Advisory Board

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Soledad O'Brien, Chairman of Advisory Board, CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent - Soledad O'Brien is an anchor and special correspondent for CNN: Special Investigations Unit, reporting hour-long documentaries throughout the year and filing in-depth series on the most important ongoing and breaking news stories for all major CNN programs. O'Brien joined CNN in July 2003 as the co-anchor of the network's flagship morning program, American Morning, and distinguished herself by reporting from the scene on the transformational stories that broke on her watch. O'Brien came to CNN from NBC News where she had anchored the network's Weekend Today since July 1999. During that time, she contributed reports for the weekday Today Show and weekend editions of NBC Nightly News. Before Weekend Today, O'Brien anchored MSNBC's award-winning technology program The Site and the cable network's weekend morning show. O'Brien joined NBC News in 1991 and was based in New York as a field producer for Nightly News and Today. In 2007, O'Brien garnered a Gracie Allen Award for her reporting from Cyprus on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict as well as her reports from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Also this year, the NAACP honored her with its President's Award in recognition of her humanitarian efforts and journalistic excellence. In April, she will be the recipient of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay's 2007 Clara Barton Humanitarian Award. She has been named to PEOPLE magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" in 2001 and PEOPLE en Espanol's 50 most beautiful in 2004. O'Brien was also included in Crain's Business Reports' "40 under 40", Essence magazine's "40 under 40" and Black Enterprise "40 Under 40." O'Brien has been named several times to Irish American Magazine's "Top 100 Irish Americans."

The Honorable Lisa Guillermin Gable, Former United States Ambassador and Brand Expert - Lisa Gable is a seasoned technology executive and public official with over 25 years of experience in Silicon Valley, Washington, DC and Asia. She is a leading authority on managing and communicating Fortune 500 corporate and product brands. At age 41, Gable held personal rank of ambassador when she represented the United States at the 2005 World EXPO in Aichi, Japan. At 30, she served as an advisor to the Secretary of Defense holding the protocol status of a 3 star general. As a diplomat, media spokesperson, problem solver, and brand expert, Gable's ability to identify and communicate a core message has made her advice widely sought by corporate executives, elected officials, military and foreign leaders. She is chairman emeritus of the Pacific Research Institute; serves on the board of Thunderbird, School of Global Management; serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Competitiveness; serves on the board of Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute; serves on the advisory board of Base Technologies, Inc.; is a member of Women Corporate Directors and is managing director of Guillermin and Gable, LLC, a Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley, California, consulting firm specializing in brand management for Fortune 500 companies. Her background includes tenure as global corporate identity manager for INTEL Corporation; a commissioner of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships; U.S. delegate to the United Nations; vice chairman for the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services; a senior counsel for Archimede Philanthropy Partners; a trustee for the California State Summer School of the Arts and deputy associate director, Office of Presidential Personnel, the White House. Throughout her career in business and government, Gable has been a public speaker and served as a spokesperson on television, radio and print interviews including NBC Nightly News, FOX News, NHK television, NPR, international press corps, Armed Forces TV, the New York Times and Travel & Leisure.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College for Women - Recognized for her progressive and insightful observations, she is also an economist, author and commentator, and has been described by Dr. Cornel West as "the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country." Dr. Malveaux's contributions to the public dialogue on issues such as race, culture, gender, and their economic impacts, are shaping public opinion in 21st century America. As a writer and a syndicated columnist, her writing appears regularly in USA Today, Black Issues in Higher Education, Ms. Magazine, Essence magazine, and the Progressive. Her weekly columns appear in numerous newspapers across the country including the Los Angeles Times, Charlotte Observer, New Orleans Tribune, Detroit Free Press, and the San Francisco Examiner. Well-known for appearances on national network programs, Dr. Malveaux is a charismatic and popular guest on a variety of shows. She appears regularly on CNN, BET, as well as on Howard University's Television show, Evening Exchange. She has appeared on PBS's To The Contrary, ABC's Politically Incorrect, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor and stations such as C-SPAN, MSNBC and CNBC. She has also hosted talk radio programs in Washington, San Francisco, and New York. In addition to her columns and media appearances, Dr. Malveaux is an accomplished author and editor. She is the editor of Voices of Vision: African American Women on the Issues (1996); the co-editor of Slipping Through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women (1986), and recently co-edited The Paradox of Loyalty: An African American Response to the War on Terrorism (2002). She is the author of two column anthologies: Sex, Lies, and Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist (1994), Wall Street, Main Street, and the Side Street: A Mad Economist Takes a Stroll (1999). She is most recently the co-author with Deborah Perry Piscione of Unfinished Business: A Democrat and A Republican Take On the 10 Most Important Issues Women Face (2002). Dr. Malveaux received her BA and MA degrees in economics from Boston College, and earned a Ph.D in economics from MIT. A native San Franciscan, she is Founder and Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc. a multimedia production company headquartered in Washington, DC.

Stacy E. Elliott, Director of Executive Communication, Microsoft - Stacy Elliott has spent that past 20 years in marketing and communications, with an emphasis in consumer technology. She spent her early career in public relations working for such well-known firms as Manning Selvage & Lee, Hill and Knowlton, and Fleishman-Hilliard. Her clients included multi-national consumer brands, including Lever Brothers, Ralston-Purina, Carnation, Pepsi-Co and American Airlines. In the mid-90s, Stacy was recruited to bring her marketing and communications experience to the consumer technology realm, helping Microsoft launch its early consumer-focused technology products including education software, gaming software and hardware, and home productivity software products. She led advertising and public relations efforts for the consumer software division. While in this role, Stacy realized that technology companies needed to better connect with consumers - particularly women and seniors -- and she developed a passion to help women learn to use technology in their everyday lives. In 1999, she became a national spokesperson for Microsoft as the company's designated Digital Lifestyle Advisor, traveling across the country speaking to women's organizations with the goals of demystifying technology and helping to drive technology adoption among women. Today she continues to work for Microsoft as an Executive Communications Director, helping train and prepare employees to speak on behalf of Microsoft.