John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV was reelected in 2008 to his fifth term as a United States Senator from West Virginia. After serving as a VISTA volunteer in West Virginia in 1964, he was elected to that state's House of Delegates, served four years as secretary of state, three as president of West Virginia Wesleyan College, and eight years as governor before his election to the U.S. Senate in 1984. During his Senate tenure, he has chaired the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Health Care (Pepper Commission) and the National Commission on Children. Under his leadership, the children's commission became a model for bipartisan lawmaking on children's education, welfare and health care issues. Sen. Rockefeller is chairman of the Finance Committee's Health Care Subcommittee, and is chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, among his other committee assignments. He graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. degree in Far Eastern languages and history, after spending three years studying Japanese in Tokyo. Later, he studied Chinese at Yale University. He was chairman of the Alliance for Health Reform from its founding in 1991 to 2007.

Robert Graham, MD has served in a series of positions in both the private and public health care sectors since 1970. He is research professor of health policy at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and director of the Aligning Forces for Quality National Program Office. His federal service has included posts as the first administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and as deputy director of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. In addition, he served from 1985 to 2000 as the executive vice president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He holds degrees from Earlham College and the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

James R. Tallon, Jr., is president of the United Hospital Fund of New York. He is chair of The Commonwealth Fund, and he chairs the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. He serves as secretary/treasurer of the Alliance for Health Reform, and also serves on the boards of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession and the New York eHealth Collaborative. He is a member of the advisory board for the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence. Mr. Tallon is also a member of the New York State Board of Regents. He led the 1998-99 planning process which established The National Quality Forum. Prior to joining United Hospital Fund, Mr. Tallon was majority leader of the New York State Assembly, where he served for 19 years.

Nancy W. Dickey, MD is president of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, and is vice chancellor for health affairs for the A&M System. Dr. Dickey served as president of the American Medical Association in 1998-99. She also has been active in numerous other professional organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Texas Medical Association. Prior to her current appointment at Texas A&M Health Science Center, she served as interim dean of the university's College of Medicine. Earlier, she was the founding program director of the Family Practice Residency of the Brazos Valley and was a professor of family and community medicine at the College of Medicine. Dr. Dickey has been an active editorial advisor and reviewer for a number of professional publications. In addition, she served as editor in chief of Medem, an internet-based patient education company. Her many honors include five honorary doctoral degrees and recognitions from the Texas Society of Pathologists and the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. She is a frequent speaker at professional and civic organizations around the country.

Patricia A. Maryland, Dr. PH, is the Ascension Health ministry market leader for the Michigan region and is president and chief executive officer of St. John Health. Ascension is the largest nonprofit health system in America. St. John Health is comprised of seven hospitals and 125 medical facilities in southeast Michigan. Dr. Maryland’s expertise in health care access issues led to her being chosen chair of the congressionally-authorized Citizens' Health Care Working Group. The 15-member group was established as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 to develop recommendations for the president and Congress, resulting in the report “Health Care that Works for All Americans.” Dr. Maryland has nearly 30 years of health care experience including executive leadership roles at the Cleveland Clinic, North Oakland Medical Centers in Pontiac, Mich., and Sinai-Grace Hospital (a part of the Detroit Medical Center). She holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Alabama State University, a master’s degree in biostatistics from the University of California – Berkeley, and a doctorate of public health with a concentration in health services administration and planning from the University of Pittsburgh.

Mark McClellan, MD, PhD is director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform and Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. At the center, his work focuses on promoting high-quality, innovative and affordable health care. A doctor and economist by training, he also has a highly distinguished record in public service and in academic research. Dr. McClellan is a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he developed and implemented major reforms in health policy. These include the Medicare prescription drug benefit, the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, and public-private initiatives to develop better information on the quality and cost of care. Dr. McClellan chairs the FDA’s Reagan-Udall Foundation, is co-chair of the Quality Alliance Steering Committee, sits on the National Quality Forum’s board of directors, is a member of the Institute of Medicine, and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and senior director for health care policy at the White House, and was an associate professor of economics and medicine at Stanford University.

John Rother is president and CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, bringing together employers, unions, insurers, providers and consumers around the common goals of keeping health care affordable, protecting vulnerable populations and improving value. For the previous 27 years, Mr. Rother was with AARP, most recently as executive vice president of policy, strategy and international affairs. Prior to coming to AARP, he served eight years with the U.S. Senate as special counsel for labor and health to former Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY), then as staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Special Committee on Aging under Chairman John Heinz (R-PA). He serves on several boards and commissions in addition to the Alliance, including the National Quality Forum. He is the 2010 recipient of the Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance from the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is an honors graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Pennsylvania School Of Law.

John J. Sweeney is president emeritus of the AFL-CIO. Mr. Sweeney began his trade union career as a research assistant with the Ladies Garment Workers. At the time of his first election to the AFL-CIO presidency in 1995, he was serving his fourth four-year term as president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which grew from 625,000 to 1.1 million members under his leadership. A vice president of the SEIU since 1980, he was also chair of Executive Council Committees on Health Care, and Organization and Field Services. Mr. Sweeney began his SEIU career in 1961 when he joined Local 32B in New York City as a union representative. He was elected president of Local 32B in 1976, and led two citywide strikes of apartment maintenance workers during the 1970s. He was elected SEIU president in 1980. Mr. Sweeney graduated from Iona University with a degree in economics.

Humphrey Taylor is chairman of the Harris Poll, a service of Harris Interactive. He has had overall responsibility for more than 8,000 surveys in more than 80 countries for governments, corporations and foundations. Mr. Harris writes and speaks frequently about the forces transforming the nation's health care system, and on differences between our system and those in Canada, Western Europe and Japan. He testified before congressional committees on Social Security, health care cost containment, Medicare, aging, policies affecting disabled people, drug exports, privacy, and the taxation of employee benefits. He has made presentations in the White House and on Capitol Hill on these subjects, and on Health Maintenance Organizations, productivity, consumerism, health promotion and disease prevention. Over his working life, he has written more than a thousand columns, papers, op ed articles and book chapters. Mr. Taylor was chairman of the board of the American Health Foundation for six years. He is chairman of the National Council on Public Polls and serves as a trustee of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the International Longevity Center.

Reed V. Tuckson, MD is executive vice president and chief of medical affairs at UnitedHealth Group and a Member of the Board of Directors of United Health Foundation. Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group and the United Health Foundation, Dr. Tuckson served as senior vice president, professional standards, at the American Medical Association. He currently is a member of several health care-related and academic organizations, including the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Tuckson served as chairperson of the Institute's Quality Chasm Summit Committee and was a member of the group's committee on the consequences of the uninsured. In addition, he is immediate past chair of the secretary of health's Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society and has held a number of other federal appointments. Dr. Tuckson is a graduate of Howard University and the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Edward F. Howard has been with the Alliance since its inception in 1991. Previously, he served as general counsel for the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care (Pepper Commission). Before that, he directed public policy at the Villers Foundation and at the National Council on the Aging, and served as general counsel to the House Select Committee on Aging. He holds a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School.