FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Myers
Director of Public Affairs, The Aspen Institute
(202) 2861680/jennifer.myers@aspeninstitute.org
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES FIRST EVER ASPEN LEADERS ACTION FORUM, JULY 29-AUGUST 1, 2013
Live Video and Tickets Available to Select Events
Aspen, CO, July 29, 2013 — The Aspen Institute is pleased to announce the first annual Aspen Leaders Action Forum. More than 350 attendees comprised of Fellows from the Aspen Global Leadership Network, other action-oriented leaders from across Aspen Institute programs, and partners will gather in Aspen, CO from July 29 through August 1, 2013. The focus of the week is moving “from thought to action.” The summer for the Institute began with the Aspen Ideas Festival and is now moving to the Aspen Leaders Action Forum, which will dive deeper into moving from ideas to action; shining a light on how the participants are taking action tomake the world a better place and encouraging them to do more.
The four-day event includes inspiring readings-based seminars, interactive roundtable discussions on leadership, intensive networking opportunities, and “Action Workshops” offering help to those facing hurdles as they tackle challenges in their communities, countries, and the world.
It also honors exceptional leaders who have taken action to make a difference in the world, through the announcement of the 2013 John P.McNulty Prize finalists, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and 10,000 Women awards, and by weaving the extraordinary participants from the Aspen Global Leadership Network and beyond throughout the entire program.
“For years through the Aspen Global Leadership Network, we have been building a global cadre of entrepreneurial values-based leaders bent on tackling the great challenges they see around them,” said Peter Reiling, executive vice president, leadership and seminar programs, at the Aspen Institute. “Building upon that great foundation, the Action Forum not only connects these leaders, but invites in other entrepreneurial leaders so they can all learn from one another and more importantly, inspire one another to do even more. There is nothing else quite like it out there. We are incredibly grateful that Lynda and Stewart Resnick recognized this and stepped up as our major funders for this event.”
All attendees have been asked to pledge what action they will take in their communities and lives. Here are some of the Action Pledges participants have already made:
- MANOJ KUMAR (India) will educate 100,000 girls in India.
- MIKE BILODEAU (United States) will mentor and train United States veterans in starting their own business.
- DAVITH KAHWA (Tanzania) will improve access to finance in Tanzania.
- ANTON GUNN (United States) will decrease the rate of uninsured blacks in South Carolina to less than 15%.
- JORDAN KASSALOW (United States) will ensure 525,000 people gain access to affordable eyeglasses in 2013.
- ALESHA HIXON (United States) will empower youth in California’s Central Valley to increase the size of their civic footprint.
- ANDISIWE KAWA (South Africa) will decrease the rate of uninvestigated rape cases.
- YOAV VENTURA (Israel) will open the gates to free education for thousands of students across the world.
To view a full list of participants, visit www.aspenleaders.org/connect.
Starting on the July 30, a series of sessions will be open to the public and will have live video streamed online. Public tickets to the series are available through the Wheeler Opera House and at www.aspenshowtix.com. The full list of public ticketed events is available here. A schedule of live video is found at http://www.aspenleaders.org/live.
Participants and the public can stay engaged with the event online in many ways:
- Follow the event on Twitter at @AspenLeadersAct and #MyAspenAction and subscribe to the Twitter list of Action Forum attendees.
- Join our Facebook page
- Videos, photos, event updates, blog entries, and more will be available on an ongoing basis at http://www.aspenleaders.org/
EDITOR’S NOTE: There are a limited number of press passes available to public events. To apply, please contact Jennifer Myers at jennifer.myers@aspeninstitute.org.
Major funding provided by the RESNICK FAMILY FOUNDATION.
Additional sponsorship provided by: David M. Rubenstein, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and 10,000 Women, Visa, Inc., The John P. and Anne Welsh McNulty Foundation, Barry-Wehmiller Company, Margot and Tom Pritzker, Robert K. Steel, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc., The Rodel Foundations, The Liberty Fellowship.
The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) is a growing, worldwide community of entrepreneurial leaders from business, government, and the nonprofit sector — currently, more than 1,600 “Fellows” from 46 countries — who share a commitment to enlightened leadership and to using their extraordinary creativity, energy, and resources to tackle the foremost societal challenges of our times. All share the common experience of participating in the Henry Crown Fellowship or one of the dozen Aspen Institute leadership initiatives it has inspired in the United States, Africa, Central America, India, China, and the Middle East.
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.