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About Us
Beginning with a membership of 100 of the area's top business and professional leaders, the Club was a immediate success and, subsequently, its membership was expanded to over 500 men and women. Established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, the Club has two primary purposes. First, it offers a forum in which prominent business and government leaders can express their views on the most important economic issues of the day and how those issues affect the region, the Nation, and the world. Second, and equally important, it generates and promotes a greater sense of community among business leaders, government officials, and members of the diplomatic corps. Since the speaker series was inaugurated in 1986, the Club has presented Cabinet officers and other high officials of the U.S. and foreign governments, heads of major U.S. and foreign corporations, noted economists, leaders in the media, and authors as speakers at its events.
Among the recent speakers who have addressed the Club are: The Right Honorable Tony Blair, Former British Prime Minister and Quartet Representative to the Middle East. Titans of industry who were featured speakers included Bill Gates, co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft and current co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Daniel Akerson, CEO of General Motors, and Ted Leonsis, Founder, Chairman, Majority Owner and CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric, represented both private and public through his recent appointment as Chairman of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Figures from the world of politics were Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee; The Honorable Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC; The Honorable Jacob Lew, Director, OMB, and Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), leaders of the “Gang of Six.” A political analysis panel comprised of Mark Halperin, Senior Political Analyst, MSNBC and TIME Magazine; Claire Shipman, Senior National Correspondent, ABC News, and Jim VandeHei, Co-Founder, POLITICO addressed the Economic Club in November. Speakers from the recent past include: President Bush, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson; Peter G. Peterson, Senior Chairman & Co-Founder, The Blackstone Group; Robert Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury and Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Citigroup; Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board; Richard Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner; Kenneth Chenault, Chairman and CEO of the American Express Company; Henry R. Kravis, Principal of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company; Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank; Jamie Dimon, Chairman of the Board and CEO of JPMorgan Chase; Dr. Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University; and Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Google. OFFICERS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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Organized in 1986, the Economic Club of Washington was established in recognition of the unique and critical role that Washington plays in the national and world economies and because of the Washington metropolitan area's increasing economic diversity and importance as a center of business activity.