John Emra is president of the Atlantic Region (the 13 state region plus DC from Maine to Virginia) for AT&T. He leads the company’s strategy, policy, and corporate affairs activities, as well as guiding governmental and community policy decisions. He works closely with community leaders, legislators, and other policy makers, as well as local and regional business leaders and customers, to help meet AT&T’s objective of connecting people with technology everywhere they live and work.

John began his career at AT&T in September of 2001 and worked as its regional vice president for external and legislative affairs in Connecticut until being named the company’s Connecticut president in 2013. He served as president of AT&T New England from April 2020 to November 2023.

Before joining AT&T, John was a consultant to the company working on the formulation of national broadband policy by the US Congress and Federal Communications Commission as well as serving as the company’s national media spokesperson. His other professional experience includes more than twenty years in the field of strategic communications including electoral politics, government service, and legislative advocacy.

Mr. Emra volunteers his time with a number of organizations including serving on the boards of: CAPA Connecticut, CBIA, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Southern Connecticut State University Foundation, The Business Council of New York State, YMCA of Greater New York, and the United Way of Connecticut.

In addition to his work at AT&T, John is an adjunct professor of communication at Fairfield University.

John holds a Master’s degree from Purdue University and a Bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife and two children.

Sam is the Chief Executive of the U.S. East and Latin America (LATAM) Region at AECOM. In this role, he is responsible for delivering on the company’s strategy, overseeing day-to-day operations and driving long-term growth across all regional business units, including Environment, Transportation, Water, Program and Project Management, and Buildings + Places.

Sam brings more than 30 years of experience in infrastructure and operations, including 11 years at AECOM. He most recently served as Transportation Regional Business Line Leader for the New York Metro area, overseeing highways, transit, aviation, and ports initiatives. Before joining AECOM, Sam spent 20 years with the South Jersey Transportation Authority, overseeing capital programs, regional mobility initiatives and economic development projects.

Sam currently serves on numerous boards and committees, including the Regional Plan Association; NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy; and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation Committee, which he chairs. He is also involved in the American Council of Engineering Companies; Utility & Transportation Contractors Association; International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association; Walter Rand Institute; Southern New Jersey Development Council; and the Regional Plan Association’s New Jersey Committee, among others.

In 2013, Sam received the Senator Walter Rand Eagle Award from the New Jersey Alliance for Action for his years of leadership in New Jersey. He earned his Civil Engineering degree from Temple University and is a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

George Helmy currently serves as executive vice president, chief external affairs and policy officer at RWJBarnabas Health, where he has oversight of government relations and is a strategic advisor on policy matters and stakeholder relationships.

A Jersey City native, Helmy was appointed to serve the state in a temporary role as U.S. Senator from September to December 2024. Among the committees he served on were banking, housing and urban affairs, finance and foreign relations. He sponsored and introduced several bills, including the Tax Relief for Middle Class Families Act and the FIRE Cancer Act, which ensures cancer screenings for firefighters.

Before his appointment to Congress by Murphy, Helmy was the governor’s chief of staff and played critical roles in the state’s pandemic response, budget negotiations and legislative goals.

Helmy, who got his start in public service by working as an aide to former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, was state director to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker from 2016 to 2019 after working as Booker’s deputy chief of staff for two years.

Helmy has also worked in the private sector with two Fortune 100 companies. He received his bachelor of arts in psychology from Rutgers-Newark before earning his master’s degree in finance and management from Harvard University in 2011.

Meera Joshi is the former Deputy Mayor for Operations, overseeing New York City’s infrastructure portfolio. Prior to joining the Adams Administration, Meera Joshi was President Biden’s nominee for Administrator of USDOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency responsible for regulation of interstate trucking.

In this role, Meera led initiatives aimed at improving roadway safety, the working conditions of truck drivers and accountability mechanisms to integrate automation. She was previously, Chair and CEO of the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission, the nation’s largest for-hire transportation regulator where she spearheaded Vision Zero campaigns keeping high risk drivers and unsafe vehicles off the road and led landmark policy, including establishing robust open transportation data standards; enacting the nation’s first for-hire driver pay protection program and providing broad and on demand access to for-hire transportation for passengers who use wheelchairs. In addition to transportation oversight, Meera was the Inspector General for New York City’s Department of Corrections, responsible for investigation of corruption and criminality at all levels of New York City’s jail operations and the First Deputy Executive Director of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, leading investigations of civilian allegations of police misconduct.

