The 2025 Young America's Foundation Cruise

The Occupy Movement didn't start on Wall Street. It started in Madison, Wisconsin, when 100,000 protestors descended onto the grounds of the State Capitol soon after Scott Walker took office as Governor. Their goal was to intimidate him and his allies, but he did not back down. He was unintimidated.

Scott's reforms took power from the hands of big government special interests and put it firmly into the hands of the hard-working people of Wisconsin and those that they elect to run their local governments. Those reforms, known as Act 10, have saved taxpayers more than $16 billion. During Governor Walker's tenure, Wisconsin enacted more common-sense conservative reforms than any state in the nation. They targeted him, and he won, becoming the first Governor in American history to win a recall election.

Now, Scott serves as president of Young America's Foundation, which trains the next generation of leaders in the fight for freedom. YAF conducts programs at the Reagan Ranch, Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home, its national headquarters in northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and regional sites nationwide. YAF also hosts more conservative campus lectures than any other organization and has a digital presence with more than one billion views.

Scott has been married to Tonette for more than 30 years. They live on Pewaukee Lake in Wisconsin while also spending time in Virginia and California. Scott and Tonette have two adult children.

Born the son of a pastor and a part-time bookkeeper and raised in a small town, Scott understands the value of hard work and community. He is a proud Eagle Scout and an alum of the American Legion's Badger Boys State and Boys Nations programs. When he's not working, Scott can be found riding on his Harley Davidson Road King, on their pontoon boat out on the lake, or cheering on the Packers or one of Wisconsin's other sports teams. Most importantly, he is a follower of Christ.

Andy Puzder is the recent CEO of CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., which owns, operates, and franchises popular restaurant brands Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Green Burrito, and Red Burrito. Known as a turnaround king for guiding both Carl's Jr. and Hardee's out of financial turmoil before fusing the two fast-food businesses, he is credited with growing CKE into the mega-corporation it is today.

In 2017, Puzder, who served as an economic adviser and spokesman for Gov. Mitt Romney, was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be United States Secretary of Labor. Puzder later withdrew his nomination. Now retired from CKE, Puzder speaks widely on the topics of free enterprise, regulation, employment, labor, job automation, and the future of consumer goods industries.

Puzder is the author of The Trump Boom: America's Soaring Economy and the Left's Plot to Stop It and Job Creation: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn't Understand It. He is an author on economic and legal issues often published in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, as well as a frequent guest on business news programs, including Your World with Neil Cavuto.

He earned a Juris Doctorate in 1978 from Washington University School of Law, where he served as senior editor of the Law Review. He is a member and national council co-chair of the American Enterprise Institute and the recipient of many awards for his outstanding contributions to the business world.

Lieutenant Colonel (US Army, Ret) Allen West is the executive director of the American Constitutional Conservative Rights Union and the ACRU Action Fund. He is a constitutional conservative, combat veteran, and former member of the U.S. Congress.

Lt. Col. West is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family. During his 22-year career in the U.S. Army, Lt. Col. West served in several combat zones and received many honors, including a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with valor device), and a Valorous Unit Award. In 1993, he was named the US Army ROTC Instructor of the Year. He is also a former commissioned officer in the Texas State Guard.

In November 2010, West was elected to the United States Congress representing Florida’s 22nd District. As a member of the 112th Congress, West sat on the Small Business and Armed Services Committees.

West is the former executive director of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, Texas, and a former Director of the Booker T. Washington Initiative (BTWI) for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. In July 2020, Lt. Col. West was elected chairman of the Republican Party of Texas by an overwhelming majority of state delegates.

Lt. Col. West is the author of three books: Guardian of the Republic: An American Ronin’s Journey to Family, Faith, and Freedom; Hold Texas, Hold the Nation: Victory or Death; and We Can Overcome: An American Black Conservative Manifesto. 

Star Parker founded the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), a Washington DC-based Public Policy Institute that fights poverty and restores dignity through messages of faith, freedom, and personal responsibility. After consulting on federal welfare reform in the mid-90s, she founded CURE to bring new ideas to policy discussions on how to transition America’s poor from government dependency.  Today, she regularly consults with both federal and state legislators on market-based strategies to fight poverty. 

Ms. Parker joined the White House Opportunity Initiative advisory team in 2017 to share ideas on how to best fix our nation’s most distressed zip codes. In 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed her to the US Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission. In 2020, President Donald Trump appointed her to serve on the US Civil Rights Commission Committee for California. 

Star has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business from Woodbury University and has received numerous awards and commendations for her work on public policy issues, including the 2016 “Ronald Reagan Foot Soldier of the Year” from CPAC, the 2017 Groundswell Impact Award, and the 2018 Queen Esther Award from Bott Radio Network. She is a member of the National Religious Broadcaster Board of Directors as well as the Board of Directors at the Leadership Institute.