It's the speakers' series that rises to the occasion.

Jeb Bush was elected as Florida’s 43rd Governor in November 1998, and he ended his second term as Governor in January 2007. During his tenure, he cut taxes every year and Florida led the nation in job growth. His focus on reforming education led Florida students to achieve the greatest gains in the country. Additionally, Bush put Florida on the forefront of consumer healthcare advances by signing Medicaid reform legislation.

Bush is currently the head of his own successful consulting business, Jeb Bush and Associates, where his clients range from small technology start-ups to well-known Fortune 500 Companies. He is also the Chairman of Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national foundation focused on education reform. He co-authored Profiles in Character, which presents 14 Florida civic heroes who have made a difference without claiming news headlines.

Alice M. Rivlin is considered one of the leading economists in the United States. She is a member of the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange. She was the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office (1975-1983) and the director of the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Rivlin has also served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board and as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton.

Rivlin is a frequent contributor to newspapers, television, and radio, and has written numerous books, including Systematic Thinking for Social Action and Reviving the American Dream. She recently completed her service on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Simpson-Bowles), a commission to which she was appointed by President Obama to give her trusted views on solving the nation’s budget problems.

Rivlin has taught at Harvard, George Mason and The New School Universities, and is a visiting professor at the Public Policy Institute of Georgetown University. She is married to economist Sidney G. Winter, a professor at The University of Pennsylvania.

Mary Matalin is one of the most celebrated and popular conservative voices in America. She is a best-selling author, television and radio host, and widely sought-after political contributor, pundit and public speaker, noted for her straightforward manner and insightful political repartee.

She served under President Ronald Reagan, made her mark as George H.W. Bush’s Campaign Director and most recently was an assistant to President George W. Bush. Since then, Matalin has co-hosted the political talk show Equal Time on CNBC, made numerous appearances on NBC’s Meet the Press, hosted CNN’s debate show Crossfire, and became one of “The Most Important Talk Show Hosts in America” for her own CBS Talk Radio show, The Mary Matalin Show.

Today, along with Arianna Huffington (among our CSS speakers in 2012), she co-hosts the nationally syndicated radio program Both Sides Now. Matalin also co-authored the best-selling political campaign book, All’s Fair: Love, War, and Running for President, with her husband, Democrat strategist James Carville. Is this wife-andhusband team a model for coexistence and compromise in polarized America?

James A. Baker III served in senior government positions from 1975 to 1992 under three U.S. presidents and led campaigns for Presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush over the course of five consecutive presidential elections.

Baker’s public service began in 1975 as Undersecretary of Commerce to President Gerald Ford. From1981 to 1985, he served as White House chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan, and subsequently became the 67th Secretary of the Treasury, as well as chairman of the President’s Economic Policy Council. He served as Secretary of State from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H. W. Bush.

A native Houstonian, Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, and received many other awards for distinguished public service. In 2006, he published his memoir Work Hard, Study...and Keep Out of Politics! Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life.