40 Under 40 Award Judges

Murray Galinson is a manager of La Jolla MJ Management, LLC. He is a member of The Galinson Group, an investment and real estate holding company.

Mr. Galinson is the past-Chair of the Board of Trustees of California State University System. He is also on the Board of Trustees of California Western School of Law.

He has served as chair of The San Diego Advisory Board Police Community Relations, The San Diego Citizens Review Board for Police Practices, UCSD Chancellors Associates, The United Jewish Federation of San Diego, The San Diego Blue Ribbon Task Force on Violence, and The Museum of Photographic Arts of San Diego.

Mr. Galinson formerly practiced law in Minnesota, was a federal prosecutor, a law professor and a banker. Since 1964, he has served on numerous political campaign committees, both national as well as local.

Mr. Galinson received a B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota, a J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. degree from United States International University. He is married to Elaine, has three adult children, and eight grandchildren.

Mark Walsh is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and political activist.

Walsh started his career as a television newscaster at a West Virginia CBS affiliate. He held this position for two years before leaving to pursue an MBA at the Harvard Business School, which he received in 1980. After graduating from Harvard, Walsh worked for four years as a director of New Business Development at HBO.

In 1994, Walsh became president of GEnie, General Electric’s online service. Walsh then became a senior vice-president at AOL in 1995. In 1997, he joined VerticalNet, a business-to-business portal provider, as its CEO. VerticalNet went public on the NASDAQ in 1999.

In 2005, Walsh became a senior executive fellow at the University of Maryland’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. As of 2008, Walsh is the CEO, founder, and chairman of GeniusRocket, a provider of crowdsourced advertising media.

Walsh has been active in liberal politics. In 2004, Walsh served as CEO of Progress Media, parent organization of Air America Radio. Walsh also served as the Chief Technology Advisor to the Democratic National Committee during 2001 and 2002, and as the head of Internet Strategy for John Kerry for President.

Cheryl Contee specializes in helping non-profit organizations and foundations use social media to create social good. She is also the co-founder of Jack and Jill Politics writing as “Jill Tubman” on one of the top 10 black blogs. Contee is included in The Root 100 list of established and emerging African-American leaders. Fast Company named her one of their 2010 Most Influential Women in Tech. She has over 13 years of award-winning interactive expertise and previously served as Vice President and lead digital strategist for Fleishman-Hillard’s west coast region in San Francisco.

Contee has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco magazine and on the BBC and CNN. She also serves on boards and advisory committees for Netroots Nation, BlogHer, Blogging While Brown, Applied Research Center and CommonGoods.Net.

Contee received her BA from Yale University and has an International Executive MBA from Georgetown University. In her spare time, Ms. Contee enjoys hiking, yoga, movies and tai chi sword.

Sam joined the Women's Campaign Forum team as President/CEO in April 2009. Sam is working to build on the great work of WCF and expand their presence, support, and membership throughout the country. In 2008, Sam ran one of the most exciting challenger campaigns for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th district. In addition to her political pursuits, Sam is the founder and former Statewide Director/CEO of Properties of Merit of PA, Inc., a non-profit organization that works to spur citizen involvement and “bottom-up” private and public investment in the critical work of revitalizing communities. Now a 20-year resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Sam is married to Martin Estrada, a computer professional and has three children; a seven-year-old son, and two college-age daughters. She has appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Fox News' America's News HQ, Fox News Radio, CNN International, and To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe.

John Podesta is President and CEO of the Center for American Progress and Chair and Counselor of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Under his leadership, American Progress has become a notable leader in the development of and advocacy for progressive policy.

Prior to founding the Center in 2003, Podesta served as White House Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton. He served in the president's cabinet and as a principal on the National Security Council. While in the White House, he also served as both an assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff, as well as staff secretary and a senior policy advisor on government information, privacy, telecommunications security, and regulatory policy.

Most recently, Podesta served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition, where he coordinated the priorities of the incoming administration’s agenda, oversaw the development of its policies, and spearheaded its appointments of major cabinet secretaries and political appointees.

A Chicago native, Podesta is a graduate of Knox College and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he is currently a visiting professor of law. He also authored The Power of Progress: How America’s Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate and Our Country.