Dr. Khalilzad is the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Prior to this appointment, he was U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (2005-2007) and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (2003-2005). He served at the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Islamic Outreach and Southwest Asia Initiatives. Dr. Khalilzad has also been Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southwest Asia, Near East, and North African Affairs, and an advisor for RAND. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the American University in Beirut and his PhD from the University of Chicago.

Aitzaz Ahsan is a Barrister-at-Law by profession and a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He is also a writer, human rights activist, politician, and former Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Interior, Narcotics Control (1988-1990) and Education. Elected to the Senate of Pakistan in 1994, he eventually succeeded as the leader of the House and the leader of the opposition between the years 1996 and 1999. Currently he is President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Mr. Nabil Ali Alyousuf is the Director General of the Executive Office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, United Arab Emirates Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai. Nabil has worked for the Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Petroleum Production Company and Dubai Media City. In addition, he has been Director of Dubai Government Excellence Program. He is currently Chairman of Dubai Institute for Human Resource Development, Executive President of Dubai School of Government, Director of Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award, and Vice Chairman of the Arab Strategy Forum.

Dr. Nasser Al Saidi is the Chief Economist of the Dubai International Financial Center Authority. Dr. Saidi is a former Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry of Lebanon (1998-2000), and former First Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon (1993-2003). He is a Member of the UN Committee for Development Policy and has had a distinguished career serving as economic adviser and director for various government organizations, central banks and financial institutions in the Arab countries, Europe and Central and Latin America. He has a recent book, Corporate Governance in the MENA countries: Improving Transparency & Disclosure, and has published widely on macroeconomic, capital market development and international economic issues the region.

Ibrahim Helal has more than 18 years of experience in international journalism, including roles with Egyptian TV, BBC Arabic TV, the BBC World Service Trust and the Al Jazeera Arabic Channel. Ibrahim joined Al Jazeera English in 2006 as Deputy Managing Director of News and Programs. Prior to this, he worked for the BBC World Service Trust, where he was Project Director for the Middle East and North Africa, responsible for the training and development of Arab media organizations. Before working for BBC, Ibrahim served as Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Jazeera Arabic Channel.

Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. is currently a guest scholar at the United States Institute of Peace. He has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2005–2008), the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Palau (2002–2005). Ambassador Ricciardone also has extensive diplomatic experience with Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Italy and Jordan. Prior to his ambassadorships, he was Director of the Task Force on the Coalition Against Terrorism and a Senior Advisor to the Director General of the Foreign Service. He has also served as the Secretary of State's Special Coordinator for the Transition of Iraq (1999-2001).

A former CIA officer, Bruce Riedel currently works as a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Saban Center for Middle East Policy, where he focuses on political transition, terrorism and conflict resolution. Riedel joined Brookings after a long career with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Council (NSC), the Department of State and the Department of Defense. He was also a senior advisor to three U.S. presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues. He is the recipient of the Secretary of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, and the State Department Meritorious Honor Award for his work on intelligence and defense.

Peter Bergen is a Schwartz senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a research fellow at New York University's Center on Law and Security and CNN's National Security analyst. He is also the author of the bestseller, Holy War, Inc.: Inside The Secret World of Bin Laden. Bergen has written for a variety of publications including the New York Times, The New Republic, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TIME, The Nation, and The Guardian. He has testified before Congressional Committees and taught at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Shuja Nawaz is a political and strategic analyst and author of the book, Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. He writes for leading newspapers and The Huffington Post, and speaks on current topics before civic groups, at think tanks, and on radio and television. He has also advised governments in Asia and Africa. He is currently working with RAND, the United States Institute of Peace, The Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University, the Atlantic Council, and other leading think tanks on projects dealing with Pakistan and the Middle East.

Amr Hamzawy is a distinguished Egyptian political scientist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who previously taught at Cairo University and the Free University of Berlin. Hamzawy has specific expertise on the reform process in the Middle East. His research interests include the changing dynamics of political participation in the Arab world and the role of Islamist movements in Arab politics. His most recent book, Human Rights in the Arab World: Independent Voices, co-edited with Anthony Chase, was published in 2006. Hamzawy regularly contributes articles in Arabic to various academic journal, writes a bi-monthly op-ed for the leading Arab daily al-Hayat, and a monthly commentary for the Egyptian independent daily al-Masry al Youm.

Dr. Bannerman is an adjunct scholar at The Middle East Institute and the founder of Bannerman Associates, an international consulting firm. He was a former analyst for the US State Department Policy Planning Staff and a worked as a staffer on the Middle East and South Asia on US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has previously taught at several universities, including Georgetown University, the George Washington University, and the American University of Beirut. He has also been an international observer of elections in Georgia, the Philippines, Haiti, Pakistan, West Bank/Gaza, Mongolia and Yemen.