Marc Adee, Crum & Forster - Chairman & CEO A recent transplant from Houston, TX, to Bernardsville with his wife and twin 10 year old girls, Marc Adee spends much of his free time attending his daughters’ various softball related activities – and getting to know New Jersey. He heads Crum & Forster – an insurance company that offers a variety of specialty products, including insurance for pet health, propane distributors, security guards, YMCA’s, explosive contractors, travel, small NYC businesses, lawyers, bail bonds. While Crum & Forster’s home office is in Morristown, the company has 2,000 employees in over 50 locations producing $2 billion of revenue. He joined the Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., Crum & Forster’s parent organization, in 2000. Prior to his current role, Adee held leadership positions in three of C&F’s subsidiaries – as president and CEO of Fairmont Specialty, Seneca, and CoverXSpecialty. Marc holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society. Susan Shapiro Barash, Gender Studies & Women’s Issues Authority; Author of 14 books including Little White Lies, Deep Dark Secrets: The Truth About Why Women Lie An established writer of thirteen nonfiction books and one novel, Barash is a well-recognized gender expert frequently sought out by the media including The Huffington Post and Psychology Today. She has been featured in The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, Elle, Marie Claire, The Examiner.com and Yahoo Shine!, on national television (The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor and MSNBC) and on national radio (NPR and Sirius). Barash teaches gender studies at Marymount Manhattan College and has authored non-fiction books on topics including marriage, mother/daughter relationships, toxic friendships, female rivalry, sister relationships, affairs, in-laws, bad choices and, most recently, her first novel (2015) Between the Tides, under the pen name Susannah Marren. With degrees from Sarah Lawrence College and New York University, she has served as a literary panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, as a judge for the International Emmys, and as Vice Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the Women’s Leadership Board at the JFK School of Government, Harvard. For more information, please visit www.susanshapirobarash.com Honorable Glenn Berman (Ret.), Former Superior Court Judge – Presided over NJ’s 2012 landmark cyberbullying case: State v. Dharun Ravi As a longtime member of New Jersey’s judiciary, Judge Berman garnered national attention when he presided over the 2012 landmark cyberbullying case, State v. Dharun Ravi. Rutgers student Tyler Clementi took his own life after his roommate, Mr. Ravi, used a webcam to record Clementi’s intimate encounter with another individual and streamed the encounter to other students. The trial was widely reported in the media and carried live on Court TV. The defense asserted Ravi’s actions were simply a youthful mistake, while the prosecution claimed it was a matter of bias-driven cyberbullying. After Ravi was convicted, there was continued controversy when Judge Berman deviated from NJ’s sentencing guidelines (a “presumptive” sentence of seven years in prison) and instead remanded Ravi to the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center for 30 days, in addition to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service, and a $10,000 payment to a fund for the victims of bias crimes. Currently, Judge Berman is Of Counsel at Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis LLP where he focuses his practice on mediation, arbitration, and discovery management of complex family, commercial, estate/probate, real estate and general equity matters as well as special master services, settlement conferences and law enforcement investigations. Brigadier General Patrick W. Burden, Picatinny Arsenal – Senior Commander & Deputy Program Executive Officer Ammunition Currently heading the development/procurement of conventional and leap-ahead munitions to increase combat power, General Burden previously worked in Acquisition, Logistics and Technology at the Pentagon and, before that, as a Project Manager at Fort Belvoir. Commissioned in the U.S. Army Field Artillery, he entered active duty in 1987, with tactical assignments, serving in Germany and Saudi Arabia (Desert Shield/Storm). Entering the Army Acquisition Corps in 1994, BG Burden served in Software Development, Aviation Electronic Combat, and held a variety of posts in communications, electronic command, global transportation command, logistics, acquisition, technology and enterprise information systems. With a BS in Computer Science (Alabama A&M University) and a MS in Management Information Systems (Florida Institute of Technology), he is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College, the Advanced Program Management Course (at Defense Systems Management College), and the U.S. Army Senior Service College Fellowship Program (University of Texas – Austin). His awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army’s Meritorious Service Medal (five times), Commendation Medal (three times), Achievement Medal (twice), Staff Badge and the Parachutist Badge, among others. Bisa Butler, Fiber and Quilt Artist Originally trained as a painter, Butler earned a BFA cum laude (Howard University) and, while pursuing her Masters, discovered fiber art. "As a child, I was always watching my mother and grandmother sew....” She made a quilt for her dying grandmother and has been quilting ever since. To Butler, the fabrics she uses in her quilts capture the essence of her subjects. As she stated, “The more worn the fabric, to me, the more spirit and soul that’s in it.” Included in nationally renowned traveling exhibitions by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, Butler just opened her first NY solo show in February (at the Richard Beavers Gallery). With her works in such prominent collections as the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the Arkansas Art Museum, and the Kinsey Collection at the Smithsonian Museum as well as at Disney World’s Epcot Center, Butler was Art in the Atrium’s 2015 Featured Artist and exhibited at the Emperors Palace, in Johannesburg South Africa during the International Quilt Expo. A NJ native, Butler currently resides in West Orange, NJ. She teaches art in the South Orange and Maplewood public schools and is represented by the Hearne Fine Art gallery of Little Rock, Arkansas and the Thelma Harris Gallery in Oakland, CA. Please visit www.bisabutler.blogspot.com for more information. Chris Cannon, Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen – Owner, Visionary Restaurateur; Michelin Star Chef With over thirty five years as a restaurateur in NYC’s fine dining arena, Cannon recently restored Morristown’s historic Vail Mansion and formed the Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen, a multi-concept restaurant, bar and event space that reflects his expertise in food, wine and hospitality. Drawn to the industry even while an undergraduate at Brown, Cannon trained at various NYC restaurants, in Paris and then held house positions at NYC’s Rainbow Room, Palio and Remi. In 1994, he opened his first restaurant, the Judson Grill, and helped establish the bar dining trend with Bar Veloce and Bar Tonno. His critically acclaimed L’Impero received high praise from The NY Times and won James Beard Awards for “best new restaurant in the northeast” and “best restaurant design.” Fascinated by northern Italian cuisine, Cannon created Alto, which also received a three star review by The NY Times, a Wine Spectator Grand Award and two Michelin stars. His Convivio and Marea were similarly honored and Marea was dubbed one of the “best new restaurants in America” by Esquire. When those closed, he opened Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in Morristown and remains a consultant for all’onda, a modern Venetian restaurant in New York City. For more information on his acclaimed restaurant please visit www.jockeyhollowbarandkitchen.com. Gordon G. Chang, World Affairs Expert; Author,The Coming Collapse of China and Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On The World Distinguished world affairs author Gordon Chang has given briefings at the National Intelligence Council, the CIA, the State Department, and the Pentagon and has appeared before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He has spoken at the Council on Foreign Relations, The Heritage Foundation, The Brookings Institution, the Cato Institute, RAND, the American Enterprise Institute, The Aspen Institute, and other institutions around the world. Chang has also appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC, CNBC, PBS, and Bloomberg Television and on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He is a co-host on The John Batchelor Show. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, Commentary, Barron’s, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and The Daily Beast, among other publications. He is also a contributor at Forbes.com and blogs at World Affairs Journal. He has served two terms as a trustee of Cornell University. For more information, please visit www.gordonchang.com. Joetta Clark Diggs, Four-Time Olympic Track Champion This 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympian has made an indelible impact in sports and society. With her legendary three-decade elite career as a half-mile runner, Clark Diggs was one of the best middle distance runners in the world. After retiring, she has contributed to society as an inspiring motivational speaker, respected businesswoman, critically acclaimed author, noted television personality and advocate for children’s health & fitness initiatives. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, she established The Joetta Clark Diggs Sports Foundation in 2002 to promote involvement with physical activities and academic achievement for children in grades K-12. The Foundation has brought happiness and education to over 50,000 children.