Speaker Gallery: 5 Prominent Politicos

With the U.S. presidential race heating up over the next few months, the topic of politics is at the forefront of many people’s minds. Here are five diverse speakers with expertise in affairs of state.

With a master’s degree in international politics and six years of experience as a public official in Cape Town under his belt, Silke is an independent political analyst and expert keynote speaker on South African politics. He currently is a contributor to the Australian Quarterly, which is published by the Australian Institute of Policy & Science, and a regular commentator on broadcast networks like Radio France International and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Silke also appeared on the South African network e.tv as an expert analyst discussing the Super Tuesday results of the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Now a speaker, teacher, researcher, and writer, Hill is credited with bringing the issues of sexual harassment and gender in the workplace to the forefront in the early 1990s. Then a young law professor, she found herself in the position of testifying publicly that then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had made unwanted sexual advances while serving as her supervisor at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the 1980s. A prolific contributor to publications such as the New York Times and The Washington Post, Hill also provides expert commentary on race and gender issues for programs like “Today,” “60 Minutes,” and “Face the Nation.”

Looking to infuse your meeting with a little humor? Look no further than Durst, a political satirist, comedian, columnist, and commentator. Durst is a regular commentator for broadcast networks such as CNN and NPR, writes a nationally syndicated op-ed column, and performs hundreds of comedy shows every year. He also appears often on C-SPAN and is a five-time Emmy nominee. 

A former speechwriter for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Noonan is a seven-time New York Times bestselling author and weekly columnist for the Wall Street Journal. She lent her political savvy to the television show “The West Wing,” for which she served as an Emmy-nominated writer. Her essays regularly appear in publications like Forbes, Time, and The Washington Post. 

Bardach is an award-winning journalist and author who specializes in issues concerning Cuba, Mexico, and Miami. She is the author of numerous books on Cuba, won an award for her reporting on Mexican politics, and was a finalist for a PEN USA Award in 1994 for her coverage of women in Islamic countries. A special correspondent for CBS News and an expert commentator on “60 Minutes,” “Charlie Rose,” and NPR, Bardach can speak on U.S.-Cuba relations and issues of immigration/emigration in that context, which are of particular interest in recent months thanks to new government regulations permitting U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba (for educational purposes) for the first time in decades.