In 1994, Jerry Yang and his classmate David Filo dropped out of the doctoral program at Stanford University to create an internet directory originally named “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” which was later renamed Yahoo! As the creator of one of the first internet portals, Yang played a critical role in defining the role of technology in our lives. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1968, Yang emigrated to San Jose, California, at age 10 with his mother and brother. In the years since leaving Yahoo!, Yang has become a mentor to numerous technology startups and an investor to more than 50 startups.

Born in 1968, in Bangkok, Thailand, to an American father and Thai mother, Tammy Duckworth is the first Thai American woman elected to U.S. Congress, the first person born in Thailand to be elected to U.S. Congress, the first woman with a disability elected to U.S. Congress, the first female double amputee in the Senate, and the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office. A former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and veteran of the Iraq War, Duckworth lost both of her legs and some mobility in her right arm after her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents, causing severe combat wounds. Despite her injuries, she sought and obtained a medical waiver that allowed her to continue serving in the Illinois Army National Guard until she retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2014.

Amanda is the Citizens League’s Director of Public Policy.

Amanda previously served as the Director of No Wrong Door, Minnesota anti-sex trafficking initiative. She oversaw the implementation of the six-point plan to end and prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. She did this by leading efforts to educate the community about the issue of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. She co-led the state-wide anti-sex trafficking committee for Super Bowl LII. Amanda has a bachelor’s degree in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s of Social Work from the U of M’s School of Social Work, and a Master’s of Public Policy from the U of M’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In 2018, she was a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal 40 Under 40 Honoree.

Ajay defined and developed several widely used technologies, including the USB, AGP, PCI Express, Platform Power Management architecture and various chipset improvements. After completing his graduation from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, Bhatt received his master's degree from The City University of New York, United States. Bhatt joined Intel in 1990 as a senior staff architect on the chipset architecture team in Folsom. He holds one hundred and thirty-two U.S. and international patents, and several others are in various stages of filing. He received an Achievement in Excellence Award for his contribution in PCI Express specification development in 2002. Bhatt also leads definition and development of the next-generation Client Platform architecture.