The COVID crisis: Past, present, and future

John Bridgeland is Founder & CEO of Civic, a social enterprise firm in Washington, D.C. He is also Executive Chairman of the Office of American Possibilities, a moonshot factory to tap the entrepreneurial talent of Americans to solve public challenges together across divides. In that capacity, he is Co-Founder and CEO of the COVID Collaborative, a national platform to combat COVID-19; Co-Founder of ACT NOW, a ground-up effort to re-envision policing and public safety; Co-Chairman of Welcome.US to inspire, educate and engage Americans in supporting the resettlement of our Afghan allies; and Co-Founder of the Partnership for American Democracy to align efforts in democratic renewal behind “Sustainable Democracy Goals”.  
 
He is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Service Year Alliance, an initiative to create a civilian national service counterpart to military service in the United States; Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Malaria No More to end malaria deaths in Africa; and Co-Convenor of the GradNation campaign to address the high school dropout crisis.

Previously, Bridgeland was appointed by President Obama to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions. He also served as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Assistant to the President of the United States, and first Director of the USA Freedom Corps after 9/11 under President George W. Bush. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law and has given commencement addresses at the College of William & Mary, Johns Hopkins University, Saint Anselm College, Averett University, Hamline University, and Ripon College. In addition, he founded Tennis for America in 2020 with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which awarded him their “Lifetime Achievement Award,” presented by Wimbledon Champion Stan Smith.

Carlos del Rio is a distinguished professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and executive associate dean for Emory at Grady. He is also professor of Global Health and professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. He is co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and co-PI of the Emory-CDC HIV Clinical Trials Unit and the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit. Del Rio is a native of Mexico where he attended medical school at Universidad La Salle, graduating in 1983. He did his Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases residencies at Emory University. In 1989 he returned to Mexico where he was executive director of the National AIDS Council of Mexico (CONASIDA, the federal agency of the Mexican government responsible for AIDS policy throughout Mexico), from 1992 through 1996. In November of 1996 del Rio returned to Emory where he is involved in patient care, teaching and research.

During the COVID-19 pandemic del Rio has been a leader locally and nationally, doing research, developing policies, writing scientific publications and making countess media appearances. He has advised municipal, state, and national leaders including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Tyler Perry Studios, the NCAA, the USTA, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines Truist Bank, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Opera among others. He also serves on the national advisory committee of the COVID Collaborative, which focuses on developing consensus recommendations and engaging with U.S. leaders on effective policy and coronavirus response.

Deval Patrick served as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. During his two terms, Patrick expanded health care to over 98 percent of the Commonwealth’s residents, made unprecedented investments in Massachusetts public schools and public infrastructure, and launched initiatives stimulating clean energy and biotechnology. He launched his career as an attorney and business executive, becoming a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton administration, a partner at two Boston law firms and a senior executive at two Fortune 500 companies. 

From April 2015 to December 2019, he founded and built an impact investment fund at Bain Capital, where he focused on investments that deliver both a competitive financial return and significant positive social impact. He continues to invest in stakeholder models of mission driven business as a senior advisor to Bain Capital and a board member.

Patrick remains involved in progressive politics, currently as co-chair of American Bridge 21st Century through its BridgeTogether initiative. He is a Rockefeller Fellow, a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and the author of two books, A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life and Faith in the Dream: A Call to the Nation to Reclaim American Values.