FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cristal Logan
Director, Aspen Community Programs
The Aspen Institute
Cristal.Logan@aspeninstitute.org
Tel. 970-544-7929
The Aspen Institute to Welcome Michael Bloomberg on February 6
The former New York City mayor will join the Institute’s Jennifer Bradley in Hurst Lecture Series conversation
ASPEN, CO, January 22, 2015 –– The Aspen Institute is pleased to feature entrepreneur, philanthropist and former three-term New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in conversation with moderator Jennifer Bradley, founding director of the new Aspen Institute Center on Urban Innovation. Part of the Hurst Lecture Series, this event is open to the public and will take place on February 6, 2015 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. in the Doerr-Hosier Center on the Institute’s Aspen Meadows Campus. The Hurst Lecture Series is generously underwritten by the Hurst Family Foundation.
Michael Bloomberg is the founder of Bloomberg LP and former three-term mayor of New York City. As mayor, Bloomberg cut crime by more than 30 percent, raised high school graduation rates by more than 40 percent, and created a record number of jobs, enabling New York City to lead the nation in post-recession job growth. He expanded the public park system by more than 900 acres, revitalized the waterfront, implemented ambitious public health strategies, expanded support for arts and culture, and introduced new anti-poverty programs. Bloomberg applied his vast business experience to city government, improving services, diversifying the economy, and balancing the budget. His public health initiatives set a new bar for cities around the world, including a city-wide smoking ban that helped raise life expectancy in New York City by more than three years.
Under Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership, New York City became a leader in the fight against climate change, creating the national model for sustainable building practices, establishing the largest bike share program in the country and reducing the city’s carbon footprint by 19 percent. A long-time believer that local government can affect national change, Bloomberg spearheaded bi-partisan coalitions with mayors and business leaders across the U.S. to combat illegal guns, reform immigration and invest in infrastructure.
Bloomberg recently re-assumed leadership of his namesake company, Bloomberg LP, which provides data, news, and analytics to decision-makers and those who seek to influence them. Today, Bloomberg has offices in 192 locations on six continents and employs 16,000 people – and its professional service, the Bloomberg Terminal, has more than 320,000 subscribers around the world. He remains highly involved in Bloomberg Philanthropies, which employs a data-driven approach to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people, focusing on five key areas: public health, environment, education, government innovation and the arts.
Jennifer Bradley is the founding director of the new Aspen Institute Center for Urban Innovation. The mission of the Center is to identify new, different and better ways to solve problems in urban areas; to connect urban innovators, including people from low-income or disadvantaged backgrounds, within and across cities; and to support the development and replication of urban innovations throughout the country.
Jennifer joins the Aspen Institute from the Brookings Institution where she worked as a Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program. The co-author of “The Metropolitan Revolution,” Jennifer has worked extensively on the challenges and opportunities of older industrial cities and has drafted major economic turnaround strategies for Ohio and Michigan. A former attorney, Jennifer holds a J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center; an M.Phil. in politics from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar; and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas.
Tickets are $20 and will go on sale on Friday, January 23 at www.aspenshowtix.com, in person at the Wheeler Opera House, or by calling (970) 920-5770. Early ticket purchase is encouraged, as this event will sell out. Tickets are complimentary for Society of Fellows members. Members may reserve tickets by calling (970) 544-7980 or emailing SOF@aspeninstitute.org.
For more information on events open to the public, please contact Jillian Scott at (970) 544-7914 or jillian.scott@aspeninstitute.org, or visit the Institute’s website at www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents.
The Hurst Lecture Series is presented by the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Community Programs, which hosts dozens of public programs year-round for residents and visitors alike, including the Hurst Student Seminars; Great Books; Great Decisions; Athens to Aspen; Teen Socrates; the McCloskey Speaker Series; the Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series; and Fireside Chats. These programs offer unique and affordable opportunities for a diverse mix of people to find inspiration in a variety of ways. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are able to keep ticket fees low, and offer need-based scholarships to teens and adults to take part in our programs.
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 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.
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