Madura Wijewardena is the Director of Research & Policy at the National Urban League Policy Institute (NULPI). NULPI is the Washington, D.C. based research and policy arm of the National Urban League (NUL). Madura's main focus is economic analysis to promote NUL's legislative agenda. Madura is also NUL's liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau, and staffs Mr. Marc Morial, President/CEO of NUL, in Mr. Morial's role as the Chairman of the Census Advisory Committee. Madura also manages NUL's federal policy agenda in technology/telecoms and energy/climate change. Prior to NULPI, Madura worked for a Chicago consulting firm where he used data analysis to micro-target services and messages for organizations and political campaigns. Prior to that, for eight years Madura was a corporate attorney in telecoms, technology, and banking, and a consultant to the World Bank. Madura has a MA in Public Policy from University of Chicago, focusing on microeconomics and statistics, and a LLB (equivalent of a JD) and a Bachelor of Economics from University of Sydney, Australia.

While Ms. Zirkin officially joined The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund in 2002, she has been a part of its various lobby efforts, including task forces on education reform, hate crimes, affirmative action, and judicial nominations, since the 1990s. As the current executive vice president for policy, she leads the coalition's lobbying efforts. Under Ms. Zirkin's leadership, The Leadership Conference/The Education Fund has gone from a 10-person operation to nearly four times as many people, creating the infrastructure necessary to support the organization's growing institutional needs and a coalition consisting of 180 national organizations. Prior to coming to The Leadership Conference, Zirkin worked at several public interest organizations, including Common Cause and the Women's Equity Action League. She was director of public policy and government relations at American Association of University Women where she was chief lobbyist and managed the coordination of the Equal Rights Amendment, Women's Vote Project, and Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988. Zirkin is a graduate of Old Dominion University.