Jerry Brown is the former Governor of California. He was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He was elected trustee for the Los Angeles Community College District in 1969, California Secretary of State in 1970, and Governor of California in 1974 and 1978. After his governorship, he lectured and traveled widely, practiced law, served as chair of the California Democratic Party, and ran for US president. He was elected mayor of Oakland in 1998 and 2002, California Attorney General in 2006, and Governor again in 2010 and 2014. He currently serves as chair of the California-China Climate Institute at University of California, Berkeley, executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, chair of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation advisory board, board member of the Council on Criminal Justice, and as chair of the Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy, one of two public charter schools he founded in Oakland more than 20 years ago. He earned degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and Yale Law School.

Tani Cantil-Sakauye is president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California, where she holds the Walter and Esther Hewlett Chair in Understanding California’s Future. From 2011 to 2022, she served as the 28th Chief Justice of California and led the judiciary as the chair of the Judicial Council—the constitutional policy and rule making body of the judicial branch—the first person of color and the second woman to do so. Before she was elected statewide as the Chief Justice of California, she served more than 20 years on California appellate and trial courts and was appointed or elevated to higher office by three governors. Earlier in her career she served as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and on the senior staff of Governor Deukmejian, first as deputy legal affairs secretary and later as a deputy legislative secretary. Currently she is also an associate professor at the University of Virginia, and a board member for the University of California Center for Students, the Kaiser Arbitration Oversight Board, and the Alliance of Retired Chief Justices. She holds a BA and a JD from the University of California, Davis.

Cassandra Walker Pye is president for Lucas Public Affairs (LPA), a Sacramento-based public affairs consultancy. For just over 40 years, she has enjoyed a successful career in communications, government, politics, and advocacy for corporate interests in global, national, state, and local arenas. She joined PPIC’s board of directors in 2021, having previously served on the PPIC Statewide Leadership Council. In 2014, she launched 3.14 Communications, LLC. Previously, she was senior vice president for APCO Worldwide, a global strategic communications consultancy. In 2003, she was appointed deputy chief of staff to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and served on his transition team. She has served as corporate affairs vice president and political director for the California Chamber of Commerce, executive director for JobsPAC, director of public affairs for the California Retailers Association, director of governmental relations for the California Grocers Association, and state relations manager for the Food Marketing Institute. In 2018, she was named to a panel of California Influencers: 76 Californians selected by the Sacramento Bee and other McClatchy newspapers to offer their views on important issues facing the state in the lead up to the 2018 election; in 2019 she was again named to the panel. She is a prior state board president for California Women Lead and chairs the organization’s Advisory Council. She currently serves as Sacramento board chair for Street Soccer USA and sits on the national board for SSUSA. She is an American Leadership Forum senior fellow.