Eileen Collins (born November 19, 1956, Elmira, New York) is an American astronaut, the first woman to pilot and, later, to command a U.S. space shuttle.

Collins’s love of airplanes and flying began as a child. At age 19 she saved money earned from part-time jobs and began taking flying lessons. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Syracuse (New York) University in 1978. She then became one of four women admitted to Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. The first women astronauts were doing their parachute training at the same base at that time, and Collins realized that the goal of becoming an astronaut was within reach. In 1979 she became the Air Force’s first female flight instructor and for the next 11 years taught both flying and math. As a C-141 Starlifter transport aircraft commander, Collins participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Grenada in 1983, delivering troops and evacuating medical students. She continued her training at the Air Force’s Institute of Technology and was one of the first women to attend Air Force Test Pilot School, from which she graduated in 1990. She eventually achieved the Air Force rank of colonel. She also earned an M.S. in operations research from Stanford University in 1986 and an M.A. in space systems management from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1989.

Selected as an astronaut in 1990, Collins became the first woman pilot of a U.S. space shuttle in February 1995, serving on the orbiter Discovery for a rendezvous and docking mission to the Russian space station Mir. She piloted a second shuttle flight in May 1997, successfully docking the Atlantis with Mir to transfer personnel, equipment, and supplies. With hundreds of hours in space to her credit, Collins became the first woman to command a shuttle mission in July 1999, taking Columbia into Earth orbit to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory. After Columbia was destroyed on a subsequent flight in February 2003, the entire shuttle fleet was grounded until July 2005, when Collins commanded Discovery on a “return to flight” mission to test new safety modifications and to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). Prior to Discovery’s docking with the ISS, Collins guided the spacecraft through a full 360° pitch (nose-over-tail) maneuver—the first person to do so with an orbiter—which allowed ISS crew members to photograph the spacecraft’s belly for possible damage.

Collins retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2005 and from NASA in 2006. In 2007 she joined the board of the United Services Automobile Association.

Kenneth Cole is an American designer and social activist who believes that business and philanthropy are interdependent. His company, Kenneth Cole Productions, creates modern footwear, clothing, and accessories that are distributed worldwide For over 40 years, Kenneth Cole has leveraged his passion and unique brand platform to make a meaningful impact on people’s wardrobes and in their communities.

During the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Kenneth refocused his energy and resources on an even larger, more debilitating global pandemic: mental illness and its related stigma.

In that moment, The Mental Health Coalition – a collective of the nation’s largest, most influential and diverse mental health organizations – was born. Understanding that 1 in 4 individuals worldwide will live with a mental health condition at some point in their lives, largely due to the devastating impact of stigma, Kenneth believes 4 out of 4 individuals will be affected.

The Coalition’s mission is to build a like-minded community that works together to destigmatize all mental health conditions and enable equitable access to vital resources and support for all.

The unique proposition of the MHC is a commitment to marry basic business principles of transparent and quantitative impact with an emphasis on cross-functional collaboration.

Kenneth’s commitment to public health initiatives goes back decades. He has been one of the leading and loudest voices in the global response to HIV and AIDS for more than 30 years. Kenneth joined amfAR’s board of directors in 1987 and assumed its chairmanship in 2004. Under his leadership of 14 years, amfAR was instrumental in significant breakthroughs in HIV and AIDS research, treatment, and helping to destigmatize the disease. Since 2016, Kenneth has also been a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador using his passion, insights, and vast experience to help end the public health crisis.

Jane Lynch has been entertaining audiences in movies and television, on Broadway, and elsewhere since her early days with the Second City comedy troupe and Steppenwolf Theater Company in her native Chicago. Her role in Christopher Guest’s 2000 mockumentary Best in Show brought her significant recognition. Since then, she’s been nominated for 14 and won 5 Emmy awards, as well as two SAG awards and a Golden Globe.

Lynch hosts NBC’s hit game show The Weakest Link and recently reprised her role as Constance Carmell in the rebooted series Party Down. She starred as Mrs. Rosie Brice in Broadway’s first revival of the classic musical Funny Girl. She’s known for her Emmy-winning role as host of Hollywood Game Night, and her Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Sue Sylvester on Glee.
On the first four seasons of Only Murders in the Building, Lynch plays Sazz Pataki, the longtime stunt double for Steve Martin’s character, Charles-Haden Savage. Pataki is guileless and loyal and adds both comic relief and emotional depth to the show.

Lynch’s other notable television credits include portraying Janet Reno in Manifesto, Space Force, Criminal Minds, The Good Fight, Portlandia, Angel From Hell, Lovespring International, Two and a Half Men, and The L Word.
Her film credits include Wreck It Ralph I and II, The Three Stooges, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Role Models, Julie & Julia, A Mighty Wind, Best In Show, For Your Consideration, and Ivy + Bean for Netflix.

She made her Broadway debut in the 2013 production of Annie. Additional theater work includes Oh Sister, My Sister at the Tamarind Theatre and Love, Loss and What I Wore at the Off-Broadway Westside Theatre.

Lynch also has toured with Kate Flannery and the Tony Guerrero Quintet in their live cabaret show, Two Lost Souls, and recorded a Billboard top 10 holiday album, A Swingin’ Little Christmas.

