Speaker series sponsored by Eileen and Jon Otto.
Presented in collaboration with LIU’s Roosevelt School.
John Heilemann Mark McKinnon
John Heilemann has covered the corridors of power—from Washington, DC, to Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and beyond; on television and in print; in the United States and abroad—for more than three decades, earning a place as one of America’s most prominent, prolific, and vital voices at a time of unprecedented upheaval in national and global affairs.
Heilemann is a partner and the chief political columnist at Puck, where he also hosts the twice-weekly podcast Impolitic with John Heilemann, as well as national affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on Morning Joe, Deadline: White House, Alex Wagner Tonight, and other shows. From 2016 to 2023, he was a creator, host, and executive producer of Showtime’s groundbreaking real-time political documentary series The Circus, which received multiple Emmy nominations in its celebrated eight-year run. In 2023, Heilemann launched Hat Size 3 Productions in partnership with Left/Right TV (with whom he created The Circus) and its parent company, Peter Chernin’s North Road Company, to develop documentary series and feature films at the intersection of politics, culture, history, and current affairs.
Heilemann is the author of two of the most successful presidential campaign books in history: Game Change: Obama & The Clintons, McCain & Palin, and The Race of Lifetime and Double Down: Game Change 2012, about the 2008 and 2012 elections, respectively. Both were New York Times bestsellers; Game Change held the No. 1 spot for 11 consecutive weeks and was adapted into an HBO feature film starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, and Ed Harris that went on to win five Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, and a Peabody Award.
From 2019 to 2023, Heilemann was co-founder and executive editor of The Recount, a digital news startup producing short-form video for social platforms. During the 2016 election season, he was a host of the daily MSNBC and Bloomberg TV program With All Due Respect and managing editor of Bloomberg Politics. Before that, he was a columnist and/or staff writer for New York, The New Yorker, Wired, and The Economist; his writing has also appeared in Vanity Fair, GQ, Time, The Washington Monthly, and Outside magazine. In 2001, his 70,000-word tour de force on the Microsoft antitrust case for Wired became the basis for his first book, Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates & The End of the Microsoft Era, also a New York Times bestseller. In 2008, he hosted Download, a four-part Discovery Channel documentary series on the rise of the Internet.
Educated at Northwestern University, Oxford University, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, John grew up in Los Angeles and now resides in New York City—where he principally serves as valet for his Great Dane, DZA.
Mark McKinnon is a political advisor, reform advocate, columnist, and television producer. He was the creator and co-host of Showtime’s Emmy-nominated hit documentary series The Circus — the longest-running, most-watched unscripted show in the history of the network which ran for eight seasons.
McKinnon has worked for many causes, companies, and candidates, including President George W. Bush, late Senator John McCain, late Governor Ann Richards, and Bono. He was the chief media advisor for five winning presidential primary and general election campaigns. Dedicated to bipartisanship, McKinnon helped start No Labels, an organization dedicated to bringing our parties together to problem solve and heal the partisan divide in our country.
According to Broadcasting and Cable magazine, McKinnon is one of “a handful of players behind every big decision, consensus or roadblock in Washington . . . putting a unique, sometimes hidden stamp on the outcome of today’s debates.” Politics Daily writes: “He’s known for his originality in a field typified by copycats, a mellow personality in a world populated with high-strung brutes and ecumenical urges in a profession dominated by its unadulterated partisans.”
“McKinnon is evidence that principled centrism is not an oxymoron,” wrote John Avalon in a Daily Beast column about the 25 Best Centrist Pundits. “McKinnon piloted John McCain’s 2008 primary campaign to victory. But he announced in advance that if Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, he would ride off into the sunset rather than participate in the negative attacks he knew would be required. This is unheard of in the world of modern politics, where partisanship trumps principle as a matter of course.”
President George W. Bush said of McKinnon, “I was really impressed by Mark’s creativity, and I was particularly impressed by his honesty.” Senator John McCain, in his typical straight-talk fashion, remarked, “He’s almost a genius.” And President Barack Obama called McKinnon “a class act.”
McKinnon has been a regular columnist for The Daily Beast, the London Daily Telegraph, and Vanity Fair, and was a consultant to the HBO show The Newsroom and Netflix’s House of Cards.
McKinnon attended the University of Texas at Austin and served as editor of the award-winning university newspaper, The Daily Texan; he was arrested and jailed during his tenure in 1980 for defending the first amendment. He spent several years in Nashville working as a songwriter with Kris Kristofferson (and was wildly unsuccessful). McKinnon also is a two-time Ironman finisher. His quality of life is exceptionally enhanced by the enduring love and patience of his wife, Annie — whom he started dating before he had a driver’s license.