SPEAK FREELY SUMMIT

Casey Given is Young Voices’ Executive Director and Secretary-Treasurer of its Board of Directors. Casey joined Young Voices in January 2014 when it was a project of Students For Liberty and oversaw the project’s transition to an independent nonprofit in May 2016. Casey has also served as Students For Liberty’s Director of Communications. Casey is a political columnist at Rare and contributor at The Washington Examiner. Casey holds a B.A. in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently a Master’s in Public Policy candidate at The George Washington University.

Dave Rubin is a talk show host, comedian, and TV personality. He is the host of The Rubin Report, a talk show about big ideas and free speech, heralded for it's politically incorrect and honest approach to discussing complex issues and current events. The show has garnered a huge fan base from across the world, by having honest conversations about important issues in a thoughtful and candid manner rarely seen in mainstream media.

Dave is known for his political satire and political commentary, targeting many topics including political correctness, free speech, politics, mass media, religion, and foreign affairs. He is passionate and outspoken about the ideological split between liberals and the progressive movement, and has been influential in popularizing the phrase "Regressive Left." A former progressive, Dave identifies with Classical Liberalism and feels strongly about building a new center in the political landscape.

Dave was formerly an on-air host at The Young Turks Network, and prior to that was co-host of The Six Pack on SiriusXM satellite radio, also one of the top comedy podcasts on iTunes. His television credits include Comedy Central, Fox News, HLN, CNN and PBS. He has defended LGBT rights on The O'Reilly Factor and debated Mike Huckabee. Dave's comedy and commentary has been highlighted in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, and he has been nominated by L.A. Weekly for Funniest Twitter.

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar (Global Secular Humanist Movement - Iraq, New York): Faisal is an Iraqi born writer, satirist, computer geek and a human rights activist. Forged intellectually in Iraq during the post-9/11 U.S. invasion, Faisal continues to believe that the best path forward for Iraq is a government that respects both economic and political freedoms. Faisal is also an advocate for secularism, human rights and the free market of ideas. A big enthusiast of the intersection of technology and advocacy, Faisal is the founder of the Global Secular Humanist Movement and Ideas Beyond Borders.

Flemming Rose, Senior fellow at Cato Institute, Washington DC, journalist and author.

Mr. Rose is a frequent contributor to international media. His work has appeared in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, the New Yorker, Die Welt, Der Spiegel, El Pais, Hufftington Post, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, and many more.

In 2016 Mr. Rose was awarded the prestigious Milton Friedman Prize for advancing liberty.

Mr. Rose has been a lecturer and speaker all over the world. He is the author of several books, such as “The Tyranny of Silence: How One Cartoon Ignited a Global Debate on the Future of Free Speech” (2010 in Danish and 2014 in English, it has also appeared in Russian, Norwegian and Spanish), which in 2014 was listed among the 10 best non-fiction books by The Economist, “Hymn to Freedom” (2015) and “The Possessed” (2016), for which Mr. Rose recently received the Weekendavisen’s Literary Prize.

Mr. Rose has spent 14 years abroad as a foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington D.C. In 2004, he returned to Denmark to become the culture and later foreign editor of Jyllands-Posten, Denmark’s leading newspaper.

Mr. Rose graduated in Russian language and literature from University of Copenhagen, and he worked as a translator of Russian literature before he became a journalist.

Jim Caruso is CEO and general partner of Flying Dog Brewery and leads the company as an ardent believer in free expression and passion for the craft. Prior to Flying Dog Brewery, Jim served as president of a publicly-traded company, and then unleashed his entrepreneurial spirit as co-owner and president of a business that renovated historic buildings in core urban areas across the country, transforming them into brewpubs and contributing to those city centers. Jim holds BA and MA degrees in economics and also a degree in brewing.

A Senior Producer at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Sara Taksler has pitched stories and jokes, and researched footage for over a decade. Taksler directed and produced the feature documentary, TWISTED: A Balloonamentary, a hilarious and heartwarming look at the world’s premier balloon-twisting convention, with film partner Naomi Greenfield. After debuting at South by Southwest,

Hollywood Reporter called the film “A thoroughly winning feature” and Variety hailed it as “A feel good, irony-free celebration”. Taksler’s first film, Stop the Ignorance: The Beauty That Is New Jersey, was a tribute to her home state. Her latest documentary, Tickling Giants, had its world premiere at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Taksler can talk backwards and has a remarkable fake sneeze.

Sara’s favorite way of Tickling Giants: Using comedy to find cathartic ways to process major bummers.