PAST EVENTS
“Prospects for Business and the Economy" with Anthony Scaramucci & Fred Hochberg
Former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci joined The Common Good for a vital conversation on the future of our economy based on the impact of the Coronavirus. Moderated by former Export- Import Bank President Fred Hochberg, the two provided TCG members with insight into the prospects of our businesses and the economy over the next 6 to 18 months.
Former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci joined The Common Good for a vital conversation on the future of our economy based on the impact of the Coronavirus. Moderated by former Export- Import Bank President Fred Hochberg, the two provided TCG members with insight into the prospects of our businesses and the economy over the next 6 to 18 months.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
Mr. Anthony Scaramucci is the Founder and Co-Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital. Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co.
In November 2016, he was named to President-Elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team, Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the EX-IM Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017.
In 2016, Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year – New York” Award in the Financial Services category and is the author of four books.
Mr. Fred Hochberg is a leading world expert on business, trade, and the economy. Under his leadership, the Ex-Im Bank supported more than 1.4 million American jobs and financed exports with a value exceeding $240 billion, while generating $3.8 billion in surplus revenue for U.S. taxpayers and reducing internal costs by nearly 30 percent.
Mr. Hochberg also spearheaded the Small Business Administration. Hochberg knows business: he served as an executive for the extremely successful catalog company, Lillian Vernon Corp., founded by his mother. He recently published a book on trade entitled, "Trade is Not a Four Letter Word."
"Election 2020 Outlook" with Joel Benenson & Susan Del Percio
The Common Good hosted Democratic Pollster and former Obama campaign advisor Joel Benenson and renowned Republican Strategist Susan Del Percio for a discussion on competing strategies. The conversation dove into plans and ideas for their parties as they battle to win the House, the Senate and the White House.
The Common Good hosted Democratic Pollster and former Obama campaign advisor Joel Benenson and renowned Republican Strategist Susan Del Percio for a discussion on competing strategies. The conversation dove into plans and ideas for their parties as they battle to win the House, the Senate and the White House.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
Mr. Joel Benenson, founder and CEO of the Benenson Strategy Group, is one of the leading political and corporate strategists in the world. Benenson led the award-winning research and polling programs for President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns and is the only Democratic pollster in history to have played a leading role in three winning presidential campaigns.
Named "Pollster of the Year" by the American Association of Political Consultants and ranked among the "most powerful" people in D.C. by GQ, Benenson has left his mark at the highest level of politics. In addition to his role with President Obama, Benenson served as Senior Strategist to Hillary Clinton. He also worked on President Bill Clinton’s team during the 1996 race.
Benenson’s communications expertise, which led him to be a member of three presidential debate teams, has also made him a go-to consultant for C-suite executives seeking communications advice on both internal and external challenges. In the private and advocacy sectors specifically, his nuanced analytical approach, and ability to craft deft, winning strategies has powered organizations such as AARP, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Football League, Toyota, and Procter & Gamble.
Ms. Susan Del Percio is a New York-based Republican strategist and founder of Susan Del Percio Strategies, she has advised dozens of candidates in New York and elsewhere on successfully communicating messages to an electorate. Ms. Del Percio has served as a media spokeswoman on many campaigns, both political and corporate, and frequently appears on many local and national news outlets as a political analyst. Susan is also an MSNBC contributor. She served in the Giuliani Administration and holds a Masters degree in political communications.
With nearly 30 years of experience in the political, government, nonprofit and private sector arenas, she is a trusted advisor helping leaders develop and execute focused strategic communications and winning crisis management campaigns. Her unique insights on government procedure, regulatory environments and public policy is highly sought after, especially now, with public affairs, policy and media so thoroughly intertwined.
Appointed as a Special Advisor to Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2014, she initiated and implemented communication strategies, and advised and developed policy initiatives. Susan also served as Deputy Commissioner in the Giuliani Administration (1995-2001) prior to founding her firm in 2001. Her client list includes large and mid-size private corporations, Fortune 50 executives, leading elected officials, political organizations and candidates as well as non-profits.
