Founded | 2011 |
---|---|
Founders | Matthew A. Swift & Nicholas M. Logothetis |
Location |
|
Website | https://www.concordia.net/ |
Concordia is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is best known for its Annual Summit in New York City, which is a global affairs forums that promotes partnering between governments, businesses, and nonprofits to address the world's most pressing needs.
Concordia was founded in 2011 by Matthew Swift and Nicholas Logothetis. They had been best friends since high school, where they were business partners in a successful food purveyor enterprise. [1] [2] Both attended university in Washington, D.C., and both had a background in journalism, media, politics, and international affairs. [3] [1] [4] [5] [6] Noting the effectiveness of the formats of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council and the Clinton Global Initiative, [7] [2] they founded Concordia as a nonprofit organization that helps develop public-private partnerships (P3s), in the belief that the most effective and sustainable way to find solutions to pressing global issues is through cooperation between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. [8] [1] [9]
In light of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Swift and Logothetis formulated their first concept as "Building Partnerships Against Extremism", [10] and focused the first Concordia Summit, in September 2011, on combating the root causes of extremism – failing states, poverty, and lack of education – through dialogue and partnering between businesses, governments, and NGOs. [7] [1]
Concordia continues to convene a large annual summit each fall in New York City during the week of the United Nations General Assembly, as a gathering place for world leaders, business leaders, innovators, and nonprofit personnel to discuss and foster cross-sector partnership to address the world's most pressing problems. [3] [11] [2] Along with these annual summits and additional regional summits, its year-round activities include events programming in diverse areas, targeted social-impact campaigns, and research into public-private partnerships. [12] [8]
Concordia engages year-round in activities including programming, research, and campaigns. [12] [8] Its ongoing events programming, in which it partners with members, advisors, and other organizations to achieve meaningful solutions, encompasses areas including: [13] [14]
Concordia also engages in focused longterm social-impact campaigns, in areas that include ensuring sustainable food supply, and combating labor trafficking. [13] [14] [15] [8] The campaigns bring together public-sector partners, corporate partners, NGO partners, and academic partners, to raise awareness, generate research, and provide meaningful and sustainable social impact. [16]
The organization also produces and contributes to research projects related to campaigns and other endeavors. [3] [17] These include the Concordia Partnership Index, a series of online dashboards and research papers to equip governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations with analytical tools to effectively evaluate global partnership environments; [4] it ranks countries based on their readiness and need to engage in public-private partnerships, and includes indicators based on need. [13] [14] [18] [19] [8]
Concordia held its inaugural summit in New York City in September 2011. The focus of the summit was the global fight against terrorism, and international efforts to counter the breeding of extremist thought. George W. Bush was the keynote speaker. [20] [1] The event gathered world leaders, diplomats, and business leaders, and provided a platform for dialogue between private and public entities to create partnerships in combating the root causes of extremism. [7] [1] [21] [9] [20] Afterwards, Concordia posted details of three key findings that emerged from the summit concerning combating terrorism and the role of public-private partnerships in doing so. [21]
The 2012 Concordia Summit addressed five key topics: global security, the economy, education, environmental sustainability, and health around the world. [2] Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker of the summit, which convened former and current heads of state, business executives, and nonprofit leaders devoted to promoting public-private partnerships. [2] [22] [23]
The 2013 summit focused on the global issue of youth unemployment. [24] [25] Key participants included corporate executives, international heads of state, public-policy and business scholars, nonprofit leaders, diplomats, journalists, and members of the Obama administration. [25] [26] At the summit, Concordia also released its first Index Report, a composite rating tool covering 17 emerging and growing markets, with case studies into key regions, measuring the readiness and need of a country to engage in public-private partnership activities for positive social and economic impact. [18] [19]
The 2014 Concordia Summit, titled "Scaling Proven Solutions Through Collaboration", focused on how collaboration between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can facilitate large-scale impact by leveraging each sector's unique expertise. [27] The summit, which convened more than 700 former and current heads of state, business executives, and nonprofit leaders, explored the role of public-private partnerships in creating positive social and economic impact in a variety of areas. [28] Subjects discussed included human trafficking, [29] [30] [31] and the partnerships the military engages in to aid communities around the world. [32] Featured speakers during the summit included Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator John McCain, Dr. Mehmet Oz, New York District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James A. Winnefeld Jr. [28] [33] [30] [32] [34]
