DAVE GROHL

19-time Grammy Award-Winning Musician, Songwriter, Best-Selling Author, DC Native and Favorite Son

Sally & John E. “Chip” Akridge III 

Sherrie Beckstead 
The Sherrie & Sidney Beckstead Fund 

Mary Brady 
The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. 

Valerie Camillo
Herschend Family Entertainment

Cheri Carter
Boeing 

Martha Dippell & Daniel Korengold 

John Drew 
TCMA

Nicole & Eric Hoplin
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors

Stacy Kerr & CR Wooters
Penta | Uber 

Kathi & Dan Knise
Ames & Gough

John Mason 
Altria

Cathy Merrill 
Washingtonian

Jared Oldroyd 
Clark Construction 

Frank Pinto
PWC Companies

John Richardson 
EagleBank 

Gabor Vida
Rosewood Washington, D.C.

Katie Zirkelbach
Zirkelbach Strategies 

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Wolf Blitzer

EMCEE FOR BALL for THE MALL 2024, CNN Journalist, Anchor of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

Wolf Blitzer is anchor of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, which airs weekdays at 6pmET and provides viewers with in-depth reports about the political, international and breaking news stories of the day. Blitzer has been with CNN for 33 years.

One-on-one interviews with prominent figures who are shaping news on the world stage has been a hallmark of Blitzer and The Situation Room throughout the entire 18 year on-air run – one of the longest running CNN shows.

Blitzer began his career in 1972 with the Reuters News Agency in Tel Aviv. Shortly thereafter, he became a Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Jerusalem Post and reported from the nation’s capital for more than 15 years. Blitzer has been with CNN for over 30 years having joined in 1990 as the network’s military-affairs correspondent at the Pentagon. He then served as CNN’s senior White House correspondent covering President Bill Clinton from November 1992 election until 1999, when he became the anchor of CNN’s Sunday public affairs program Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer and remained for more than a decade.

Throughout his career, Blitzer has interviewed some of history’s most notable figures, including U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Blitzer has also interviewed many foreign leaders, the Dalai Lama, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former South African President Nelson Mandela, among them.

BALL for THE MALL 2023

BALL for THE MALL 2019

SHEILA JOHNSON

Founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, Vice Chair, Trust for the National Mall Board of Directors, Chair of the USPP Horse Stables Campaign

HER EXCELLENCY EMILY HABER

German Ambassador to the United States, Champion for the National Mall and Leader in the Restoration of the German-American Friendship Garden

Georgette “Gigi” Dixon, Head of External Affairs, Wells Fargo, Trust Board Member

Nels Olson, Vice Chairman and Co-Leader, Board & CEO Services, Korn Ferry and Member of the Trust Board of Directors

Sally & John E. “Chip” Akridge III

Ami Aronson, Bernstein Family Foundation

Sherrie Beckstead, The Sherrie & Sidney Beckstead Fund

Janine and Bruce Broussard, Humana

Valerie Camillo, Comcast Spectacor Sports and Entertainment

John Drew, TCMA 

Elliott Ferguson, Destination DC 

Andrea and Paul Franklin
Franklin Capital Strategies

Nicole and Eric Hoplin, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors

Kevin Jacobs, Hilton

Stacy Kerr, Penta    

Kathleen Linehan, Alpha Corporation 

Pam & Tony Marquez

John Mason, Altria ​​ 

Debby & Dan McGinn

Jodie W. McLean, EDENS
 
Cathy Merrill, Washingtonian 

Gigi & Bob Murphy, MRP Realty 

Jared Oldroyd, Clark Construction 

John Richardson, EagleBank 

Judy & John Ritz, WC Smith

Anna Schneider, Volkswagen Group of America

Matthew Shay, National Retail Federation 

Hill Harper

EMCEE FOR BALL for THE MALL 2023, Star of ABC’s The Good Doctor, Best-Selling Author, and Activist

Hill Harper stars in ABC’s #1 television drama, The Good Doctor, and has starred in numerous television and film projects including CSI:NY, He Got Game and Lackawanna Blues.

Harper is the Founder and Chairman of The Black Wall Street App and Digital Wallet, is on the Board of Directors, National Black Bank Fund, named Honorary National Co-Chair of the Redevelopment of Black Wall Street, Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, and served on the President's Cancer Panel having been appointed by President Obama in 2011.

Additionally, Harper has authored four New York Times bestsellers: Letters to a Young Brother, Letters to a Young Sister, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother, The Conversation and his award-winning book, The Wealth Cure, that addresses ways to solve the racial wealth gap. Letters to a Young Brother also won several awards and was named “Best Book for Young Adults” by the American Library Association in 2007. Harper has been recognized with seven NAACP Image Awards, four of them for his writing. He is the founder of the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering underserved youth through mentorship, scholarship and grant programs; and has established The Pierce and Hill Harper Arts Foundation.

As an investor and business owner, Harper owns a successful coffee franchise in downtown Detroit called The Roasting Plant, is co-owner of A-Frame Brands and the award-winning New Orleans hotel, International House, and will be opening The Harper (Arts Museum) in Detroit in 2023. Harper owns several commercial and residential rental properties in Los Angeles and Newark, NJ. His passion for business, financial literacy, and social & economic justice keeps him on the forefront and in-demand as a speaker worldwide.

David M. Rubenstein

Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group, and 2017 History, Heroes & Hope Awardee

David M. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Established in 1987, Carlyle now manages $373 billion from 29 offices around the world.

Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago; a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation; a Trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Constitution Center, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; and a Director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among other board seats.

Mr. Rubenstein is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr. Rubenstein has also provided to the U.S. government long-term loans of his rare copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the first map of the U.S. (Abel Buell map), and the first book printed in the U.S. (Bay Psalm Book).

Mr. Rubenstein is an original signer of The Giving Pledge; the host of The David Rubenstein Show and Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein; and the author of The American Story, How to Lead, The American Experiment, and How to Invest.

D.C. Washington

Featured National Anthem Singer for Ball For the Mall 2023

In addition to his role with a leading DC-area consulting firm, CSCI, D.C. Washington is an accomplished singer, conductor, worship leader, and anthem singer. D.C. is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas and Mississippi College. After a 22-year career in the United States Military (retired Lieutenant Colonel), D.C. moved to Northern Virginia where he has resided with his family for many years. He is a member of Immanuel Bible Church where he is part of the choir and several ensembles; he also occasionally serves as worship leader and director. D.C. has been featured at many conferences around the country (and overseas), including Moody Bible Institute Founders Week and Pastors Conference. He also is a member of the nationally known Cathedral Choral Society in Washington, DC. He is a frequent singer of the National Anthem for the Washington Nationals, DC United and the Washington Commanders.