2011 Top American Leaders

The Washington Post and Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership will jointly present seven public figures with the 2011 Top American Leaders awards at Ford’s Theatre on December 5, 2011. Here are this year’s winners.

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Chris Christie is the governor of New Jersey and a former U.S. attorney. The Republican state leader has sharply reduced deficits since his term began in 2009, working closely with a Democratically controlled state legislature.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

Jared Cohen is the director of Google Ideas, the tech company's new "think/do-tank" for innovations in international issues. Cohen previously served in the State Department, where he was the youngest member to be on the secretary of state's policy planning staff.

Courtesy of Center for American Progress / Courtesy of Center for American Progress

Since 2001, Michael Kaiser (left) has been the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C. He is a leader in the arts management field, having revitalized the Kennedy Center's arts programming and, previously, turned around the American Ballet Theatre.

Ahmed Altoqi

Nicholas Kristof is a Pulitzer Prize-winning op-ed columnist for the New York Times, where he began as a reporter in 1984. He is known widely for his focus on international human rights issues, including the crisis in Darfur.

Will Okun

Sheila Bair served as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2006 until 2011, leading the agency's efforts to help stem the U.S. financial crisis. Under Bair's leadership, the FDIC also climbed to the No. 1 slot in the 2011 Best Places to Work in federal government rankings.

Melina Mara

Freeman A. Hrabowski III,is president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which he has led since 1992. He has been named one of the 10 best college presidents by Time magazine, and has been recognized for his efforts to increase minority participation in the sciences.

Mark Gail/The Washington Post

Ahmed Zewail is a Nobel Prize winner and a professor of chemistry and physics at the California Institute of Technology. He also currently serves as the first U.S. science envoy to the Middle East.

Courtesy of Ahmed Zewail

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

SILVER SPRING MD: MAY 18
from left to right, Bodybuilders Jorge Villatoro, Sidney Bumbrey, Eric Holmes and Ron Coleman show off their most muscular poses for the judges at the 2013 Musclemania - Capital Tournament of Champions Contest held at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 18, 2013.
(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Flexing their muscles

Dozens of bodybuilders came out to Silver Spring to compete in the 2013 Musclemania Capital Tournament of Champions.

Kriket Krekemeyer cries while cleaning up her tornado-ravaged home in Moore, Okla., Wednesday, May 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Mike Simons)

Photos of the day

Oklahoma tornado wreckage, London terrorism attack, NASA’s Dream Chaser, Triton unmanned aircraft and more.

A police forensics officer investigates a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich, southeast London May 22, 2013. British Prime Minister David Cameron has called a meeting of his government's emergency Cobra security committee after the killing of a man in south London, his office said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth (BRITAIN - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Terrorism cited in London cleaver attack

Two assailants hacked to death a British soldier on a busy southeast London neighborhood street Wednesday afternoon before delivering an apparent...

MOORE, OK - MAY 22: A street of tornado destructed homes is reflected on a puddle of water on May 22, 2013 in Moore, Ok. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Assessing tornado damage in Oklahoma

Amid great destruction, residents of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore begin to assess the severity of the twister that hit Monday.

WASHINGTON DC: MAY 22
Contestant Travis Rumans, 31 dances with his beloved glow sticks for talent at Penn Social in Washington, DC on May 22, 2013. The contestants help raise over $15,000 for the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The Mr. DC pageant is a fundraising event to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The qualifications for the Mr. District of Columbia finalists is that they must live, work and attend school in the District of Columbia between the ages of 21-30 who are unmarried, intelligent, and dapper in a suit.
(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Mr. D.C. Pageant contestants compete for charity

Contestants in the Mr. D.C. Pageant, a fundraising event, helped raise more than $15,000 for the Children’s National Medical Center.

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

US comedian Jerry Lewis laughs on May 23, 2013 during a press confrence for the film 'Max Rose' presented Out of Competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / LOIC VENANCELOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images

Eye on entertainment

Jerry Lewis, Kat Graham, Zachary Quinto, Aerosmith, Carly Rae Jepsen and more.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

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