Events - Event View

Carrie Hessler-Radelet, President and CEO, Project Concern International

Whether working for Republicans, Democrats, government agencies, or NGOs, Carrie Hessler-Radelet gets big international projects across the finish line. Starting as a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa, she rose to become Deputy Director and then Director of the agency (2010-17). In between, she was President George W. Bush’s lead on the Five Year Global HIV/AIDS Strategy for AIDS Relief. Now President and CEO of Project Concern International, she’s helping communities in 16 countries to craft their own sustainable solutions to poverty-linked problems. This powerful woman is all about empowering others. https://www.pciglobal.org/carrie-hessler-radelet-named-president-ceo-project-concern-international/

Diego Sanchez, Director of Policy, PFLAG National.

June is Pride month, and one of its proudest supporters is Diego Sanchez, Director of Policy for PFLAG National. Already prominent as an AIDS activist, in 2009 he made history as the first openly transgender senior staffer on Capitol Hill, where he was Senior Policy Advisor to Congressman Barney Frank. Before moving to DC, Sanchez spent 20 years in public relations for Fortune 500 companies, earning him recognition as among the 100 Most Powerful Latino/s in Corporate America. Advocate, activist, and health-policy expert, Sanchez has led the way for transgender -- human -- rights. http://comcastnewsmakers.com/2015/05/31/lgbt-inclusion/

Elizabeth Broun, former director, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

If you think there’s nothing new about art museums, think again. Elizabeth Broun, director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery from 1989-2016 and the first female in that role, transformed those institutions and, in the process, the museum experience nationwide. A scholar and visionary, Broun also wore a hard hat: both museums were renovated under her direction. Whether or not you were one of the two million visitors to SAAM and the Renwick last year, you’ll want to learn more about the Wonders she wrought. http://eyelevel.si.edu/2016/04/betsy-broun-saams-director-announces-her-retirement-.html OR https://americanart.si.edu/pr/staff/bios/broun_bio.pdf

Eric Schaeffer, Signature Theatre Co-founder and Artistic Director.

Musicals, dramas, comedies, Eric Schaefer does them all, magnificently. He’s the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Signature Theatre, which has won 90 Helen Hayes Awards and the Tony’s 2009 Regional Theater Award under his leadership. He’s also a hot ticket nationally, with 50+ credits ranging from the Sondheim Celebration at Kennedy Center to Broadway’s Tony-nominated Best Musical, Million Dollar Quartet. Ask him about his latest challenge—re-producing his acclaimed staging of Titanic in Korea! http://www.sigtheatre.org/about/staff/eric-schaeffer/

Jenny Bilfield, President and CEO of Washington Performing Arts.

Jenny Bilfield has been hailed as one of the “30 Key Influencers in the Arts: Movers and Shakers” by Musical America and recognized twice by the Washingtonian as being among the “Most Powerful Women in Washington.” As President and CEO of Washington Performing Arts, Bilfield has expanded WPA’s programming, commissioned numerous new works, and initiated innovative partnerships with several local institutions. She’s also on the Steering Committee for ArtsActionDC. And when she’s not busy shaking up the arts, she’s shaking up the city as a member of DC’s Federal City Council! http://www.washingtonperformingarts.org/aboutus/leadership.aspx

Leon Wieseltier, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and The Atlantic.

Considered one of the foremost public intellectuals of our time, whose writing ranges from Trump to technology, the Middle East to music, and prayer to politics, Leon Wieseltier first achieved prominence as the literary editor of The New Republic (1983-2014). He is now the Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy at the Brookings Institution and a contributing editor and critic for The Atlantic. His work also appears frequently in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, Dissent, and other publications. He has even appeared in The Sopranos! https://www.brookings.edu/experts/leon-wieseltier/

Leslie Bowman, President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation

Leslie Bowman is President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates the UNESCO World Heritage site, Monticello. Under her leadership, Monticello is engaging a national and global audience both with Jefferson's home and his ideas. Bowman’s prior accomplishments include Director of the Winterthur Museum and head Curator of Decorative Arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Proving that art can transcend politics, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama each appointed her to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. Come hear her insider’s account of This Old House. https://www.monticello.org/site/about/leslie-greene-bowman

Dr. Louis Weiner, Director, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University

