Evening’s Moderator: Governor Christopher T. Sununu

Join President George H.W. Bush’s former Chief of Staff Jean Becker as she shares moving and pivotal life lessons from a leader who left a mark on people’s hearts and souls.  

 Character Matters will be a good reminder of the importance of character when defining true leadership. Colleagues, friends, and family share their often very personal stories of what they learned from watching and listening to President Bush, including former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Secretary of State James A. Baker; stand-up comedian Dana Carvey; “Queen of Country” star Reba McEntire; American columnist for The New York Times Maureen Dowd; American novelist Brad Meltzer; presidential biographer Jon Meacham; former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Major; former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; the Oak Ridge Boys and bestselling author Christopher Buckley; and of course his grandchildren. Character Matters will illustrate how George Bush never stopped showing us the way to lead by example. 

 Jean Becker served as chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush for nearly twenty-five years. She’s the editor of Pearls of Wisdom by Barbara Bush and author of the New York Times bestseller The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H.W. Bush’s Post Presidency. Her latest book, Character Matters: And Other Life Lessons from George H.W. Bush, was released in April 2024. Prior to her post as chief of staff, Jean served as deputy press secretary to First Lady Barbara Bush and was a newspaper reporter for 10 years, including a four-year stint at USA TODAY.

Governor Christopher T. Sununu served four terms as the 82nd Governor of the State of New Hampshire and after choosing not to seek a fifth term, he returned to the private sector in January 2025. As one of the most popular governors in the country and host of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, he is recognized as a national leader in his commonsense approach to government and balanced political navigation of otherwise polarized political waters.