Jefferson Smith is best known for founding the Bus Project, a nationally-recognized nonprofit that engages young people in democracy. The Bus Project inspired the Bus Federation, with headquarters in four States and activities in dozens. Jefferson serves as the President of the Federation.

In 2008 he succeeded Senator Jeff Merkley in representing East Portland in the Oregon House, one of Oregon’s most diverse and economically challenged districts. He focuses on 1) a high-road economy - prosperous, sustainable, just; 2) better democracy - accessible, accountable, efficient; and 3) the bedrock needs of his district and similarly challenged areas. (In addition to these serious projects, he also organized a legislative rick-roll, with currently 1.3 million views on YouTube.)

Jefferson has spoken to nonprofits and colleges around the country and opened for President Obama in 2010. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. Media outlets have dubbed Jefferson one of the “Top 20 to Watch," and someone with “vision, youth to help us find a new path.”

Jefferson attended the University of Oregon and Harvard Law, where he graduated magna cum laude. He’s been a cattlehand in Hermiston, OR, run programs for kids in inner-city Washington, DC, and coached youth basketball.

Heather Smith is the President of Rock the Vote. In 2008, under Smith’s leadership, Rock the Vote ran the largest non-partisan voter registration campaign in history, and helped fuel historic young voter turnout. Prior to taking over Rock the Vote, Smith founded and directed Young Voter Strategies, which provided data and research on the youth vote as well as best practices to effectively mobilize young people.
 And in 2004 Smith served as national field director for the Student PIRGs New Voters Project. Smith started her career as an organizing director for Green Corps’ Field School for Environmental Organizing.

Christina Hollenback is the Director of Generational Alliance, a multi-issue, national collaboration of organizations that support the empowerment of low-income youth, youth of color, and LGBT youth. Christina was born and raised in Syracuse, NY and left to become a movie star via the University of Michigan where she took a different turn. Before coming to the GA, she worked for Planned Parenthood Federation, the League of Young Voters, the DNC as Field Director for the Maryland Democratic Party, WalMart Watch, American’s United to Protect Social Security, and the United States Student Association Foundation’s Electoral Action Project.

Williams is a Washington DC based political activist and commentator who works for the political empowerment of the Millenial generation, people of color, and other underrepresented communities. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress. Listed by Politico.com as one of 50 Politicos to Watch, she leads the organization and young people across the country in implementing national campaigns on a range of progressive policy issues. She is a former staffer of Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park.

The Executive Director of the League of Young Voters Education Fund, Rob "Biko" Baker is a nationally recognized leader. He has organized town hall meetings and used social networking to motivate young people to get involved in the civic process. Baker has served as the deputy publicity coordinator and young voter organizer for the Brown and Black Presidential Forum. He has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News and MSNBC, has interviewed luminaries Cornell West, Russell Simmons, and Howard Dean, and he has also written a number of articles for America's biggest online outlets, including the Huffington Post. Baker is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, and serves on the New Organizing Institute's board as well as CIRCLE's research advisory board.