Around the WorldBoston

January - February 2005

Editor in Chief: Brandie E. Conforti                                                          Editor: Lorraine Goldstein - Communications

The mission of WorldBoston is to provide a private, non-profit, non-partisan forum for educating the public about matters of national and international significance.  We do this by presenting an ongoing series of distinguished speakers, and by bringing to Boston emerging leaders from around the world for the purpose of sharing ideas, discovering opportunities for mutual growth, and creating bonds of friendship and understanding.

FEATURES

So Much to Be Thankful For

World Affairs

Emerging Leaders

The WorldBoston Wish List

Contact Us

SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR

Dear Members and Friends of WorldBoston,

As another year has drawn to a close – my fourth with WorldBoston – I’d like to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who make WorldBoston an organization that truly does positive things for society as well as a wonderful place to work.

First, to the staff of WorldBoston, your dedication, intelligence and wonderful sense of humor make you a joy to work with.  I am continually amazed at how resourceful and skillful each of you is in your job.  And no matter how difficult things may seem at times, you always persevere because you truly believe in our mission.  So to Jennifer, Melissa, Natasha and Sokol, thank you.  I am very grateful to have you as colleagues.

To the volunteers of WorldBoston – Bette, Hilary, Joanne, Lorraine, Paul and Sylvia – your willingness to give your time, skill and knowledge year after year, in both good and difficult times, represents the strong dedication to volunteerism that is so much a part of the American spirit.  You contribute an incredible amount to WorldBoston intellectually and are, without doubt, the soul of our organization.  Thank you for the work you do and for the support you provide to me and all of the staff.

To our members, both corporate and individual, you are the heart of our organization.  Your association with WorldBoston enables us to continue to educate the public and facilitate international exchange for emerging leaders from around the world.  Thank you for being members, for telling your friends about us, for hosting emerging leaders in your homes, and for the smiles and warm words of support you offer to the staff.

To our donors and supporters, your financial generosity enables WorldBoston to keep moving forward and grow into a more dynamic organization each year.  The positive changes I have seen in our organization in the past four years are profound.  Without your willingness to contribute and walk side by side with the staff to make WorldBoston what it is today, we as an organization would have failed.  So I thank each of you for your continued kindness.

And last but certainly not least, I want to thank our board of directors.  Your commitment in so many areas – from supporting events to providing advice and guidance to giving your time so selflessly – makes you the backbone of the organization. Working with you has enabled us to be creative in carrying out our mission and collectively frame a vision that will lead WorldBoston into the future.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of an organization that I believe in so deeply and that has such a strong base of support.  Thank you all for making 2004 a wonderfully successful year for WorldBoston.  I look forward to our continued partnership into 2005 and well beyond!

Brandie Conforti

WorldBoston Executive Director

EMERGING LEADERS

Natasha Palmroth, Director, Emerging Leaders

Jennifer Field, International Visitors Project Associate

Sokol Shtylla, Community Connections Project Associate

The mission of Emerging Leaders is to engage and develop dynamic thinkers from around the world who will drive global change in the future.  It involves the administration of two United States Department of State grants: International Visitors and Community Connections.  

A Visit to Odessa.  Brandie and I recently had the opportunity to turn the tables and, instead of arranging programs for others, we got to participate in one ourselves.  On November 10, we left for a week-long trip to Odessa as follow-on to our Community Connections project.  Some of the items on our agenda were administering business-training seminars for our alumni, visiting several alumni businesses and, of course, seeing the beautiful city of Odessa.

The workplace of Oleg Betsel, an alumnus from WorldBoston’s October 2002 group, was the first site visit on our schedule.  When Oleg came to Boston, he worked in the operations department at the First Ukrainian International Bank.  Since returning home, he has changed jobs twice, first to work for Raiffeisen Bank, where he helped open the bank’s Odessa branch, and currently to work as the head of the operations department at Ukrsotsbank in Odessa, where he is in charge of backroom operations.  We were lucky to be invited into the bank for a tour and presentation by Oleg about the Ukrainian banking system.  During the tour, Oleg indicated that the bank had recently changed how it deals with its clients in order to create a much more customer-friendly environment.  After the tour, Oleg’s supervisor greeted us and praised the work that Oleg has done since joining the bank.

Natasha Palmroth, Brandie Conforti, Oleg Betsel, Irene Sinteff and Craig Cowles 

during the site visit to Oleg's bank. 

For Brandie and me, it was impressive to see how far Oleg has advanced in his career and rewarding to hear him state that he found his participation in the Community Connections project very helpful to his career.  During our stay, we heard similar stories from other alumni who had also advanced in their careers or expanded their businesses as a result of their experience in Boston.  Olga Podgayetska has purchased new space in order to expand her dental practice.  Ruslan Shchipun has opened a new business selling medical equipment as a spin-off from the laser eye clinic where he is still responsible for the business aspects of running the clinic.

