James Comey, Gloria Steinem and Jay Leno are among the personalities coming to NJPAC in Newark during the 2018/2019 New Jersey Speakers Series. Presented by Fairleigh Dickinson University, the series offers seven evenings of thought-provoking presentations. The complete list of presenters, in order of appearance:
Oct. 4, 2018: James Comey
Comey was appointed Deputy US Attorney General by President George W. Bush; appointed FBI Director in 2013 by President Obama; and, ultimately, fired in 2017 by President Trump amidst political storms regarding the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Comey’s firing and public statements led, in part, to the appointment of a special investigator, Robert Mueller.
Oct. 25, 2018: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Her book Time of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln served as the basis for Steven Spielberg’s 2012 hit film Lincoln. She has also written biographies on Presidents Johnson, Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, and Taft.
Nov. 29, 2018: Gloria Steinem
Journalist and political activist Gloria Steinem is an internationally recognized icon of the women’s liberation movement. Steinem, who was a columnist for New York magazine and co-founded Ms. magazine in 1972, has also helped launch many organizations to advocate for women’s issues, including the Women’s Media Center.
Jan. 31, 2019: Jeb Bush
Florida’s only two-term Republican governor, Jeb Bush, served in that position from 1999-2007. He returned to the political spotlight in 2016, as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Bush serves as Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national nonprofit organization he founded to transform education in America.
Feb 28, 2019: Ian Bremmer
Founder of Eurasia Group, the leading global political risk research firm, Bremmer will share insights from his years of providing analysis and expertise to diplomats and heads of state. He is regularly featured on CNN and the BBC and is a foreign affairs columnist for Time.
March 28, 2019: Bryan Stevenson
As founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson has challenged bias in the criminal justice system and helped achieve court decisions that prohibit sentencing children under the age of 18 to death or life imprisonment without parole. His memoir, Just Mercy, was featured as one of Time magazine’s “10 Best Books of Nonfiction” in 2014.
April 25, 2019: Jay Leno
The 2018-2019 series concludes with a conversation with late night TV favorite Jay Leno. After performing stand-up comedy for years, Leno became host of NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after Johnny Carson’s retirement in 1992. Leno dominated the late-night TV ratings for more than two decades. He hosted his last episode of The Tonight Show in 2014 and currently hosts Jay Leno’s Garage on CNBC.
All presentations will begin at 8 p.m. and each includes a Q&A period.
The series is sold by subscription, with subscribers guaranteed admission to all seven speakers. Tickets to individual lectures are not available. Subscriptions for the entire series range from $285 – $485.