2022 Speakers

Since 2013, Menendez Coller has led Centro Hispano, which prioritizes a thriving Latinx community via family-centered strategies and community voice. In 2017, she received the Inaugural statewide Nan Cheney Award for Social Justice from Forward Community Investments.

Among many other efforts as both a state senator and earlier as a member of the Assembly, Agard has worked to make marijuana legal in Wisconsin. Born and raised in Madison, Agard is also a former small business owner and Dane County Board Supervisor.

Valentina (Tina) Ahedo has worked in higher education for over 20 years and serves as the vice president for Madison College’s Goodman South Campus. She oversees the School of Academic Advancement as well as the campus' K-12 relationships, prison education, and...

Anthony is an expert in developing job placement strategies and minority business development. Previously, he worked as the deputy secretary and chief operations officer at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Arias has been the radio voice for Wisconsin volleyball since 2008 and Wisconsin women’s basketball since 2011 on 100.9 FM. He also hosts his own podcast, The Joncast Podcast, where he talks to athletes, coaches and reporters.

Balz is chief correspondent at The Washington Post. He joined The Post in 1978 and has been involved in political coverage as a reporter or editor throughout his career. He is the author of New York Times bestselling books about the 2008 and the 2012 elections and has...

Bernstein is a renowned investigative journalist, best known as half of the Washington Post pair that broke the Watergate stories that eventually led to President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974. Bernstein is the author of seven books, most recently "Chasing...

Biatch holds master’s degrees in Jewish communal service and Hebrew letters. He served pulpits in Virginia and California before joining Temple Beth El in Madison.

Bina has worked at Epic for 25 years. He divides his time between strategic product planning and helping customers to transform the digital experience for patients.

For the Madison Public Library, Boyd manages social media, creates content for the website, newsletters and press releases, and coordinates with community partners to enhance the library's brand regionally. She is also on the board of Social Media Breakfast-Madison.

Brey is a video columnist, radio host and comedian. In 2020, she created “As Goes Wisconsin,'' a daily radio show produced by Civic Media. In October 2021, she joined the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as an Ideas Lab video columnist.

Brossard is an expert in public opinion dynamics related to controversial scientific issues. She is interested in understanding the role of values in shaping public attitudes.

Cavazos is the president and CEO of the Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce, where she promotes economic equity for underserved groups. An award-winning community leader, Cavazos was given the Key to the Latino Community in Milwaukee and was named Community Leader of...

Christians has been writing about fine arts and food since 2008 for the Cap Times. Since early 2021, she has hosted Cooking with the Cap Times, featuring live demonstrations by Madison-area chefs.

Collins is the Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer & Personal Finance, and professor of public affairs at UW-Madison. He studies household finance, especially financial well-being over the lifetimes. He also leads the Center for Financial Security as part of the Social...

Prior to joining Exact Sciences in 2012, Condella served in management roles at GE Healthcare and the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. She is also UW-Madison alum and a Madison Children's Museum board member.

Prior to leading the Wisconsin Examiner, Conniff previously served as editor-in-chief of The Progressive Magazine. She is the author of “MILKED: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers.”

Copelovitch studies and teaches international relations, with a focus on the political economy of international trade and finance, as well as the politics of international organizations like the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Dequaine-Jerabek joined the Cap Times in 2020 as an audience strategist and grew into a larger role the following year. She was instrumental in the creation of Cooking with the Cap Times and Cap Times Live. Previously, she was the social media and marketing director...

Fairweather is the chief economist of Redfin. Prior to joining Redfin, she was a senior economist at Amazon working on problems related to employee engagement and managing a team of analysts. During the housing crisis, Fairweather worked as a researcher at the Boston...

State Senator Mary Felzkowski is a member of the budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance and is Chair of the Senate Committee on Insurance, Licensing and Forestry. She is the author of a medical marijuana bill and has brought citizens, experts and stakeholders...

Outside of MadREP, which he joined in 2021, Fields is a World Business Angel Investment Forum senator, a community leader and a published author.

Angela Fitzgerald is the creator, producer and host of Why Race Matters. She has dedicated her extensive education and career to leadership, community engagement and creating opportunities for others.

Franklin is a professor of law and public policy at Marquette University, and he also leads the Marquette Law School Poll, which monitors trends in Wisconsin politics and other matters of public policy.

Fritz is a partner at HealthX Ventures, a Madison-based digital health startup venture capital fund. Prior to joining HealthX, Fritz worked as a startup attorney and partner of a major Midwestern law firm, among other ventures. He also serves on the Wisconsin...

Garfield, born and raised in New York, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2020 with a degree in journalism and a minor in theatre. She previously worked as the state capitol intern for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and government watchdog...