In addition to her government transportation experience, Meera served as General Manager for the New York Office of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants and was a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy.

Meera Joshi was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She holds a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Derek Kaufman is Founder and CEO of Inclusive Abundance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization building a dynamic community of notable policy experts, public officials, business leaders, and philanthropists to shape America’s future through an abundance-focused agenda. Inclusive Abundance builds on Mr. Kaufman’s previous policy work in areas ranging from the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan to the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs in the CHIPS and Science Act.

His prior career in finance included serving as Head of Global Fixed Income at the hedge fund Citadel and as Global Head of Fixed Income in the Proprietary Positioning Business at JPMorgan Chase. He was a member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

He is currently on the Boards of Third Way, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Constructive Dialogue Institute, on the Advisory Council of the Sadie Collective, and on the Leadership Council of the Robin Hood Foundation.

Mr. Kaufman received a bachelor’s degree in Applied Math/Economics from Harvard College.

Dan Kent’s career is focused on promoting the common good through housing and community economic development. Currently the President/CEO of Lantern Organization, he leads the development of over 650 units of affordable housing, supportive housing, commercial space, and arts and culture space in Harlem, Brooklyn, and upstate New York. He oversees the operation of over 1,500 units of affordable/permanent supportive housing throughout New York City. Dan leads a grantmaking program dedicated to promoting housing abundance in New York, supporting organizations advocating for policies that increase the supply of market rate, low income, and permanent supportive housing.

As Vice President of Civis Foundation, Dan led real estate development and operations, and formation of community partnerships. His work resulted in the creation of a library, senior center, two new school buildings with specialized education programs, a day care center, emergency shelter, and the preservation or creation of over 300 units of mixed income housing.

Chris Levendos is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Crown Castle - Network. He has P&L oversight for Crown Castle’s national small cell and fiber infrastructure, supporting all major wireless carriers and 12k enterprise class customers. Crown Castle is the United States’ fourth largest independent fiber provider and the leading independent small cell provider.

Chris is a leading force in driving innovation in network deployment with more than 30 years of experience operating and leading large organizations, previously serving in executive roles at Verizon, Frontier and Google.

Beginning his career at New York Telephone (Verizon) as a field technician in Harlem, Chris progressed through a series of leadership roles over 26 years concluding as Verizon’s Region President – New York City. Chris helped lead Verizon’s recovery from Superstorm Sandy and was responsible for the design & build of Verizon’s FIOS investment in New York City. Chris later led the national deployment & operations team at Google Fiber, tripling their market footprint and was executive vice president of Field Operations for Frontier, leading a team of 10k across 29 states.

Chris holds a BA from SUNY-Plattsburgh, a MS degree from New York University and a MS degree from Stevens Institute of Technology. Additionally, Chris serves as trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), board member of INCOMPAS and the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation and Policy Management and is a member of the President’s Leadership Council at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Channon oversees the day-to-day administrative, governance, and operational functions of the foundation, as well as the external relations communications, community relations, and public policy teams.

Prior to joining the foundation at its startup in 2018, Channon spent 12 years at the Archdiocese of New York with increasing responsibilities during her tenure. She was the driving force behind a successful multi-million-dollar annual fund, oversaw a major gifts portfolio, and curated and hosted a series of fundraising and donor cultivation events. In 2015, Cardinal Timothy Dolan asked her to serve as Vice Chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York. In this role, she worked on initiatives such as Pope Francis’ historic visit to New York in 2015, and the launch of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought and Culture.

Channon completed undergraduate studies at Ithaca College, earning a B.A. in Politics. She completed her M.S. in Global Affairs at NYU in 2011. Channon has been a member of Chief, a private membership network for female executives, since its founding in 2019. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Philanthropy New York, a community of nearly 300 grantmaking organizations.