What do you learn about power when you’ve seen it from inside the White House, the Pentagon, and the national media? Alyssa Farah Griffin has had a front-row seat to how consequential decisions get made, communicated, and challenged at the highest levels. The only person to have served as the top spokesperson for the President, Vice President, and Secretary of Defense in a single administration, she has navigated national security crises, advised senior leaders under extraordinary pressure, and communicated when every word carried weight.

Now, as a co-host of The View and CNN Political Commentator, Farah Griffin brings that insider experience to the conversations shaping America today. With candor, perspective, and a willingness to engage across differences, she takes audiences beyond the headlines to explore how power really works, what leadership demands when the stakes are highest, and how we can find a way forward in an increasingly divided world.

Jennifer Granholm is an American lawyer, educator, author and politician who served most recently as the 16^th United States Secretary of Energy, and previously as the two-term governor of Michigan. As governor, she spearheaded Michigan’s economic recovery after the Great Recession by diversifying the state’s economy to focus on clean energy and revitalizing the auto industry to build electric vehicles. 

As Secretary of Energy (2021-2025), Granholm restructured the U.S. Department of Energy to focus on research and development of advanced clean energy solutions and, importantly, deployment of zero-carbon technologies. She oversaw $200 billion of U.S. DOE investments into companies and projects to accelerate the clean energy transition. During her tenure as Secretary, thanks to the policies and laws that she helped to shape, the country saw record deployment of clean energy — adding the equivalent of 30 Hoover Dams of zero-carbon energy to the nation’s electricity grid in 2024, more than twice as much solar power deployed as ever before. Due to incentives to manufacture in America, businesses announced almost 1,000 factories were coming or expanding in the U.S. to build clean energy products -- solar panels, EVs, batteries, small nuclear reactors, clean hydrogen, geothermal and more. Thanks to DOE’s work, the nation’s transmission grid is seeing an 11X expansion of new transmission miles.

During her tenure as Secretary, DOE with its 110,000 employees was ranked among the Top 10 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government. Secretary Granholm was named in 2024 to the "TIME 100 Most Influential People" list, and Forbes’ list of "Top Climate Leaders."

Secretary Granholm taught law and public policy at UC Berkeley from 2011-2020, specializing in clean energy and public leadership. A former Attorney General of Michigan (1998-2002) and an honors graduate of Harvard Law School (1987), she is the author of A Governor's Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future, has penned scores of articles and opinion pieces on clean energy, and continues to play a leading role in shaping America’s energy future. Heralded for her forward-looking insight, Granholm brings a balanced and nuanced perspective sorely needed in today's divisive times. 

Glenn Youngkin served as the 74th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2020, Governor Youngkin took a bold step and left his role as Co-CEO of one of the largest investments firms in the world, The Carlyle Group, to win the 2021 historic race in Virginia and ignite the Great Virginia Renaissance during his term-limited four years as Governor. Business investment soared to $157 billion - more than the previous six governors combined. His pro-growth policies spurred record job growth with over 270,000 more Virginians working. With over 200,000 open and available jobs and 85,000 more jobs on the way, he drove unprecedented business investment in the Commonwealth.

As America's Education Governor, Youngkin delivered record education investment, lead in recovering learning loss after the pandemic, set a national standard for bell-to-bell cellphone-free education, expanded choice, and put parents at the head of the table. Governor Youngkin’s Back-the-Blue pro law enforcement policies led to a 30% reduction in the murder rate and a nationally leading 60% reduction in fentanyl overdoses. Governor Youngkin brought a business mindset to government - reducing wait times at the DMV from 35 minutes to 6 minutes, transforming the behavioral health system and delivering $10 billion in budget surpluses. Governor Youngkin's commonsense conservative leadership delivered on his frequent refrain that "results matter."

Today, Governor Youngkin serves as Chairman of venture firm, Red Cell Partners, in addition to providing board and advisory services to several companies and non-profits.

