Aspen Ideas Festival, Exploring “Ideas that Work”
It’s Booz Allen’s fifth year as co-sponsor of the prestigious event, which brings together global leaders in government, business, science, the arts, and academia.
The 2009 Aspen Ideas Festival, presented in partnership by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic from June 29 to July 5, is a week-long exploration of some of the most innovative ideas and important issues facing the world and our nation today.
Co-sponsored once again by Booz Allen Hamilton, the Aspen Ideas Festival will assemble more than 175 of the world’s most respected and distinguished leaders—from diverse fields including art, science, culture, religion, philosophy, economics, and politics—in Aspen, Colorado, to address topics spanning world affairs, the global economy, arts and culture, life in America, and managing plant Earth. Speakers will include:
- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
- Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
- Google CEO Eric Schmidt
- Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry
- Photorealist painter and the 2009 Harman-Eisner Artist in Residence Chuck Close
- Former U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and James Baker
- Former Federal Chairman Alan Greenspan
Representatives from Booz Allen will again participate in the event:
- Joan Dempsey, Vice President, moderating a tutorial on “Digital Democracy”
- Margo Fitzpatrick, Vice President, moderating a tutorial on “Rebuilding the Global Financial System”
- Gary Labovich, Vice President, moderating a tutorial on “Work in America: Without the Big Three, What Roads Are We On?”
- Jack Mayer, Vice President, moderating a plenary session on “Immigration Reform”
- Mike McConnell, Senior Vice President, participating in a plenary session on “Global Counterinsurgency,” and a tutorial on “Your Life in a Surveillance Society”
- Don Pressley, Vice President, moderating a tutorial on “Economic Challenges in the Middle East”
- Gary Schulman, Vice President, participating in a tutorial on “Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure”
- Richard Wilhelm, Vice President, moderating a tutorial on “The American Dream Revisited”
The Aspen Ideas Festival will engage an audience of nearly 2,000—as well as the thousands who will follow the festival online—in a deep and inquisitive public discourse. Daily video highlights from the Festival will be posted at www.aifestival.org, and updates will be featured at an Aspen Twitter feed, www.twitter.com/aspeninstitute, and on www.facebook.com/pages/The-Aspen-Institute/34493700340.
The Atlantic will also extend the dialogue from Aspen to a global audience with a six-week Ideas Special Report at www.theatlantic.com. From June 16 until July 24, content will include one-on-one video interviews with Aspen Ideas Festival speakers, an Idea Blog, and an Idea of the Day.
Aspen Institute Vice President of Public Programs Kitty Boone says, “Our hope is that people on and off our campus, in person and online, will be spellbound by both the issues and the solutions that are presented here. We have a wonderful opportunity to share sheer genius and at the same time offer intelligent solutions to some of our most pressing problems.”
“The Ideas Festival provides a great forum for the latest thinking about our rapidly changing political, economic, and cultural landscape, and for debate about how to turn that thinking into action,” says James Bennet, editor of The Atlantic.
story posted June 26, 2009