“An Insider Look- How The Government is Handling The Coronavirus on All Fronts”
The Common Good hosted Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, as he joined us for an inside scoop and a candid conversation on what is going on in Congress. The conversation dove into new legislation to help combat the Coronavirus, and insight into how the virus might impact the 2020 election in the Presidential, Senate and House races.
The Common Good hosted Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, as he joined us for an inside scoop and a candid conversation on what is going on in Congress. The conversation dove into new legislation to help combat the Coronavirus, and insight into how the virus might impact the 2020 election in the Presidential, Senate and House races.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
Senator Merkley started his political career in 1999 in the Oregon State House of Representatives where he became Speaker of the House before being elected to the US Senate in 2009. Prior to that he had lead Portland's Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit that empowers low-income families through home ownership. He also went on to serve as president of the World Affairs Council.
In the U.S. Senate, Jeff continues to stand up for working families. He fights to create living wage jobs and to push back on unfair trade policies that ship Oregon’s jobs overseas. He has worked to make college more affordable and make retirement more secure for seniors. A true
reformer, he led an historic coalition to fix the broken Senate by breaking up the gridlock, making it more responsive to the concerns of working families.Jeff serves on the Senate Committees on Appropriations; Environment and Public Works; Budget; and Foreign Relations.
“Global Challenges: Facts and Fears in our New Era” with Richard Haass and Robert Wolf
The Common Good presented a timely conference call with President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass as he speaks to us about international affairs, national security, and what the next chapter in humanities book will look like, moderated by former Chairman and CEO of UBS America Robert Wolf.
The Common Good presented a timely conference call with President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass as he spoke to us about international affairs, national security, and what the next chapter in humanities book will look like, moderated by former Chairman and CEO of UBS America Robert Wolf.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
Dr. Richard Haass is a veteran diplomat and a prominent voice on American foreign policy who is currently serving his seventeenth year as President of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, think tank, publisher, and educational institution dedicated to being a resource to help people better understand the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.
Haass previously served as the Director of Policy Planning under President Bush from 2001-2003. Dr. Haass also served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process.
Robert Wolf is the Founder of 32 Advisors, a holding company which includes the direct investing arm 32 Ventures, the bi-partisan economic insights platform Strategic Worldviews and the Flint, Michigan accelerator group 100K Ventures.
Prior to forming 32 Advisors, Robert spent 18 years at UBS, a global financial services firm. There he held several senior positions including Chairman and CEO of UBS Americas and President and Chief Operating Officer of the Investment Bank.
Robert held three Presidential appointments under President Obama; as a member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board from 2009-2011, the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness from 2011-2013 and the Export Council from 2014-2016. In 2012 Robert was on the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Border Infrastructure Task Force.
"Social Impact - Change and Investing in the Wake of the Coronavirus" with Sir Ronald Cohen and Alan Patricof
The Common Good presented a timely conference call with social impact investor and Father of British Venture Capital and Social Investment leader, Sir Ronald Cohen. Hosted by venture capital investor Alan Patricof, the two provided brilliant insight on the topic of social change, investing, business, and the economy in the unprecedented time of the corona pandemic.
The Common Good presented a timely conference call with social impact investor and Father of British Venture Capital and Social Investment leader, Sir Ronald Cohen. Hosted by venture capital investor Alan Patricof, the two provided brilliant insight on the topic of social change, investing, business, and the economy in the unprecedented time of the corona pandemic.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
Sir Ronald Cohen is Chairman of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment and The Portland Trust. He is a co-founder director of Social Finance UK, USA, and Israel, and co-founder Chair of Bridges Fund Management and Big Society Capital.
For nearly two decades, Sir Ronald’s pioneering initiatives in driving impact investment have catalyzed a number of global efforts, each focused on driving private capital to serve social and environmental good. These efforts are leading the global impact investment movement towards an Impact Revolution. He is credited as "the father of British Venture Capital" and "the father of social investment", along with being the head of the G-20 Social Impact Commission.
He chaired the Social Impact Investment Taskforce established under the UK’s presidency of the G8, the Social Investment Task Force and the Commission on Unclaimed Assets. In 2012 he received the Rockefeller Foundation’s Innovation Award for innovation in social finance.
