The first-ever TEDxPennsylvaniaAvenue held at the Newseum on PennsylvaniaAvenue between the White House and U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. sparked conversation and connection and served as the official kick-off of a new TEDxPennsylvaniaAvenue community committed to sharing ideas worth spreading across our nation’s capital. Check out the official photos from TEDxPennsylvaniaAvenue at https://www.flickr.com/photos/131446476@N03/.

555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
United States

CaSh & Earle

Born and bred out of love and music, CaSh and Earle are a vocal duo that revive old-school cliches about romance, marriage and "making it". CaSh, a universal vocalist and composer trained in jazz style, has spent a few years performing along the east coast as a solo artist by the name of CaSh Jane. Earle, a natural talent of dance, voice and percussion, is a consummate entertainer that has shared his talents around the globe. Upon meeting each other, they fell in love instantly and vowed to never work with each other in fear of dimming the bright spark of love that they had found. And as fate would have it, they stumbled their way into a beautiful & musical bond that utilizes basic musical traditions with the modern edge of beat-box. The result is a spacious yet heavily percussive sound created by Earle that melds seamlessly with the way CaSh fashions her lyrics and voice.

Justin Trawick & the Common Good

Sounding somewhere between Bob Schneider, The Tallest Man on Earth, G. Love, Old Crow Medicine Show, and David Gray, Justin Trawick has been performing in the Washington DC Area and the East Coast since 2006 both solo and with his band “Justin Trawick and the Common Good.” Trawick has opened for over 30 national acts including Suzanne Vega, Brett Dennen, Blues Traveler, Bob Schneider, Edwin McCain and shared bills with Dr. Dogg and The Avett Brothers. Founder of “The 9 Songwriter Series” and co-founder of “The Circus Life Podcast," Trawick has built a brand that extends beyond just being a musician local to DC. In February of 2014, Trawick won “Song of the Year” at the Washington Area Music Awards for his song “All the Places That I’ve Been."

The Rock Creek Singers

The Rock Creek Singers is a 32-voice, dynamic, chamber ensemble of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC that performs a repertoire of classical and contemporary music, ranging from spirituals, to jazz, to Broadway, to pop. The Rock Creek Singers not only performs locally at over 20 events each season, they have also performed throughout the United States, and in Europe. The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC delights audiences and champions gay equality with robust artistry, fun, and surprise. The Rock Creek Singer’s Artistic Director is also the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s Artistic Director/Conductor, Dr. Thea Kano.

Amy Finkelstein

Amy Finkelstein is the Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the co-Scientific Director of J-PAL North America, a research center at MIT designed to encourage and facilitate randomized evaluations of important domestic policy issues. She has received numerous awards and fellowships including the John Bates Clark Medal (2012), given annually to the economist under the age of 40 who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge. She has also received awards for graduate student teaching (2012) and graduate student advising (2010) at MIT. She is one of two Principal Investigators currently leading the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, a randomized evaluation of the impact of extending Medicaid coverage to low income, uninsured adults.

Chris Fischer

OCEARCH Founding Chairman Chris Fischer is an ocean explorer who's led 21 global expeditions researching great white sharks, tiger sharks and other apex predators to advance conservation, education and public safety. In 2013 Fischer launched the Global Shark Tracker website and mobile app, used by millions worldwide, as part of his vision for ultimate inclusion and open source sharing of data. He’s appeared in 210 TV episodes on the National Geographic Channel, HISTORY, ESPN and others. Working aboard the 126 ft. M/V OCEARCH vessel, over 70 scientists from 40 institutions are generating unprecedented research data, filling critical knowledge gaps to save sharks and human lives.

Dan Cardinali

Dan Cardinali is president of Communities In Schools (CIS), the nation’s largest and most effective dropout prevention organization serving nearly 1.5 million students in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Cardinali’s singular focus on providing opportunity to all students has been fueled by his experience working with impoverished communities in the South Bronx, Appalachia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Mexico. He is a respected voice in the national debate over education reform, frequently informs the news media, and routinely partners with think tanks, strategic funders, universities and policy forums. Cardinali is a 2007 Annie E. Casey Children and Families Fellow and leads the K-12 subcommittee of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for Hispanics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham University.

