John Hood is president and chairman of the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina think tank that issues policy studies, hosts dozens of events and training sessions each year, produces broadcast programs, and publishes Carolina Journal, a monthly newspaper with a readership of nearly 200,000 North Carolinians. Hood helped to found JLF in 1989. Hood is a syndicated columnist, a frequent guest on talk radio, and a weekly panelist on "NC Spin," a political talk show broadcast on 16 television stations across the state radio. Hood is the author of five books. The most recent one is "Our Best Foot Forward: An Investment Plan for North Carolina's Economic Recovery." In this speech, he discusses "The Debate in 13 Charts."

Mitch Kokai joined the John Locke Foundation as director of communications in December 2005 after spending more than four years as chief state government reporter for News 14 Carolina. That job included extensive coverage of the North Carolina General Assembly. Before News 14 Carolina, Kokai worked as a radio news reporter for seven years. He started a radio news department at WENC-AM in Whiteville, then led Chapel Hill's award-winning radio news team at WCHL-AM. He spent two-and-half years as news director and assignment editor for Raleigh's WPTF-AM. In this speech, Kokai discusses "A Taxing Debate Over Tickets."

Gene Chianelli serves as counsel on tax and business law issues to N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis. In this role, Chianelli helped construct the recently enacted North Carolina tax reform legislation and continues to work on further tax reform efforts. He is also a member of the Higgins Frankstone Graves & Morris law firm in Chapel Hill. His principal areas of practice are business law, business organizations, federal and state taxation, and nonprofit law. In this speech, he discusses "Mission Impossible: North Carolina Tax Reform."

Sarah Curry is Director of Fiscal Policy Studies at the John Locke Foundation. Previously, she worked for the North Carolina State Senate as a research assistant for the chairs of the Senate Agricultural Committee and headed the research efforts for the Regulatory Reform Committee. Curry previously worked in the private banking sector as an investment counselor and retail banker along with managing and staffing both state and federal campaigns across North Carolina. In this speech, she discusses "The Economic Impact of Christmas Tree Production in North Carolina."

Virginia Postrel is an author, columnist, and speaker whose work spans a broad range of topics, from social science to fashion, concentrating on the intersection of culture and commerce. She has been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Forbes and its companion technology magazine Forbes ASAP. From July 1989 to January 2000, Postrel was the editor of Reason magazine. In this speech, she discusses her latest book, "The Power of Glamour."

Nicola Scafetta is a research scientist at the Active Cavity Radiometer Solar Irradiance Monitor Lab group and an adjunct assistant professor in the physics department at Duke University. His research interests are in theoretical and applied statistics and nonlinear models of complex processes. He has published peer-reviewed papers in journals covering a wide variety of disciplines, including astronomy, biology, climatology, economics, medicine, physics and sociology. In this speech, he discusses "The Sun, the Moon, and the Planets: The Astronomical Origins of Climate Change on Earth."

Mark Cares has worked for the last three years in the shale exploration industry. In 2010 he took the opportunity to work on cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Cares then traveled to North Dakota to begin working in the hydraulic fracturing boom. Since then he has worked for Halliburton as an equipment operator on various fracking crews in Texas, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. He also has worked for other companies learning about well head systems and water transfer. In this speech, he discusses "North Carolina's Opportunities and Challenges in Shale Energy Exploration."

Jay Schalin is director of policy analysis at the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. Schalin 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. His articles have appeared in Forbes, The Washington Times, Fox News Online, U.S. News and World Report, Investor's Business Daily, Human Events, and American Thinker. In this speech, Schalin discusses "Moving the Unmovable Object: Reforming the Ivory Tower."

Rep. Mike Hager is completing his second term in the N.C. House. Hager represents District 112, which encompasses all of Rutherford County and a portion of Burke County. He is a small business owner in Rutherfordton. Hager is the House Majority Whip, chairs the Public Utilities and Energy Committee and Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy, and co-chairs the Environmental Review Commission. In this speech, Hager discusses "The Three E's: Economy, Environment, and Energy."

Cathy Rossberg is vice president for new business development at Amerigroup. Rossberg helps develop strategic relationships with stakeholders in new markets and for new products and RFPs in current markets. She has 12 years of experience with Amerigroup. Prior to joining Amerigroup, Rossberg was deputy director of Medicaid for Texas, where she designed and implemented the STAR+PLUS program, one of the first managed Medicaid LTSS programs in the nation. In this speech, she discusses "Amerigroup's Value Proposition for North Carolina."