| Academy of Achievement | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1961 |
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., USA |
| Chairman & CEO | Wayne R. Reynolds |
| Vice Chairman | Catherine B. Reynolds[1][2] |
| Website | www.achievement.org |
The Academy of Achievement is a United States-based non-profit organization that aims to bring high profile, successful people from various fields together with "young achievers" to inspire them to succeed. The Academy was founded in 1961 by Hy Peskin (who later changed his name) and is now run by his son, Wayne Reynolds. The organization is based in Washington, D.C. and holds its "International Achievement Summit" in a different city each year.
The organization presents its annual "Golden Plate" award to high achieving individuals. Notable recipients of the award include Barack Obama, Jonas Salk,[3] Ronald Reagan,[4] Maya Angelou,[5] Desmond Tutu and Steve Jobs.[6]
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The Academy held its first annual International Achievement Summit in 1999 in Budapest, Hungary. The forum continues to be held every year and gives exceptional graduate students the opportunity to interact one-on-one with Nobel Prize-winners in the arts and sciences, public servants, prize-winning journalists, explorers, humanitarians, financiers, athletes, and entertainers. The Academy invites the leaders in these categories to attend the Summit and address the students at a series of symposiums and roundtable discussions. Approximately 50 men and women, 30 distinguished previous awardees and 20 new members, interact with 200 domestic and international graduate students over the course of several days in an informal setting.
The Academy’s Golden Plate Awards Council annually reviews a broad spectrum of candidates for invitation to the Summit. From this list, the Awards Council, which is composed of past honorees of the Academy, selects the 20 new Academy guests of honor.
The Academy of Achievement launched its series of International Achievement Summits in Budapest, Hungary in June 1999, and subsequent summits were held in London, England (2000), Dublin, Ireland (2002), Washington, D.C. (2003),[7] Chicago, Illinois (2004),[8] New York City (2005), Los Angeles, California (2006), Washington, D.C. (2007), Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (2008), Cape Town and Singita Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa (2009) and Washington, D.C. (2010).
The graduate student attendees of the International Achievement Summit are selected through a roster of recipients of scholarship and exchange programs like Rhodes, Fulbright, Gates, Marshall, Soros and Hughes.[7] The faculty of colleges and universities like Harvard Law, Wharton Business, MIT, Georgetown, Oxford, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins also nominate student delegates for the International Achievement Summit.[7] Notable student delegates include:
In July 2007, The Washington Post reported that the Academy shares office space and staff with EduCap, a non-profit company that has sold 350,000 private student loans.[9] The Post said the Academy is one of the largest beneficiaries of the non-profit, which as a legal entity combines three organizations: the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, EduCap, and Loan to Learn.[9] EduCap pays Catherine Reynolds about $1 million per year in compensation and donated at least $9 million to the Academy which then paid her husband Wayne Reynolds at least $1.7 million through his for-profit ASC Management Co.[9]
In about 2006, as reported by CBS 60 Minutes in a segment in 2009 called "Who Is Catherine Reynolds?", Catherine Reynolds, who as an accountant is responsible for EduCap's success, withdrew a gift of $38 million from the Smithsonian Institution when her idea for a "Hall of Achievement" exhibition based on the "individual" was rejected.[10] She instead gave $100 million to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[10] Ralph Nader thinks the Smithsonian sold out to corporate interests (for example: Ralph Lauren, Lockheed Martin and Orkin Pest Control) and that criticism of Reynolds is unfair.[10] CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported that "Educap is under investigation by the IRS and Congress for alleged abuse of its tax-exempt status because it charges high interest on charitable student loans, and provides lavish perks with millions in compensation for Reynolds and her husband".[11]