Renaissance Weekend
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A Renaissance Weekend is a private, invitation-only retreats for leaders in business and finance, government, the media, religion, medicine, science, technology and the arts. Renaissance Weekends were founded in 1980 by Linda Lader and Philip Lader, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. Conversations are strictly off the record and subject matter ranges widely, tending to focus heavily on policy and business issues.
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[edit] Introduction & Objectives
Founded in 1981 by Linda Lader and Philip Lader, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Renaissance Weekends are private retreats for the families of accomplished leaders in business and finance, education, religion, law and medicine, government, the media, science and technology, sports, non-profits and the arts. Their widely divergent interests, backgrounds and views enliven panels and conversations in historic and scenic settings, over meals, on beaches, mountain trails, golf courses, tennis courts and bike paths.
With equally distinguished participants, all Renaissance Weekends foster lively exchanges which transcend ideological, political, economic and religious differences. This eclectic, non-partisan group - CEOs, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, Nobel Laureates and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, artists and scientists, admirals, astronauts and Olympic athletes, judges and journalists, volunteers, diplomats and work-at-home parents, Presidents, Prime Ministers, professors and priests, Republicans, Democrats and lots of Independents, innovators from across America and several nations - has become for many an "extended family."
Civility prevails. Partisanship is frowned upon, and commercialism is banned. The participants' only common denominators are innovative achievements on a national or regional scale, a "renaissance spirit" with broad-ranging intellectual interests, and personal qualities which allow them to enjoy this off-the-record, highly informal tradition.
[edit] Objectives & History
Each Renaissance Weekend seeks to build bridges across traditional divides of professions and politics, geography and generations, religions and philosophies. For 25 years, although important relationships between participants have been a consequence, these family retreats' objective has been simply to encourage personal and national renewal.
Renaissance Weekends were conceived when friends were lamenting that, despite meeting fascinating people in our work and everyday lives, we rarely have occasion to learn from each other in a personal and substantive way. To that end, 60 families pioneered Ambassador and Mrs. Lader's 1981 New Year's house party. The result has been a cross-generational "continuing conversation" of accomplished individuals with broadly divergent perspectives, no political agenda, but a legacy of ideas and friendships that have fostered significant projects, ventures and public service.
Through hundreds of panels, seminars and workshops each Weekend, participants themselves address such public policy and personal concerns as "America's Responsibility to the World," "Investment Perspectives," "How the Media has Covered the War Against Terrorism," "Corporate Governance After Enron," "Beating Cancer," "My Family's Legacies for Life," and "Christianity, Judaism & Islam - Eternal Truths & Current Myths." For those who prefer in-depth consideration of specific issues, half-day Renaissance Academy® programs are organized by authorities on subjects ranging from "Prospects for the Middle East" to "Genomics & the Revolution in Life Sciences." An advanced management track challenges leaders in business and non-profits.
Music, laughter and quiet conversations are regular counterpoints to serious issues. For children ages 3-12, Camp Renaissance® consists of counselor-supervised educational activities, hands-on fun and youth panels such as "If I Were President" and "What 'Bugs Me' in the News." Teens participate in adult sessions, as well as their own recreational activities and discussions, on topics of particular interest to them.
The New Year's Weekend by design is the largest, most program-filled gathering. Other Weekends' settings and smaller sizes allow more time for relaxed conversation and sports, as well as adventure, scenic and educational outings.
Each Renaissance Weekend seeks to build bridges across traditional divides of professions and politics, geography and generations, religions and philosophies. For 25 years, although important relationships between participants have been a consequence, these family retreats' objective has been simply to encourage personal and national renewal.
