Tom Perriello

Thomas Stuart Price "Tom" Perriello (/pɛriˈɛloʊ/; born October 9, 1974) is United States State Department official and American lawyer from Ivy, Virginia, who served one term as a U.S. Representative for Virginia's 5th congressional district, serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. At the time he served, the district included much of Southside Virginia and stretched north to Charlottesville. He formerly served as President and CEO of Center for American Progress Action Fund and Counselor for Policy at Center for American Progress, where he spoke out on issues of immigration reform, voting rights, inequality, and campaign finance reform. Perriello was the Special Representative to the Secretary of State for the QDDR before taking office as United States Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes and the Congo-Kinshasa.

Life and education

Perriello was born in, and is a lifelong resident of, Ivy, Virginia, a small unincorporated community west of Charlottesville. He is the son of Linda (née Gillooly), a financial analyst, and Vito Anthony Perriello, Jr., a pediatrician. His paternal grandparents were Italian immigrants, and his mother is from an evangelical Christian family from Ohio. He attended Murray Elementary School, Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, Henley Middle School and Western Albemarle High School in the county school system, and then graduated from St. Anne's-Belfield School, a private school. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scout Troop 114 in Ivy, and was a legislative page in the Virginia House of Delegates. He earned B.A. (1996) and J.D. (2001) degrees at Yale University. At Yale, Perriello was a Humanities major.

Meet the Press

Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program that is broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program in television history, though its current format bears little resemblance to the one it debuted with on November 6, 1947. Like similar shows that have followed it, Meet the Press specializes in interviews with national leaders on issues of politics, economics, foreign policy and other public affairs, along with panel discussions that provide opinions and analysis. It originates from NBC's Washington, DC studios.

The longevity of Meet the Press can be illustrated in consideration of the fact that the program debuted during what was only the second official "network television season" for American television. One historical landmark of the program is that it was the first on which a sitting U.S. president, Gerald Ford, appeared on a live television network news program, which occurred on the November 9, 1975, broadcast.

The program has been hosted by 12 different moderators to date, beginning with creator Martha Rountree. Chuck Todd, who also currently serves as political director, became the current moderator in September 2014.