2026 Speaker Information
Bakari Sellers, Attorney, Author, podcast host and CNN Analyst was born into an activist family. His father, civil rights leader Cleveland Sellers, instilled core values in him to continue in the tireless commitment to service. In 2005 Bakari earned a bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies from Morehouse College. He continued his education at the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2008 earning a juris doctor. Bakari currently practices law with the Strom Law Firm, LLC in Columbia, SC where he heads the firm’s Strategic Communication and Public Affairs team and has recently added Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consulting to the list of services offered. Bakari made history in the 2006 South Carolina state legislature as the youngest African American elected official in the nation, at the age of 22. His political career did not stop there, in 2014 he was the Democratic Nominee for Lt. Governor in the state of South Carolina. Bakari has also worked for United States Congressman James Clyburn and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.Â
Bakari recently released a New York Times Best Seller entitled My Vanishing Country: A Memoir. The book has been described as part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis illustrating the lives of America’s forgotten Black working-class men and women. Bakari recently expanded his audience with the Bakari Sellers Podcast, a twice-a-week show that is part of The Ringer Podcast Network. His podcasts discuss a variety of topics from politics, race, sports, media, the presidential campaign, and much more.Â
Nadine Smith is a nationally recognized civil rights leader whose three decades of strategic advocacy have reshaped the fight for racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ equality. She has built durable movements, driven policy change, and secured landmark protections in some of the most hostile political climates in the country.
Known for her clear-eyed political strategy, she has taken on entrenched corporate interests and the extremists who turned Florida into a proving ground for Project 2025. Her record shows a leader who does not back down, who understands power, and who knows how to win high-stakes fights when the odds are stacked.
As the founding Executive Director of Equality Florida, Nadine has spent three decades on the frontlines of civil rights battles, demonstrating what it takes to win in one of the nation’s most politically hostile environments. Under her leadership, Equality Florida has consistently stopped harmful legislation for thirty years, and in the intensifying Project 2025 backlash, the team fought off nearly the entire onslaught. In just the past two sessions, they defeated 29 of 30 hateful anti-LGBTQ+ bills and protected millions of Floridians from attacks on their rights and freedoms.
She built Equality Florida — along with its 501(c)(4) arm and statewide PAC — into one of the country’s most effective grassroots civil rights organizations. Advocacy groups across the nation have adopted its model for rapid-response organizing, legislative strategy, and coalition building. Nadine’s leadership has always been intersectional, linking the fights against abortion bans, anti-LGBTQ+ attacks, racial inequity, and voter suppression as connected fronts in the same struggle for justice.
Her advocacy spans decades. She played a central role in Florida’s Fair Districts campaign to end racial gerrymandering and ensure Black and brown voters were fairly represented. Earlier in her career, she served as one of four national co-chairs of the 1993 March on Washington, which drew one million pro-equality marchers to the nation’s capital.
Donna Marie Todd is an award-winning storyteller whose powerful words and joyful style celebrate the authentic realities of life. She is a TEDx speaker (video below), a writer and former magazine publisher and editor, a podcaster, and an all-around inspiring, fun person to listen to and work with.
With 40 years of professional experience under her belt, Donna Marie is a flexible, confident, and reliable professional. Her love of creative process and knowledge of professional writing and performing fuels her podcasts, events, and performances with an irrepressible sense of joy and intention.
Listeners feel an authentic and real connection to Donna Marie. Her powerful presentations take listeners on a journey into the deepest parts of themselves. She takes them to where their own stories live. Telling authentic stories in safety builds strong individuals and compassionate communities. Storytelling is not her job, it’s her soul work.
Matthew De Galan leads the Carter Center’s global effort to share its stories and impact with key audiences, using communications as a strategic tool to drive change. Â
He joined The Carter Center in 2022 as the organization’s first Vice President of Communications. In his tenure, he has significantly expanded strategic communications efforts at the Center, delivering four-fold increases in social media engagement and media coverage. He directed the complex communications response to the passing of the First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 2023 and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 2024.
De Galan also has increased the use of video as a storytelling tool and earned an Emmy Award for Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song, a 90-minute television special that aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting and PBS. He also helped complete and secure distribution deals for The President and the Dragon, a documentary about President Carter’s work to eradicate Guinea worm disease that is streaming on Amazon and other platforms.
