Steve Bartlett was elected president of the Financial Services Roundtable in June 1999. Previously, he served as the mayor of Dallas, TX (1991-95), a Member of the United States Congress (1983-91), and on the Dallas City Council (1977-81). At the Roundtable, Mr. Bartlett has had a major impact on legislation including Gramm-Leach-Bliley, E-SIGN, and Sarbanes-Oxley. While in Congress, Mr. Bartlett served on the House Banking Committee and was a leader in financial modernization. He served as a Deputy Whip and was a sponsor or principal co-sponsor of 18 major pieces of legislation, including Fair Labor Standards Act reforms and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He has been a leader in education reform and financial services legislation.

Mr. Bartlett currently serves on the board of directors of BIPAC, YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, United States Consensus Council, and Easter Seals of Washington, DC. He served as co-chair of Character Counts of Dallas, and chair of the Trinity Trails. In 2001 he served on the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. His leadership has been recognized by the National Association of Manufacturers; National Federation of Independent Business; Ebony, Essence and Jet Magazines; Texas Association for Retarded Citizens; Anti-Defamation League; and National Council of La Raza; among others.

Ms. Burmaster was elected to a second term as Wisconsin State Superintendent in April of 2005. A third-generation Wisconsin teacher, she has both teaching and administrative experience at every level. She taught music in Madison elementary and middle schools before becoming choral and drama director at Madison East High School. Superintendent Burmaster also served as Marquette Middle School assistant principal, Madison school district fine-arts coordinator, and Hawthorne Elementary principal. Before being elected state superintendent, she spent nearly a decade as principal of Madison West High School.

As state superintendent, Ms. Burmaster serves on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents (Education Committee Chair), Wisconsin Technical College System Board, Educational Communications Board (vice chair), Governor's Economic Growth Council, and Governor's Council on Workforce Investment. At the national level, she is a member of the board of directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers and is chair of the Task Force on Early Childhood Learning. She also serves on the Education Commission of the States and is chair of the National Center for Learning and Citizenship. Ms. Burmaster is an active member of the Wisconsin PK-16 Leadership Council and the Milwaukee Partnership Academy.

Former Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee Bill Goodling is a thirteen-term representative of south central Pennsylvania. Prior to his service in Congress, Goodling was a schoolteacher, counselor, coach, principal, superintendent of schools, and school board president.

Goodling served on the Committee on Education and Labor from his arrival in Congress in 1974, becoming ranking minority member in 1990. In 1994, he was named chairman of the committee. Goodling also served as a Member of the House Committee on International Relations, and the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. Goodling returned to the committee in 1991 after taking time out to serve first as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and then the House Committee on Budget for the maximum six-year term. Since his retirement, Goodling has taken on the role of senior advisor to B&D Sagamore. Goodling continues to work on the issues to which he has devoted his career. At B&D Sagamore, he collaborates with experts on the important issues of enhancing education at all levels, creating meaningful job-training opportunities, and tackling the challenges of our healthcare system.

For over two decades, Ms. Hale has been involved in IEL's efforts to create and then work through action and learning networks to improve outcomes for children and youth. She has helped build bridges among the research, policy, and practice communities and has played a substantive role in all of IEL's leadership development activities, including the Education Policy Fellowship, Superintendents Prepared, and Collaborative Leaders Programs. Ms. Hale works to inform, support, and connect education stakeholders while maintaining a focus on the development and mentoring of women and minorities in the leadership pipeline.

Ms. Hale's varied professional experiences include serving as an education budget analyst in the Illinois governor's office; as director of training programs for region III Head Start; and as director of Head Start training programs for the state of West Virginia as well as the Mid-Atlantic region. She began her career as a public school teacher. Ms. Hale consults with schools, state agencies, and other projects and initiatives across the country. In the 1980s, she was an elected member of the HGSE Alumni Council and served a term as its president. She is the 2005 recipient of the HGSE's Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education.

Dr. Italiano-Thomas has extensive experience as an educator, administrator, and community builder. Before joining Thrive by Five Washington, she served as CEO of Los Angeles Universal Preschool from 2004-2006. Prior to that, she was CEO of Centro de la Familia de Utah, a non-profit organization based in Salt Lake City, which works to strengthen the Hispanic family by promoting self-sufficiency. She also served as a senior consultant to the National Head Start Bureau on issues relating to English language learners within the Head Start system. Dr. Italiano-Thomas holds a doctorate in Education and Institutional Management from Pepperdine University and a master of sciences degree in education from Southern Illinois University. She received undergraduate degrees from Albion College in Michigan and the Instituto A. Vazquez Acevedo in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Joan Lombardi is one of the nation's leading experts on early childhood education. She is the director of the Children's Project, a non-partisan effort to improve public, private, and civic investments in children and families. Through the Children's Project, she serves as an advisor to a number of national organizations and foundations across the country and helps create partnerships that support children and families. Dr. Lombardi served as the deputy assistant secretary for external affairs in the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to that appointment, she served as the first associate commissioner of the Child Care Bureau.

Dr. Lombardi also served as the staff director of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion and was the primary author of the committee's landmark report, "Creating a 21st Century Head Start."

John J. Millner, Illinois state senator from the 28th legislative district and president of John J. Millner & Associates, Inc. has spent more than 30 years in public service. Today he serves as spokesperson for the State Government Committee, sits on the Senate Committees on Licensed Activities and Pensions & Investments, and is past spokesperson for the Housing and Community Affairs Committee. Mr. Millner is also a two-term state representative (though inactive since his election to the state senate) for the 55th legislative district with seats on the House Committees on Transportation, Registration, and Regulation, Public Safety Appropriations, Consumer Protection, Judiciary II, and Electric Utilities Oversight.

Mr. Millner began his career as a police officer in Elmhurst, IL, rising through the ranks to become chief of the department in 1972, a position he held for 16 years. During his years in law enforcement, he became involved with numerous organizations devoted to improving the lives and opportunities of Illinois's children, including: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids (member of the National Advisory Committee and past founding co-chairman of Illinois chapter); Voices for Illinois Children's Committee (past member); and the Illinois Attorney General's Violence to Children Task Force (past chairman), among many others.

A career naval officer, Randy Reeves currently serves on active duty as commanding officer of a navy unit ashore. He has spent most of his military career at sea aboard various ship types around the world. With over 24 years service, he is a veteran of the first Gulf War, the Bosnian conflict, Haiti operations, counter-drug operations and the global War on Terror. His military career started in 1980 as an enlisted man in the United States Air Force.

Mr. Reeves is a 2004-2005 graduate of the Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program. His interest and commitment to Mississippi Education is straightforward. As a product of Mississippi's rural education system, he has a vested interest in Mississippi's future. He is firm in the belief that the state's education policy must allow the best possible opportunities for children to ensure the future growth and economic prosperity of Mississippi.