David Rubenstein

David Rubenstein is a Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, founded in 1987. Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and of Duke University, a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, Co-Chairman of the Brookings Institution, Vice-Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and President of the Economic Club of Washington. Rubenstein is on the Board of Directors of the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors and Advisory Board of School of Economics and Management Tsinghua University (Chairman).

Elizabeth Birch

Elizabeth Birch has had an extensive career that spans the corporate, legal, public policy, communications and nonprofit worlds. She has advised the Clinton and Obama Administrations, Members of Congress, the Pentagon, many corporations and NGOs on issues of concern to LGBT people and their families. She is the President of Elizabeth Birch Company, LLC and Global Out and CEO of Peris Birch. Elizabeth began her legal career at Bingham, McCutchen. In 1989, she joined Apple Computer, Inc. as Chief Litigation and Human Resources Counsel. She also served as General Counsel for Claris Corporation, Apple’s software subsidiary. In 1995, Elizabeth became President of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization. For almost a decade Birch led a team at HRC that helped drive a deeper understanding of LGBT people, helping to move the conversation from the streets to the living rooms of America. She lives in Washington, DC, with her 16-year-old twins, Anna and Jacob.

Eshauna Smith

In June of 2014, Eshauna Smith was appointed CEO of the Urban Alliance. Prior to Urban Alliance, in April 2010, Eshauna joined the DC government to re-establish a citywide disconnected youth initiative and to create the District’s citywide collective impact initiative, Raise DC, responsible for bringing together corporate, community, and city leaders to establish common data points and benchmarks to measure the city’s progress in supporting youth success from cradle to career. Prior to her work with city government, Ms. Smith was the founding Executive Director of the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. While at DCAYA, she co-authored with the Urban Institute, On The Road to Adulthood; A Databook About Teens and Young Adults in DC. Eshauna began her career in 2001 with the Moriah Fund as a Program Associate for the Reducing Poverty and Women’s Rights Programs.

Greg Fischer

Greg Fischer was elected Louisville’s 50th mayor in 2010 and was sworn in for a second four-year term on January 5, 2015. Since taking office, Mayor Fischer has pursued three top goals: making Louisville a city of lifelong learning, a much healthier city and an even more compassionate community. Mayor Fischer’s accomplishments include: bringing innovation and efficiency to city government by using data to increase performance through LouieStat and earning “International Model City of Compassion” recognition for Louisville in part by creating the Give A Day week of community service. He is a trustee for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and is past chair of the Conference's Metro Economies Committee. Greg is an entrepreneur who started several businesses including SerVend International and Iceberg Ventures. Greg graduated from Vanderbilt University. He and his wife Alex have four children.

John Delaney

Congressman John K. Delaney (MD-6) is the only former CEO of a publicly traded company in the House of Representatives. Congressman Delaney founded and led two NYSE-listed financial services companies before the age of forty and is a past winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2010, Delaney’s company, CapitalSource, received the Bank Enterprise Award from the Treasury Department for lending to disadvantaged communities. Delaney serves on the Financial Services and Joint Economic Committee. Delaney was first elected in 2012 and is a member of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University and the National Symphony Orchestra. Maryland’s Sixth District includes the Washington D.C. suburbs and Western Maryland.

Kim Bogucki

Detective Kim Bogucki is the co-founder of The IF Project, an innovative partnership between law enforcement, currently and previously incarcerated adults, and community leaders. A 27-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department, Kim has developed nationally replicated programs that create dialogue around issues of social justice between members of law enforcement and the communities they serve. In 2007 Kim co-created the West Side Story Project to bring together young people and law enforcement around the performing arts to address the plight of gang violence. She also developed the Donut Dialogues, a series of programs that engaged young people and law enforcement to enhance connectedness and dispel misperceptions about police officers. Kim recently launched Tithe One On, a non-profit focused on creating communities of kindness. She is an active member of the board of directors of the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) and Correctional Industries.

