Mr. Deichmann served as President and CEO of Schulmerich Carillons, Inc. in Sellersville, Pennsylvania.  A graduate of Princeton University, he is active in a number of business associations including the German-American Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia and the American Council of Germany in New York.  He is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Mr. Lehmann is retired from the Prudential Insurance Company where he served as 2nd Vice President and General Manager in various offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  He is currently President of the Deutscher Club of Clark, a position he has held for the past eight years after serving three years as Vice President.

Mr. Ast is founder and CEO of A&E Manufacturing, a Pennsylvania-based precision sheet metal fabricator.  He is active in a number of German American cultural & civic organizations in the Pennsylvania area.

Mr. Hansen taught for the New York City Board of Education.  He has been and continues to be active in many German American organizations, including the Plattduetsche Volksfest Verein, the Fritz Reuter Altenheim and the Schuetzen Park.  Mr. Hansen received his MBA from Long Island University.  

Mr. Galleisky is a Regional Vice President of the United German-American Committee based in Oceanside, California.  He is the founder and former owner of Continental Motors.  Mr. Galleisky is active in a number of civic and ethnic organizations including the German Club of San Diego and the Phoenix Club of Anaheim, California. 

Mr. Gauss is an audit supervisor for the city of Philadelphia.  He is President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Donauschwaben as well as serving on the national board.  Mr. Gauss is also works with the Steuben Parade in Philadelphia.  He is a graduate of LaSalle University. 

Mr. Halter is a business journalist covering the US markets for German media outlets including the influential German news television station n-tv. He has been published in all relevant newspapers and is a regular business columnist for several websites including the German finance portal of Microsoft. Mr. Halter is the General Chairman of the German-American Steuben Parade of New York City. During his tenure he has dramatically strengthened this best known German-American cultural event and has attracted a new audience as well as strong partners, including Dr. Henry Kissinger as Grand Marshal of the 50^th Anniversary Parade in September 2007. Mr. Halter originally hails from the Black Forest, he resides in Jersey City, NJ.

Rüdiger Lentz has been the Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Diplomatic Correspondent for Deutsche Welle Radio and Television since January 1999. Prior to his assignment in Washington, he served as Deutsche Welle¹s Brussels Bureau Chief. Before joining Deutsche Welle, Lentz worked as a correspondent for the German news magazine Der Spiegel and as a TV commentator and reporter at ARD/WDR, Germany¹s largest public TV and radio station. Lentz has also held various positions at RIAS-TV in Washington and Berlin. He is a Visiting Lecturer at Harvard University, UCLA, and the Federal Armed Forces University and a regular guest at CNN and C-Span.

Lentz has published widely on international relations and the military. He studied international relations and history at the University of Hamburg, and he is a member of the Atlantikbrücke, a German-American foundation created to enhance transatlantic relations.

Founding Partner, West End Resources LLC.  Prior to WER, served as Managing Director of Lucent Technologies' Advanced Technology Business Consulting Group, concentrating on financial evaluations of prospective takeover targets and in-house business units.  Prior to joining Lucent Technologies at its inception in 1995, served on the technical staff of AT&T Bell Laboratories, leading a variety of projects related to Digital Communications and Network Operations Planning.  Prior to AT&T service, worked for the IBM Corporation in basic research. Author of more than 40 scientific publications in leading international journals, numerous technical reports and internal publications, and of four awarded patents. Co-Founder of FELSEF [www.felsef.org], a Washington, D.C.-based inter-professional forum on environmental law, science, engineering, and finance. Member of the Board of International Advisors, Monterey Institute of International Studies (Monterey, California). Series 65 SEC Registered Investment Advisor.  Chem. Eng. (Professional Degree); MBA, Finance, Columbia University; M.Sc., M.Phil., and Ph.D., Theoretical Nuclear Physics, Yale University.

Heinz Paletzki was born in Hagen, Germany on July 8, 1930, settling in San Francisco in 1962. He is a co-founder of German-American Society (GAS) of Marin in 1975. In 1980 he joined the UGAS of San Francisco (Umbrella-Organisation), becoming President of the UGAS of San Francisco in 1991. In 1990 he was the Chairman of the 100th German-Day in San Francisco celebration and unification of Germany and received the German-American Friendship-Award. In 1995 he received the Bundesverdienst-Kreuz. He is the co-founder of the German-Day Celebration combined with Oktoberfest in San Francisco.

Mr. Stabenow is a Director of Schwaben International Travel which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. He is also active in a number of other German American organizations in the Midwest and on the East Coast. 

Mr. Wurz, founder of Accu-Sort Systems, developed and innovated the now ubiquitous bar code systems which control the movement of packages, goods, and materials throughout the world. Estimates are that 80% of all parcels shipped in the United States use over-the-belt bar code scanning equipment manufactured by Accu-Sort Systems.  A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Wurz is active in numerous professional and civic organizations.