Tom Fetzer, who will lead a study group entitled "Better, Cheaper and Closer Government through Competition and Innovation" shared his experiences as former mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina to explain the importance of managing cities.

"Government doesn't operate in a market of competition," Fetzer said, describing how cities should try to operate more like businesses. "I got involved to infuse into government a spirit of competition."

Former Cincinnati mayor Roxanne Qualls will also bring her local government expertise to the IOP, focusing on the importance of city initiatives in her study group, "Shaping the City: People, Interests and Markets."

"What you have to do is look at mixed needs of your community," Qualls said. "The hardest challenges involve how to prioritize resources and make decisions that may please no one at first but pay off in the long run."

Qualls joked about her first involvement in local politics.

"Many people thought that civilization as we know it was over when I was elected mayor," she said.

On the international level, former Premier of Bermuda Pamela Gordon will provide a case study of how the island country is governed, and then link it to the American political process.