Lashon Amado

Lashon works at YouthBuild USA as the Program Associate of Education and Youth Leadership and represents YouthBuild on the National Council of Young Leaders- Opportunity Youth United. In both roles, he serves as a local and national student leader, participating in speaking engagements across the country and connecting more opportunity youth to college and career pathways. He also serves on the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee for the Governor’s office of Massachusetts. Lashon achieved these accomplishment despite facing tremendous obstacles in his life, meeting racism, and getting involved with the criminal justice system. These adversities caused him to become apathetic about education and ultimately led him to drop out of high school. He enrolled in YouthBuild, where the staff there empowered him to want more for himself and consider post-secondary education, leading eventually to enrollment and honors received at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Loretta Sanchez

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is proud to represent California's 46th Congressional District. Rep. Sanchez began her congressional career in January of 1997 and is currently serving her tenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She holds senior positions on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. She is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and serves as the co-chair of the Immigration Task Force. As the second highest ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), Rep. Sanchez is a recognized leader on military and national security issues. She is also a member of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. A product of public schools and Head Start, Sanchez is a graduate of Chapman University and American University's MBA program. Prior to serving in Congress, Sanchez worked in the financial markets, with firms including Booz Allen Hamilton and Fieldman Rolapp.

Maria Hinojosa

For 25 years, Maria Hinojosa has helped tell America’s untold stories. In April 2010, Hinojosa launched The Futuro Media Group. She is the first Latina to anchor a Frontline report. Hinojosa interviewed dozens of notable Latinos for Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ “The Latino List.” As the anchor and executive producer of her own long-running weekly NPR show, Latino USA, and anchor of the Emmy Award winning talk show Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One from WGBH/ La Plaza, Hinojosa has informed millions of Americans about the fastest growing group in our country. Previously, a Senior Correspondent for NOW on PBS, a Correspondent on CNN, and currently, a rotating anchor for Need to Know, Hinojosa has reported hundreds of important stories. She was born in Mexico City, raised in Chicago, and received her BA from Barnard College. She is married to the artist German Perez. They live with their son and daughter in Harlem, New York City.

Michael Gerson

Michael J. Gerson joined ONE in August 2010 as Senior Advisor. He is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice weekly in the Washington Post and in nearly 100 other newspapers. Mr. Gerson is the author of Heroic Conservatism (HarperOne, 2007) and co-author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era (Moody, 2010). He is the 2015 Pamela and Jack Egan Visiting Professor at Duke University. Until 2006, Mr. Gerson was a top aide to President George W. Bush as Assistant to the President for Policy and Strategic Planning. He was a key administration advocate for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the fight against global sex trafficking, and funding for women’s justice and empowerment issues. Mr. Gerson is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois. He grew up in the St. Louis area and now lives with his wife and sons in northern Virginia.

Mick Cornett

The son of postal worker and school teacher, Mick Cornett was born and raised in Oklahoma City. Today, Mayor Mick Cornett, the first four-term mayor in Oklahoma City history, is leading a thriving community that reflects the same principles. Recently elected to a leadership position in the US Conference of Mayors, he is in line to be President of that organization in 2016. He famously put the entire city on a diet to raise awareness on the national issue of obesity. His leadership helped bring the NBA to OKC. During his time in office, Oklahoma City has invested nearly $2 billion in schools and quality-of-life infrastructure through the innovative MAPS program. That investment generated nearly $6 billion in private sector investment. Today, Oklahoma City’s economy is one of the nation’s most robust. He earned a degree in journalism at the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from New York University. He is married to Terri (Walker) Cornett and has three sons.

