Mike Satsky

The president of documentary and family programming at HBO, Nevins is one of the most prominent figures in the world of documentary filmmaking.

Dorf is a longtime music promoter, part-owner of The Knitting Factory, and founder of City Winery.

Adam Gopnik is a New Yorker staff writer and the author of three books. After moving to the city in 1980 to attend graduate school, he submitted story after story to the New Yorker, and was met with rejection after rejection until 1986, when the magazine published one of his pieces. Following the arrival of Tina Brown in 1992, Gopnik was hired as a New Yorker staff writer. From 1995 to 2000, he penned the much loved "Letter from Paris" column. More recently, he's chronicled the foibles of raising children in New York. Gopnik's bestselling book, 2001's Paris to the Moon, was a collection of essays he'd written for The New Yorker over the years. Recently, he published a quirky children's novel, The King in the Window, in 2005, another collection of essays, 2007's Through the Children's Gate: A Home in New York, a 2009 book on Lincoln and Darwin, Angels and Ages, and The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food in 2011, among others. Though acclaimed by many, Gopnik's writing has been described as precious and pretentious by others. One especially vocal critic is Vanity Fair's James Wolcott: "I sometimes wonder if Adam Gopnik was put on this earth to annoy. If so, mission accomplished," Wolcott wrote in the New Republic.

Lowry is the baby-faced editor of conservative house organ National Review (founded by William F. Buckley) as well as its popular website.

New York nightlife baron David Rabin is the owner of a handful of bars, clubs, and restaurants including Union Bar, Double Seven, Los Dados, and the now-shuttered Lotus. He's also the president of the New York Nightlife Association.

The self-described "King of All Media" and archetypal shock jock, in 2005 Stern vanished from the public airwaves for the cushy confines of Sirius Satellite Radio. His wife is Beth Ostrosky.

The founder of Black Enterprise magazine, Graves remains one of the most influential voices in the African-American business community.

D'Onofrio is the exceedingly intense actor who played Private Pyle in 1987's Full Metal Jacket and most recently starred as Detective Robert Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent before the show's cancellation in 2011. Brooklyn-born, D'Onofrio grew up in Hawaii, Colorado, and Florida before returning to New York in the late '70s to start an acting career. During his early days as an actor in the city, he paid the bills as a bouncer at the Hard Rock Café and made do with parts in NYU student films. After his breakthrough in Full Metal Jacket, D'Onofrio was a busy character actor in the '90s, bouncing between dramatic parts and less serious roles. He didn't have much time to devote to films once he was cast as Bobby Goren on Law & Order in 2001, but he did manage to play a surly dad in 2005's Thumbsucker and Vince Vaughn's neurotic brother in 2006's The Break-Up. He announced his departure from Law & Order in 2009, but returned for a final season before the show's end on June 26, 2011.

As city comptroller, Bill Thompson has been the NYC's top accountant since 2001. He's got his eye on higher office, though: He's a presumptive candidate for mayor in 2009.

Bruce Raynor

The CEO of the rather generic-sounding American Media Inc., Pecker oversees a collection of more than a dozen magazines and newspapers including the National Enquirer and Star.

One of the most influential and admired business executives of his generation—and the poster boy for the hypercompetitive star CEO of the '80s and '90s—Welch is the retired chairman and CEO of General Electric.

The prolific movie producer is responsible for such hits as The First Wives Club, The Truman Show, School of Rock, The Hours, and No Country for Old Men. He may also be the most monstrous boss in the city.

The world's favorite phone hacker, Murdoch is the billionaire media mogul who controls a good chunk of what you watch or read every day: the New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox, HarperCollins, MySpace.com, and, of course, America's favorite Fair and Balanced™ news source, the Fox News Channel. He's married to Wendi Deng.

A hugely influential foreign policy guru, Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and one of the most prominent gay rights advocates in the U.S., Foreman now heads up the Gay & Lesbian Program at the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. He divides his time between New York and San Francisco.

Diaz is a state senator representing the South Bronx. He's also an influential Bronx community leader, minister, outspoken opponent of gay rights, and one of New York's most venal state legislators. His son is state Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr.

As head of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde acts as the voice for 200 of the city's most powerful CEOs.

Katz is a former Democratic City Council member who represented the Queens neighborhoods of Forest Hill, Rego Park, and Kew Gardens. These days in the private sector at Greenberg Traurig's.