Before coming to the Center, De Galan served in senior leadership roles at the United Nations, the NIKE Foundation, Mercy Corps, CARE, and Girl Effect, a London-based NGO. At the U.N., De Galan led external relations for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, which coordinates efforts across U.N. agencies, NGOs, and governments to protect children from violence. At the NIKE Foundation, he developed campaigns that elevated adolescent girls on the global agenda and managed a $120 million grant portfolio that pioneered new strategies to support girl-centered grassroots organizations. At Mercy Corps, he served as senior vice president and helped the agency grow from $30 million to $300 million over nine years. In 2007, he helped initiate Mercy Corps’ work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Â
De Galan began his career as a journalist for the Kansas City Star. He has authored five books and four documentary films, including the 2004 documentary The Last Child: The Global Race to End Polio, which appeared on PBS.
De Galan attended the University of Kansas and the Université de Bordeaux, earning degrees in Journalism and French. He also attended the Harvard Business School’s Humanitarian Leadership Program.
Dr. Neetu Abad is a seasoned leader who has implemented high-impact public health strategies in mental and behavioral health, vaccine-preventable diseases, and emergency response domestically and globally. In July 2025, she was named the first director of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health and Caregiver Program following the merger between The Carter Center and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers.
Abad previously led the Behavioral Health Coordinating Unit in the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. In this role, Abad worked to elevate, advance, and coordinate the CDC’s activities to promote mental well-being and prevent mental distress, substance misuse, overdose, and suicide through a primary prevention approach. She also served as the CDC’s primary mental health subject matter expert and led the development of the CDC’s first mental health strategy and mental health data channel.
Abad first joined the CDC in 2011 as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education HIV prevention in communities of color postdoctoral fellow in the Division of HIV Prevention, where she published a systematic review of behavioral interventions to reduce HIV transmission risk among female sex workers. In 2013, she joined the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention as a behavioral scientist conducting social and behavioral research and evaluation on determinants of sexual risk behavior.
During the CDC’s West Africa Ebola emergency response, she developed the first risk reduction counseling and semen testing program protocols for Ebola survivors. From 2016 through 2023, she served as senior subject matter expert and then team lead on the Demand for Immunization Team in the Global Immunization Division in the CDC’s Global Health Center. During the CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response, Abad served as co-lead of the CDC’s Vaccine Confidence and Demand Team in the CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, overseeing the CDC’s U.S. and global vaccine confidence research, program, and policy agenda. Her work focused on assessing and intervening on the behavioral and social drivers of low vaccine uptake.
Abad earned her doctorate and master’s degree in social psychology from the University of Missouri.
Key Highlights of Her Career:
- Equality Florida:Â Co-founded in 1997, she led the organization for nearly three decades, making it a leading force in LGBTQ+ rights, notably fighting the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and advocating for inclusive policies.
- Color Of Change:Â In late 2025, she announced her transition to lead this national racial justice organization, starting January 2026, connecting her deep experience in civil rights across identities.
- National Influence:Â Recognized by TIME magazine in 2022 and known for connecting race, gender, and democracy, she’s a nationally recognized voice for equality.
- Early Activism:Â Co-chaired the 1993 March on Washington, was part of the first Oval Office meeting with a sitting President (Clinton) and LGBTQ+ leaders, and served on founding boards for global LGBTQ+ organizations.Â
Her Departure & Legacy:
- Smith’s move from Equality Florida was seen as significant, leaving behind a strong, enduring organization built by her and co-founder Stratton Pollitzer (who succeeded her).
- She emphasized that while she’s taking on a national role, her commitment to the Florida movement remains strong, viewing it as a continued fight on the “front line”.Â
Sarah Catherine Phillips, MPA – Associate Director, Rosalynn Carter Mental Health and Caregiver Program, https://www.cartercenter.org/people/sarah-catherine-phillips/
Sarah Phillips brings a background in legislative relations, policy strategy and analysis, and coalition-building to her role with the Mental Health Program, where she leads a team advancing behavioral health parity, payment for youth mental health services, mental health for older adults, and decriminalization of mental illness and substance use disorders. Previously, Phillips served as the director of policy strategies at Georgia Health Initiative, monitoring the policy environment to design and implement strategies to promote health equity in Georgia. As senior manager of policy and advocacy at Georgia Watch, Phillips identified the needs and disparate impacts affecting historically marginalized populations and guided the development and implementation of equitable policies to combat these disparities. In addition, she worked at the Georgia State Capitol, conducting policy research and legislative analysis. Phillips graduated with honors from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and public policy, and a master’s degree in public administration, with a concentration in policy analysis and program evaluation.
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