From a family ranch in Colorado's San Luis Valley to the Cabinet Room, the U.S. Senate, and the ambassador's residence in Mexico City, Ken Salazar has spent a lifetime helping shape America's future.

A fifth-generation Coloradan whose family has lived in the American Southwest for more than four centuries, Salazar brings a worldview shaped by deep personal roots and decades of public service. As U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Secretary of the Interior, and U.S. Senator, he worked at the center of some of the defining issues shaping North America, including immigration, border security, energy, trade, and economic opportunity. His forthcoming book, Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America, reflects his lifelong commitment to building stronger connections across communities and across borders.

Drawing on a career spent navigating complex challenges across government, diplomacy, and business, Salazar helps audiences understand the forces reshaping the United States and its relationship with Mexico. He offers a thoughtful perspective on leadership, public service, the opportunities that emerge when people work across divides, and on the urgent need for a New American Alliance.

From her roots in Oklahoma and Texas, Jennifer Welch has become a powerhouse digital media star, attracting hundreds of millions of views to her political straight talk and social satire. As co-host of the I’ve Had It podcast, she speaks directly to the post-2024 political landscape and has built a massive (and influential) following by asking tough questions of our leaders. Journalist Mehdi Hasan has called Welch, “perhaps the most influential women in the Democratic Party right now,” while the New York Times asked if Welch is “the Democrats’ toughest critic,” reflecting her ability to shape conversation through authenticity and fearlessness.

As a speaker, Welch delivers blunt, unscripted analysis for audiences who want straight answers instead of talking points. Drawing on her finger-on-the-pulse read of public sentiment, Welch explains why political language stopped working, what voters are responding to now, and why leaders lose trust when they refuse to state the obvious. Audiences leave with a clearer sense of the moment they are living in and why honesty carries more weight than polish.

Many-time bestselling author, columnist, and commentator John Avlon has been called “a trusted, grounded, and welcome voice” emphasizing bipartisanship and real solutions. He currently hosts a solutions journalism podcast on The Bulwark called How to Fix It and serves as the Chairman of Citizens Union, New York’s oldest good government group. Avlon was a Senior Political Analyst and Anchor at CNN, known for his “Reality Check” segments across the network. He is an award-winning columnist and the author of Independent Nation, Wingnuts, Washington’s Farewell, and Lincoln & the Fight for Peace, which was praised by The New York Times as “a Lincoln for our polarized times…powerful and affecting” and named one of the best books of the year by Vanity Fair and Foreign Affairs. He was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast (2013-8) and served as chief speechwriter for the Mayor of New York. Avlon’s essay, “The Resilient City” was selected to conclude Empire City: New York through the Centuries and won acclaim as “the single best essay written in the wake of 9/11.”

Avlon has appeared multiple times on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Real Time with Bill Maher, The Daily Show, PBS, and C-Span. He has spoken at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the National Constitution Center, and other civic organizations around the nation. Avlon is also a co-founder of No Labels – a group of Democrats, Republicans and Independents dedicated to the politics of problem-solving and making government work again. Highly regarded for his shrewd analysis of the headlines of the day, offering historic perspective on the current political climate of the U.S., and the role of journalism in politics, Avlon offers reasoned discourse that focuses on real solutions.

Jack Cocchiarella built his platform by doing something most political media avoids: letting real conversations play out in real time. With more than 1.4 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 2 million followers across platforms, he has become a leading progressive voice for audiences who want substance over spin. His interviews with figures like Governor Gavin Newsom, Zohran Mamdani, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries land because they are direct and driven by the questions voters are actually asking.

A recent Columbia University graduate in Political Science, Cocchiarella approaches politics with fluency and urgency. As a speaker, he offers a front-row view of how political narratives take shape online, how trust is built with younger audiences, and why credibility now matters more than polish. His perspective resonates with organizations trying to understand where influence is coming from and how quickly it can move.