Pacesetter Speaker Bios
DR. ARTHUR C. BROOKS is Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Arthur C. Patterson Faculty Fellow at the Harvard Business School. Previously, he was President of the American Enterprise Institute, deepening outreach to leaders across the ideological spectrum and expanding its research to work on poverty, happiness and human potential.
Dr. Brooks is the best-selling author of 11 books including Love Your Enemies and The Road to Freedom. He is also a columnist for The Atlantic and hosts “The Art of Happiness with Arthur Brooks” podcast.
A classical French hornist by training, Dr. Brooks toured with the Annapolis Brass Quintet and the City Orchestra of Barcelona. He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees while performing and at age 31, he left music and earned an MPhil and PhD in public policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School.
Dr. Brooks has been named among Fortune Magazine’s “50 World’s Greatest Leaders.” He is also the recipient of six honorary doctorates.
DR. ERICA BROWN is the Director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership and an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at The George Washington University. Dr. Brown was a Jerusalem Fellow, is a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation, an Avi Chai Fellow and the recipient of the 2009 Covenant Award for her work in education. She is the author of 12 books on leadership, the Hebrew Bible and spirituality. She has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, First Things and The Jewish Review of Books and wrote a monthly column for the New York Jewish Week. She has blogged for Psychology Today, Newsweek/Washington Post’s “On Faith” and JTA and tweeted on one page of Talmud study a day at @DrEricaBrown.
Dr. Brown enjoys conducting interviews and moderating panels to get to know writers, thinkers and opinion makers. She has degrees from Yeshiva University, University of London, Harvard University and Baltimore Hebrew University.