Our People

We are citizens who have decided to take an active role in the future of our country. We believe hyper-partisanship dominates today’s political debates and this must change. The people listed below are helping to build the No Labels Movement. Click on a person's photo to learn more and connect with them.

Maurice Abraham

For me, No Labels provides one more vehicle by which I can raise American’s awareness and demonstrate that, collectively, we CAN make a difference.

Bill Andresen

Bill Andresen is currently Associate Vice-President for Federal Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania.

John Avlon

John Avlon is a CNN contributor and the senior political columnist for The Daily Beast. He is the author of "Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics" and "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America."

Jennifer Ayoub

Hello, I am working with No Labels to bring attention to my government officials to support our 12 pt reforms for common sense problem-solving in Congress and to build bipartisanship collaboration.

Don Baer

Don Baer has had leading roles in media, communications, politics, government, journalism and law. For President Bill Clinton, he was White House Director of Strategic Planning and Communications and, before that, Director of Speechwriting and Research.

Liani Balasuriya

Dedicated to its mission, Liani Balasuriya has been a part of the No Labels movement since May 2010. She worked with the No Labels Generation, connecting students all over the country, and helped prepare for the launch in December 2010.

Evan Bayh

Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) represented Indiana in the Senate from 1999 to 2011.

Laird Beaver

A resident of Edina, Laird worked for Unisys for over three decades, and now does some independent consulting with airlines around the world.  His work has allowed him to live, work, and travel in over 50 countries.  He is involved with No Labels because he no longer wants to have to explain -- a

Collin Berglund

As a member of the digital team, Collin manages content across all No Labels' online channels including Facebook, Twitter and the blog.

Steven Beschloss

Steven Beschloss, co-author of the just-released Adrift: Charting Our Course Back to a Great Nation, is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker.

Bill Bloomfield

Bill Bloomfield is a retired business executive who served as National Director of Volunteers for Senator McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. He is a philanthropist and political activist.

Lisa Borders

Lisa Borders is President of the Grady Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Grady Health System, the only Level I Trauma Center within 100 miles of metro-Atlanta.

Laurence Bory

Larry was inspired to join No Labels after seeing Senators Coates and Wyden -- a Republican and a Democrat -- join together at a gathering, showing that bipartisanship is still possible.

Jill Rahrig Bourdon

Governance and national leadership are of keen interest to me; joining groups, not so much. When I heard about NOLabels, I thought YES!

Maria Briscese

Maria first became politically involved during the 2008 Presidential campaign for Barack Obama.  Since then, she has noticed how hyper-partisanship has taken over our Congress and our country.

Bennett Bryan

My name is Bennett Davis Bryan, from Atlanta, Georgia, and I am proud to support to No Labels.

Ted Buerger

Ted Buerger is a father of three, a long-time community volunteer, and an entrepreneur who has built three successful national businesses. He serves on the board of the Western New York Foundation and the Welfare to Work Foundation.

Stephen Carroll

Steve is a retired business school professor who, since his first election in 1952, has voted half of the time for a Democrat and half of the time for a Republican in Presidential races, and has also supported independent candidates.

Mike Castle

Former Rep. Mike Castle served in the House of Representatives from 1993 through 2010 and seved as governor between 1985 and 1992.

Sue Castner

Sue Castner is a political activist with years of experience working with elected officials from across the country including President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Ron Wyden, and a myriad of others.

LaKeisha Chestnut

A lifelong Democrat, LaKeisha has campaigned for many candidates, including Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, and Al Gore.  In 2008, she served as a pledged delegate for President Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

Dr. Zenon Christodoulou

Dr. Zenon Christodoulou is an active member in the business, academic, political and cultural communities. He has founded, owns and operates diverse businesses across NJ, including: a graphic design agency, commercial printing facilities and a full service restaurant.

Brian Clarke

Brian Clarke is a founding member and Managing Partner for Executive Search with Kensington International, Inc. Brian holds a Master of Management degree from Northwestern University's J.L.

Ed Conant

Ed had careers in the Navy and the defense industry including 30 years in Washington working with the Pentagon and Congress.

Paul Connery

Our government is broken. Our citizens need to speak out and be taken seriously. No Labels has a great plan to fix government and I want to help!

