Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker who developed the concept of micro-credit/micro-finance and is also the founder of Grameen Bank. In 2006 Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.” They are responsible for bringing millions out of poverty.

Zainab Salbi is an Iraqi-American humanitarian, entrepreneur, author, and media commentator who has dedicated herself to women’s rights and freedom. At the age of 23, she founded Women for Women International — a grassroots humanitarian and development organization dedicated to serving women survivors of war. Salbi is also the author of three books: the national bestseller Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam (with Laurie Becklund); The Other Side of War: Women’s Stories of Survival and Hope; and If You Knew Me, You Would Care.

Jeffrey Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals to reduce extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015.

Josette Sheeran was the eleventh Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) where she was responsible for managing the world’s largest humanitarian organization which includes a worldwide organization of nearly 11,000 people. WFP provides emergency food aid to the world’s hungry as well as addresses the causes of chronic hunger.

Susan Davis is an author, speaker, and leader in the area of international development, and micro-finance. In 2006, she founded BRAC USA, an organization created to advance the global mission of BRAC, the world’s largest nonprofit organization.

She is currently president and CEO of BRAC USA. In 2010, she co-authored the book Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know with David Bornstein of The New York Times.

Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Springfield, is the 47th U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, the state’s senior senator, and the convener of Illinois’ bipartisan congressional delegation. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. Durbin serves as the Assistant Majority Leader, the second highest ranking position in the Senate. Also known as the Majority Whip, Senator Durbin has been elected to this leadership post by his Democratic colleagues every two years since 2006.

Paul Loeb is the author of Soul Of a Citizen: Living With Conviction In Challenging Times. The book explores what leads some people to get involved in larger community issues while others feel overwhelmed or uncertain; what it takes to maintain commitment for the long haul; and how community involvement and citizen activism can give back a powerful sense of connection and purpose.

Dacher Keltner received his BA from UC Santa Barbara in 1984 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1989. He is a full professor at Cal Berkeley, director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab, and the faculty director of the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. His research focuses the biological and evolutionary origins of compassion, awe, love, and beauty and how emotions shape our moral intuitions.

Ken Banks is the Founder of kiwanja.net and FrontlineSMS. He is dedicated to the the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change, and has spent the last two decades working on projects in Africa. His early research resulted in the development of FrontlineSMS, an award-winning text message communication system today powering thousands of social change projects in over one hundred and fifty countries around the world.  He is also the author of The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator, a book on social innovation which comes with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Sam Daley-Harris is the founder of Results.Org, an international citizens’ lobby dedicated to creating the political will to end hunger and poverty. He is also the founder and President of Results Educational Fund and organized the Microcredit Summit held in Washington DC in 1997 which launched a plan to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families with credit for self-employment and other financial aid business services.

Peter Singer is an Australian philosopher who has written many books, including Practical Ethics: The Expanding Circle; How Are We To Live?, The Way We Eat (with Jim Mason), and most recently, The Life You Can Save. In his most recent book, he suggests a new public standard for a minimum that we should expect people to give to people living in extreme poverty.