Meet our headliners!

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  • Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Honoree

    Congressman Nadler’s record has earned him scores of awards and praise from various progressive groups, including the League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence, Children’s Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Federation of Teachers.  In the 2015 Time magazine Person of The Year issue, Jerry Nadler was named as a Teddy Award recipient for political courage.  Recently Congressman Nadler has been an outspoken champion for refugees trapped at JFK airport during the “travel ban” and he has been one of the most stalwart defenders of the U.S. Constitution in the U.S. Congress.

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  • Dr. Eva Fogelman, Honoree

    Eva Fogelman is a social psychologist, psychotherapist, author and filmmaker. She is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book, Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, which illuminates the psychology and history of rescuers such as Aristides de Sousa Mendes. Today she uses those lessons to raise consciousness about an “us-against-them” culture. She co-founded the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and was also involved in the creation of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust.  She is an advisor to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and is a frequent public speaker and guest on television.

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  • Maggie Favretti, Honoree

    Maggie Favretti is an award-winning teacher at Scarsdale High School and a refugee advocate. She is a believer in learning by doing and has created a number of empowering courses, including Food Policy and Justice, and City 2.0. In 2016, Maggie and a colleague in Germany designed an exchange with the purpose of studying the refugee crisis with a small group of students.  The students created Students for Refugees, which now has 20+ chapters in Westchester and around the world, and which supports students in their efforts to help refugees, advocates for refugee youth, and directly assists in resettlement.

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  • Michel Gill, Master of Ceremonies

    Actor Michel Gill, best known for portraying President Garrett Walker on House of Cards, is the son and grandson of Sousa Mendes visa recipients. Gill only learned of the Sousa Mendes connection recently, and, as a result, in profound gratitude, has committed himself to supporting the Sousa Mendes Foundation in any and every way he can. His credits include: Broadway A Man For All Seasons. Off-Broadway Speaking in Tongues (Roundabout), A Winter’s Tale (CSC), Naked (CSC), Othello (N.Y. Shakespeare Festival), Lincoln Portrait (Joyce Theatre), Da Caravaggio (MCC), Coyote Ugly (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional Over thirty plays in leading roles: Yale Rep., Long Wharf, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Folger, The Old Globe, The Huntington, Portland Stage, The Alley, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theatre. Film/TV Ray Donovan, House of Cards, Mr. Robot, The Get Down, Who Killed JonBenet, Forever, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, Law and Order CI, L.A. Law, Guiding Light, All My Children. The Juilliard School of Drama: 1985.

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  • Ambassador Domingos Fezas Vital, Special Guest

    Domingos Fezas Vital is the Portuguese Ambassador to the United States and is traveling from Washington, DC for the occasion. Born in Luanda, Angola, Ambassador Fezas Vital began his foreign service career in 1984. In 2002 he was named the Deputy Permanent Representative to the European Union in Brussels, where he represented Portugal in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. Ambassador Fezas Vital also served as Diplomatic Advisor to former Portuguese president Aníbal Cavaco Silva. In 2012, he was named Permanent Representative to the European Union, a post he held until coming to Washington.

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  • Jayne Atkinson, Special Guest

    Jayne Atkinson is an English-American actress who has worked in film, theater and television. She is perhaps best known for the role of Karen Hayes on 24, as well as her Tony Award-nominated roles in The Rainmaker and Enchanted April. She has also appeared in the CBS drama Criminal Minds as BAU Section Chief Erin Strauss, and as Secretary of State Catherine Durant on the Netflix original series House of Cards. She portrayed Annie Greenwood in the timeless Free Willy movies, among many other credits. Jayne Atkinson runs Jadana Productions, which specializes in entertainment development.