DC has one of the highest cancer rates in the country, but it is also one of the best places to get treatment. Under the direction of Dr. Louis Weiner, the award-winning Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University uses new developments in immunotherapy, many of them pioneered by the good doctor, prevention strategies, and risk-factor identification to improve quality of life and survival rates for its patients. Come learn about the new research and clinical trials that are helping to make the ‘war on cancer’ winnable. https://lombardi.georgetown.edu/about/director.html

Ambassador Norman Eisen, Brookings Fellow, Governance Studies

Legal-eagle Norm Eisen became a Brookings Institution Fellow, Governance Studies, after six years with the Obama administration, first as President Obama’s ethics czar, and then as Ambassador to the Czech Republic. He’s the co-founder (2001) and chair of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and an outspoken opponent of discrimination, here and abroad. Since the recent Presidential election, Eisen has been tirelessly penning op eds, appearing on TV and radio, and drawing crowds as he takes on ethical issues concerning the new President, his aides, and his family. https://www.brookings.edu/experts/norman-eisen/

Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute.

Widely respected for his spot-on, independent-minded political analysis, Ornstein is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a contributing editor and columnist for the National Journal and The Atlantic, and an election analyst for the BBC. His many books include (with co-author Thomas E. Mann): The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, one of the Washington Post’s best books of 2006; and It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism, a Post “best book” in 2012. https://www.aei.org/scholar/norman-j-ornstein/

Peter Earnest, Founding Executive Director, International Spy Museum

Psst, do you know a spy? Meet Peter Earnest, who was with the CIA for 36 years, 25 of them in the clandestine service. He resettled the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect, was media chief for CIA directors Webster, Gates, and Clapper, and is the founding Executive Director of the popular International Spy Museum. The Russians are all over the news (and our recent election), and he knows how they work. Ask! Ask him anything! He’ll tell all...or will he? https://www.spymuseum.org/about/leadership/

Dr. Ricardo Salvador, Director, Senior Scientist, Food & Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists

Agronomist Ricardo Salvador has a voracious appetite for food policy and the knowledge to feed it. As Senior Scientist and Director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Dr. Salvador works with citizens, scientists, economists, and politicians to transition our current food system into one that grows healthy foods while employing sustainable and socially equitable practices. He’s an NBC Latino Innovator and James Beard Foundation Leader, and he’ll “spill the beans” on transforming food from a business proposition to a public-health concern. http://www.ucsusa.org/about/staff/staff/ricardo-salvador.html#.WOEUATtH2T8

Ruth Marcus, columnist, Washington Post

Ruth Marcus is a columnist for the Washington Post, specializing in American politics and domestic policy. Heading straight from Harvard Law School to the Post in 1984, she never looked back. But that law degree came in handy as she covered campaign finance, the Justice Department, the Supreme Court, and the White House. Named deputy national editor in 1999, she joined the editorial board in 2003. Her regular column began appearing in 2006, and a year later she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. You’ve read her, you’ve seen her on TV. Come meet her! https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/ruth-marcus/?utm_term=.1d757693872d

Todd C. and Ellen Kassoff Gray, co-owners Equinox Restaurant.

Restaurants in DC come and go, but Equinox endures, still a pioneer and still wonderful after 18 years. Co-owners Todd Gray, the acclaimed chef, and Ellen Kassoff Gray, the hospitality queen, insist on quality – and also on making a difference in the community. Hear them dish about their work on Michelle Obama’s White House garden and the “Chefs Move to Schools” child-nutrition program. Ask about their specialty, mid-Atlantic cuisine, or their cookbook, The New Jewish Table, celebrating their mixed religious and cultural heritage. (Bring a copy for their autograph.) Bon appetit! http://www.equinoxrestaurant.com/about-us

Dr. William Hearl, Founder and CEO of Immunomic Therapeutics

Take a break from politics with the latest science. Biochemist Bill Hearl holds many patents in the field of gene immunization and is the Founder and CEO of Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), a bio-tech company. He brought blood-based diagnostics to the fields of genetics and immuno-therapies, and led ITI to develop nucleic acid vaccines, based on a patented technology, to work with the body’s natural biochemistry system. The goal? Improving a broad range of vaccines, including for allergic diseases and cancers. http://www.immunomix.com/management/corporate-management/