While the primary goal of our follow-on visit was to check in with alumni, we had unknowingly chosen a very interesting time to visit Ukraine, between the first and second rounds of the presidential elections.  As we left Odessa, the country was on the verge of the second round, a hotly contested battle between Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushenko.  During our time in Odessa, we had the opportunity to “talk politics” with some of our alumni and found that there were clear-cut opinions on who should be the next president of Ukraine.  While not all of our alumni agreed on who that person should be, they were all determined to make sure their voices were heard by voting.

Three days after we returned home, we read about the results of the second round of elections, the seemingly widespread voting irregularities and Mr. Yanukovych’s claim of victory.  The election outcome resulted in unrest, albeit peaceful, across much of Ukraine.  Even our friends in Odessa were not protected.  Emails from Oleg talked about the ramifications for his bank as people panicked and began to rapidly withdraw money.  He said that fortunately things were settling down and a banking crisis had been averted.

A few weeks later, Ukraine finished a third round of elections, a compromise round agreed to by both sides, and Mr. Yushenko was declared the winner.  And while Mr. Yanukovych has not yet admitted defeat, it appears that there will be a peaceful transition to a new government.  We will certainly keep in touch with our alumni to get their assessments of the political situation in Ukraine and the impact of the elections on them personally.

by Natasha Palmroth, Director, Emerging Leaders

Our Next Group of Community Connections Participants.  From February 4 to February 24, WorldBoston will host its 16th Community Connections group.  The members of this group come from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, and the focus of their program will be media management.  Individuals in this group include editors-in-chief, editors, business and advertising managers, and reporters from some of the major newspaper outlets in Nizhny Novgorod and the surrounding area.

Based on the group’s interests, WorldBoston is organizing a professional development program focused primarily on issues such as newspaper management, advertising, sales and marketing, subscriber relations, professional ethics, freedom of speech and media/government relations.  As part of the program, the group will participate in a number of meetings at institutions, including Boston’s major newspapers, professional associations in New England, journalism departments at various universities, and public affairs offices at state and city government offices.  In addition to the professional program, the group will have a chance to explore Boston through a number of cultural activities, including a Russian language tour of Boston and Cambridge and visits to the Museum of Science and JFK Library and Museum.

You can find more information about this impressive group on our website. We are still actively seeking homestay hosts for our guests from Russia, if you would consider opening your home to one of these professionals, please contact Sokol Shytlla, Community Connections Project Associate, for more information. 

Upcoming International Visitors.  Some of the people scheduled to come to Boston over the next six weeks through the International Visitor Program include:

• Dr. Yilin PAN from the People’s Republic of China who will be here to explore the history and organization of the U.S. educational system, including levels of management, local and national standards and the training of teachers.

• A group from Belarus that will study the leadership and management aspects of orchestras, including outreach activities, budgeting, fundraising, sponsoring and training.

• Mr. John BAIRD from Canada who will examine energy policy and regulations and study the development of new technology and cost-effective energy alternatives.

• Mr. Jon PUIGCERCOS Boxassa from Spain who will examine security and fiscal issues and the role of federal, state and local government in guaranteeing free competition in strategic areas of the economy and fiscal issues.

• Mr. YANG Weiguo from the People’s Republic of China who will learn about labor and industrial relations, including the role of labor unions in the United States and internationally.

• A group from Vietnam that will learn about trade issues, particularly new challenges and opportunities that globalization and free trade will provide to their country.

• A group from the Slovak Republic that will study civil rights development.

• A group from the Middle East (in April) to examine foreign policy decision-making.

If you would like to get involved with the International Visitors project and interact with a diverse group of individuals, please contact Jennifer Field, International Visitors Project Associate.  Be sure to check our website for up-to-date listings of International Visitors.

WORLD AFFAIRS

Melissa McDonald, Director, World Affairs

World Affairs strives to educate, inform and foster understanding of international affairs; and to provide accessibility for the general public to participate in the discussion of global issues. 

The past year was an outstanding one for the World Affairs program.  Not only did we welcome some 1,412 people at our events, but we also had the honor of welcoming many outstanding individuals to address our members, including eight current or former ambassadors, two individuals serving on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and the former senior advisor to the Chief of Baghdad police.  We also had the pleasure of presenting several Boston-area experts to speak on a wide range of topics such as the impact of travel security on international relations, the disputed Kashmir region, and the prospect of peace between Israel and Palestine.