Jim Cooper

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), his wife Martha and his three children live in Nashville. He's a businessman, attorney and part-time Vanderbilt business professor who travels to Washington most Tuesdays through Thrusdays to represent the Nashville area in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Michael Covin

Michael has been a student of politics for many years, and often described himself as a proud moderate or independent.  Now, he feels that he can be described as "No Labels", which he feels represents his political mindset.

Cathie Cripe

Cathie came to No Labels after being recruited by a fellow citizen leader in Illinois, and has been working hard to sign up even more supporters in the active state.  

Tom Davis

Tom Davis was first elected to office in 1979, winning a hard-fought campaign to represent Mason District in Virginia on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. In 1994, Tom won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to represent the 11th Congressional District of Virginia.

Keith and Christine Denning

My wife and I are from West Chester Ohio and attended the No Label start in Washington last December because we have exhausted our efforts locally in trying to get the political climate to understand the word 'compromise'.

Patrick Derocher

A member of the Finance Department, Patrick helps to maintain relationships with No Labels supporters, and is also actively involved in No Labels' congressional initiatives.

Carol Dietz

As a leader in our active Illinois chapter, Carol has helped to guide the efforts of other citizen leaders through her commitment.

Ron Dietz

Along with many other active leaders in Illinois, Ron believes that in business, and in life, problems are solved by open-minded and factual discussion and willingness to compromise.  He believes that we need to restore--and demand--that same spirit in Congress, which has led Ron to devote his ti

Cynthia Drew

Cynthia is an experienced Wall Street finance executive and Level 8 Certified USA Gymnastics judge, who strongly believes that life is about accountability and teamwork.

Mickey Edwards

Mickey Edwards, a vice president of the Aspen Institute, was a member of Congress for sixteen years, during which he was a member of the House Republican leadership.

Michael Eylerts

As a political activist at the Florida State University, Michael has grown tired of hyper-partisanship, ideological extremism and fiscal insecurity. As a former digital media intern for No Labels, Michael continues to fight for bipartisanship in Florida.

Sarah Feldman

Sarah Feldman has seen No Labels grow from an idea to a movement. Since joining No Labels full-time in May 2010, she has helped build the organization from the ground up in operations, on the field team, the finance department and now on the press team handling outreach to the media.

Blair Forlaw

A resident of Alexandria, VA, Blair believes that Congress just doesn’t get it.

Kevin Freeman

Kevin A. Freeman runs the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars Program at The Ohio State University.

William Galston

William A. Galston is Ezra Zilkha Chair and Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution.

Wade Garard

Wade Garard serves as Executive Director of the Phi Kappa Psi Foundation in Indianapolis, IN – a position he has held since 2006 and prior enjoyed a career in non-profit consulting based in Chapel Hill, NC.

Nate Garvis

Nate Garvis is President of Naked Civics, LLC, an innovative public affairs consultancy focusing on Interaction and Influence Design.

Dan Gerstein

Dan Gerstein is the president of Gotham Ghostwriters, New York's premier ghostwriting company, and a part-time political consultant and commentator.

Lauren Gilbert

Lauren works with the digital team performing in-depth policy research and analysis. She collaborates with the entire organization to provide timely and accurate information for outreach to citizens, the media and Capitol Hill.

David Gilmour

David Gilmour is the Managing Director of Blyth Capital Partners LLC, a California based hedge fund specializing in statistical arbitrage. Prior to founding Blyth Capital, Gilmour had a 25 year career as a successful high technology entrepreneur, executive, and board member.

Zack Godfrey

Zack is a recent college graduate who was recruited by another of his fellow citizen leaders in Georgia.  He decided to volunteer with No Labels because he wants to see a change in American politics that promotes a better civil discourse.  

Doug Goodman

Doug is a Retired military and Quality Assurance Manager who has been active in politics his entire adult life at all levels.

David Graham

David Graham is a middle school administrator, an active band festival manager and judge, and the father of four young children.  He is currently serving as the Republican Citizen Leader in Kentucky's 2nd District, and is working hard to recruit other leaders in the state.

John Graham

John Graham is the current CEO of Fairview Insurance Agency and a former school teacher in Philadelphia. Mr. Graham is a politically-active citizen and has past experience in fundraising and advising. He also serves as a coach of several youth sports teams in his community.

Kenneth Gross

Ken Gross is a partner at the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Washington, D.C., where he heads the Political Law Group. Ken advises many Fortune 500 companies relating to the regulation of political activities.

