Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner

Authors of SuperFreakonomics

Originally published in the U.S. in 2005, FREAKONOMICS instantly became a cultural phenomenon. Hailed by critics and readers alike, it went on to spend more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list, having sold more than 4 million copies around the world, in more than 30 languages.

Combining the empirical data characteristic of economics with witty, journalistic prose, Levitt and Dubner answer questions that veteran economists and scholars have declared unanswerable to explore the hidden side of everything – the truth about real-estate agents, the myths of campaign finance, the tell-tale marks of a cheating schoolteacher and much more. What unites these stories is a belief that the modern world is not impenetrable, is not unknowable.

The book has won numerous awards and is now being made into a TV show and a documentary film; its way of thinking also lives on the popular FREAKONOMICS blog, which has been called "the most readable economics blog in the universe," and is hosted exclusive on the The New York Times website. Levitt and Dubner's highly anticipated follow-up book, entitled SUPERFREAKONOMICS, was released on October 20, 2009.

Rudy Giuliani

Former Mayor of New York City

In 1981, Rudy was named Associate Attorney General and in 1983, President Reagan appointed Rudy as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Rudy spearheaded successful efforts against organized crime, white-collar criminals, drug dealers and corrupt elected officials. Few U.S. Attorneys in history can match his record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals.

In 1993, Rudy was elected Mayor of the City of New York. In 1997, he was re-elected with 57% of the vote in a city in which Democrats outnumbered Republicans five to one. Under Mayor Giuliani’s leadership, overall crime was cut by 56%, murder was cut by 66%, and reduced welfare rolls by nearly 60%. On September 11, 2001, Mayor Giuliani led the recovery of the city after terrorists crashed planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. He was named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine, knighted by the Queen of England, dubbed "Rudy the Rock" by French President Jacques Chirac, and former first lady Nancy Reagan presented him with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Freedom Award.

Limited by New York City law to two terms as mayor, Rudy founded Giuliani Partners in January, 2002, quickly establishing the professional services firm as a leader in emergency preparedness, public safety, leadership during crises, and financial management. Drawing on his experience in turning a city described as ungovernable into a city that is now a worldwide example of good government and effective management, Giuliani was recognized in Spring 2002 as "Consultant of the Year" by Consulting magazine. Mayor Giuliani is also a Partner in the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP. Bracewell & Giuliani is a major international law firm with over 400 lawyers, serving mainly clients in the energy and financial service industries.

Sasan Goodarzi

President, Digital Insight, an Intuit company

Sasan Goodarzi is President of Digital Insight. Appointed to this position in September 2007, he is responsible for driving the strategic vision and daily operations of the Intuit financial institutions division, a provider of online banking solutions to nearly 1,800 financial institutions in the U.S. Sasan has significant experience leading other key Intuit businesses as well, having served as Vice President of the company’s professional tax division (ProTax) from 2005 to 2007. Other roles include leading Intuit-branded software businesses such as Intuit Eclipse, Construction Business Solutions, Real Estate Solutions, Information Technology Solutions Group and businesses in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Before joining Intuit in 2004, he worked for Invensys, a global provider of industrial automation, transportation and controls technology, serving as President of the Products Group within the company’s Process Systems division. He also led the automation control division at Honeywell and served as the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Lazer Cables, Inc., a technology startup. Sasan earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.