Her memoir, Happy Accidents, topped several national bestsellers lists, including in The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

Siri Lindley barely knew how to swim when she began the training regimen that would lead her to conquer prestigious triathlons such as the ITU World Championships. Today, as the world’s former #1 ranked triathlete, an in-demand coach, one of Tony Robbins favorite motivational speakers, and cancer survivor, Siri has made it her business to change lives for the better.  

Siri shares fear-shattering strategies for changing the thoughts, habits, and behaviors that hold people and organizations back. With an infectious and authentic passion, she empowers audiences to strive for peak performance, work through and ultimately conquer the demons of fear and self-doubt. 

Siri failed early and often before she found her formula for success and shares the story of how her early insecurities caused and controlled much of that failure. At the age of 23, she was disowned by her father after coming out as gay and blamed him for everything bad that went on in her life. She also suffered from chronic performance anxiety that sabotaged her early competitions until she met an eccentric coach who helped transform her into a world champion. In turn, she now coaches many of the world’s top athletes, helping them heighten their performance. 

During her pro career, Siri dominated the International Triathlon Union World Rankings; she was the 2001 ITU World Champion, won 13 World Cup races including the World Cup Series in 2001 and 2002, when she was the number one ranked triathlete in the world. As a coach she has mentored and trained numerous #1 ranked triathletes to achieve Olympic medals and World Championship crowns distances. 

But performance anxiety, nagging self-doubt and obsessive-compulsive disorder have not been Siri’s only challenges. In late 2019, Siri faced her most difficult battle yet when she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Given only a 10% chance of survival at the time of her diagnosis, she was fortunate to become eligible for a new treatment and was pronounced cancer-free by her doctors in May of 2020. 

In 2014 Siri married the love of her life, Rebekah Keat. They live in Boulder, Colorado.

Edwin Moses was the most dominant athlete ever in his event, winning 122 consecutive races – including 107 consecutive finals! – and two Olympic gold medals over a nearly 10-year span in the 400-meter hurdles.

But one of the United States’ all-time track stars did not always seem bound for greatness. As a high schooler, he tried football and basketball before settling on track. “I found that I enjoyed individual sports much more,” Moses said in an interview. “Everything is cut and dry; nothing is arbitrary. It’s just a matter of getting to the finish line first.”

He received an academic scholarship to college, choosing to attend Morehouse College – which did field a track team but did not have its own track – and majored in physics. And he arrived on the world stage without much buildup – the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games were his first international meet. But Moses sure made a splash, setting a world record of 47.63 to claim his first gold medal. It was the only gold medal won by an American man in track and field in Montreal.

“In 1974 or 1975, if someone had told me I was going to be an Olympic champion, I would not have believed it,” Moses said years later. “Even in 1976, I’d not have believed it.”

The American boycott of the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games prevented Moses from defending his gold medal, but he was back atop the medal podium at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, where he also was selected to say the Olympic Oath.

Moses’ winning streak came to an end in 1987. At the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, Moses took bronze in the 400-meter hurdles, even though his time was faster than his gold medal runs in 1976 and 1984.

Moses earned a graduate degree from Pepperdine University and later became a leading sports activist. He was chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy and was outspoken in the effort to purge performance-enhancing drugs from track and field.

As an art student in the 70s at Kent State University, Mothersbaugh started his career as the musical architect and frontman of the seminal, Grammy-nominated, New Wave band Devo. Their Brian Eno/David Bowie-produced debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was certified Gold before their hit album Freedom of Choice went Platinum. 

Through the years, Mothersbaugh has transformed into an award-winning composer for film and television. His credits range from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Rugrats, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Lego Movie to Thor: Ragnorak, The Mitchells vs. The Machines and Cocaine Bear. Mark has also created the sound for award-winning commercials and video games. He continues to perform with Devo and can be seen as the art teacher on the popular children’s show Yo Gabba Gabba!. Mark has had two touring shows of his visual art and put out two companion books: Beautiful Mutants and Myopia. Mark’s latest book, Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti, was released in early 2024.

For nearly 40 years, photographer James Balog has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of nature. To reveal the impact of climate change, James founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) in 2007. It is the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. The project was featured in the Emmy-winning documentary Chasing Ice and in the 2009 PBS/NOVA special Extreme Ice and in National Geographic magazine in 2007, 2010, and 2013. His 2018 film, The Human Element, which captures the lives of everyday Americans on the frontlines of climate change, has been screened worldwide and won many awards.

James has presented his work at major public institutions like the White House, U.S. Congress, and United Nations; corporations like Apple and Qualcomm; and universities like MIT, Cornell, and Boston College. Balog’s photographs are housed in dozens of public and private art collections, including Cantor Museum at Stanford University, Agnes Gund Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Denver Art Museum, International Center of Photography, and Gilman Paper Company. They have been extensively published in most of the world’s major picture-oriented magazines, including National Geographic, Life, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times Magazine.

James is Cornell University’s A.D. White Professor-at-Large and is the recipient of dozens of awards and academic accolades. An avid mountaineer, he is the author of nine books; his latest is The Human Element: A Time Capsule from the Anthropocene.