A University of Wisconsin-Madison alum, Gee has been a community influencer for over three decades and hosts the award-winning podcast “Black Like Me.” The Center for Black Excellence and Culture project he leads is set to open in 2023.

Prior to joining the Bucks, Gorecki previously worked as a social media coordinator for the Big Ten Network and an as associate social media coordinator for Major League Baseball in New York.

Huynh is the higher education reporter at the Cap Times. She joined the paper in 2021.

Ingram is an environmental writer and geographer who is currently a participatory action research fellow at the university's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. Her latest book is titled, "Loving Orphaned Space: The Art and Science of Belonging to Earth."

Kelley is a content specialist at KennedyC and serves as President of Ad 2 Madison, a networking group for young professionals in marketing and communications. She also manages her blog “Hey Allie,” where her love of style and thrifting collide.

Thomas “Rock” Mackie is a physicist and retired professor at the University of Wisconsin. He developed TomoTherapy, an image-guided intensity modulated radiotherapy company, and he is a co-founder of Leo Cancer Care, which is developing upright radiotherapy and...

In addition to his work at Vanderbilt, Maraniss is a New York Times bestselling author of sports and social justice related nonfiction for teens and adults. His latest book, "Inaugural Ballers," is about the U.S. first women's Olympic volleyball team.

David Maraniss is a New York Times best-selling author, fellow of the Society of American Historians, and visiting distinguished professor at Vanderbilt University. He has been affiliated with the Washington Post for more than forty years as an editor and writer, and...

Marley writes about voting issues in the Upper Midwest for The Washington Post. He previously covered the Wisconsin Capitol for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

McDowell is the first black woman CEO of YWCA Madison and member of the State Advisory Council on Equity and Inclusion. Prior to joining the YWCA, the Madison native worked for UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion Laboratory and served in a leadership role at...

Mosley is an Olympic gold medalist and President of FundPlay. The program is part of LeagueApps, an organization designed to empower youth sports organizers. Mosley connects professional sports leagues with youth development programs.

Neumann-Ortiz is the founding executive director of Voces, an immigrant workers center with chapters in Milwaukee and Racine that is a voice for immigration reform.

In addition to his work at the Cap Times, Nichols is the author of several books about politics and the media, including "Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse." He writes about electoral politics and public policy for The Nation magazine.

"Tolu" Olorunnipa is the White House Bureau Chief for the Washington Post and the co-author of "His Name is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice." He has spent more than a decade writing about politics, policy, power and people.

Opoien covers writes and oversees state government and politics for the Cap Times as a reporter, and she is the co-author of the weeky Wedge Issues newsletter about Wisconsin politics.

Osborne is board-certified in both family medicine and addiction medicine. She has held numerous leadership positions over the past 10 years as clinical associate professor at Brown University and a legislative family medicine advocate. Osborne has a special interest...

Pollack is a history teacher at Madison College and an honorary fellow in the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at UW-Madison. He researches histories of Jewish economic niches and Jews in higher education. He also authored “Wisconsin, The New Home of The Jew:...

Priller has 23 years of expertise as a nurse, applying a lens of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging principles to health care and education settings. Using her deep knowledge of human behavior and health care, she partners with Quartz leaders to weave...

Raskin is the U.S. representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District. He serves on the Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and previously served as the lead house manager in the second Senate impeachment trial of former...

Roller is a recent graduate of UW-Madison and a First Wave Scholar, an urban arts and hip-hop program supported by the UW-Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives. Originally from the Madison area, he has worked as a local activist, dance instructor, music...

Sethi is an infectious disease epidemiologist and has worked in the areas of HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, health care-associated infections, and addressing public health misinformation. He is faculty director of the Master of Public Health Program and he teaches the popular...

Sheffield is the head coach of the Wisconsin women’s volleyball team, winners of the 2021 national championship. Under Sheffield, the Badgers have a winning percentage of 82.8%, rank top five nationally in attendance, and have gone 31-8 in the last nine years of NCAA...

Tanck oversees the creation and execution of Quartz's public relations and community engagement strategy in alignment with its mission, vision, values, and strategic goals. During her career in communications and public relations, Myranda has headed a wide range of...

Under Valiquette's guidance, the Bay Area programs have directly assisted tens of thousands of customers in the last 10 years. By advancing education and technical skills, community members can obtain meaningful employment in high-demand areas.

Cassie Vanderwall brings 15 years of experience as a clinical dietitian and certified diabetes education and care specialist to her new position at Quartz. She is passionate about promoting positive change on a population level through equitable, evidence-informed and...