The Aspen Institute

Hosted in partnership with The Atlantic and currently in its seventh year, the Washington Ideas Forum has established itself as the DC event that identifies the year’s most pressing issues and ideas of consequence. The program hosts an all-star lineup of speakers across two days, covering the biggest news-making topics of the moment.

2015 AGENDA

With thanks to our Presenting Underwriters Athena Health, Comcast and Hitachi; our Supporting Underwriters the American Federation of Teachers and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and our Contributing Underwriters Allstate, Clear Channel Outdoor and Steelcase. 

LOCATION: Harman Center for the Arts (610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 

BREAKFAST: 8:15 – 9:00 AM 

MORNING SESSION: 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM

James Bennet, Editor in Chief and President, The Atlantic Bob Corker, Member (R-TN), United States Senate
Interviewed by Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief, USA TODAY

Ben Rhodes, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting, The White House
Interviewed by Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent, The Atlantic

Amanda Ripley, Frequent Contributor, The Atlantic

Colin L. Powell, General, US Army (ret.)/former Secretary of State/former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Interviewed by Walter Isaacson, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Aspen Institute

Penny Pritzker, Secretary, United States Department of Commerce 
Interviewed by Ron Brownstein, Senior Editorial Director, Atlantic Media 

Theo Padnos, Journalist and Author (kidnapped in Syria, October 2012); Nancy Curtis, Mother of Theo Padnos; Amy Rosen, Cousin of Theo Padnos; and Lawrence Wright, Staff Writer, The New Yorker 
Interviewed by James Bennet, Editor in Chief and President, The Atlantic

David Rubenstein, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, The Carlyle Group 
Interviewed by Margaret Carlson, Columnist, Bloomberg View


Opal Tometi, Co-Founder, #BlackLivesMatter/Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration 
Interviewed by Scott Stossel, Editor, The Atlantic 

Arati Prabhakar, Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Interviewed by Steve Clemons, Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic

Mitt Romney, Former Republican Presidential Nominee; Former Governor, Massachusetts
Interviewed by James Bennet, Editor in Chief and President, The Atlantic 

Steve Clemons, Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic

LUNCH PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION: 12:15 – 1:10 PM Marc Brackett, Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University

AFTERNOON SESSION: 1:10 – 5:30 PM

Elliott Gerson, Executive Vice President of Policy and Public Programs, International Partners, The Aspen Institute

Edward Markey, Member (D-MA), United States Senate; and Rev. John I. Jenkins, President, University of Notre Dame 
Interviewed by Margaret Carlson, Columnist, Bloomberg View

Vanessa Kerry, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Seed Global Health; and Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health
Interviewed by Mary Louise Kelly, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic 

Martine Rothblatt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, United Therapeutics/Founder, Sirius XM 
Interviewed by Derek Thompson, Senior Editor, The Atlantic 

Jeh Johnson, Secretary, US Department of Homeland Security 
Interviewed by Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, NBC News Lonnie Bunch, Director, Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture 
Interviewed by Helene Cooper, Pentagon Correspondent, The New York Times

Jonathan Bush, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, athenahealth 
Interviewed by Felix Salmon, Senior Editor, Fusion

Mark Warner, Member (D-VA), United States Senate
Interviewed by Derek Thompson, Senior Editor, The Atlantic

John McCain, Member (R-AZ), United States Senate/Chairman, Senate Committee on Armed Services

Mick Ebeling, Chief Executive Officer, Not Impossible Labs 

Jason Furman, Chairman, White House Council of Economic Advisors; and Laura D’Andrea Tyson, Former National Economic Advisor to President Clinton/Professor of Economics, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

Chris Murphy, Member (D-CT), United States Senate
 Interviewed by Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent, The Atlantic

Tom Cotton, Member (R-AR), United States Senate; and Chris Coons, Member (D-DE), United States Senate 
Interviewed by Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent, The Atlantic

Stanley Nelson, Emmy Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker / Founder, Firelight Media
Interviewed by James Bennet, Editor in Chief and President, The Atlantic

Molly Ball, Staff Writer, The Atlantic; Ryan Lizza, Washington Correspondent, The New Yorker; Jamelle Bouie, Columnist, Slate; and Maria Teresa Kumar, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vote Latino/Contributor, MSNBC

 Glynn Washington, Host of Snap Judgment, NPR

RECEPTION: 5:30 – 6:30 PM

THE BLACKLIST SEASON 3 PREMIERE SCREENING: 7:00 – 8:00 PM

THURSDAY OCTOBER 1:

MORNING SESSION: 9:00 AM – 1:30 PM Margaret Low Smith, President, AtlanticLIVE / Vice President, The Atlantic 

Al Gore, Former Vice President of the United States / Chairman, The Climate Reality Project 
Interviewed by Jim Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic 

Elizabeth Warren, Member (D-MA), United States Senate
Interviewed by Jake Tapper, Chief Washington Correspondent, CNN 

Jeff Weiner, Chief Executive Officer, LinkedIn
Interviewed by Steve Clemons, Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Member (R-WA), United States House of Representatives


Chris Matthews, Host of Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC


Cory Booker, Member (D-NJ), United States Senate; and Mike Lee, Member (R-UT), United States Senate


Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and Chief Executive Officer, New America
Interviewed by Mary Louise Kelly, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic

David Miliband, President, International Rescue Committee / Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, United Kingdom


Julián Castro, Secretary, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Interviewed by Joy-Ann Reid, National Correspondent, MSNBC

Madeleine Albright, Former Secretary of State / Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group
Interviewed by Steve Clemons, Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic 

Arne Duncan, Secretary, US Department of Education
Interviewed by Judy Woodruff, Host of “PBS NewsHour,” PBS

Bran Ferren, Founder, Applied Minds


Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General, US Department of Health and Human Services
Interviewed by Sam Stein, White House Correspondent, The Huffington Post 

Loretta Lynch, Attorney General, US Department of Justice

Margaret Low Smith, President, AtlanticLIVE/Vice President, The Atlantic 

Visit The Atlantic website for more information about this event.

Related Content:

• 2015 Press Release: Newsmakers Speak to Year’s Most Pressing Issues and Ideas of Consequence
• Read: 2014 Washington Ideas Forum Day 1 Recap
• Read: 2014 Washington Ideas Forum Day 2 Recap

Hosted in partnership with The Atlantic and currently in its seventh year, the Washington Ideas Forum has established itself as the D.C. event that identifies the year’s most pressing issues and ideas of consequence.