[edit] Notable Participants
- John Abele
- Buzz Aldrin
- Jay Apt
- Lamar Alexander
- Harry Attridge
- Dennis Bakke
- Gerald Baliles
- Ian Barbour
- Craig Barnes
- Evan Bayh
- Adrian Bellamy
- Henry Bienen
- Guion Bluford
- Baruch Blumberg
- Charles Bolden
- Paul Boyer
- David Bradley
- Douglas Brinkley
- Stephen Breyer
- William Brock
- Kenneth Brody
- John Y. Brown
- Linda Mason Brown
- Richard Bryan
- Art Buchwald
- James Magregor Burns
- Charles Burson
- Kathryn Bushkin
- Louis Cabot
- Kim Campbell
- Tony Campolo
- Albert Carnesale
- Stephen Carter
- Stephen Case
- Steve Case
- James Cash, Jr.
- Richard Cavanagh
- Richard Celeste
- John Chipman
- Clayton Christensen
- Stephen Chu
- Wesley Clark
- Bill Clinton
- Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Stephen Colbert
- Joanna Cole
- James Comer
- Gordon Conway
- Suzan Johnson Cook
- Edward Crane
- Joanne Creighton
- Eric Cornell
- James Cronin
- Walter Cunningham
- Jan Davis
- John Dawkins
- Howard Dean
- Robert Dell
- Robert Denham
- Jamie Dimon
- Peter Doherty
- Eric Drexler
- Pete DuPont
- David Ebel
- Richard Elkus
- Edward Elson
- Juan Enriquez
- Federico Faggin
- Nabil Fahmy
- Al Franken
- Bruce Feiler
- Craig Fields
- Ernest Finney
- Cynthia Fisher
- Edward Fiske
- Evelyn "Pat" Foote
- Gerald Ford
- Leighton Ford
- Anthony Frank
- Samuel Fried
- Jerome Friedman
- Victor Fuchs
- David Fuente
- Millard Fuller
- Orit Gadiesh
- Robert Gallucci
- George Gallup
- Pamela Brooks Gann
- Jacques Gansler
- Juliet Garcia
- Howard Gardner
- David Garrow
- Gordon Gee
- Murray Gell-Mann
- Tom Gerety
- Gordon Giffin
- Edes Gilbert
- Mark Gill
- Nathan Glazer
- Rick Goings
- Buck Goldstein
- Jerry Goodman
- Jamie Gorelick
- Robert Graham
- Lino Graglia
- Sir Jeremy Greenstock
- David Gross
- Os Guinness
- Nicky Gumbel
- Sidney Gutierrez
- Amy Gutman
- Charles Haar
- Tony Hall
- Gary Hamel
- James Hamilton
- Michael Hammer
- Lloyd Hand
- Charles Handy
- Joseph Hankin
- David Hardesty
- Sidney Harman
- Kevin Hasson
- Frederick Hauck
- Gary Haugen
- Michael Helfer
- Robert Henry
- Robert Herres
- Regina Herzlinger
- Jack Hidary
- Virgil Hill
- Danny Hillis
- Susan Hockfield
- Jim Hodges
- Jeffrey Hoffman
- Larry Hoffman
- Michael Hoffman
- Thomas Hogan
- Lord (Clive) Hollick
- Ernest Hollings
- Linwood Holton
- Denise Page Hood
- Robert Hormats
- Freeman Hrabowski
- Kenneth Hubbard
- Russell Hulse
- Reed Hundt
- David Ifshin
- Fred Ikle
- Neville Isdell
- Shirley Jackson
- Thomas Jackson
- Thomas Penfield Jackson
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson
- Kay Jamison
- Kristina Johnson
- Luke Timothy Johnson
- Norman Johnson
- Alan Jones
- Alex Jones
- Gregory Jones
- Michael Josephson
- Henry Juszkiewicz
- Max Kampleman
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter
- Robert Kaplan
- Richard Karlgaard
- Henry Kaufman
- Jonathan Kemper
- Nannerl Keohane
- Wolfgang Ketterle
- Ronald Klain
- Joel Klein
- John Klotsche
- James Koch
- Lawrence Korb
- Susan Koch
- Philip Kotler
- Michael Kremer
- Madeleine Kunin
- Harold Kushner
- Andrew Lack
- Richard Lamm
- Brian Lang
- Leon Lederman
- Liza Lee
- Nicky Lee
- Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot
- Roderick von Lipsey
- Bruce Llewellyn
- Michael Lomax
- James Lovell
- James Lowry
- Eugene Ludwig
- Manuel Lujan
- Thomas Lynch
- Ray Mabus
- Robert MacCrate
- Frederic Malek
- Charles Manatt
- Robert Marbut
- Rudolph Marcus
- Lynn Martin
- Marilyn Marks
- Doug Marlette
- Martin Marty
- Walter Massey
- Sir Deryck Maughn
- Willam Maynes
- William McBride
- Bruce McCandless
- Alonzo McDonald
- Margaret McKeown
- Vanzetta Penn McPherson
- Wilbur Meier, Jr.