Concordia's fifth annual summit, held in October 2015, convened hundreds of thought leaders, heads of state, dignitaries, business leaders, and nonprofit/NGO representatives. [35] Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! News filmed and livestreamed the conference online for the first time. [36] The topics discussed included labor trafficking, [37] youth unemployment, [38] [39] [40] transportation infrastructure, [41] global food security, corporate responsibility, and democracy in Latin America. [42] [35] Vice President Joe Biden spoke on political and social issues including corruption, sustainable development, climate change, and America's middle class, [40] [43] [44] and Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in praise of public-private partnerships and on behalf of the State Department's Office of Global Partnerships, noting efforts on several political and material fronts including climate change, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and anti-terrorism. [45]
At the 2016 Concordia Summit, a major topic was the global refugee and migrant crisis. [46] [47] The future of Europe and the European Union (EU) was also discussed, [48] and George Soros was a key speaker on both the EU and the refugee crisis. [49] Warren Buffett spoke about The Giving Pledge and his decision to give half his wealth to philanthropy. [50] Additional discussions covered global healthcare provision, as well as women's health, maternity issues, women's empowerment, and gender equality. [51] [52] [53] Cybersecurity and intellectual property were discussed, [54] [51] and the CEO of Cambridge Analytica spoke on big data, data analytics, and electoral psychographics. [55] [56] The U.S. State Department and Bretton Woods II introduced the Trillion Dollar Challenge: A New Business Model for Investing in Social Impact and Development, intended to help achieve the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, [57] [58] and the United States Council for International Business discussed the role of private businesses in achieving SDGs. [59] [60] A panel called "The New MBA: Business, Partnerships and Tackling Global Challenges" explored MBA programs which emphasize diversity, innovation, sustainability, internationalism, and partnerships. [61] Additional topics included global food supply, waste disposal, [62] human rights and democracy, forced labor and trafficking, and international trade policy. [51] The international political relations of countries such as Cuba and Cyprus were also addressed. [63] [64]
In addition to its annual summits in New York, Concordia introduced Regional Summits beginning in 2016. [65] The first Concordia Americas Summit was held in May 2016 in Miami, Florida. The summit gathered more than 100 world leaders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors to address pressing political and economic issues affecting the Americas, including energy, trade, governance, regional security, democracy, and corruption. [66] [67] [68] One key topic was the Venezuelan crisis, which was discussed by a panel which included Luis Almagro and Lilian Tintori, and in other group discussions which included a variety of Latin American political and business leaders and other experts. [67] [66] [69] A second Concordia Americas Summit was held February 2017 in Bogotá, Colombia. [70] Corruption and accountability, achieving peace, regional investment, and sustainability were among its focuses. [71] [72] [73] Former Colombian Presidents Álvaro Uribe and Andrés Pastrana, as well as business leaders and military leaders, critiqued the current status of the Colombian peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC, [74] [75] [73] and current president Juan Manuel Santos gave the summit's closing remarks. [76] [77] [78] [71] [75]
The first Concordia Europe Summit was held in June 2017 in Athens, Greece. Topics under discussion included the refugee crisis, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), regional security, Brexit, and the future of the European Union. [46] [79] [80] Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke on a variety of topics, including European unity; Russian malfeasance; the refugee crisis; prosperity, security, democracy, and the transatlantic alliance; and global warming. [81] [82] The stability and economic recovery of Greece, and its membership in the EU and the eurozone, were also major subjects of discussion during the summit. [83] [84] [85] [86]
The 2017 Concordia Annual Summit was held in New York City in September 2017. [87] [88]
Concordia operates on other fronts in addition to its summits, events programming, campaigns, and research. It has co-partnered with the Secretary of State's Office of Global Partnerships in Global Partnerships Week each year since its inception in 2014. [89] [90] [91] [58] The forum emphasizes the critical role that public-private partnerships play in diplomacy and development work around the world. [92] [93]
