Irma Palmer has more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of policy, politics and communications. Most recently, she was then-U.S. Senator Kamala Harris’s speechwriter, and previously her roles included Director of Constituent Services and Traveling Press Secretary for then-Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe. 

Kyle Nevins is a Founding Partner of Harbinger Strategies, a federal government and political affairs firm based in Washington, D.C.  He represents a wide variety of clients before the federal government, including Fortune 500 companies, trade associations, and issue advocacy campaigns, advising clients on the legislative process and political strategy. 

Michael McKenzie is a Partner and Managing Director at Grain Management, LLC, a leading private equity firm focused on investments in the global communications sector. He focuses on investments in communications infrastructure and technology, including fiber optic networks, spectrum, wireless towers, data centers and related technologies. 

Diane Lim became the inaugural Director of the Equity Hub at the U.S. Treasury Department in July 2023. She previously served as Policy Director for the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity & Fairness in Growth during the previous session of Congress (2021-22). An economist specializing in the distributional effects of public policies and programs, Lim has spent her 30-plus year career in prominent roles in the federal government, and nonprofit and academic sectors.

Langdon Greenhalgh is a professional international emergency response manager who is CEO of Global Emergency Group, a humanitarian consulting firm dedicated to enabling emergency humanitarian aid actors to respond to those most in need more effectively so as to save more lives and reduce suffering.

Anna Draganova is a Senior Manager with Monitor Deloitte, where she has served federal, commercial, nonprofit, and international clients. She is a leader in Deloitte’s federal health practice, where she helps health sector clients address today’s pressing challenges. Draganova is a Double Hoo, having received her MPP from the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy in 2011 and a BA in Economics from UVA. While at Batten, she served as school president and has served on either the Advisory Board or Foundation Advisory Board ever since.

Morgan Courtney is Director of Customer Success at TaskRabbit, where she leads her dynamic Tasker Success team to ensure that Taskers are able to achieve their goals on TaskRabbit and have a great experience at every stage of the Tasker lifecycle. She was also the co-lead for TaskRabbit for Good for three years, which was created to make it easier for neighbors to give back locally and make a positive impact in communities around the world.

Shannon Bryan is the head of North America Fuels Marketing for the Retail business at Shell. He leads the team responsible for delivering Shell’s retail branded fuels marketing strategy, product portfolio, category plans, and supporting programs to drive the key customer metrics and achieve volume, share, and margin growth objectives for Shell-branded fuels in the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Susan K. Payne is President and Owner of Blue Ridge Group, a marketing firm located in Charlottesville. Prior to 2017, she was the President of Payne, Ross & Associates Advertising, Inc.

Frederick P. Hitz is an Adjunct Professor at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Center for National Security Law and an adjunct Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.