tDETROIT – The Detroit Regional Chamber has announced that national political strategists Donna Brazile and Tucker Eskew will offer their election insight during a session on stage at the 2012 Mackinac Policy Conference. The Conference, held Tuesday, May 29 through Thursday, May 31, is focused on innovation, collaboration and positioning Michigan to succeed in the 21st century global market.
t“Bringing two of the nation’s top political minds to the Conference will add an important national perspective to the Mackinac conversation as we head into an election season that will greatly impact the direction of our state and country,” said Henry Ford Health System CEO Nancy Schlichting, who is Chair of the 2012 Mackinac Policy Conference. “Adding speakers of the caliber of Donna Brazile and Tucker Eskew continues the Conference’s tradition as one of the premier public policy events in the nation.”
tA leading political strategist, Brazile is Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and former Chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. Author of the best-selling memoir “Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics,” she is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a syndicated columnist for United Media, and an on-air contributor to CNN and ABC.
tEskew has more than twenty-five years of experience in state-level and presidential politics. As Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush and Director of the White House Office of Global Communications, he developed strategic communications to promote American policies around the world and led the administration’s wartime messaging. Early in the Afghanistan war, he served in London as President Bush’s representative for communications strategy. He is a founding partner of Vianovo, an international management and communications consulting firm.
t“I’ve known Tucker Eskew for years, including during our service in the George W. Bush Administration. I can say without a doubt that the session featuring Tucker and Donna Brazile will be candid, entertaining and extremely insightful,” said Chamber President and CEO Sandy K. Baruah. “They have been key voices in Washington during some of the most crucial political events of our times and can offer in-depth expert analysis of how the upcoming election will impact our country.”
tBrazile and Eskew join a speaker lineup that already includes Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, The New York Times Foreign Affairs Columnist and best-selling author Thomas L. Friedman, former Utah Governor and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt, Penske Corporation Chairman Roger S. Penske and noted print and broadcast journalist Fareed Zakaria.
tThe 2012 Mackinac Policy Conference’s three pillars are innovation, collaboration and the 21st century global market. To learn more about how the Conference aims to increase economic development and create a globally competitive, financially attractive business environment in Michigan, visit mpc.detroitchamber.com.