In 2014 Concordia, in conjunction with the University of Virginia Darden School of Business Institute for Business in Society, and the U.S. Department of State Secretary's Office of Global Partnerships, established the annual P3 Impact Award to recognize and honor best examples of public-private partnerships (P3s) that are improving communities and the world in the most impactful ways. [94] [95] [12] [40] The competition also provides thought leadership, generates a database of information, and promotes best practices relevant to public-private partnerships. [40] [96] The inaugural P3 Impact Award was presented at the 2014 Concordia Summit to CocoaLink, a public-private partnership between The Hershey Company, the Ghana Cocoa Board, and the World Cocoa Foundation which uses mobile technology to improve cocoa production and the livelihoods of African cocoa farmers. [97] [98] The 2015 award went to the TV White Space Partnership, a partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ecosystems Improved for Sustainable Fisheries (ECOFISH), the Government of the Philippines, and Microsoft which utilizes unused TV frequencies to send out free internet signals to more than 200,000 individuals in isolated locations. [99] The 2016 award was given to Project Nurture, a partnership between TechnoServe, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Coca-Cola Company which connects mango and passion-fruit farmers in Kenya and Uganda to better markets, including the local Coca-Cola supply chain. [100] [101]
Concordia also presents the Concordia Leadership Award, which recognises global leaders within the public, private, and nonprofit sectors who inspire others through their ability to turn vision into impact. [102] [8] Recipients have included Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who pioneered microfinance and microcredit; [102] Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, for his active commitment to sustainable practices; [103] and Gloria Malone, creator of Teen Mom NYC. [14] [104]
The 2021 Leadership Awards were given to former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, the LEGO Group CEO Niels B. Christiansen, and Justice for Migrant Women Founder & President Mónica Ramírez. [105]
Concordia was co-founded by Matthew A. Swift and Nicholas M. Logothetis. Swift is the organization's chairman and CEO, and Logothetis is its chairman of the board. [14] [13]
Swift and Logothetis had been friends and business partners at Salisbury School, a boarding school in Connecticut, where they ran a highly successful business selling after-school snacks. [1] [106] Swift attended Georgetown University, [5] and Logothetis attended the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. [24] Both Swift and Logothetis spent several years working for subsidiaries of News Corporation, and both have a background in journalism, media, politics, and international affairs. [1] [107] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Concordia has a staff, [108] a board of directors, [109] a Leadership Council, [110] and a group of advisors. [111] [8] George Logothetis, chairman and CEO of the Libra Group, is chairman of Concordia's Leadership Council. [112]
As of 2021, Concordia's Leadership Council [113] consists of:
A public–private partnership is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions. Typically, it involves private capital financing government projects and services up-front, and then drawing revenues from taxpayers and/or users for profit over the course of the PPP contract. Public–private partnerships have been implemented in multiple countries and are primarily used for infrastructure projects. Although they are not necessary, PPPs have been employed for building, equipping, operating and maintaining schools, hospitals, transport systems, and water and sewerage systems.
The Darden School of Business is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Ranked amongst the top business schools in the world, the school offers MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is a forum for the travel and tourism industry. It is made up of members from the global business community and works with governments to raise awareness about the travel and tourism industry. It is known for being the only forum to represent the private sector in all parts of the industry worldwide. Its activities include research on the economic and social impact of the industry and its organisation of global and regional summits focused on issues and developments relevant to the industry.
The Maryland School of Public Policy is one of 14 schools at the University of Maryland, College Park. The school is located inside the Capital Beltway and ranks 16th nationally for schools of public policy according to U.S. News & World Report (2012).
Andrew N. Liveris is an Australian former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. Liveris has been a member of Dow's board of directors since February 2004, CEO since November 2004 and was elected as chairman of the board effective 1 April 2006. Liveris became CEO in 2004 after holding the position of chief operating officer (COO). Afterwards he served as executive chairman of DowDuPont, where he remains a director. He is chairman of the board of Lucid Motors.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was an office new to the Obama Administration, created within the White House, to catalyze new and innovative ways of encouraging government to do business differently. Its first director was the economist Sonal Shah. The final director was David Wilkinson.
