31st Annual Awards Dinner
Due to high volume of interest, registration is closed for additional attendees at this time. If you would like to make a contribution only, you may do so here. If you would like to be added to the wait list to attend, please contact Melanie Levine at 202-736-3503 or melanie.levine@aspeninstitute.org.
On November 13th, the Aspen Institute will host the 31st Annual Awards Dinner at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. Cocktails will begin at 7:00pm and dinner will start at 7:45pm.
The Annual Awards Dinner will be chaired by Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass. Lynda Resnick, co-owner and vice-chairman of Roll International Corporation, will be honored with the Corporate Leadership Award. Reed Hastings, Founder of Netflix, Inc., will be honored with the Henry Crown Leadership Award.
For questions regarding this event, please contact 1-800-410-3463.
About Henry Crown Leadership Award Honoree Reed Hastings
Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997. In 1991, Reed founded Pure Software, which made tools for software developers. After a 1995 IPO, and several acquisitions, Pure was acquired by Rational Software in 1997.Reed is an active educational philanthropist and served on the California State Board of Education from 2000 to 2004. He is currently on the board of several educational organizations including CCSA, Dreambox Learning, KIPP, and Pahara. Reed is also a board member of Facebook, and was on the board of Microsoft from 2007 to 2012. Reed received a BA from Bowdoin College in 1983, and an MSCS in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University in 1988. Between Bowdoin and Stanford, Reed served in the Peace Corps as a high school math teacher in Swaziland. He is a member of the 1998 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute and a Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Reed is married with two children.
About Corporate Leadership Award Honoree Lynda Resnick
At the age of 19, Lynda Resnick founded a full-service advertising agency. Running a successful business so early in life gave her invaluable hands-on marketing experience. Her sound entrepreneurial instinct, a passion for authenticity and a deep understanding of consumer behavior have been the hallmarks of her 50-year career.
Lynda has been dubbed the POM Queen for obvious reasons. In 2002, only 12 percent of the population even knew what a pomegranate was. Today, pomegranates are everywhere – in beverages, foods, nutritional supplements, even cosmetics – primarily due to the effective marketing efforts of Lynda and her team at POM Wonderful.
In 1979, in one of her first entrepreneurial forays, Lynda and her husband Stewart purchased a fledgling floral wire service called Teleflora. She had the inspiration to pair fresh flowers with a collectible keepsake container. This simple idea turned ordinary flowers into something more lasting and meaningful, and earned her a Gold Effie Award. Today, Teleflora is the world’s largest floral service and floral products company.
In late 2004, Lynda and Stewart acquired FIJI Water. She quickly orchestrated a brand identity relaunch, with marketing initiatives that were as unique as the brand itself. FIJI Water is now the largest imported bottled water brand in the United States.
Lynda and Stewart also own Paramount Farms and Paramount Citrus Companies, as well as JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery and Landmark Vineyards. For Paramount Citrus’s Mandarin oranges, Lynda created Cuties,® a breakthrough branding idea in a traditionally staid category. For Paramount Farms, she helped create the iconic Get Crackin’ campaign for Wonderful Pistachios, a successful advertising and marketing campaign now in its fifth year.
In 2009, Lynda shared her marketing secrets in a best-selling book, RUBIES IN THE ORCHARD. Published by Random House, it was an authoritative guide to building memorable brands and creating fresh approaches to launching them.
In addition to her business achievements, she is Vice Chairman of Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees; serves on the executive boards of the Aspen Institute, UCLA Medical Sciences, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Milken Family Foundation; and is a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
In 2010, Lynda turned her philanthropic attention to California’s Central Valley, where a large portion of her company’s employees live and work. Her efforts resulted in the launch of the Central Valley Leadership Project, a multi-pronged program that focuses on K-12 education initiatives, nurtures future leaders and transforms low-income and underserved towns into hopeful and vibrant communities.
In 2012, Lynda was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters by Bard College.
The Resnicks are proud parents and grandparents and maintain homes in Beverly Hills, California, and Aspen, Colorado.
The Annual Awards Dinner will be chaired by Mrs. Mercedes T. Bass. Lynda Resnick, co-owner and vice-chairman of Roll International Corporation, will be honored with the Corporate Leadership Award. Reed Hastings, Founder of Netflix, Inc., will be honored with the Henry Crown Leadership Award.