Harold Ford, Jr. & Dana Perino

Harold Ford, Jr.'s Biography

Former five-term Tennessee Congressman, Harold Ford, Jr. is a co host of FNC’s The Five and is a frequent contributor to Special Report with Bret Baier. A Democrat, Ford Jr.’s politics is grounded in a belief that compromise is a lost art in politics that must be rediscovered and pursued if we are to make progress solving problems. “Ideological purity is more important than doing what is right in today’s politics. Both parties too often deem compromise a weakness, not an essential strength,” he believes. “Instead, they [both political parties] spend their time trying to marginalize and cancel each other out, leaving voters disgusted and turned off by the lack of seriousness and results.”

Ford Jr. is currently a Vice Chair and EVP in PNC’s corporate and institutional banking business. He is also the former Chair and CEO of Empowerment & Inclusion Capital I Corporation (NYSE: “EPWR”) - a PNC sponsored mission based special purpose acquisition company. Prior to joining PNC, he spent more than 10 years in investment banking with Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. In addition, he was non-executive Chair of Rx Saver, a patient-directed prescription medication search engine platform. 

Ford Jr. earned a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Michigan. He and his wife Emily and their 2 kids - Georgia Walker and Harold III (HEF)- live in New York City. 

Dana Perino's Biography

Dana Perino is a revered political commentator and journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and a former White House Press Secretary.

She currently co-anchors America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer & Dana Perino, and is a co-host on the hit show The Five, both on the Fox News Channel. The Five has won its time slot every day since it started in July 2011 and has been named the fourth most-watched program in all of cable. Part of an ensemble cast, some viewers have nicknamed Perino “The Voice of Reason” on The Five. A Fox News political commentator, she also appears weekly on other Fox programs and previously served as anchor of The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino.

Before joining Fox, Perino served as the first Republican woman to be press secretary of the United States. She spent more than seven years as part of the administration of President George W. Bush, joining right after the 9/11 attacks as a spokesperson for the Justice Department. A year later, she was pulled to the White House and stayed until the last day of the Bush administration. As press secretary, she handled interactions with the White House press corps and advised the president on communications. President Bush has said that whenever he did a press conference or interview, Perino made sure he was never surprised by a question. She describes her approach to the position as a 50-50 mindset – half the effort went to defending and advocating the position of the president and the United States, and the other half was defending and advocating the media’s access to the president and the government. Perino continues to be active with the Bush Center in Dallas and joyfully says her motto is, “Once a staffer, always a staffer.”

After her years in the White House, Perino went from speaking on behalf of the nation to speaking for herself. Not only becoming a commentator on current events, politics, and foreign policy, she also published And the Good News Is…Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side, which debuted as a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and remained on the list for more than three months. Her book, Let Me Tell You about Jasper . . .How My Best Friend Became America's Dog, was released in October 2016 and reached the No. 10 spot on the New York Times nonfiction best seller list. Perino’s newest book Everything Will Be Okay: Life Lessons for Young Women (from a Former Young Woman), a no-nonsense how-to guide to life for young women looking to reframe their thinking, to believe in themselves, to take risks, to understand their power, and to feel better overall through finding serenity and taking action, was an instant No. 1 national best-seller and reached the No. 3 spot on The New York Times “Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous” list. Her other publishing credits include editorial direction for Things that Matter by Charles Krauthammer and The Time of Our Lives by Peggy Noonan. As a podcaster, she Additionally, she co-hosted I’ll Tell You What alongside Chris Stirewalt. Hugely popular, the podcast was made into a limited-run TV show in the fall of 2016, marking the first time Fox turned a podcast into a series. She currently hosts the podcast Everything Will Be Okay for Fox News Radio.

In 2010, President Obama appointed her to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which complemented her passion for advocating for individual and economic freedom, especially for women in Africa. Since leaving the White House, Perino and her husband, Peter McMahon, have volunteered in South Africa and Congo. In 2014 they spent a week at a charitable hospital and came back to America to broadcast their findings and appeal for additional help.

To express her gratitude for the opportunities she’s been afforded, Perino started Minute Mentoring, a program for young women that’s like speed dating between mentors and mentees. She also serves on the board of Companions for Heroes, which matches rescue animals with first-responders and veterans managing post-traumatic stress.

Perino was born in Wyoming and raised in Colorado. She has a masters degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois – Springfield. Before the Bush Administration, she worked as a daily news reporter, as a press secretary on Capitol Hill, and in the private sector for global public relations companies.