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Regina Hubard 220x220 - A Transformative Year for ConcordiaBy Regina Hubard
Executive Director, Concordia

After a year of preparation, Concordia held its fifth annual Summit on October 1-2, 2015 in New York City. From the unveiling of our 2015 Partnership Index rankings to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s inspiring and timely remarks, Concordia featured an incredibly diverse program this year.

Having attended every Summit, first as an attendee and now as staff, I have witnessed the Summit’s evolution over the past five years. Our Co-Founders, Matthew Swift and Nicholas Logothetis, have led the way in growing a 150-person conference focused on security policy in 2011 to a 1,000-person global affairs forum promoting some of the most successful public-private partnerships around the world. Though our Summit continues to serve as our signature event year to year, Concordia has developed into more than an annual forum. We have expanded our member events year-round, created a research branch to support our convening power, and established an issue-specific campaign series.

In addition to highlighting Concordia’s research and our newly launched Anti-Labor Trafficking Campaign, the Summit also serves as an opportunity to showcase effective and efficient public-private partnerships through the P3 Impact Award. Concordia, UVA’s Darden School of Business Institute for Business in Society, and the Secretary’s Office for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State were proud to announce TV White Space as this year’s winner. The 2015 Summit also featured our first-ever media partnership with Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance. Through this partnership, Yahoo moderated several panels, livestreamed all plenary sessions on its website, and interviewed several speakers such as: John P. Bilbrey, CEO, The Hershey Company; Ken Powell, CEO, General Mills; and Viktor Yushchenko, former President, Ukraine.

With many new faces in attendance and so many topical issues explored, the 2015 Summit was a transformative event in many ways. As we begin plans for the 2016 Summit, I look forward to delving deeper into specific global issues, continuing to improve and expand our programming, and learning how we can better promote the importance of cross-sector collaboration.