board of visitors of the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. His civic activities include serving on the board of trustees of the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Colorado, and he received a Juris Doctor from Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. Flanders is also a C.P.A.

When: October 25th at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Location provided upon RSVP
RSVP: Kim

More on Yaron Brook:
Dr. Yaron Brook is a prominent advocate for Objectivism, the philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand. As president of the Ayn Rand Institute - which is rooted in laissez faire principles, an educational organization based in Irvine, California, he is interviewed frequently in the media and has appeared regularly on the Fox Business Network to debate and discuss current economic and financial news from the Objectivist viewpoint.

Dr. Brook is a frequent guest on a variety of radio and TV shows, having appeared on Fox Business News, Fox News (The O'Reilly Factor, Your World with Neil Cavuto, At Large with Geraldo Rivera), CNN (Talkback Live and the Glenn Beck Program), CNBC (Closing Bell and On the Money), and C-SPAN.  Dr. Brook has also contributed commentary to Forbes.com, and his articles have been featured in major newspapers such as USA Today, the Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, Providence Journal, and the Orange County Register.

Dr. Brook was born and raised in Israel. He served as a first sergeant in Israeli military intelligence and earned a BS in civil engineering from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel. In 1987 he moved to the United States, where he received his MBA and Ph.D. in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. Brook became an American citizen on May 28, 2003. For seven years he was an award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, and in 1998 he cofounded a financial advisory firm, BH Equity Research, of which he is presently managing director and chairman.