Lee Roberts became director of the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management in September 2014 on the appointment of Gov. Pat McCrory. He has spent most of his career in banking and finance, most recently as managing director of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings and as chief operating officer of Piedmont's principal subsidiary, VantageSouth Bancshares, based in Raleigh. He was previously a partner at Cherokee Investment Partners, a Raleigh-based real estate private equity fund. In this speech, Roberts discusses "The Right Direction: Rebounding and Growing Stronger."

Fred Barnes is co-founder and executive editor of The Weekly Standard and a political commentator on Fox News Channel. He was a panelist on "The McLaughlin Group" and co-host of "The Beltway Boys." He is the author of the book Rebel-in-Chief on the presidency of George W. Bush and wrote the "White House Watch" column for 10 years for The New Republic. For two decades, he was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun and Washington Evening Star. His latest book, co-authored with Morton Kondracke, focuses on former congressman Jack Kemp. In this speech, Barnes discusses "Jack Kemp, Paul Ryan, and the 2016 Election."

Brandon Arnold is executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union and National Taxpayers Union Foundation. In this role, he helps to oversee strategic planning and government affairs efforts for NTU and its staff. He joined NTU in 2012 as vice president of government affairs. His previous positions include director of government affairs at the Cato Institute, manager of external affairs in former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich's energy office, senior legislative aide to Rep. James Sensenbrenner, fiscal policy analyst at Citizens for a Sound Economy, and research analyst at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In this speech, he discusses "What should taxpayers expect from Congress in 2016?"

Dr. John J. Bethune is professor of economics at Barton College. He directs the BB&T Center for Free Enterprise Education. Prior to accepting his position at Barton, Bethune held the Tom E. Hendrix Chair of Excellence in Free Enterprise at the University of Tennessee–Martin. He has also served as professor and chair of the Economics Department at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky. Bethune has published in The American Economist, The Southern Economic Journal, The Journal of Economic Education, and Studies in Economic Analysis. In this speech, he discusses "Are Income Distribution Programs Designed to Redistribute Income? Do They? Evidence From the States."

Ilario Pantano, a former Marine sniper, became director of the North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs in 2013 and was immediately tasked by Gov. Pat McCrory to lead the charge in making North Carolina the most veteran-friendly state. Prior to directing North Carolina Veterans Affairs, Pantano had been active in business, media, politics, and veterans advocacy as a front-line Marine combat veteran of two wars. He's written two books, "Warlord" and "Grand Theft History." In this speech, he discusses "Making North Carolina the Most Veteran-Friendly State."

Becki Gray is vice president for outreach at the John Locke Foundation. She provides information, consultation, and publications to elected officials, government staff, and other decision makers involved in the state public-policy process.

 Gray taps her experience in the legal field, at the N.C. General Assembly, and as a lobbyist in the private sector as well as the full resources and staff of JLF to fulfill requests for information and analysis from policymakers.

 In this speech, she offers "A Spooky Recap of the 2015 Legislative Session: Who Got the Treats? Who Got Tricked? Who's Left Holding the Bag?"

Jerry Gaus is the James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona. His books include "On Philosophy, Politics and Economics," "Contemporary Theories of Liberalism: Public Reason as a Post-Enlightenment Project," "Justificatory Liberalism: An Essay on Epistemology and Political Theory," and "The Order of Public Reason." Gaus' main area of work is on public reason. In this speech, he discusses the theme "I'd Rather Destroy It! Pride, Anger, and the Rejection of Mutual Benefit."

Jay Schalin is director of policy analysis at the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. He joined the Pope Center in August 2007. A Philadelphia native, he began his writing career as a freelance journalist for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey and wrote for several other papers in New Jersey and Delaware. He also worked as a software engineer for Computer Sciences Corporation. In this speech, Schalin discusses "The Decline of the English Department."

Dr. Rebecca Tippett is the director of Carolina Demography at the Carolina Population Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she translates demographic and economic data into specific, usable information and knowledge to inform decision-making, evaluation, and policy. Her work has included forecasting population trends to determine the demand for new schools, identifying target locations for new businesses, evaluating population estimation methods for the U.S. Census Bureau, and examining demographic and labor market factors associated with employee turnover. In this speech, Tippett discusses "Who Are North Carolina's Millennials?"

Haley Barbour served two terms as governor of Mississippi, from 2004 to 2012. He began his political career in 1968, dropping out of college to work on Richard Nixon's presidential campaign. In 1976, after supporting Ronald Reagan for the GOP nomination, he ran Gerald Ford's fall campaign in the Southeast. He later served as political director of the Reagan White House. From 1993 to 1997, Barbour served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, managing the 1994 Republican surge that led to GOP control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. In this speech, he discusses his book "America's Great Storm: Leading Through Hurricane Katrina."