More recently, Ambassador Euripides L. Evriviades, Ambassador of Cyprus to the United States, and Ambassador Boudewijn J. van Eenennaam, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States, spoke to our membership at lunchtime events.  Ambassador Evriviades gave his perspectives on the dispute between Turkey and Cyprus and, despite frustration over the issues, offered an extremely positive outlook about the situation’s improvement over time.

Our final event of the season, Transatlantic Relations After the United States Election, offered a fitting end to our 2004 event season.  Ambassador van Eenennaam eloquently discussed the current state of transatlantic relations with an emphasis on the changes and evolution taking place in the European Union.  Because the Netherlands held the presidency of the European Union through December 31, 2004, this event offered our members an unparalleled opportunity to hear first-hand some predictions for the future of the European Union.

Our efforts to surpass our many achievements in 2004 have already borne fruit.  In December, WorldBoston was awarded a Curtis International Fund Grant from The Boston Foundation that will allow us to create a four-part program on the role of religion in foreign policy.   To be presented in four consecutive months at the Boston Public Library, the first three sessions of the program will focus, respectively, on the three primary Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam.  The final session will capture the key points discussed in the previous sessions.  We hope you will join us for this program.

In addition, once again WorldBoston will be offering the Great Decisions lecture series.  This year, as always, the Great Decisions lectures will take place on eight consecutive Tuesday evenings beginning March 8, 2005, at the Boston Public Library.  The topics this year are Russia, Outsourcing Jobs, China, Sudan’s Crisis in Darfur, Global Poverty Gap, Middle East, Global Water Issues and U.S. Intelligence.  More details on speakers and conference rooms will be released soon.

Ambassador van Eenennaam listens to a question from an audience member at WorldBoston's final event for the 2004 season. 

Some Upcoming Events . . .

“The Declining U.S. Dollar: Implications for the U.S. and World Economy”

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Time:  12 Noon Luncheon ~ 12:15 P.M. Discussion

Location:  WorldBoston, 1 Milk Street, 3^rd Floor 

                Conference Room

Speaker:  Alan J. Brown, Group Chief Investment Officer, 

                State Street Global Advisors

While the U.S. economy struggles to keep pace with the world economy, the U.S. dollar is struggling to maintain its strength against the Euro, the Pound, the Swiss Franc and the Swedish Krona.  Because commodities like metals and crops are traded in dollars, the U.S. dollar plays a central role.  A U.S. dollar that continues to lose value would create serious repercussions for the world economy, as Americans begin to shy away from purchasing European and Asian imports.  Join us as Alan Brown speaks about some of the critical issues related to the weak performance of the U.S. dollar and its implications for both the U.S. and the world economy.

Reservations for this event must be received by Wednesday, January 12, 2005.

“Ukrainian Orange Revolution: Where Are We Going From Here?”

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Time:  12 Noon Luncheon ~ 12:15 P.M. Discussion

Location:  TBD

Speaker:  Dr. Sergiy Korsunsky, Minister-Counselor and 

               Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Ukraine

Since October 2004, two men have vied for the Ukrainian presidency – Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yuschenko.  Over the course of four months, there have been three elections, an alleged poisoning of Yuschenko and endless accusations of fraud.  Now Prime Minister Yanukovych has resigned and Viktor Yuschenko has been declared the winner.  This election and assurances of election credibility and the support of a free and open democratic process in the Ukraine are important for defining the direction of U.S. foreign policy.  After this four-month dispute, what does the future hold for the democratic process in Ukraine?  Join us to discuss this and other issues with Dr. Sergiy Korsunsky.

For more information about these events and to learn about future events, please check our website periodically.  And keep the communication flowing by telling us what you would like us to address in the future or to provide feedback on events you have attended.  Your ideas are important to us.  

To contact the program or to reserve space at an event, please call 617- 542-8995, ext.112, or send an email to wac@worldboston.org.

ANNUAL APPEAL

If you believe as we do in the importance of WorldBoston's leadership role in promoting international understanding, we hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation to our organization in whatever amount you can afford.  We need your financial support in order to continue to provide you the kinds of programs and events that foster dialogue about issues of national and international significance. Please visit our website and click on Give a Gift to see the kinds of activities your gift will support, as well as a donation form.

THE WORLDBOSTON WISH LIST 

On our Wish List are:

    * Color printer (PC compatible, 14ppm color;

       installation software must be included)

    * Event sponsors and space

If you are able to donate your time or a top-quality color printer, or are interested in event sponsorship, please contact Brandie Conforti. 

Check Our Website. We are continually updating the WorldBoston website to keep you informed about our programs, upcoming events and visitors, and to make it easier for you to contact us. Please check out our website regularly.