Beauty Editor, Vogue

Ms. Brown is the Beauty Editor at Vogue Magazine.

Chair, New York City Planning Commission

Ms. Burden, an urban planner and civic activist, is Chair of the New York City Planning Commission and Director of the Department of City Planning. Since her appointment in 2002, she has spearheaded Mayor Bloomberg’s economic development initiatives with comprehensive urban design master plans designed to catalyze commercial and residential development throughout the city and to reclaim its waterfront.  Ms. Burden served on the City Planning Commission from 1990 until her appointment as Chair in 2002. 

Founder, New York Social Diary

Mr. Columbia has been writing about society, and society in New York, for the past 14 years. He started writing social profiles for Quest Magazine in 1992. The New York Social Diary first appeared in those pages in the fall of 1993. In 1997 he became Editor-in-Chief of Avenue Magazine. Mr. Columbia continued writing the New York Social Diary in that magazine through August 2000 when he started newyorksocialdiary.com.

Principal, Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates Architects

Mr. Gwathmey is an award-winning architect and professor of architecture. He was won the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Society of Architects. He has taught at Pratt, Cooper Union, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Texas, and UCLA, and also served as Davenport Professor (1983 and 1999) and Bishop Professor (1991) at Yale, and the Eliot Noyes Visiting Professor at Harvard University (1985).

NYC

Mr. Thompson became New York City Comptroller on January 1, 2002 and is currently serving his second term.  His office is responsible for safeguarding the City’s finances, seeking out savings and rooting out waste. He has also been responsible for directing the City’s investments in affordable housing and commercial real estate. As custodian and investment advisor to all five of the City’s pension funds, Thompson also manages a combined portfolio of more than $105 billion.

Candidate, U.S. House (IL-11)

Ms. Halvorson (D) is running in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District.  She is currently the Democratic Majority Leader of the Illinois State Senate and the first woman in Illinois history to hold the office. She is “meeting the challenge” on the issue of education; in the State Senate, she fought to increase grants for low-income and middle-class families and voted for higher standards for high school graduation requirements, better testing for elementary and middle school children, and additional funding for early childhood education. She won the “Education Hero” award by the Illinois Education Association.