Henry Crown Leadership Award

The Henry Crown Leadership Award was created to honor an outstanding leader whose achievements reflect the high standards of honor, integrity, industry, and philanthropy that characterized the life and career of Henry Crown. The award is presented annually by the Trustee of the Henry and Gladys Crown Charitable Trust Fund in cooperation with the Henry Crown Fellowship Program of the Aspen Institute.

Philanthropist Alice Walton is deeply committed to the advancement of art and wellness. She founded the Alice L. Walton Foundation to increase access to arts, improve education, enhance health and well-being, and advance economic opportunity. In 2011, she opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas to expand access to art in the Heartland. Based on the museum’s success, she formed the Art Bridges Foundation to expand access to American art across the nation. Alice’s transformative experiences in the arts led to an interest in wellness, and how art, nature, and the spaces around us shape and improve our lives. Alice founded Heartland Whole Health Institute, a non-profit organization that addresses physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being by working with health systems to redesign health care delivery. Construction of the Institute building is currently underway on the Crystal Bridges campus, slated to open in late 2024.

She also founded Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, which will offer a four-year, medical degree-granting program that integrates traditional medical education with the arts, humanities, and whole health principles. Slated to open in fall 2025, the school will be connected to the museum campus, fulfilling her vision of integrating art and wellness.

Past recipients of the award include:

  • 2023 Li Lu, Founder and Chairman, Himalaya Capital
  • 2022 Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos, President and co-founder, Bezos Family Foundation and Vice President and co-founder, Bezos Family Foundation
  • 2021 Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health
  • 2019 Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of IBM
  • 2018 William (Bill) F. Browder, Founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign
  • 2017 Walter Isaacson, Professor of History at Tulane University and former President and CEO of the Aspen Institute
  • 2016 Robert K. Steel, partner and CEO of Perella Weinberg Partners and former Deputy Mayor for Economic Development for the City of New York
  • 2015 General (ret.) Stanley McChrystal, former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force and Commander of United States Forces Afghanistan
  • 2014 Reed Hastings, Founder and CEO, Netflix
  • 2013 Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director, Jazz at Lincoln Center
  • 2012 Gabrielle Giffords, former U.S. Representative
  • 2011 Madeleine K. Albright, Chair, The Albright Stonebridge Group and former United States Secretary of State
  • 2010 Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
  • 2009 Jeffrey Bezos, President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Amazon.com
  • 2008 William Mayer, Partner, Park Avenue Equity Partners and former Chairman of the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees
  • 2007 No award was presented in 2007
  • 2006 Condoleezza Rice, former United States Secretary of State
  • 2005 William Budinger, Founder, Rodel Inc.
  • 2004 Michael Powell, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and member of the TripleCrown Class of Henry Crown Fellows. Michael was the first Henry Crown Fellow to receive this award
  • 2003 Patty Stonesifer, Co-Chair and President of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  • 2002 Jimmy Carter, thirty-ninth president of the United States
  • 2001 Dr. William J. Perry, professor at Stanford University, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and co-director of the Preventative Defense Project. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Perry served as the 19th Secretary of Defense for the United States from 1994 to 1997.
  • 2000 Sen. George J. Mitchell, former Majority Leader of the United States Senate
  • 1999 Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), founding chairman of America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth and former U.S. Secretary of State
  • 1998 Norman R. Augustine, former vice chairman and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation and Professor at Princeton University
  • 1997 Robert W. Galvin, chairman of the executive committee of Motorola, Inc.