Pete Buttigieg served from 2021 to 2025 as U.S. Secretary of Transportation. During his tenure, he worked to launch over seventy thousand infrastructure projects across the country, improve transportation safety and technology, expand airline passenger protections, and resolve pandemic-related supply chain disruptions. 

Previously, Buttigieg served two terms as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, where he was elected at the age of 29 and led the city to its strongest period of economic and population growth in decades. He also served for seven years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, taking a leave of absence from his role as mayor in 2014 to deploy to Afghanistan. A candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 2020, his historic campaign won the Iowa caucuses and finished second in the New Hampshire primary. 

He holds degrees in history and literature from Harvard and in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He lives in northern Michigan with his husband Chasten, their two children, Gus and Penelope, and their dog, Buddy.

Dr. Hellman is a Professor in the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma and serves as Director of the Hope Research Center. His work focuses on the science of hope as a measurable, teachable psychological strength that helps individuals, organizations, and communities overcome trauma and adversity.

Dr. Hellman has published more than 80 peer-reviewed studies and has spent over two decades translating hope theory into practice across human services, education, public systems, and nonprofit organizations. His research informs the development of the Hope-Centered & Trauma-Informed® model and training programs now used nationwide to strengthen workforce well-being, organizational effectiveness, and system-level change.

He is the co-author of the award-winning book Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life and co-founder of Hope Rising Oklahoma, a statewide initiative launched with First Lady Sarah Stitt to help build a hope-centered culture across communities and institutions.