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2013 National Conference
Six Top Issues for 2014
Announcing Honorable Keynote
Former First Lady Laura Bush
 
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 1918 Society Members

 

Carlson & The Carlson Family Foundation

 

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Van Andel Institute

 

Weber Shandwick

 

Join Former First Lady Laura Bush 

It is our honor and privilege to announce that former First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, will be our Honorable Keynote Speaker at our 2013 National Conference and will address the conference on Friday, November 15.

 

Laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States, is an advocate for empowering women and girls to transform their countries through access to education, health care and economic opportunity. 
 
After leaving the White House, President and Mrs. Bush founded the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. The Center is home to the Bush Presidential Museum and Library and the George W. Bush Institute, a public policy center established to advance human freedom, economic growth, education reform, and global health. Mrs. Bush serves as Chair for the Bush Institute's Women's Initiative, guiding the Institute's programs to advance economic opportunity, good health and human freedom for women and girls. Women's Initiative programs are raising awareness of Afghan women's progress and plight, training women leaders in the Middle East and North Africa to build civil society, and convening first ladies from around the world to support their work for women and children by fostering public private partnerships around education, health, and economic opportunity. 
 
For more than a decade, Mrs. Bush has led efforts through the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council to protect the hard-earned rights of women in that country. As First Lady, she made three trips to Afghanistan and in 2001 she delivered the President's weekly radio address - a first for a First Lady - to direct international attention to the Taliban's oppression of women. Today, as part of the Bush Institute's Women's Initiative, Mrs. Bush highlights Afghan women's successes, helps tell their stories, and supports effective programs in Afghanistan through the Afghan Women's Project. 
 
The Bush Institute's Women's Initiative Fellowship is designed to equip and empower women to become effective leaders. Fellows include journalists, lawyers, teachers, political activists, and health professionals. Each fellow is paired with a prominent female American mentor, and all the fellows spend six weeks in the United States to develop leadership skills to build the civil institutions that are necessary to support democracy. 
 
The First Ladies Initiative engages and supports First Ladies from around the world. In July in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Mrs. Bush hosted the African First Ladies Summit: Investing in Women: Strengthening Africa, where she was joined by First Lady Michelle Obama, Great Britain's Cherie Blair, and eight African First Ladies. The goal is to help first ladies become effective advocates in their countries for women's rights, literacy, education and good health. 
 
Mrs. Bush is the author of the bestselling memoir, Spoken From the Heart. She serves on many boards, including the National Advisory Board for the Salvation Army, the Council for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Board of Trustees for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 
 
She was born in Midland, Texas, to Harold and Jenna Welch. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southern Methodist University and a master's degree in library science from the University of Texas. She taught in public schools in Dallas, Houston and Austin and worked as a public school librarian. She served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. President and Mrs. Bush are the proud parents of twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, and a son-in-law, Henry Hager. In April 2013, they welcomed their first granddaughter, Margaret Laura "Mila" Hager. The Bush family also includes a dog, Miss Beazley, and a cat, Bob.

 

Deadline to Book Hotel Room: October 23

The 2013 National Conference will be held at The Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel. We have secured a special group rate at The Liaison Capitol Hill of $225/night. To book rooms at this rate, click below or call 1-866-233-4642 and reference "National Conference - World Affairs." The deadline to book a room at the special rate is Wednesday, October 23. 


Reserve Hotel Room at The Liaison

 

 


Watch the Video 

Top Six Reasons to Come to the 
2013 National Conference (1min 22s)

 

Join the Discussion! November 13-15, 2013

 
 
Confirmed Speakers to Date  
 
 
 
Former First Lady of the United States
 
 
 
 

 

 

Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, on making our democracy work

  

  

 

 

  

  

Edward Alden

Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, on U.S. education

  

  

  

 
 

  

President & Founding Chairman, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, on the virtual economy
  

 

    

 

Peter Baker

1918 Society Breakfast -- White House Correspondent, The New York Times; author of the upcoming book Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House

  

 

 

 

 

Senator Richard Blumenthal

Co-Chair, Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking 

 

 

 

  


 
NASA Administrator, on U.S. education

 

   

 


 
Former Chairman and CEO, Carlson, on human trafficking

 
 

 

 

 

The Honorable Michael Chertoff

Former Secretary of Homeland Security; and Chairman and Co-Founder, The Chertoff Group, on cybersecurity 

 

  

 

 

Frank J. Cilluffo

Former Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; Associate Vice President, George Washington University; Director, Homeland Security Policy Institute, on cybersecurity 

 

 

