|
Around the WorldBoston March - April 2004
Our Mission: WorldBoston is a catalyst for global engagement that offers cultural perspectives and promotes international thinking in individuals and organizations. WorldBoston provides a staging ground for issues-focused forums, one-on-one dialog, networking and personal and professional growth for residents, businesses and institutions of Greater Boston and around the globe. FEATURES WorldBoston
Welcomes Prominent Ambassadors World
Affairs The
WorldBoston Wish List Emerging
Leaders In
the Media Contact
Us |
||
|
WORLDBOSTON
WELCOMES PROMINENT AMBASSADORS Brandie
Conforti, Executive Director
With the beginning of Spring, WorldBoston has had the pleasure of offering our members the opportunity to meet and listen to several prominent ambassadors from hot spots around the world. In March, we presented Pakistani Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, who spoke about several issues, including U.S.-Pakistani relations, Kashmir and the War on Terror. In April, Lebanese Ambassador Farid Abboud shared with members and supporters of WorldBoston his thoughts on the key issues affecting Lebanon and its relations both regionally and globally.
Ambassador Farid Abboud addresses WorldBoston members
(l-r) WorldBoston Board Members Barry Hoffman, Raza Dean, and Gerry Lorden join together with WorldBoston Executive Director Brandie Conforti and Ambassador Abboud at private reception
Pakistani Ambassador Ashraf Jehangir Qazi speaks to WorldBoston attendees
This
month, WorldBoston is extremely pleased to present our next distinguished
speaker, someone you’ve read about on the pages of Bob Woodward’s
latest book and seen on your favorite political talk shows. Now you have the chance to see Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar
bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud live and in person. On Friday, May 21, WorldBoston will host the ambassador at a
luncheon where he will speak on the current state of U.S.-Saudi relations.
Sponsored by Mintz Levin and Raytheon Corporation, the event will
be held at One Financial Center. This
is truly a unique opportunity for WorldBoston members and supporters to
listen to, interact with and question a key leader in today’s global
political landscape. Although this event is sure to be a sell-out, a few seats are
still available.
WorldBoston
prides itself on creating opportunities for the Greater Boston community
to interact with world leaders for social, business and intellectual
pursuits. This desire drives
our programming to present the highest-level speakers at each and every
event. While we will be
offering fewer programs and forums in the Summer, we are hard at work
lining up a number of Fall events and think you’ll be pleased with a few
surprises we have up our sleeve. As
always, I look forward to seeing all of you at an upcoming event.
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.
*****A VERY SPECIAL OFFER***** WorldBoston wants to make some new friends. So, from June 1 through August 31, 2004, we invite you to bring one or more guests to any WorldBoston event and that guest will attend at the member rate. When you make your reservations, simply mention this special offer.
Some
of the events scheduled over the next few weeks include: U.S.-Saudi
Relations Friday,
May 21, 2004 (Noon) at
the offices of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., One
Financial Center with
HRH Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Saudi Ambassador to the
United States From
the Green Revolution to the Gene Revolution Wednesday,
June 9, 2004 (Noon) at
the offices of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., One
Financial Center with
Norman Borlaug, author of “Father of the Green Revolution” and Nobel
Peace Prize Winner (1970) We hope you will join us at both of these events. Also, please continue to tell us what events you have enjoyed over the last year, what you would like to see more of, and any topics you would like us to explore. To contact the World Affairs program, please call 617-542-8995, x112, or send an email to wac@worldboston.org.
A Couple Final Notes: In an effort to reduce the burden on the environment and dive into the 21st Century, WorldBoston is poised to offer “paper-free membership” to those individuals who no longer wish to receive hard-copy notices of events. If you would like to discontinue receiving hard copy notices and prefer only email notifications, please let us know.
We also want to remind you that if you or someone you know has access to a space we might be able to use for an evening event, please let us know and we will follow up with your suggestions.
THE WORLDBOSTON WISH LIST We hope that you will consider making a donation to WorldBoston. 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. Other things on our Wish List are: * Volunteer part-time bookkeeper * 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. |
EMERGING LEADERS Natasha Palmroth, Director, Emerging Leaders Kate Harvey, Director, International Visitors
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.
Profiles
of Some Exceptional Program Participants What
do a lawyer from Kazakhstan, a symphony director from Germany and a
politician from Chile have in common?
They are all participants in WorldBoston’s Emerging Leaders
program. Ms.
Sholpan Aitkazina,
from Astana, Kazakhstan, is in Boston as a participant in the Community
Connections program, studying small and medium enterprise development.
Ms. Aitkazina, a Lawyer, serves as the Head of the Law Department
and as Deputy Executive Director of the Astana Association of
Entrepreneurs’ Rights’ Protection, a non-commercial, non-governmental
organization that provides social protection of rights, representation and
promotion for subjects of small-scale business interests in Astana.
She is involved in controlling the outgoing correspondence of the
Association and examining incoming correspondence regarding law.