Alan Patricof is the founder and managing director of Greycroft. A longtime innovator and advocate for venture capital, Alan entered the industry in its formative days with the creation of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., a predecessor to Apax Partners – today, one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $41 billion under management. He stepped back from the daily administration and operational aspects of Apax Partners, LP in 2004 to concentrate on a group of small venture deals on its behalf.
In 2006, he founded Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm, to invest in leading early and expansion stage investments in digital media. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Greycroft is currently investing from its fifth Fund as well as its second Growth Fund and has $1B+ under management.
Alan is active in the New York and Washington communities. He is currently a board member of the Finance Committee of Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem and the Board of Overseers of Columbia School of Business. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
The States’ Response to the Coronavirus: How do we re-open?
The Common Good presented the first in a new series of conversations with top U.S. Leaders. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson headed our critical Coronavirus discussion with Governor Ned Lamont. (D-CT) The discussion dove into urgent topics such as the re-opening of the economy, protecting human lives and what our new normal will look like.
The Common Good presented the first in a new series of conversations with top U.S. Leaders. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson headed our critical Coronavirus discussion with Governor Ned Lamont. (D-CT) The discussion dove into urgent topics such as the re-opening of the economy, protecting human lives and what our new normal will look like.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
About Gov. Ned Lamont:
Lamont got involved in public service shortly after college, founding a weekly newspaper in a town hit by the loss of its largest employer. Covering town meetings and the Board of Selectmen, he helped to bring voice and transparency to a community working to recover from job losses and reinvent itself. He would later go on to start his own business, taking on the large and established giants of the telecom industry. Under his vision and stewardship, the company grew to serve over 400 of America's largest college campuses and 1 million college students across the nation.
He received the 2006 Democratic nomination for senator, against incumbent Joe Lieberman. Lamont won the 2018 Gubernatorial election for Connecticut and has started working on his plans to implement electronic tolls on state highways, taxing online streaming services, restoring the property tax credit, increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour, instituting paid family and medical leave,. During this epidemic he holds daily briefings and provides vital updates on how the state is combating COVID-19.
About Secretary Jeh Johnson:
Secretary Johnson was appointed by President Obama on December 23, 2013, following confirmation by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 78-16. Previously, Secretary Johnson was appointed by President Obama to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 2009 through 2012. In that position, Johnson was one of the legal architects for the U.S. military’s counterterrorism mission during President Obama’s first term.
In 2010, Johnson co-authored a 250-page report that paved the way for the repeal by Congress of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law that prohibited gays from serving openly in the U.S. military. From October 1998 to January 2001, Johnson served in the Clinton Administration as General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force. From 1989 through 1991, Secretary Johnson was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted public corruption cases.
“The New Political Landscape: The Coronavirus Impact on the 2020 Election” with Donna Brazile
The Common Good presented an important political briefing with Donna Brazile, renowned political strategist and former Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Ms. Brazile discussed a plethora of topics including the Coronavirus crisis, the government’s response and the effects on the political landscape relating to the upcoming election.
The Common Good presented an important political briefing with Donna Brazile, renowned political strategist and former Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Ms. Brazile discussed a plethora of topics including the Coronavirus crisis, the government’s response and the effects on the political landscape relating to the upcoming election.
WATCH:
LISTEN:
Click to listen to our podcast, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a new episode!
About Donna Brazile:
Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation at the Democratic National Committee, former National Chair of the Democratic National Committee as well as the former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. She is also an adjunct professor, author, syndicated columnist, and television political commentator, and was the first African-American woman to run a major-party political campaign.
Author of the best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics, Ms. Brazile is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a syndicated newspaper columnist for Universal Uclick, a columnist for Ms. Magazine, and O, the Oprah Magazine, an on-air contributor to CNN, and ABC, where she regularly appears on ABC’s This Week. In March of 2019, she joined FOX News where she serves as a contributor.
“The Coronavirus Crisis - How to Contain the Coronavirus Disease” - Conference Call Briefing on the Coronavirus with Dr. Kavita Patel
Dr. Kavita Patel, who formerly served in the Obama White House and is now a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, spoke to TCG about the Coronavirus and our response.