 

 

Massimo Cirasino
Manager, Financial Infrastructure Service Line, The World Bank, on the virtual economy

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Clemons

Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic; Editor, Atlantic Live; and Senior Fellow, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation, on global economic realignment

  

 

 


 
Deputy Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, on cyber security

 

 

 

Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky 

Senior Fellow, Harvard University JFK Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; former Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs; Chair, WACA National Board of Directors 

  

 


 
Canadian Ambassador to the U.S., on energy and the environment
 

 

 

 

  

  

 

Bob Dudley

Group Chief Executive, BP

 

 

 

 

 


C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, on global economic realignment 

 

  

 

 

Tom Gjelten

Correspondent, NPR, on cybersecurity

 

 

 

 

 

Marc Grossman   

Ambassador Marc Grossman  

Former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and former Chair, WACA National Board of Directors, on making our democracy work  

  

  

 

 

John Hofmeister

Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy; and former President, Shell Oil Company, on U.S. energy policy and the environment 

  

 

 

 

 

Kevin Johnson

Chief Executive Officer, Secure Ideas; and Senior Instructor, SANS Institute, on cybersecurity 

 

 

 

 

  

Mwangi S. Kimenyi
Director, Africa Growth Initiative, Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Brookings Institution; and Founding Executive Director of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), on emerging economies   

 

 

 

 

Sarah O. Ladislaw
Co-Director & Senior Fellow, Energy & National Security Program, CSIS, on U.S. energy policy and the environment  

  

 

 

  

Michael Levi

David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations, on U.S. energy policy and the environment 

 


 

William F. Martin

Former Deputy Secretary of Energy and former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan; Chairman, Washington Policy & Analysis, Inc., on U.S. energy policy and the environment

 

 

 

 

Tarek Masoud
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, JFK School of Government, Harvard University, on the Middle East
 

 

 

 

 

Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; and former assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, on emerging economies
 
 

 



Co-Chair, Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking
 



   

Michelle A. Rhee

Former Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools, and Founder and CEO of StudentsFirst, on U.S. education

  

  

 

 

  

Josh Rogin

Senior Correspondent for National Security and Politics, Newsweek and The Daily Beast, will keynote the discussion with the WACA Student Scholarship Winners 

 

 



Managing Director, Thomson Reuters, on the virtual economy





 
Vice President, Editor-at-Large and co-founder, Global Post, on the Middle East

 

 

 

 

Barbara Slavin

Senior Fellow, Atlantic Center's South Asia Center; and Washington Correspondent, Al-Monitor, on the Middle East

 

  

 

  

Ambassador Ross Wilson

Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey; Director, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council; Lecturer, The George Washington University, on the Middle East

 

 


 

Robin Wright

Joint Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic world, on the Middle East  

 

  
Held annually for over two decades, the World Affairs Councils of America's National Conference engages our regional leaders and members drawn from the business, civic, and education communities with leading policy-makers and experts. The National Conference launches the National Network's year-long discussion of the Six Top Issues for 2014 selected by our network leadership across the country and helps plan our programming for the coming year. 

 

The Six Top Issues selected by the National Network's leadership as the most important national security issues for the coming year are: 

  • Cybersecurity
  • U.S. Energy Independence
  • Global Economic Realignment
  • Middle East
  • Global Environment Issues
  • U.S. Education 
Councils, a flyer is available for your use to promote the National Conference to your members. Download Flyer

  

Register for 2013 National Conference

  

Reserve Hotel Room at The Liaison

 

Staying at The Liaison 

We have secured a special group rate at The Liaison Capitol Hill of $225/night. 

 

To book rooms at this rate, click here or call 1-866-233-4642 and reference "National Conference - World Affairs."

 

Schedule

Wednesday, November 13

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM: Fall Leadership Meeting for Council CEOs and Staff/Annual Membership Meeting

6:30 PM - 8:30 PM: Opening Dinner  

 

Thursday, November 14

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Main Plenaries

5:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Embassy Receptions

  • Embassy of Canada
  • Embassy of Portugal
  • Embassy of the United Arab Emirates

Friday, November 15

7:30 AM - 8:45 AM: 1918 Society Breakfast

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM: Main Plenaries

Conference concludes at 3:00 PM 

 

Thank you to our generous 
2013 National Conference sponsors: 


 

The World Affairs Councils of America 

1200 18th St., NW, Suite 902, Washington, DC 20036

Phone (202) 833-4557  Fax (202) 833-4555

Email waca@worldaffairscouncils.org Website www.worldaffairscouncils.org