The Richardson Center’s 2015 Generational Ambassadors Conference – Social Enterprise as a Bridge to Regional Cooperation – took place in Boston, MA from November 9-11, 2015 as part of a series of conferences that bring together emerging leaders from the United States’ long-standing allies: Egypt, Israel, and Turkey. Those individuals serve as ‘Generational Ambassadors’, representing their generation’s hopes and aspirations (as well as their countries). These ambassadors advocate for advancing social and economic opportunities for the region’s younger generations, by practicing generational solidarity and supporting a sustainable approach to regional inclusion and cooperation.
The 2015 Conference, in partnership with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, brought together a select group of leading Egyptian, Israeli and Turkish social entrepreneurs to discuss their mutual challenges and opportunities both professionally and regionally. Participants spent a week in Boston and Cambridge, and had the exceptional opportunity to meet and engage with some of the world’s leading experts, practitioners and investors in the field of social enterprise including:
- Governor Bill Richardson
- The Honorable Yehuda Yaakov – Consul General to New England, The State of Israel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- The Honorable Ömür Budak – Consul General to Boston, Republic of Turkey – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Professor Thomas R. Eisenmann – Faculty Co-Chair of the HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School
- Professor Richard E. Cavanagh – Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School
- Mr. Doug Rauch – Founder & President, Daily Table
- Ms. Stephanie Dodson and Ms. Stephanie Khurana – Managing Directors, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
- Mr. David Dolev – Assistant Director, MIT – International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI)
- Mr. Matt Segneri – Director, Social Enterprise Initiative, Harvard Business School
- Ms. Hala Khoursheed – MIT Mobile Experience Lab
Building off of the incredible momentum of this conference, the Generational Ambassadors Program will be holding two conferences in the coming year around innovation and mutual regional challenges.