On Tuesday, April 21st 2020, Dr. Kavita Patel, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, joined us for a informative conference call conversation on the coronavirus crisis and the pressing issues facing individuals around the world.
Watch the video below:
Dr. Kavita Patel served in the Obama White House focusing on health reform, financial regulatory reform, and economic recovery issues as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement and served as a senior advisor to the late Senator Edward Kennedy. She is currently a primary care physician in Washington DC and a nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her prior research in healthcare quality and community approaches to mental illness have earned national recognition and she has published numerous papers and book chapters on healthcare reform and health policy. She has testified before Congress several times and she is a frequent guest expert on NPR, CBS, NBC and MSNBC as well as serving on the editorial board of the Journal Health Affairs.
"The Coronavirus: Impact On Business & The U.S. Response” with Fred Hochberg and Kay Koplovitz
On April 14th 2020, The Common Good hosted an important COVID-19 economic briefing and Q&A with former Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank Fred Hochberg and Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Networks and Founder and Chairman of Springboard Enterprises.
On April 14th 2020, The Common Good hosted an important COVID-19 economic briefing and Q&A with former Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank Fred Hochberg and Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Networks and Founder and Chairman of Springboard Enterprises.
Watch the video below:
About Fred Hochberg:
Mr. Hochberg is a leading world expert on business, trade, and the economy. Under his leadership, the Ex-Im Bank supported more than 1.4 million American jobs and financed exports with a value exceeding $240 billion, while generating $3.8 billion in surplus revenue for U.S. taxpayers and reducing internal costs by nearly 30 percent.
Mr. Hochberg also spearheaded the Small Business Administration. Hochberg knows business: he served as an executive for the extremely successful catalog company, Lillian Vernon Corp., founded by his mother. He recently published a book on trade entitled, "Trade is Not a Four Letter Word."
About Kay Koplovitz:
Kay Koplovitz is an extraordinary business leader having founded USA Networks and Springboard Enterprises. USA would eventually become the number one ranking cable network in primetime viewership for 13 consecutive years and made Koplovitz the first woman ever to head a television network. Springboard is a non-profit organization fostering venture capital investments in women-led high growth companies and raised over $10.3 billion and created over 10,000 jobs since its inception.
“The Medical Response to the Coronavirus" with Dr. William Haseltine
Infectious disease expert, Dr. William Haseltine joined TCG for an urgent discussion about the Coronavirus and what we should be doing to protect ourselves and others.
On April 6, 2020, The Common Good hosted a special conference call with global health pioneer Dr. William Haseltine.
LISTEN:
WATCH:
About Dr. William Haseltine:
Global health pioneer Dr. William Haseltine has been at the vanguard of discoveries in molecular biology and infectious disease for more than three decades. As a professor at Harvard Medical School, Haseltine was part of a team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that discovered the genomic sequence of HIV and helped develop tools that led to the successful treatment of the disease.
Dr. Haseltine, who recently returned from Wuhan, China where he chaired the 9th US-China Health Summit, has been vocal about our need for stricter measures for quarantining to curb the coronavirus outbreak. He joined us for a informative conference call briefing on the current medical response to the coronavirus crisis.
The Economy & The Coronavirus with Mohamed El-Erian and Alan Patricof
The Common Good was proud to present a timely and important conference call conversation on the the economy and the coronavirus with Mohamed El-Erian, one of the world's most influential economic thinkers and Chief Economic Advisor to Allianz SE, the parent of PIMCO, and legendary venture capitalist investor Alan Patricof. El-Erian and Patricof discussed a range of relevant economic issues including the possibility of recession in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the impact of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, investing in the current economic climate, and the effect of the coronavirus on small businesses, banks and the global landscape.
The Common Good was proud to present a timely and important conference call conversation on the the economy and the coronavirus with Mohamed El-Erian, one of the world's most influential economic thinkers and Chief Economic Advisor to Allianz SE, the parent of PIMCO, and legendary venture capitalist investor Alan Patricof. El-Erian and Patricof discussed a range of relevant economic issues including the possibility of recession in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the impact of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, investing in the current economic climate, and the effect of the coronavirus on small businesses, banks and the global landscape.