Bill Grossman

Bill from Ohio supports the principles of No Labels as they emphasize his belief that politicians have the elected privilege of being caretakers of our society's future.  He believes that it is the task of No Labels to monitor and counter the hyper-partisanship that has gripped our politics today

Dudley Hafner

Citizens must maintain their rights to influence the systems and laws under which they are governed. Today, the system under which we are living was not created for us; rather, it was created by a Congress enmeshed in its own self serving political system.

Bill Hare

As a leader in Wisconsin, Bill is trying to show our elected representatives that there are millions of activist voters ready to get behind thoughtful, reasoned compromise.

Ryan Harvey

Ryan has been working to recruit fellow supporters in Memphis because he is tired of our elected leaders representing their party over their country.  He wants our leaders to get to work making practical, bipartisan solutions to our nation's problems.

Dr. Debra Hauser

Dr. Debra Hauser is a clinical psychologist on the faculty of the Yale Child Study Center. She is also the former President and CEO of Connecticut Weight and Wellness. Dr.

Stuart Holliday

Ambassador Stuart Holliday served as Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. He is currently President of Meridian International Center, the nation’s premier public diplomacy organization.

Mike Hopkins

Mike serves as one of our leaders in Florida, and is committed to recruiting more people in his district and state to support the work No Labels is doing.  He knows that it is time for us to stop identifying each other solely by party affiliations.

Jerry Howe

Jerry Howe is a corporate executive with over twenty-five years of experience in the national security, defense, intelligence, space, and homeland security sectors.

Marsha Howes

Marsha Howes, Citizen Leader from Baltimore, MD, joined No Labels in September 2011 after seeing the Howard Schultz full page ad in the NY Times.

Jennifer Irwin

Jennifer has lived in New York, Dallas, Santa Clara, Indianapolis and now Western CT and in all cities she has called home, involved in volunteer organizations to include the Concord Coalition, the Red Cross and joined No Labels in late 2011.

Jessica Jackson-McLain

Jessica is a law student at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and founder of No Labels Indiana University. To devote more time to recruiting and lobbying for No Labels, she left her other obligations this semester and hopes to continue the work in person this summer on the Hill.

Nancy Jacobson

For over 26 years Nancy Jacobson has worked in Washington D.C. as a political entrepreneur, advisor, fundraiser, and network cultivator. As the founder of No Labels, she works in a full time capacity overseeing the vision and management of the organization.

Kirstin Johnson

I joined No Labels since being labeled my whole life, I no longer believe in them or their ability to define us. Our nation faces enormous challenges that can only be faced and conquered together.

Robert S. Kaplan

Robert S. Kaplan is a Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School and co-chairman of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a global venture philanthropy firm. Prior to joining Harvard Business School in September 2005, Rob served as Vice Chairman of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Ken Keusler

Ken knows that an individual voice is still powerful in this country, but that getting involved with an organization like No Labels will help to really put pressure on the hyper-partisanship gripping government today.  

Margaret Kimbrell

As deputy director, Margaret works to ensure all efforts are streamlined and moving forward. Margaret's responsibilities include directing the organization's development programs, managing internal and external relationships, and collaborating closely with the founders.

Nick Lampson

Nick Lampson spent much of his ten years in the U.S. House of Representatives building coalitions between Democrats and Republicans. He founded the Congressional Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which became the largest bi-partisan caucus in the House.

Chris Little

Over the past 35 years Chris has been widely regarded as one of the region's leading lawyers.  In his time away from work, he has led some of Rhode Island's leading nonprofit organizations involved in health care, environmental advocacy and good government.  

John Lummis

Since 2007, John Lummis has served as a Senior Advisor/Operating Partner with various hedge funds and private equity funds. With a focus on the insurance sector, he has consulted on potential M&A transactions, investments in public equities and the formation of new businesses.

Andrew Ma

Andrew works for the California State Senate, and for the Junior State of America to spread advocacy.  Last year, he was the Junior State's National Director of Communications, and connected people of various political backgrounds and helped spread the message of "Be the People".

Terri Main

Terri Main, and her husband Charlie, live in San Luis Obispo, part of the Central Coast of California. They joined No Labels to help end the extreme partisanship in Washington and get this county moving forward.

Hadayi Majeed

Hadayai Majeed is an Independent who has worked for many Democratic candidates since 1976 (Jimmy Carter campaign in KCMO), President Bill Clinton in Tarrant County, TX 1992 and for President Barack Obama in 2007 in GA.