Patrick McCarthy

A respected clinician and public sector leader, Patrick McCarthy joined the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 1994 to manage its Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children. Throughout his tenure, he led efforts to improve human services practices and policies to boost positive results for the nation’s most vulnerable kids and families. He held positions of increasing responsibility before being appointed the president of the Foundation in 2010. Before joining the Foundation, McCarthy held positions ranging from psychiatric social worker and head of a school for youth with emotional and behavioral challenges to university professor and division director at the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families. He holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Paul Ryan

Currently serving his ninth term as a member of Congress, Paul Ryan (WI-1) serves as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. During the 112th & 113th Congresses, he served as chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he put forward specific plans to tackle our looming fiscal crisis (“The Path to Prosperity”). Paul earned a degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Ohio. Paul and his wife Janna live in Janesville with their children, daughter Liza and sons Charlie and Sam.

Rachel Goslins

Rachel Goslins was appointed by President Obama to manage the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in 2009. Under her management, the Committee launched 3 new national initiatives, including Turnaround Arts, the first federally-led public/private partnership to bring arts education to a group of the country’s lowest-performing elementary schools. Prior to her appointment, Rachel founded a documentary production company, directing two independent feature documentaries and working on productions for PBS, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and History. She also served as the Director of the Independent Digital Distribution Lab, a joint PBS/ITVS project. Before working in the arts, Rachel was an international copyright attorney with Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and the U.S. Copyright Office. Rachel received her B.A. in English Literature and her J.D. from UCLA's School of Law. She is a member of the 2012 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.

Rajiv Shah

From 2010 to 2015, Dr. Rajiv Shah led the efforts of nearly 10,000 staff in more than 70 countries around the world as administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Under his leadership, Dr. Shah elevated the importance of partnering with and financing the private sector, advocating for infrastructure development, incubating technology solutions and science, and restructuring how USAID delivered its assistance to solve the world’s most intractable development challenges. Previously, Dr. Shah served as under secretary of agriculture for research, education and economics and was chief scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture. He also spent 8 years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at its inception, where he led efforts in global health, agriculture and financial services.

Robert E. Rubin

Robert E. Rubin served as our nation's 70th Secretary of the Treasury from January 10, 1995 until July 2, 1999. He joined the Clinton Administration in 1993, serving in the White House as the first Director of the National Economic Council. In June 2007, Mr. Rubin was named Co-Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is Chairman of the Board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). He joined Goldman, Sachs & Company in 1966, serving as Co-Senior Partner and Co-Chairman from 1990 to 1992. From 1999 to 2009, he served as a member of the Board of Directors at Citigroup and as a senior advisor to the company. In 2010, Mr. Rubin joined Centerview Partners. Mr. Rubin is one of the founders of The Hamilton Project. Mr. Rubin is the author of In An Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington. Mr. Rubin graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1960. He received a L.L.B. from Yale Law School in 1964 and attended the London School of Economics.

Shelby Coffey III

Shelby Coffey III is currently Vice Chairman of the Newseum. He was Editor and Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Times from 1989 to 1997 and was named Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation in 1995. He was President of CNN Business News and CNNfn, the financial network, from 1999 to 2001. Previously he was Executive Vice President of ABC News. Coffey began his journalism career at The Washington Post as a sports reporter and held a variety of editorial positions there over the next 17 years. Prior to joining the Times, Coffey was Editor of U.S. News & World Report and the Dallas Times Herald. He is a member of Council on Foreign Relations and on the Board of Directors of Oxford Analytica, the international consulting firm.

Tom Kalil

Tom Kalil is the Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Senior Advisor for Science, Technology and Innovation for the National Economic Council. In this role, Tom serves as a senior White House staffer charged with coordinating the government’s technology and innovation agenda. Prior to serving in the Obama Administration, Tom was Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2007 and 2008, Tom was Chair of the Global Health Working Group for the Clinton Global Initiative. Previously, Tom served for 8 years in the Clinton White House, ultimately as the Deputy Assistant to the President for Technology and Economic Policy, and the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. Tom received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and completed graduate work at Tufts University’s Fletcher School.