Check out the video below:
ABOUT MOHAMED EL-ERIAN
Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian has worked on economic and financial issues in both the public and private sectors. He is the Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO where he formerly served as chief executive and co-chief investment officer (2007-14) and is a Professor of Practice at the Wharton School. He also serves as senior advisor to Gramercy, a columnist for Bloomberg View, a contributing editor at the Financial Times, and a member of the boards of Barclays and UnderArmour, as well as several non-profits. Elected in May 2019, he is scheduled to succeed Lord Eatwell as President of Queens’ College Cambridge in October 2020.
From December 2012 to January 2017, Dr. El-Erian chaired President Obama’s Global Development Council. He was named to Foreign Policy’s list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers” for four years in a row.
ABOUT ALAN PATRICOF
A longtime innovator and advocate for venture capital, Alan Patricof entered the industry in its formative days with the creation of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., a predecessor to Apax Partners – today, one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $50 billion under management.
He stepped back from the daily administration and operational aspects of Apax Partners, LP in 2004 to concentrate on a group of small venture deals on its behalf. In 2006, he founded Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm, to invest in leading early and expansion stage investments in digital media. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Greycroft is currently investing from its fifth Fund as well as its second Growth Fund and has $2B+ under management.
A true pioneer and legend in the venture capital world, Alan has helped build and foster the growth of numerous major companies such as America Online, Apple computer, Office Depot, Audible and many others.
Politics and the Public Health Response to the Coronavirus Crisis with Congresswoman Donna Shalala
The Common Good hosted Congresswoman Donna Shalala (D-FL) for an important conference call conversation on the coronavirus crisis. The longest serving former Secretary of Health and Human Services urged a more vigorous approach to fighting the outbreak. Shalala also offered up specifics on how we must prepare better for future epidemics.
The Common Good hosted Congresswoman Donna Shalala (D-FL) for an important conference call conversation on the coronavirus crisis. The longest serving former Secretary of Health and Human Services urged a more vigorous approach to fighting the outbreak. Shalala also offered up specifics on how we must prepare better for future epidemics.
“This epidemic has shown us what a real leader looks like. From Andrew Cuomo to Jay Inslee, we’ve seen governors and mayors around the US who have been way ahead of the federal government and have really been on top of this issue...I support people that are standing around the President, I know many of them - certainly the heads of all of the major scientific agencies. I think the vice-president is trying to do the right thing. I’ve talked to him myself. But the president, I just have never seen anything like it and I’d say the same thing if he was a Democrat.”
Check out the audio recording here:
ABOUT CONGRESSWOMAN DONNA SHALALA
Congresswoman Donna E. Shalala is the longest-serving Secretary of Health and Human Services in U.S. history, having served for eight years under President Bill Clinton. In 2018, she returned to Washington as the Representative for Florida’s 27th District, which includes the city of Miami and surrounding municipalities in Miami-Dade County. In 2007, President George W. Bush hand-picked her to co-chair with Senator Bob Dole the Commission on Care for Returning Wounded Warriors, tasked with evaluating how wounded service members transition from active duty to civilian life. In 2008, President Bush selected her as the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Congresswoman Shalala has been named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report (2005), received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights (2010), was inducted into the National Woman’s Hall of Fame (2011), and has more than five dozen honorary degrees.
A Conversation with Governor Terry McAuliffe on the Political Landscape
The Common Good was proud to present an off-the-record conversation on the 2020 Political Landscape with former Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia.
The Common Good hosted former Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, the charismatic “happy warrior” with excellent experience in the art of politics and policy. McAuliffe offered up incredibly insightful information and a rather sunny outlook on the Democratic Party’s chances in the upcoming 2020 election. The former governor also graced TCG members with insights on the handling of voter rights legislation as well as the Charlottesville protests during his time in office.
