Presented by the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows, the Susan and John Klein Book Series will feature four free public author talks each year.
Contact: Ben Berliner
The Aspen Institute
Ben.Berliner@aspeninstitute.org
Washington, DC, April 3, 2023 – On Wednesday, April 12 the inaugural Susan and John Klein Book Series will launch with a panel discussion featuring Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, in conversation with Natalie Jaresko, Aspen Institute trustee, chair of Aspen Kyiv, and former Ukrainian Finance Minister. The panelists will discuss Yovanovitch’s memoir “Lessons from the Edge.”
The Susan and John Klein Book Series is a public series presented by the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows four times per year at the Institute’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. Focusing on topics aligned with the Aspen Institute’s mission, the series brings together distinguished authors to discuss their latest works, inspiring dialogue, leadership, and action on society’s greatest challenges. Members of the Society of Fellows are invited to opportunities to foster deeper connections with each other and featured speakers.
The Susan and John Klein Book Series is sponsored by longtime Society of Fellows members Susan and John Klein. Because of their generous support, admission to all discussions is free. The book talkwill take place at 6:30pm at the Aspen Institute’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. To RSVP and for more information, visit the event page.
Information about future events in this series will be shared in the coming months. To stay informed about the series and everything the Aspen Institute offers nationwide join the Society of Fellows, which advances the mission of the Aspen Institute. The Society of Fellows is a national community of diverse and distinguished leaders who sustain and support the Aspen Institute. Members enjoy unparalleled access to Institute programs and events, including unique experiences with nationally-recognized speakers.
Marie Yovanovitch served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, in addition to other senior government positions during her thirty-three-year diplomatic career. She retired from the State Department in 2020 and is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a non-resident fellow at Georgetown University. She has received multiple awards, including the Presidential Distinguished Service Award (twice), the Secretary’s Diplomacy for Freedom Award, the Trainor Award for Excellence in the Conduct of Diplomacy, and the PEN/Benenson Courage Award. She lives in the Washington, DC, area.
Natalie A. Jaresko has enjoyed a distinguished international career in public service and private industry. As Ukraine’s Finance Minister (2014-16) she served at a particularly critical moment when the post-revolutionary state was rocked by deep recession and war on part of its territory. During her tenure she led the successful negotiation of the largest IMF program in the institution’s history, as well as a complex debt restructuring. Her government’s success in restoring macroeconomic stability enabled the creation of a broad international financial coalition to support Ukraine’s transition. She led the reduction of public spending, cutting the deficit by more than 75% to 2.1% of GDP in 2015. She also advanced tax reform resulting in an almost 50% reduction in payroll tax, eliminated tax privileges which favored vested interests, implemented a transparent e-data system placing all treasury transactions online in real time, as well as initiated corporate governance reform in state-owned banks.
Previously, she spent two decades working as Horizon Capital co-founder and CEO, a fund with over $600 million under management and as Western NIS Enterprise Fund President and CEO, creating a platform for private equity investment in the region. She began her career in public service in the United States, serving in the State Department from 1989-92, then as Economic Section Chief of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine from 1992-95. Currently, she serves as a Member of the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity; Chair of the Board of Trustees of Aspen Institute Kyiv; Nonresident Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council; Member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Financial and Monetary Systems; Board Member of the Leavitt Institute for International Development; Advisory Board member at the Lviv Business School at Ukrainian Catholic University; and Patron of the Ukrainian Institute London.
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