Michael Malone

The U.S. Congress needs to return to working for the interests of the people they represent, and not the narrow ambitions of special interest groups.

Joe Mansour

 As the digital media director, Joe Mansour works with his top-notch team to ensure No Labels is using the right technology and tools to reach new supporters, engage current members, and empower citizen leaders to build the No Labels Movement.

Michael Barnes and Mareza Estevez

My partner, Mareza Estevez and I are both professionals with very demanding careers as well as being full-time parents of four children, however, we still make time to be active citizen advocates for No Labels.

Amy Markham

Amy E. Markham is an admission director at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and has been interested in politics since she was a teenager. No Labels is her first foray into activism and now she is hooked!

Bartly Matthews

Bartly Mathews is a Utah Independent living in Salt Lake City who is anxious to make a difference. No Labels provides the perfect conduit to reach across the ideological divide and unite Americans of varied experience and perspective in an effort to keep America great!

Charles McClelland

After witnessing decades of hyper-partisan name calling and finger pointing on Capitol Hill and the White House, Charles is now encouraging leaders to check their labels at the door, and come together in a civil and collaborative manner to address the major issues of our day. 

Matthew McCreary

Matt is a China International MBA candidate at the University of Hawaii and a citizen leader in Oahu. He believes bi-partisanship is the solution to our country's problems.

Michael McDermott

I joined Nolabels last July because it seemed that they had some good ideas. When I went to the December 13, 2011 with my 13 year old grandson I was overwhelmed with the NoLabels 12 - Point Plan to "Make Congress Work" and have been working ever since to promote this wonderful grassroots organization.

Mark McKinnon

For two decades Mark McKinnon has been helping solve complex strategic challenges for causes, companies and candidates, including President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Congressman “Good Time” Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong and Bono.

Kiki McLean

Kiki McLean is a Partner and Managing Director of Porter Novelli‘s Washington DC office, as well as head of the agency’s global public affairs efforts.

Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller is the former two-term elected Kentucky State Treasurer and has served three years as the state's CFO, the Secretary of Finance and Administration. During the first Clinton/Gore Administration, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Dave Morin

Dave Morin is an Internet entrepreneur and angel investor from San Francisco. Currently, he is the Co-Founder and CEO of Path. Previously, he was co-inventor of Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect.

Logan Nee

A lifelong Mainer, Logan has established a No Labels Generation chapter at the University of Maine, where he will be a sophomore.  He joined No Labels because he has had enough with the unreasonable bickering between our elected officials in Washington.

David Nevins

David L. Nevins graduated with a degree in Economics from The Pennsylvania State University in 1969, and received an MBA in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.

Janne Nolan

Dr. Nolan is the Director of Nuclear Security Programs at the American Security Project. Previously, she was professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

William D. Novelli

William D. Novelli is the former CEO for AARP. He joined Georgetown's McDonough School of Business faculty as a Distinguished Professor of the Practice in August 2009.

Pat Oliver

Pat is part of a strong Connecticut group organizing in the state, and can always be relied on to be engaged with No Labels online, on the phone, and in person at events.  She believes that our message is a testament to a growing desire by Americans for pragmatism and responsible decision making.

Gerard Pare

I'm from Augusta, Maine and I'm with No Labels because I firmly believe that one of the biggest problems with our country now is the Hyperpartisan politics and political rhetoric running amok.

Julia Pfaff

As a veteran, military spouse, and military child, Julia has spent her life quite literally directly or indirectly supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States.  

Emanuel Pleitez

Emanuel Pleitez is a consultant at McKinsey & Company based in his hometown of Los Angeles. Prior to McKinsey, he served as the Special Assistant to Chairman Paul Volcker at the U.S.

Anthony Pratkanis

Anthony Pratkanis is Professor of Psychology at the University of California where his research focuses on social influence.

Ahmir Rashid

Ahmir is the operations director at No Labels.  He is responsible for maintaining the budget, dealing with all vendors, and ensuring that the organization has the infrastructure needed to run smoothly.  Ahmir has a background in business and engineering.

Seth Rau

Seth Rau is a rising senior at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts where he is studying Political Science and International Relations.  He is a former President of Tufts Democrats and a former campaign manager for Massachusetts State Representative Carl Sciortino.

Brooke Renney

Brooke is a student at the Florida State University seeking dual BA degrees in Political Science and International Affairs with a minor in Economics.