In his "A New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, President of the United States Barack Obama stated that "I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." During the speech, he also committed to "host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world".
Libra Group, also known as Libra Holdings, is a privately held international conglomerate operating in a variety of industries. Its 30 operating entities include 20 businesses across six continents, in six sectors: aviation leasing, renewable energy, hotels and hospitality services, real estate, financial services, and maritime and diversified investments.
The R20 – Regions of Climate Action is a non-profit environmental organization founded in September 2011, by former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the support of the United Nations. R20 is a coalition of sub-national governments, private companies, international organizations, NGOs, and academic & financial institutions. Its mission is to accelerate sub-national infrastructure investments in the green economy to meaningfully contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The NGO operates at the sub-national level as R20 believes sub-national governments constitute a powerful force for change and are best positioned to take action & implement green projects.
Bloomberg Philanthropies is a philanthropic organization that encompasses all of the charitable giving of founder Michael R. Bloomberg. Headquartered in New York City, Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses its resources on five areas: the environment, public health, the arts, government innovation and education. According to the Foundation Center, Bloomberg Philanthropies was the 10th largest foundation in the United States in 2015, the last year for which data was available. Bloomberg has pledged to donate the majority of his wealth, currently estimated at more than $54 billion. Patti Harris is the CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
George Michael Logothetis is an American and British businessman. He is from a Greek shipping family, grew up in London and has British citizenship, and has lived in New York City since 2004. He is a US citizen. In 2014 Fortune named him one of its "40 under 40".
Monica Geingos is a Namibian entrepreneur, lawyer and First Lady of Namibia since 2015. She has been a board member and director within many of the country's large companies. She had also chaired the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The Seleni Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to women's physical and mental health, focusing on enhancing the quality of maternal and reproductive mental health. Founded in 2011 by psychotherapist Nitzia Logothetis and her husband George Logothetis, it is headquartered in Manhattan, New York. The institute provides health care, information, support groups, and workshops to women, men and families during the family-building years. The institute also trains mental health professionals in Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) and Perinatal Loss & Grief.
Matthew Ardleigh Swift is an American entrepreneur and nonprofit executive. He is the co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Concordia Summit, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that promotes public-private partnerships between business, government, and nonprofit organizations to address the world's most pressing problems.
The Franklin Project was a policy program of the Aspen Institute from October 2012 to December 2015, that focused on advancing national service in the United States. Walter Isaacson called the project the "biggest idea" to come out of the Aspen Ideas Festival during his tenure as CEO of the Aspen Institute. In January 2016, the project merged with ServiceNation and the Service Year Exchange project of the National Conference on Citizenship to form Service Year Alliance.
The Bloomberg Global Business Forum is an annual event organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charity founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The event is held during the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in each September in New York City as part of Global Goals Week - an annual week-long event for action, awareness, and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Global Entrepreneurship Summit is an annual event organized by the federal government of the United States, in partnership with foreign government hosts. The summit originated from an event organized by the Obama Administration called the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, which was held in April 2010 in Washington, D.C. It brought together entrepreneurs from the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia to discuss the importance of social and economic entrepreneurship, establish entrepreneurship as an important area of policy focus, and strengthen mutually beneficial relationships between entrepreneurs.
Global Goals Week is a shared commitment between a coalition of over 160 partners across all industries, which mobilizes annually in September to bring together communities, demand urgency, and supercharge solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was founded in 2016 by the United Nations Foundation, Project Everyone, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly "High-Level Week" in New York. The week includes events, summits, conferences, forums, workshops, pledges, and other activations in New York, around the world, and online. It usually runs alongside Climate Week NYC, the annual conference of Goalkeepers, Bloomberg Global Business Forum and many other high-level events.
The Partnership for Central America (PCA) is a public–private partnership focused on economic development in the Northern Triangle of Central America to address the economic roots of migration with job creation and social programs. The Partnership is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was launched in May 2021 with Vice President Kamala Harris in support of the White House Call to Action to the Private Sector to Deepen Investment in the Northern Triangle.