After three days of impactful sessions involving leading experts from across the globe, the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit came to a close last week with its best showing yet. This year, 300 speakers from 49 different countries joined us in conversations across 106 mainstage sessions, including 9 sitting Heads of State and 58 partner organizations. In total, Concordia convened over 3,600 attendees representing 112 countries – our most to date across the board.
Demonstrating the impact of Concordia’s convening power, we arewere proud to have provided a platform for the meaningful announcements and highlights outlined below. For a more in-depth look, all summit sessions can be viewed publicly on the @ConcordiaSummit YouTube channel, while onsite photos can be found here.
Concordia’s impact over the past 14 years is a testament to the caliber and collective willpower of our community. To experience more of what the Concordia network has to offer, we invite you to explore membership and partnership opportunities for year-round and tailored engagement. And stay tuned for the announcement of our 2025 programming as we ramp up for a special 15th-anniversary year ahead in our mission to foster meaningful, cross-sector collaboration for market-driven solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.
Highlights from the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit
- The Diana Award was joined by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex as young people took center-stage to drive a global movement of young activists from across the world for the organization’s Decade of Youth Wellbeing launch. This session was made possible by Lead Sponsor ServiceNow.
- London was announced as the 2025 Concordia Europe Summit host city on stage with The Rt Hon Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Concordia Co-founder Nicholas Logothetis. Taking place in late spring, summit programming will be announced in the coming months.
- Concordia hosted nine sitting Heads of State, including: H.E. Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Kingdom of Denmark; H.E. Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq; H.E. Lai Ching-Te, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan); H.E. Santiago Peña, President of the Republic of Paraguay; H.E. José Raúl Mulino, President of the Republic of Panama; H.E. Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic; H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana; The Hon. Philip Davis, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas; and The Hon. Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada; as well as opposition leaders including: María Corina Machado, Leader of the Venezuelan Democratic Movement who spoke with Concordia CEO Matthew Swift; and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the National Leader of Belarus, the Head of the United Transition Cabinet, and the President-elect of Belarus.
- Concordia convened a bipartisan slate of U.S. government leaders, including: The Hon. Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York (D); The Hon. Chris Coons, U.S. Senator of Delaware (D); The Hon. Bill Cassidy, U.S. Senator of Louisiana (R); The Hon. Chrissy Houlahan, U.S. Congresswoman of Pennsylvania (D); The Hon. Mike Waltz, U.S. Congressman of Florida (R); and Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross (R); as well as U.S. Military officials such as: Adm. Christopher Grady, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff of U.S. Department of Defense; and Gen. Andrew P. Poppas, Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces Command.
- The Challenge Initiative was named Concordia’s 2024 P3 Impact Award winner. TCI revolutionizes family planning by addressing the rapid urbanization in Africa and Asia. The P3 Impact Award is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and Concordia.
- The recipients of the 2024 Concordia Leadership Award were Mr. Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, for the nonprofit sector; Dr. Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, for the private sector; and H.E. Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, for the public sector.
- American singer-songwriter Ava Max was joined by former Colombian President, H.E. Iván Duque to discuss the evolving role of AI in music. Ava’s platform emphasized preserving human creativity, strengthening legal protections for artists, ensuring fair compensation for AI training use, mitigating job losses in the entertainment industry, and protecting the creative integrity of artists.
- Grammy Nominated and RIAA Diamond Certified Recording Artist Aloe Blacc, Founder of Major Inc, spoke on the importance of utilizing music and culture to create lasting social impact.
- As part of its Human Rights & Social Progress track, Concordia launched its inaugural LGBTQIA+ panel focused on LGBTQIA+ representation in government, featuring former Captain Regent of San Marino H.E. Paolo Rondelli, the first openly LGBTQIA+ head of state, The Hon. Assemblywoman Luanne M. Peterpaul, Esq., the first out gay woman elected to the New Jersey Legislature (LD-11), President of Log Cabin Republicans Charles Moran, Executive Director, Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors Fabrice Houdart, and moderator Dr. Shereen El Feki, Associate Fellow, Chatham House.
- African Parks, the South African based conservation NGO currently managing over 49 million acres in partnership with governments and communities in countries in Africa, announced a one-billion-dollar initiative to scale conservation efforts across the continent, before the end of the decade in 6 years.
- Factor H La Luz Caregivers Programme won The Amgen Prize, administered in collaboration with MIT Solve, and will be awarded $150,000 in funding to further scale their innovative solution for practical, financial and emotional support for the caregivers of people with Huntington’s Disease in Venezuela.
- iDE Global, a team of 1,200 changemakers coming from diverse backgrounds within international development and the private sector, announced its Project Fury initiative to empower one million women entrepreneurs and impact 100 million people in their communities.
- Abbott and Seed Global Health announced the launch of a new partnership to train and support highly skilled health workers to help advance maternal and child health in Malawi. With Abbott’s support, Seed Global Health will collaborate with Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) to establish a Maternal Health Center of Excellence at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital over the next two years.
- The Eleanor Crook Foundation announced the creation of the James P. Grant Child Survival Award, which recognizes contemporary leaders for their achievements in scaling child survival solutions. The award honors the legacy of the late James P. Grant, former Executive Director of UNICEF from 1980-1995 and a tireless advocate for children and the expansion of lifesaving interventions.
- Prosper Africa announced two catalytic capital awards to funds that focus on resilient infrastructure and adaptation finance in Africa. Together with U.S. and International institutional investor communities, these awards will catalyze over $800M in private capital.
- Amazon Frontlines was announced as the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s 2024 Humanitarian Prize recipient for driving climate progress, mobilizing local leadership, and fostering international partnerships to protect the Amazon.
- The Rockefeller Foundation highlighted its recent support of the Mission 300 initiative with The World Bank to provide improved electricity access to 300 million Africans by 2030.
- Calamos Investments President & CEO John Koudounis hosted a private reception with remarks from newly appointed Concordia Leadership Council Member The Rt Hon the Baroness Theresa May of Maidenhead.
- George Logothetis, Executive Chairman of Founding Concordia Sponsor Libra Group, gave remarks on faith, hope, and leadership, emphasizing the need for having “faith in faith” when fostering cross-sector partnerships for social impact.
- Drax has created a new type of energy company, Elimini, which will deploy biomass power plants with built-in carbon capture technologies. This groundbreaking technology will play a critical role in the sustainable energy mix needed to power our future.
- The Commonwealth Fund highlighted its report, Mirror, Mirror 2024 which compares health system performance in 10 countries, including the United States, to glean insights for U.S. improvement.
- In advance of World Heart Day, the World Heart Federation hosted a panel discussion which offered insights and strategies to ensure that cardiovascular disease action plans not only exist on paper but are effectively implemented to make a tangible impact on CVD outcomes.
- Concordia announced the new Concordia Youth Initiative which will provide teenagers and young adults with a platform that allows their voices to be heard by influential stakeholders capable of driving meaningful change.
- The new @ConcordiaSummit TikTok account launched in collaboration with Principal Programming Sponsor TikTok, which highlighted the need for digital well-being on stage.