Don Rizzo

Don Rizzo was vice president of marketing at a Fortune 500 Company and then was co-owner of an advertising agency in Atlanta before retiring. He now is a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Fulton County Juvenile Court (GA), is on several community boards and plays mediocre golf.

Patrick Rumley

I am support and am involved with NoLabels because I believe that we must restore the power of civil discourse and the art of compromise to the public forum.

Arman Salehian

Arman Salehian is a junior at the University of New Mexico studying business.  He is a patriotic and pragmatic independent who has worked on both sides of the aisle. 

Charlie Salem

Charlie Salem is the former Chief of Staff to Senator Evan Bayh. He is currently managing director of public policy at Microsoft.

Mark Salter

Mark Salter is the former speechwriter and longtime aide of Arizona Senator John McCain.

Tyler Sax

Passionate about politics and experienced with social media, Tyler is a perfect fit on the Digital Media team. He keeps busy maintaining this website and exploring new ways to leverage social media outlets. Hailing from New Orleans, he is a harsh food critic and avid Saints fan.

Bobbi Schwartz

An active citizen leader in Texas, Bobbi has shown her support at many No Labels events across the country.  She has recruited heavily as a citizen leader in her home district, in large part because she is fed up with our leaders representing their party over their country.

Ron Shaich

Ron Shaich is the Founder, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Panera Bread Company, where he previously served for over 20 years as the company's Chief Executive Officer.

Gary Shapiro

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, the national association representing 2000 technology companies. CEA owns and produces the nation's largest annual event, the International Consumer Electronics Show.

Arnold Sherman

Arnold Kraft Sherman (Linthicum, Maryland) (The Social Bases of Politics, Wadsworth, 1987) participates in No Labels believing that it is the only growing and effective non-partisan social movement that gives voice to the moderate middle, can neutralize the extremists of both parties, and reduce gridlock in Congress.

Al Smith

Al is a part of the very active Connecticut group, and is often with us on our leaders calls, and at our national leaders meetings.  He is concerned about some of our major issues including energy, the debt, and education. 

Jay Smith

Jay Smith retired as president of Cox Newspapers, Inc., in 2008 after 40 years in the newspaper business. From reporter to publisher, he developed a deep respect for those who serve to make our country better. He and his wife, Susan, will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year.

Andrew Tisch

Andrew Tisch is a private citizen concerned with the state of discord in American politics today. He is Co-Chairman of the Board of Loews Corporation, a widely-diversified holding company.

Ron and Debbie Tobias

Can one person's voice really make a difference? Yes. The No Budget No Pay Bill is a testament to the power of our collective voices.

Alan Ungar

A man of many hats, Alan serves as the President of Critical Capital Management, Inc., in Calabass, California, and is also an avid golfer and banjo player.  

Dean Vanderbilt

Dean is one of our leaders in Georgia, working to build the movement in all congressional districts.  He served in local government for over three decades, and has seen that much can be accomplished when people simply work together.

George Voinovich

From his time as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, Cuyahoga County Commissioner, Cuyahoga County Auditor, Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Mayor of Cleveland and Governor of Ohio to his twelve years as Ohio's senior United States Senator, George Voinovich has strived for more than 40 yea

Dave Walker

Dave Walker has over 30 years of public, private and not-for-profit sector leadership experience.

Adele Wick

Economist Adele Wick has a BA (Phi Beta Kappa) from Wellesley College and an MA (ABD) from the University of Chicago.

Jeffrey Winter

On top of all his duties as an associate at a consulting firm in Florida -- and as a father to three boys -- Jeffrey has volunteered as a leader in Jacksonville because he believes that our country should come before partisan politics.  

Al Wynn

Rep. Al Wynn (D-MD) served 16 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Maryland’s 4th Congressional District. During his last 12 years, he served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mindy Yocum

While Mindy finds herself ascribing mostly to one party, she also has been disappointed with the unwillingness of many of our officials -- and others in daily life -- who readily disavow and discount other points of view because they fall under a certain "label".

Mark Yzaguirre

Mark R. Yzaguirre is an attorney in Houston, Texas. He is a supporter of No Labels and encourages others to support the organization.

Josh Zeitlin

A member of the press team, Josh works to amplify the No Labels message and the voices of our great co-founders and citizen leaders via TV, print, online and radio outlets.