Donna Brazile & Geoff Duncan

Donna Brazile's Biography

Donna Brazile is a veteran political strategist, Senior Advisor at Purple Strategies, New York Times bestselling author, Chair of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, and sought-after Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning media contributor to such outlets as ABC News, USA Today and TheGrio.

She became the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign, running the campaign of former Vice President Al Gore.  She previously served as interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee and of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute.  She is a current member of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee. 

She is author of the 2004 best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics and the 2017 New York Times Bestseller Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump In The White House. She is a co-author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, which won the 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction. Ms. Brazile is a contributor to the recently published 400 Souls:  A Community History of African America, 1619-2019.

She serves as an adjunct professor in the Women and Gender Studies Department at Georgetown University and served as the King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University and as a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. She has lectured at nearly 250 colleges and universities on diversity, equity and inclusion; women in leadership; and restoring civility in American politics.

She is the proud recipient of more than ten honorary doctorate degrees from major colleges and universities, including her alma mater Louisiana State University. In October 2017, Ms. Brazile was the recipient of the W.E.B Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American studies.  Ms. Brazile was the recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program, Good Morning America (2016-2017) in connection with her work with ABC and she was a member of the Peabody Award-winning “Best Political Team on Television” on CNN during the 2008 election cycle.

She moonlights as an actress and is especially honored to have made three cameo appearances on CBS’s The Good Wife, and two cameo appearances on Netflix’s series House of Cards. She also appeared as herself on BET's Being Mary Jane. Most recently she played herself in the Zack Snyder film Army of the Dead. Ask her and she’ll tell you that acting, after all, is the key to success in politics.

Geoff Duncan 's Biography

A former professional baseball player, CNN contributor and successful entrepreneur, Geoff Duncan served as Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor from 2019-2023. As the state’s second-most powerful Republican and president of the State Senate, Duncan used a bipartisan approach to navigate the chamber through a global pandemic, civil unrest and economic tumult. Duncan has established himself as a bold leader, especially in the areas of health care, public safety, technology, and economic development. His efforts to spearhead Georgia becoming the “Technology Capital of the East Coast” have been nationally recognized.

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Duncan stood up to his party leadership and became an outspoken voice against conspiracy theories and for a peaceful transition of power. After rising to national prominence, he authored a book entitled, GOP 2.0: How the 2020 Election Can Lead to a Better Way Forward for America's Conservative Party. He became one of the most recognizable critics of the political process that led to the failed Senate campaign of Herschel Walker.

During the 2020 legislative session, Duncan built a historic bipartisan coalition to pass Georgia’s Hate Crimes Law in the aftermath of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. In 2021, he authored the LESS Crime Act to empower private citizens to support law enforcement and led successful efforts to defeat the Buckhead secession movement, with the Atlanta Journal Constitution declaring, “Powerful GOP leader delivers blow to Buckhead cityhood.”

Duncan entered public service in 2012 after winning an upstart campaign to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2012. In the House, he served on the Banking, Science & Technology and Ways & Means Committee. Duncan spearheaded the Rural Hospital Tax Credit that created tax credits for donors to rural hospitals, a win-win program that has yielded tens of millions in additional funding to save rural hospitals from closure.

Prior to public service, Duncan enjoyed a successful career in the private sector. In 2001, he founded a marketing company that sold promotional products to mid-size and large corporate clients nationwide. In 2003, he launched a tech-enabled literature fulfillment division for several large corporate clients. In 2006, he founded a design company with the focus of building large contract to build single family homes in the Atlanta metro area. In 2016, Duncan was hired as the CEO of a health care company where he successfully raised several rounds of early round growth capital. In 2019, he founded a consulting business to help growth stage private companies work directly with their management teams, including a 40-year-old construction material company that has more than doubled revenues. Duncan also serves as a strategic advisor to several venture capital firms around the country.

After a successful career as a scholarship pitcher at Georgia Tech, including three straight berths in the NCAA Regionals and the 1994 College World Series, Duncan was drafted by the Florida Marlins’ organization in 1996, where he spent six seasons in their minor league system before a shoulder injury forced his early retirement in 2001.

Duncan is most proud to be a husband to his high school sweetheart, Brooke, and a father of three young men: Parker, Bayler, and Ryder. Duncan is an avid sports fan, an aviation enthusiast and is an instrument rated private pilot.