Terry McAuliffe served as the 72nd Governor of The Commonwealth of Virginia, holding office from 2014-2018. During his time as governor, Mr. McAuliffe was successful in implementing several policy changes including, but not limited to, immigration, voting rights for convicted felons, economic development and healthcare. The governor’s political tenure stretches back to President Jimmy Carter’s administration, where McAuliffe worked on the President’s reelection campaign. Mr. McAuliffe continued his work on the campaign trail with both Hilary and Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns. He also held a chair at the Democratic National Committee from 2001-2005.
An evening with Steve Bannon
The Common Good hosted an evening with former White House Chief Strategist and former executive chairman of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon. The conversation was moderated by John Avlon, Senior news correspondent for CNN.
The Common Good hosted an evening with former White House Chief Strategist and former executive chairman of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon. The conversation was moderated by John Avlon, Senior news correspondent for CNN.
Discussed at the event were topics including Globalism, nationalism, The growing threat of an emergent China, and election interference during the 2016 election.
Steve Bannon is a former Media executive, Political Strategist, and White House Staff member. He is also one of the co-founders of Breitbart News.
LISTEN:
WATCH:
Nouriel Roubini: Global Economic Risks
The Common Good hosted a special discussion where world-renowned economist Nouriel Roubini discussed a variety of tail risks for the global economy and markets. Including: Brexit, US-China trade and tech tensions, US-Iran relations and the risk of an Oil-Price shock.
The Common Good hosted a special discussion where world renowned economist Nouriel Roubini discussed a variety of tail risks for the global economy and markets. Including: Brexit, US-China trade and tech tensions, US-Iran relations and the risk of an Oil-Price shock. He also answered questions from those attending, addressing the likelihood of an imminent economic recession, as well as the changing methods of tracking and understanding the economy. After the event, our host provided guests with a lovely dinner.
Nouriel Roubini is a Professor of Economics and International Business at New York University Stern School of Business. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics, an independent, global macroeconomic and market strategy research firm.
2020 Presidential Candidates Series: The Common Good hosted a Meet and Greet with presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson
The Common Good was proud to present a special discussion with presidential candidate Marianne Williamson as part of the Presidential Candidate series.
The Common Good was proud to present a special discussion with presidential candidate Marianne Williamson as part of the Presidential Candidate series. Ms. Williamson spoke on numerous topics including her agenda which would include a Department of Peace, a focus on childhood education, healthcare, reparations, and the environment.
Ms. Williamson is an author, activist and international spiritual lecturer. Ms. Williamson has authored 14 books including 4 #1 New York Times best sellers. She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a volunteer food delivery program that serves home-bound people with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. Ms. Williamson also co-founded the Peace Alliance, a non-profit education and advocacy organization supporting peace-building projects.
Left: The Common Good Founder and CEO Patricia Duff, Center: Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson campaign provides the American people with the option of choosing another way -- not just a better version of same old, same old politics, but a genuine pattern disruption that allows for breakthroughs and possibilities that will not otherwise occur. It is for those who want the person sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office to be someone with an expanded sense of what is necessary, as well as what's possible, in the 21st Century.
Ms. Williamson spoke about working with congress to create a cabinet level - Department of Peace. Ending the scourge of violence in the United States and across the planet requires more than suppressing violence. Lasting peace requires its active and systematized cultivation at every level of government and society. The U.S. Department of Peace will coordinate and spur the efforts we need to make our country and the world a safer place. Nothing short of broad-scale investment and government reorientation can truly turn things around. Both domestically and internationally, she wants to dramatically ramp up the use of proven powers of peace-building, including dialogue, mediation, conflict resolution, economic and social development, restorative justice, public health approaches to violence prevention, trauma-informed systems of care, social and emotional learning in schools, and many others.
Interested in attending future events?
Syria Debacle
The Common Good hosted a special conference call with Ambassador Robert Ford, former US Ambassador to Syria. Ambassador Ford gave credible insights into the state of the dispute in Syria, and the future of the current state in the Middle East.
The Common Good hosted a special conference call with Ambassador Robert Ford, former US Ambassador to Syria. Ambassador Ford gave credible insights into the state of the dispute in Syria, and the future of the current state in the Middle East.
