Presidential leadership: Two case studies

Joshua Bolten is CEO of Business Roundtable, an association of more than 200 CEOs of America’s leading companies. Bolten’s 20 years of government service includes 8 years in the White House under President George W. Bush as chief of staff (2006–9), director of the Office of Management and Budget (2003–6), and deputy chief of staff for policy (2001–3). He was previously policy director of the Bush 2000 presidential campaign. Bolten’s private-sector experience includes work at Goldman Sachs in London and O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C. Bolten received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1976 and his law degree from Stanford University in 1980. He is a member of the boards of Emerson Electric Co., the Aspen Institute, the ONE Campaign, and Princeton University.

Thomas Donilon is chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute. He served as national security advisor to President Barack Obama and was responsible for the coordination and integration of the administration’s foreign policy, intelligence, and military efforts. He led the Obama–Biden transition at the State Department and National Security Council and headed President Obama’s debate preparation in the 2008 campaign. Donilon has served and advised four U.S. presidents, with honors including the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, CIA Director’s Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Service. He holds a BA from Catholic University and a JD from the UVA School of Law. He served on the Miller Center’s Governing Council from 1999 to 2008.

Mark Dybul is a professor in the department of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, where he serves as cofounder and chief strategy officer of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact. He is also chair of the board of Purpose Africa. Dybul has worked on HIV and public health for more than 25 years as a clinician, scientist, teacher, and administrator. He was a principal architect of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which he led until 2009 with the rank of ambassador at the level of an assistant secretary of state. From 2013 to 2017, he served as executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Dybul holds an AB from Georgetown University and an MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Admiral William H. McRaven is a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral and the former chancellor of the University of Texas System. During his time in the military, he commanded special operations at every level, including combat during Operation Desert Storm and both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His final assignment was as commander of all U.S. special operations forces. McRaven is a recognized national authority on U.S. foreign policy and has advised Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as well as other U.S. leaders on defense issues. He is currently a senior advisor for Lazard Financial Advisory and serves on several boards. McRaven graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism and holds an MA from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

Leon E. Panetta is chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, which seeks to prepare thoughtful individuals for lives of public service. Panetta had a distinguished 50-year career in public service, serving as the 23rd secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013. As director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011, he successfully led the operation that brought Osama bin Laden to justice. He began his public service career in 1964 as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and by 1976 was elected to Congress, where he represented the California Central Coast district for 16 years. He was sworn in as director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in 1993 during the Clinton administration and later was appointed White House chief of staff. Panetta holds a BA in political science from Santa Clara University and a JD from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Peter Wehner served as deputy assistant to the president, director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives, and deputy director of speechwriting for President George W. Bush. Before that, he also served in various capacities in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations. He currently is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and a contributing editor for The Atlantic. He has written for numerous other publications and appears as a commentator on accredited media outlets. Wehner received his BA from the University of Washington.

Dasha Burns is Politico Playbook’s chief correspondent, White House bureau chief at Politico, and the host of The Conversation with Dasha Burns. She is also the inaugural host of Ceasefire on C-SPAN. She previously worked at NBC News, where she covered the 2024 presidential campaign, leading NBC’s coverage of the July attempt on President Trump’s life while reporting on-site in Pennsylvania. Before that, Burns was a writer and contributor at CNN and served as a fellow at the United Nations Information Center. Born in Ukraine and raised in California, Burns graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees in media studies and anthropology.

Ann Compton was the first female reporter for WDBJ TV, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, before being hired by ABC News in 1973. By the next year, she became the first woman assigned to cover the White House on a full-time basis by a network television news organization. During her time in the White House, she covered seven different administrations, served on the panels of two presidential debates, and covered ten presidential campaigns and Republican and Democratic national conventions from 1976 through 2016. Compton has shared in an Emmy, a Peabody, and the Silver Baton of the duPont–Columbia University Awards, among other awards. She served on the Miller Center’s Governing Council from 2015-21 and is a member of the Miller Center’s Holton Society.