- William Meninger
- Robert Merton
- Danny Meyer
- Abner Mikva
- Vicki Miles-LaGrange
- David Miliband
- Newton Minow
- Patricia Mitchell
- Judith Mohraz
- Les Moonves
- John Morgridge
- Charles Murray
- John Mutz
- Ferdinand Nadherny
- Janet Napolitano
- George Nelson
- Howard Nemerovski
- Arnold Nemirow
- William Neukom
- Joseph Newhouse
- Peter Norton
- Elizabeth Nosworthy
- Michael Novak
- Bill Nye
- Joseph Nye, Jr.
- Louis Oberdorfer
- Philip Odeen
- George Olah
- Candice Carpenter Olson
- John O'Neil
- Elaine Pagels
- Luis Palau
- Alan Patricof
- Andrew Peacock
- Arno Penzias
- Martin Perl
- William Perry
- Mike Peters
- William Phillips
- Michael Porter
- David Pryor
- Norman Ramsey
- William Raspberry
- Steven Rattner
- Robert Richardson
- Richard Riley
- Charles Robb
- Jim Rogers
- Robert Rogers
- Irwin Rose
- Kenneth Rogoff
- Paul Roney
- Michael Rothschild
- Peter Rummell
- George Rupp
- John Ryan
- John Sall
- Mark Sanford
- Lamin Sanneh
- Roger Sant
- Wally Schirra, Jr.
- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
- Kurt Schmoke
- Robert Schuller, Jr.
- Gregory Scott
- Bob Scott
- Allen Sessoms
- Jeffrey Shafer
- Judith Shapiro
- William Sharpe
- Dal Shealy
- John Sherrill
- Gary Shilling
- Muriel Siebert
- Thomas Siebert
- Betty Siegel
- Ruth Simmons
- Alan K. Simpson
- Rodney Slater
- Steven Smith
- Gillian Sorenson
- Michael Starbird
- Carl Stern, Jr.
- Paula Stern
- Jeff Stiefler
- Joseph Stiglitz
- Marcelo Suarez-Orozco
- Michael Sugrue
- Frank Sullivan
- Lawrence Summers
- Strobe Talbott
- Richard Taylor
- Shashi Tharoor
- Garrett Thornburg
- Dick Thornburgh
- Linwood Thompson
- James Thomson
- Richard Thornburgh
- Thomas Tierney
- Tyler Tingley
- Andrew Tobias
- Curtis Tompkins
- Nina Totenberg
- Leonard Tow
- Eugene Trani
- David Trimble
- Sherry Turkle
- Ted Turner
- Carole Uhrich
- Michael Useem
- Peter Vermilye
- Tom Vilsack
- Miroslav Volf
- Patricia Wald
- Jane Wales
- Jay Walker
- Jeffrey Walker
- Peter Wallison
- Diana Chapman Walsh
- Robson Walton
- Robert Waterman
- Harrison Wellford
- Ruth Westheimer
- Drew Westen
- Josh Weston
- Anthony Welters
- Willis Whichard
- John White
- Peter White
- Wendell Willkie
- William Winter
- Tim Wirth
- Mark Wolf
- Richard Wood
- Susan Webber Wright
- Alan Wurtzel
- Philip Yancey
- Daniel Yergin
- Ed Yoder
- Sergio Zyman