The Common Good was honored to offer members a fresh take on the Syria conflict in a conference call with former US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford. Mr. Ford is a decorated diplomat who served as Ambassador to Syria under the Obama administration, with an extensive diplomatic tenure in Iraq as well as Northern Africa.
Ambassador Ford discussed many of the key proceedings taking place in Syria, including new developments such as the insertion of the Turkish military into the conflict. Mr. Ford has a decorated history of diplomacy in the Middle East. In 2012, he was rewarded by the John F. Kennedy library in Boston with the annual Profile in Courage Award for his defense of human rights in Syria. His expertise on these issues provided members with unique insights towards the ramifications of Turkey’s actions, such as potential consequences regarding NATO as well as the US relationship with the democracy supportive Kurds.
The Ambassador opened up the call to highly educated questions from informed members who shared his concerns on the conflict. His responses provided a plethora of distinct perspectives, unique to someone of his expertise.
The Rise of Lincoln & U.S. Division
The Common Good in co-sponsorship with Cooper Union presented a special conversation with author-journalist-past Presidential advisor, Sidney Blumenthal, and CNN’s John Avlon, on one of the most divisive periods in American history, the unlikely political ascendance of President Abraham Lincoln, and how the historic Lincoln is relevant today.
The Common Good was proud to present a special discussion between Sidney Blumenthal, author, journalist, and past Presidential advisor, and John Avlon, CNN anchor, Senior Political Analyst and author. They dove into one of the most divisive periods in American history, the unlikely political ascendance of President Abraham Lincoln, and how Lincoln’s story is relevant today. The event was in co-sponsorship with Cooper Union and held in their Great Hall - the site where Lincoln gave one of the most important speeches in US history.
Sidney Blumenthal is an acclaimed journalist and author of many books including A Self-Made Man, Wrestling with His Angel and All the Powers of Earth, the first three volumes in his five-volume biography series The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln that the New York Times book review has called “Magisterial...A vividly written, wide-ranging and often surprising account of the president-to-be.” He is the former assistant and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton. He has been a national staff reporter for The Washington Post and Washington editor and writer for The New Yorker. His books include the bestselling The Clinton Wars, The Rise of the Counter-Establishment, and The Permanent Campaign. He was the executive producer of the documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, directed by Alex Gibney, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary of 2007.
John Avlon is senior political analyst and anchor at CNN. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast between 2013 and 2018, during which time the site's traffic more than doubled to over one million readers a day while winning 17 journalism awards. He is the author of the books Independent Nation, Wingnuts, and Washington’s Farewell as well as co-editor of the acclaimed Deadline Artists journalism anthologies. Avlon served as chief speechwriter to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists award for best online column in 2012. He lives with his wife Margaret Hoover, the author of American Individualism, host of PBS’s Firing Line and a CNN contributor, and their two children in New York. He is now working on a book about Lincoln.
Watch the full event below:
Interested in attending future events?
The Great Hack
The Common Good hosted a special screening and discussion of the Netflix documentary “The Great Hack” with Q&A following with Directors Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, producer Geralyn White Dreyfous, and Brittany Kaiser, whistle-blower formerly at Cambridge Analytica.
The Common Good hosted a special screening of the Netflix documentary The Great Hack, and a riveting conversation with Brittany Kaiser, whistle-blower formerly at Cambridge Analytica, Director Jehane Noujaim, and Founder & CEO of The Common Good Patricia Duff.
Data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset. It’s being weaponized to wage cultural and political warfare. People everywhere are in a battle for control of our most intimate personal details. From award-winning filmmakers Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, The Great Hack uncovers the dark world of data exploitation with astounding access to the personal journeys of key players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal.
The Great Hack is alarming - it shows how data is being used to hijack our elections and our democracy and how the internet is being used not only for information, but as a weapon. Citizens’ data is collected without their knowledge or permission, often for alarming reasons. Data is being used to drive wedges of fear and hate between us in order for one side to win elections, undermining our democracy and putting us all at risk. What do we give up when we tap that phone or keyboard and share ourselves in the digital age? Are our old democratic institutions too susceptible? What reforms do we need?
