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Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney was raised in Virginia by his grandmother and his father and became the first in his family to earn a high school diploma. He went on to graduate from James Madison University, before moving to Richmond to begin a career in public service. After serving as a fellow in then-Governor Mark Warner’s office, he became the first African American secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the youngest member of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s cabinet. He also served as deputy campaign manager for McAuliffe’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 2013, and as executive director of the Democratic Party of Virginia before that.

William Antholis is director and CEO of the Miller Center, a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history. From 2004 to 2014, he was managing director at the Brookings Institution. He has also served in government, including at the White House’s National Security Council and National Economic Council, and at the State Department’s policy planning staff and bureau of economic affairs. He has published two books, as well as dozens of articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces on U.S. politics, U.S. foreign policy, international organizations, the G8, climate change, and trade. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in politics (1993) and his B.A. from the University of Virginia in government and foreign affairs (1986).