Contact: Cristal Logan
Director, Aspen Community Programs
The Aspen Institute
Cristal.Logan@aspeninstitute.org
Tel. 970-544-7929
The Aspen Institute Hurst Lecture Series Presents A Panel on Reforming Public Diplomacy
Featuring Sec. Madeleine Albright, Dina Powell, Alec Ross, Richard Stengel
Aspen, CO, July 29, 2014 –– The Aspen Institute is pleased to welcome a distinguished panel of leaders who will speak about reforming American public diplomacy. The panel will feature Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State; Dina Powell, President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation; Alec Ross, former Senior Advisor for Innovation to Sec. Clinton, and Richard Stengel, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, will moderate the panel. The event will take place Monday, August 4 at 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Paepcke Auditorium on the Institute’s Aspen Meadows campus in Aspen, CO. The Hurst Lecture Series is generously underwritten by the Hurst Family Foundation.
Tickets are $20 each and are available through Aspen Show Tickets at www.aspenshowtix.com, (970) 920-5770, or at the Wheeler Opera House. As full capacity audiences are expected for this series, early ticket purchasing is encouraged. Doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the event, and unclaimed tickets will be on sale at the door.
Madeleine K. Albright was the 64th Secretary of State of the US. In 2012, Dr. Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama. In 1997, Dr. Albright was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the US government. As Secretary, Dr. Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated for democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade, business, labor, and environmental standards abroad. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Dr. Albright is Chair of the Aspen Strategy Group, and Chair of Albright Capital Management. Prior to her service in the Clinton Administration, she served as President of the Center for National Policy; was a member of President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council and White House staff; and served as Chief Legislative Assistant to US Senator Edmund Muskie.
Dina Powell serves as head of Goldman Sachs Bank USA’s Urban Investment Group (UIG), global head of the Office of Corporate Engagement and president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. She joined Goldman Sachs as a managing director in 2007 and was named partner in 2010. In 2014, she was appointed head of UIG in addition to her responsibilities within the Executive Office. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Powell served as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and as Deputy Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Prior to being confirmed as Assistant Secretary, she served as Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel in the White House. Powell serves as a member of the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative Advisory Board, the Board of Trustees at the American University in Cairo, the Board of Directors at the Center for Global Development and the Board of Trustees at the Nightingale-Bamford School. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Alec Ross was the Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the duration of her term as Secretary of State, a role created for him that blends technology with diplomacy. As Secretary Clinton’s “tech guru,” Ross led State Department’s efforts to find practical technology solutions for some of the globe’s most vexing problems on health care, poverty, human rights and ethnic conflicts, earning him numerous accolades including the Distinguished Honor Award. In 2010, Ross was named one of 40 leaders under 40 years old, and Huffington Post included him in their list of 2010 Game Changers. He is also one of Politico’s 50 Politicos to Watch as one of “Five people who are bringing transformative change to the government.” Foreign Policy magazine named Ross a Top Global Thinker in 2011. Profiled in 2011, Time Magazine also named Alec Ross one of the best Twitter feeds of 2012. In 2012, Newsweek named Alec to their Digital Power Index Top 100 influencers, and the TriBeCa Film Festival awarded Ross a Disruptive Innovation Award.
Richard Stengel is Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and in this role he provides global strategic leadership of all Department of State public diplomacy and public affairs engagement and oversees the bureaus of Educational and Cultural Affairs, International Information Programs, and Public Affairs, and the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications. Prior to assuming this position, Stengel was the Managing Editor of TIME from 2006 to 2013. From 2004 to 2006, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Stengel was the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University in 1999. From 1992 to 1994, Stengel worked with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and later served as an associate producer of the 1996 Oscar-nominated documentary “Mandela.” Mr. Stengel received an Emmy award in 2012 for his work as executive producer on TIME’s documentary, “Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience.”
Upcoming Events at the Aspen Institute
Saturday, August 2
McCloskey Speaker Series
A Conversation with Democratic Governors
Featured special guests include: Gov. Mark Dayton of Minnesota , Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri, Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, and Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont. This event will be moderated by Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson.
Greenwald Pavilion, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Fee: $20. Tickets on sale at www.aspenshowtix.com.
Wednesday, August 6
Hurst Lecture Series
Social Justice: What’s philanthropy got to do with it?
This event features Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, the second largest philanthropy in the US with over $11 billion in assets and $500 million in annual giving. The foundation is based in the US and operates worldwide, with 10 offices in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America.
Paepcke Auditorium, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Fee: $20. Tickets on sale July 23 at www.aspenshowtix.com.
Sunday, August 10
NEW VIEWS Documentaries & Dialogue
Ai Weiwei the Fake Case
A collaboration between the Aspen Institute Arts Program and Aspen Film
“Powerful. Moving. Absorbing. The world’s press turns off their cameras, but it is here that Andreas Johnsen’s film begins. Fascinating.”– Screen
“Ai Weiwei The Fake Case” reflects Ai’s battle against the gigantic lawsuit thrust upon him by the Chinese government in an effort to silence him. This is a humanizing portrait of a fearless provocateur willing to speak his truth by any artistic means necessary. (Directed by Andreas Johnsen, Denmark, 79 min. In English and Mandarin with Eng. subtitles)
An Xiao Mina, artist and Ai Weiwei expert, will be featured in a post screening conversation.
Fee: $20. Tickets on at www.aspenshowtix.com.
Paepcke Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
NOTE: Event details subject to change. For more information on Aspen Institute events open to the public, please contact Jillian Scott at (970) 544-7914 or Jillian.Scott@aspeninstitute.org, call the information hotline at (970) 544-7970, or visit the Institute’s website at www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents.
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners. For more info, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
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