In representing the Association’s interests in expert councils,
commissions under republican and local state agencies and in other
structures, she is responsible for drawing up requests, letters,
documents, claims, bills of complaint and other documents pertaining to
the law. She also provides
legal advice in the area of entrepreneurship to Association members. Mr.
Ignacio Rivadeneira Hurtado,
from Santiago, Chile, is in Boston as part of the International Visitors
program, studying the U.S. political system and the formulation of public
policy as well as the participation of young people in these arenas.
He is a past Vice President of the National Renewal Party (RN) and
is a member of its Political Commission.
In 1994 he was elected as the representative of the University of
Chile’s Law School to the newly established Congress of the Student
Federation of the University of Chile. As Vice President of the RN, he handled press relations and
was in charge of promoting young leaders as candidates. He also served as a field coordinator of the RN’s
parliamentary campaign in 2001. Mr.
Anselm Rose, from
Munich, Germany, is in Boston as part of the Eisenhower Exchange
Fellowship Program, studying cultural politics and cultural management in
the United States, specifically in regard to orchestras and their
management practices, risks and resources.
He is the Managing Director of the Munich Symphony Orchestra as
well as the youngest director of a professional symphony orchestra in
Germany. Mr. Rose has also
been Manager and Commercial Director of the Bergische Symphoniker Ltd. and
Managing Director of the renowned Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.
He is the founder and director of the new German Orchestra
Association (Deutscher Orchestertag), which is comparable to the American
Symphony Orchestra League. In
addition to having very impressive backgrounds, all of these individuals
are under the age of 40! With
so many accomplishments already in their short careers, imagine what their
futures hold. As
WorldBoston members, we encourage you to take advantage of the
opportunities membership offers to meet one-on-one with potential future
leaders like these three extraordinarily gifted professionals.
Perhaps you have already met with some of our visitors through
professional appointments or hosted them in your home.
Perhaps you will meet a future leader . . . or perhaps you already
have. If
you would like to interact with a diverse group of individuals like
Sholpan, Ignacio and Anselm, check our website
regularly for up-to-date listings of our visiting professionals. If you would like to become involved in
the Emerging Leaders Program, please contact
Natasha Palmroth, Director of Emerging Leaders.
WorldBoston's 15th Community Connections group from Astana, Kazakhstan
The Value of the Emerging Leaders Program, Through the Eyes of a WorldBoston Intern
This
March I had the privilege of scheduling a program for a group of three
senior library officials from Moldova.
During their time in Boston, they had several appointments at the
Boston Public Library; a meeting at Boston University’s Pappas Law
Library; and a discussion with the Executive Director of Fenway Libraries
Online, an electronic consortium organized to encourage sharing among
academic libraries in the Boston area. The
appointment that sticks out most in my mind, however, was a meeting
arranged with Ms. Judy O’Malley, the Editorial Director of Houghton
Mifflin Children’s Books. Ms.
O’Malley immediately responded to my request for her to meet with these
visitors by noting that she welcomed the opportunity to share insights and
experiences with them, adding that this opportunity was “a wonderful
match for her personal and professional concerns and background.”
She then added that she would be researching information about
Moldova prior to the visit in order to educate herself about the country
and the culture of the people with whom she would be interacting. I
believe that Ms. O’Malley’s response wonderfully exemplifies the value
of the Emerging Leaders program, which offers exceptional opportunities
for the exchange of ideas between cultures.
As Boston’s finest professional resources participate in
imparting their wisdom and experience to their visiting counterparts, the
city is simultaneously enriched by the wealth of tradition and passion
that international visitors bring with them in their desire to learn how
to better their own societies. WorldBoston
works directly to improve U.S. foreign relations and succeeds in a
personal way to educate visitors to the opportunities and possibilities
inherent in the American way. As
a college student who constantly struggles with the challenge to take
practical ideas and shape them into reality, I have been encouraged to
work for an organization that honors the capacity for development and
change through a venue of open discussion.
An internship at WorldBoston has cemented in my mind the priority
to encourage dialog to effect lasting change in our world. Written by WorldBoston intern Megan Meagher, a Senior at Gordon College majoring in Political Studies
IN
THE MEDIA A number of articles in regional newspapers reported on recent WorldBoston events. “Lokvani”
(translated literally to mean ‘Public Voice’), an E-magazine that aims
to serve the Indian community in New England:
--“INDIA
New England,” a publication serving the region’s Indo-American
community, on April 15 reported “Pakistani Ambassador Sees Chance for
Peace,” written by Christine Walsh Suffolk Business, a magazine published by Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management, reported in its Spring 2004 issue on its alliance with WorldBoston “to bring high-profile global business leaders to the Boston community” through the WorldBoston/Suffolk University Global Leadership Series. It also noted that His Excellency Karim Tawfiq Kawar, the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, was the series’ first featured speaker.
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.
CONTACT US TO. . . *Meet or
host a visitor. |
|
WorldBoston
One Milk Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02109
Tel: 617-542-8995
Fax: 617-423-7918
Email: wb@worldboston.org
Website: www.worldboston.org
