Hal Bruno - Bruno served as the Political Director of ABC News for 19 years and spent 18 years with Newsweek, before that, serving as a reporter, foreign correspondent, bureau chief, News Editor and Chief Political Correspondent. His early career included stops at the Chicago City News Bureau and Chicago American. Bruno's honors include the Illini Achievement Award from the University of Illinois, the Lowell Thomas Award for Public Speaking by the International Platform Association, and Press Veteran of the Year by the Chicago Press Veterans Association. Active in the firefighting community, Bruno has written extensively about fire safety and is a director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the Chevy Chase (Maryland) Fire Department. He was named Fire Service Person of the Year by the Congressional Fire Services Institute and received the President’s Award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Currently, Bruno is the political analyst for Politics.com.

Haskell Wexler (February 6, 1922-present) - Recognized as one of the greatest cinematographers all of time, Wexler's body of work includes many of the all-time great films like Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Bound for Glory, In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Colors, and Mulholland Falls. Wexler has been nominated for 5 Oscars, winning two - one for Virginia Wolf and the other for Bound for Glory. He was the first cinematographer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was a recipient of the Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award. Perhaps his best work has been the least recognized. Wexler directed his own movie Medium Cool, about Chicago in the summer of 1968.

Ira Berkow (January 7, 1940 - Present) - Long time sports feature writer for the New York Times, Berkow was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his article, “The Minority Quarterback” in the New York Times series, “How Race Is Lived in America”. He was a finalist for prize in 88. He has been honored by the Best American Sports Writing and co-wrote the best-selling book, Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life. Other books include: Red: A Biography of Red Smith, Court Vision, To The Hoop: The Seasons of a Basketball Life, and his memoir, Full Swing; Hits, Runs and Errors in a Writer’s Life.

Joel Weisman (1942-Present) - Emmy Award winning Host and Senior Editor of Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review on WTTW Channel 11. Weisman's career started at the City News Bureau of Chicago, he went on to the Gary Post-Tribune, Chicago American(Chicago Today), and the Chicago Sun-Times where he served as a reporter, columnist and Metropolitan Editor. Weisman was also a correspondent for The Washington Post. Honors include multiple Peter Lisagor, Jacob Scher, and Associated Press awards and two Pulitzer Prize nominations for his investigative reporting, as well as, Emmy Awards for commentary and news analysis for WGN Television. An attorney, specializing in media and entertainment law, Weisman represents journalists at stations and publications around the country and has lectured extensively on legal and journalism issues.

Peter Jacobi - A highly regarded writer and teacher, Jacobi was an associate dean of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, before moving to Indiana University. In addition to teaching, Jacobi has been featured in The New York Times, The Chicago Daily News, and the Herald Times in Bloomington, IN. His books include Writing with style, and the News Story and the Feature.

Shecky Greene (April 8, 1926 - Present) - One of the legendary comedians of his time, Shecky Greene has inspired a generation of comedians. Most known for his 30 plus years headlining in Las Vegas, where his salary reached $150,000 a week, Greene also took film and TV projects along the way. His credits include, Mel Brooks' History of the World, Splash, guest host for the Tonight Show, and Combat.

Janice Danoff Schakowsky is one of the leading Democrat in the US House of Representatives after serving numerous years in the Illinois Legislature.