Brittany, Jehane and Patricia dove into these topics in discussion following the film, looking at legislation on the table to protect us and addressed how we can educate society to be less vulnerable to online targeting, sharing shocking revelations about the extent of information collected on us through digital data, and warning that even if social media ceases to exist, the data never does.
Brittany Kaiser is an American former business development director for Cambridge Analytica which collapsed after details of its misuse of Facebook data were revealed to have potentially impacted voting in the U.K and the U.S. Kaiser testified about her involvement in the work of Cambridge Analytica before the U.K. Parliament and in private before the Mueller Investigation. She is the founder of the #OwnYourData campaign and cofounder of the Digital Asset Trade Association (DATA), a nonprofit lobbying firm advancing legislative and policy reform to protect the rights of individuals to control their own digital assets.
Jehane Noujaim is an Academy Award nominated director and one of two non-fiction directors to have won the Directors Guild Award twice. Her Oscar nominated film, The Square (2013), won the Audience Award both at Sundance and Toronto. Noujaim has produced and directed other award-winning films including Rafea: Solar Mama (2013), Control Room (2004) and Startup.com (2001). In 2006, Noujaim was awarded the TED prize which she used to create Pangea Day. Noujaim’s work has been nominated by the DGA, IDA, Independent Spirit and several Critics Association Awards. Noujaim’s most recent release was an animated feature, The Breadwinner (2017) which she executive produced with Angelina Jolie and which was nominated for a 2018 Academy Award.
Interested in attending future events?
Athens Democracy Forum
Members of The Common Good had the special opportunity to attend the Athens Democracy Forum, a pivotal conference addressing the impact of the current feeble state of democracy on our world and on businesses alike.
The Athens Democracy Forum was hosted by New York Times Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen and programmed by editorial board member Serge Schmemann, and was held by the Democracy and Culture Foundation, an independent nonprofit entity, in association with The New York Times. The conference coincides with the Arraiolos Group meeting, bringing together various European Union heads of state in Athens.
Members of The Common Good had the special opportunity to attend the Athens Democracy Forum, a pivotal conference addressing the impact of the current feeble state of democracy on our world and on businesses alike.
The Athens Democracy Forum was hosted by New York Times Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen and programmed by editorial board member Serge Schmemann, and was held by the Democracy and Culture Foundation, an independent nonprofit entity, in association with The New York Times. The conference coincides with the Arraiolos Group meeting, bringing together various European Union heads of state in Athens.
The theme was “Reinventing Democracy: New Models for Our Changing World”.
The key topics that were discussed include:
We and Them: The Tectonic Plates of Nationalism and Multiculturalism
The Echo Chamber and the Agora: The Use and Abuse of New and Social Media
The Cost of Inequality: Where Has All the Money Gone?
Back to Basics: What Must Be Done to Restore Faith in Democracy
The 2019 Athens Democracy Forum gathered acclaimed speakers including:
Prokopios Pavlopoulos, President of Greece
Michael Higgins, President of Ireland
Juan Manuel Santos, Former President, Republic of Colombia
Bernard-Henri Levy, French Philosopher
Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner
Wole Soyinka, Poet and Nobel Literature Laureate
Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutenant Governor, State of California
HE Laura Chinchilla, Former President of Costa Rica
Margot Wallstrom, Foreign Minister of Sweden
Ivan Krastev, Centre for Liberal Studies
Maria Schmidt, Advisor to PM Victor Orban
George Papandreou, Former Prime Minister of Greece
Jay Weatherill, Industry Professor, University of South Australia
Kassem Eid, Palestinian-Syrian Refugee
Sergei Karaganov, Russian Council of Foreign Policy
Anna Diamantopoulou, Former EU Commissioner
Katharina Schulze, Leader of the Alliance ‘90/The Greens in Germany
Ory Okolloh, Activist & Managing Director, Luminate Africa
Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Youth Envoy
Paul Polman, Former C.E.O., Unilever and Co-Founder & Chair, Imagine
Kostas Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens
Annika Savill, Executive Head UNDEF
Interested in attending future events?
The Common Good has been hosting events since 2006 that cover important issues of today, highlighting speakers who have worked to bolster our democracy and can provide great insight on the issues that matter.