Helen Thomas (born August 4, 1920) is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist of Lebanese Rûm/Melkite descent. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International (UPI) for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager. She was a columnist for Hearst Newspapers from 2000 to 2010, writing on national affairs and the White House. She covered every President of the United States from the last years of the Eisenhower administration until the second year of the Obama administration. She was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club. She has written six books; her latest, with co-author Craig Crawford, is Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do (2009). Thomas retired on June 7, 2010, following comments she made about Israel, Jews and the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedienne, actress, author and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT rights activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family Vacations.

Raised Roman Catholic, O'Donnell lost her mother to cancer as a pre-teen and has stressed the importance of protecting children and supporting families throughout her career. O'Donnell started her comedy career while still a teenager and her big break was on the talent show Star Search in 1984. A TV sitcom and a series of movies introduced her to a larger national audience and in 1996 she started hosting The Rosie O'Donnell Show which won multiple Emmy awards.

During her years on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, she wrote her first book, a memoir called Find Me and developed the nickname "Queen Of Nice" as well as a reputation for philanthropic efforts. She used the book's $3 million advance to establish her own For All Kids foundation and promoted other charity projects encouraging other celebrities on her show to also take part. O'Donnell came out stating "I'm a dyke!" two months before finishing her talk show run, saying that her primary reason was to bring attention to gay adoption issues. O'Donnell is a foster—and adoptive—mother. She has since continued to support many LGBT causes and issues.

Lawrence Ari Fleischer (born October 13, 1960) is a former White House Press Secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush, from January 2001 to July 2003. Fleischer was born in Pound Ridge, New York; his parents were Jewish, his mother a Hungarian immigrant who lost much of her family in the Holocaust. He graduated from Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York in 1978, and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1982. Today, he works as a media consultant for the NFL,Bowl Championship Series, and other various sports organizations and players through his company, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications. He is also an international media consultant to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He helped Mark McGwire in his media strategy for his admission of steroid usage. He was also briefly hired by Tiger Woods to help him with a strategy to make his entrance back on the PGA Tour, but was not retained after news stories surfaced promoting his representation of Woods.

Upon his graduation from Middlebury College, Fleischer worked as press secretary for Jon Fossel, a Republican candidate for a New York congressional seat. Later Fleischer worked as press secretary for Congressmen Norman Lent. From 1985 to 1988 he was the field-director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. He went back to being a press secretary in 1988, working for Congressman Joseph DioGuardi for a short time.^{[citation needed]}

Charles "Chip" Reid (born Charles Henry Reid, Jr.) was named CBS News National correspondent in June 2011. Prior to his current position, he was the Chief White House Correspondent for CBS News. He assumed that position on January 5, 2009. Previously, Reid was the network's congressional correspondent. Prior to his association with CBS, he was employed by NBC News, where he covered politics and Capitol Hill.

Reid was born Charles Henry Reid, Jr. in Wilmington, Delaware, to Charles H Reid Sr. and Norma Reid. He and his wife Nina live in Washington, D.C..

Reid attended Vassar College, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in psychology in 1977. He then attended Princeton University in 1982, graduating with a Master's of Public Affairs degree. Reid also received a law degree from Columbia Law School.

Reid gave the commencement address to the Vassar College Class of 2011.

Reid practiced law, as a Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee from 1982 through 1986. He then served as a specialist in litigation, and lobbying, for a major Washington, D.C. law firm from 1986 to 1988.^[who?]

Robert Lane Gibbs (born March 29, 1971) was the 28th White House Press Secretary. Gibbs was the communications director for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama and Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Gibbs, who has worked with Obama since 2004, was press secretary of John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and has previously specialized in Senate campaigns, having served as communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and for four individual Senate campaigns, including those of Obama in 2004 and Fritz Hollings in 1998. Gibbs was also the press secretary of Representative Bob Etheridge. On November 22, 2008, Gibbs was announced as the press secretary of the Obama administration. He assumed the role of press secretary on January 20, 2009, and gave his first official briefing on January 22.

On January 5, 2011, Gibbs announced that he would leave the White House to become an outside advisor to the administration. He left on February 11, 2011.

Gibbs was born in Auburn, Alabama. His parents, Nancy Jean (née Lane) and Robert Coleman Gibbs, worked in the Auburn University library system and involved their son in politics at an early age. Nancy Gibbs would take Robert, then known as "Bobby," to local League of Women Voters meetings rather than hire a babysitter, and involved him in "voter re-identification" work at the county courthouse. Gibbs attended Auburn City Schools and Auburn High School. At Auburn High, Gibbs played saxophone in the Auburn High School Band, was a goalkeeper on the Tigers' soccer team, and participated in the school's debate squad. Gibbs graduated from Auburn High in 1989, in the same class as novelist Ace Atkins, LEGO artist Eric Harshbarger, and the Chief Hospitalist at Valley Medical Center, Dr. Michael Mena.