Participants

Rob Collins has spent the last seven years as Congressman Eric Cantor’s (VA-07) Chief of Staff. Prior to his tenure with Cantor, Collins worked for Senator John Thune, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senator Chuck Hagel, The Republican National Committee, Congressman David McIntosh and Congressman Frank Riggs. Collins, a Syracuse, NY native, is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and has been named to three consecutive Roll Call’s “Fab 50” list and twice to The Hill’s “35 Staffers to Watch Under 35.” He currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two children.

Carl Forti is the political director of American Crossroads. Before founding the communications and public affairs firm Black Rock Group, Forti was executive vice president for issue advocacy at Freedom’s Watch, an organization that was a strong voice for conservatives and impacted the public policy debate at local and national levels.

Prior to Freedom’s Watch, Forti served as deputy campaign manager – political director for Romney for President, where he built and managed the national political operation that produced 11 primary and caucus victories.

Forti also has served in numerous capacities at the National Republican Congressional Committee, including as communications director and issue advocacy director, managing an $80 million dollar independent expenditure campaign.

Ilyse Hogue is the Director of Political Advocacy and Communications for MoveOn.org, where she has worked for almost five years. Ilyse contributed to MoveOn’s campaign efforts in 2006 and in 2008. In the most recent election cycle, she’s focused on the debate about health care policy and the health care reform legislation and the financial reform bill.

Prior to joining MoveOn, Ilyse was Campaign Director at the Rainforest Action Network, initiating and implement the Global Finance Campaign. Ilyse received a Business Ethics Network award for this campaign and has authored many articles about corporate social responsibility and the impact of unregulated industries. Ilyse has an advanced degree in Resource Ecology Management and has studied the impact of resource constraints in cultural conflict.

Khalid Pitts is the director of strategic campaigns for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest labor union in North America with 2.2 million members. In this capacity he is responsible for coordinating SEIU’s national legislative and issue oriented campaign efforts.

Before joining SEIU, he served as the State Director of Virginia for Congressman Dick Gephardt’s 2004 Presidential Campaign. Prior to that Mr. Pitts was the State Director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and its sister organization, the Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

In addition, Mr. Pitts is a national lecturer on the subject of violence prevention. His publications include the book Building Violence: How America’s Rush to Incarcerate Increases Violence. Mr. Pitts earned his undergraduate degree in history from the College of The Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and has a master’s in public health from the George Washington School of Medicine.

Art Pulaski is the chief officer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. The federation represents 2.1 million members of 1,200 manufacturing, transportation, construction, service and public sector unions.

Early in his career, Pulaski built coalitions with union and community groups to reform energy policies and protect retirees. He has helped build stronger alliances between unions, community groups and faith-based organizations for numerous reform campaigns. Pulaski also played a leadership role in the Apollo Alliance, a national coalition for cleaner energy and better jobs.

Pulaski has served on numerous gubernatorial panels and commissions on economic progress and workforce development. He was a founder of one of California’s model child care centers, called PalCare, and served as president of the nationally televised PBS series "We Do the Work," the Labor Project for Working Families and the California Works Foundation.

Brad Todd is founder of OnMessage Inc. Todd is a writer by training with a background in journalism and campaign and state party management. He produced advertising for the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns and was recognized for creating one of the “Top Three” Republican congressional ads in each of the 2000, 2002 and 2004 cycles. In 2006, he produced attention-getting ads for Michael Steele’s Senate run.