The evening celebrated:
Phil Laskawy, for the leadership culture he developed as Chairman and CEO at Ernst & Young, with a particular focus on building an inclusive work environment for women and minority employees, as well as for his civic leadership roles in the New York City arts community.
Jonathan Tisch, Co-Chairman of Loews Corporation and Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotel, who is one of the city's champions of corporate responsibility. In addition to his long history of community and philanthropic activities, most recently Mr. Tisch authored a new book, Citizen You, about the need for "active citizenship," a new style of social activism that uses creativity and grassroots participation to solve seemingly intractable problems.
Jessamyn Waldman, an alumna of Coro's
Immigrant Civic Leadership Program (ICLP) and founder of
Hot Bread Kitchen, a working bakery which hires and trains immigrant women to bake artisanal breads of their countries of origin. Ms. Waldman credited her Coro training with helping her to develop the vision and the confidence to launch the social enterprise.
American Express, one of the few companies whose commitment to leadership extends to its meaningful philanthropy. One of the company's primary giving platforms focuses on training high potential emerging leaders to tackle important issues in the 21st century.
We also heard from several alumni from our Exploring Leadership program, which equips New York City high school students to identify and tackle vital issues in their school communities, who shared their inspiring visions for the future:
- "to build a group of young male activists in Crown Heights, Brooklyn"
- "to challenge the city to use its school progress reports to improve both teaching and learning"
-"to partner their school with an arts education organization so that their classmates become the creatively-minded citizens that New York City needs"
- "to create a model for successful athletic programs in small campus schools in New York City"
Through their voices, we were reminded that in a city as complex as ours, leadership does not just come from our elected officials or chief executives.
