2022 Multi-Class Gathering

As Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, David Beasley continues his life’s work bridging political, religious and ethnic boundaries to champion economic development and education. At WFP, Mr. Beasley is putting to use four decades of leadership and communications skills to mobilize more financial support and public awareness for the global fight against hunger. These efforts were recognised when the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded WFP the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
Before coming to WFP in April 2017, Mr. Beasley spent a decade working with high profile leaders and on-the-ground programme managers in more than 100 countries, directing projects designed to foster peace, reconciliation and economic progress. He travelled to as many as 30 countries a year, organizing, leading or participating in conferences and missions in Kosovo, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen, among others. His work has allowed him to develop deep relationships with leaders around the world.
As Governor of South Carolina from 1995 to 1999, Mr. Beasley guided the state during years of economic transformation, helping to reshape the state’s economy into a healthy, diverse and robust market.
Mr. Beasley attended Clemson University and the University of South Carolina where he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree. He has also taught at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. He was first elected to public office at the age of 21 as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.

Since 2010, Judge J. Michelle Childs (’10) has served as a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. She was nominated by President Joe Biden to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was one of three judges under consideration by Biden to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court.
After graduation from Duke University School of Law, Childs joined Nexsen Pruet as an associate in its Columbia office. At the firm, she represented clients in cases involving employment and labor law and general litigation. Childs was the firm’s first Black woman partner and the first Black woman partner in a major firm in South Carolina.
In 2000, South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges appointed Childs deputy director of the state Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. Two years later, the governor appointed her to the South Carolina Worker’s Compensation Commission.
Childs’ judicial career began in 2006, when the South Carolina legislature elected her to serve as an at-large circuit court judge, which included responsibilities as the chief administrative judge for general sessions, the state’s criminal court, and a business court that was piloted in the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Richland and Kershaw Counties. She also served as needed as an acting state supreme court justice.
Childs is the president-elect of the Federal Judges Association. She is the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division and the former secretary of the ABA’s Labor and Employment Law Section, and has served on its Litigation Section’s Committee on the American Judicial System. Judge Childs is also a member of the American Law Institute, having served as an advisor to the Restatement (Third) of Employment Law.
Judge Childs is a graduate of the University of South Florida Honors College, University of South Carolina School of Law, University of South Carolina School of Business, and Duke University School of Law. She is a Liberty Fellow from the Class of 2010.

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A native of Camden, South Carolina – Mike Goodwin is a nationally recognized comedian, speaker, and leader. Appearing on Season 16 of America’s Got Talent, his signature bowtie is a nod to his expectation-defying brand of comedy that leaves a variety of audiences laughing hysterically and completely inspired.