Dr. Kurt Bock

Former Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, BASF SE

Executive Leaders / $35,000+

DETAILS

• Prominent table for ten, preferred seating area
• A half-page, color advertisement in the gala program booklet
• Logo listed prominently in the gala program booklet

Register Download RSVP Form

Business / $15,000+

DETAILS

• Seating for up to five guests
• Name listed in the gala program booklet

Register Download RSVP Form

Individual / $1,500+

DETAILS

• Single seat
• Name listed in the gala program booklet

Register Download RSVP Form

Carol Tecla Christ

Honorary Co-Chair

Carol Tecla Christ began her term as the 11th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley on July 1, 2017. A celebrated scholar of Victorian literature, Christ is also well known as an advocate for quality, accessible public higher education, a proponent of the value of a broad education in the liberal arts and sciences, and a champion of women’s issues and diversity on college campuses.

MORE

Christ spent more than three decades as a professor and administrator at UC Berkeley before serving as president of Smith College (2002-2013). She returned to Berkeley in 2015 to direct the campus’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, and was named chancellor in 2017. At Berkeley, Christ has played an instrumental role in efforts to stabilize the institution’s budget, confront sexual violence and sexual harassment on campus, create a long-term plan for housing students and scholars, and more.

Christ has won numerous awards and accolades over her career. Most recently, she was awarded a Doctor of Letters, American College of Greece (honorary), 2011; Doctor of Humane Letters, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (honorary), 2013; and Fellow, American Philosophical Society, 2013. She currently sits on the boards of Sarah Lawrence College, Central European University, the Marlboro Music School and Festival and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.

Ron Daniels

Honorary Co-Chair

Ronald J. Daniels became the 14th president of The Johns Hopkins University in March 2009. Previously, he was provost and professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania (2005-2009) and dean and James M. Tory Professor of Law at the University of Toronto (1995-2005).

MORE

Since arriving at Johns Hopkins, President Daniels has focused his leadership on three overarching themes: enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration, increased student accessibility, and community engagement. As Chair of the Executive Committee for Johns Hopkins Medicine, he works closely with the trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine, serving as a bridge between the university and health system.

Richard Grenell

Honorary Co-Chair

Richard A. Grenell arrived in Germany on May 8, 2018 and presented his credentials to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier the same day.

Grenell was a Partner with Los Angeles-based Capitol Media Partners. He has served as a senior policy and communications advisor for public officials at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as for a Fortune 300 ranked company.

MORE

Grenell is the longest serving U.S. spokesman and political appointee at the UN in history having served from 2001-2008. In 2012, Grenell briefly served as Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney’s National Security and Foreign Affairs Spokesman. His appointment made him the first openly gay spokesman for a Republican Presidential candidate. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and advised four U.S. Ambassadors – John D. Negroponte, John C. Danforth, John R. Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad in the eight years at the UN. Grenell was also appointed in 2004 as an Alternate Representative to the UN Security Council with full voting rights and privileges.

Grenell served as the United States Spokesman during the world body’s most turbulent time. He led communications strategies on issues such as the war on terrorism, peacekeeping operations, the conflict in the Middle East, nuclear proliferation, Israel’s security and the UN’s Oil for Food Corruption investigation, to name a few.

Prior to his tenure at the UN, Grenell served as a spokesman for New York Governor George Pataki’s Administration, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, Congressman Mark Sanford and Congressman Dave Camp, former Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Grenell has also served as the spokesman for many state and federal political candidates including three U.S. Presidential campaigns.

Grenell has written for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CBSNews, CNN and the Washington Times. Grenell’s twitter feed was hailed by Time Magazine as one of the Top 10 Political sites in 2014.

Grenell taught at The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications and was an Advisory Board Member of Newsmax Media. He also previously served on the Langley Intelligence Group Advisory Board.

Grenell received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and his Bachelor’s Degree in Government and Public Administration from Evangel College.

Emily Margarethe Haber

Honorary Co-Chair

Emily Margarethe Haber has been German Ambassador to the United States since June 2018.

Immediately prior to this, Haber, a career foreign service officer, was deployed to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, serving as State Secretary overseeing security and migration at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. In this capacity, she worked closely with the US administration on topics ranging from the fight against international terrorism to global cyberattacks and cybersecurity.

MORE

In 2009, she was appointed Political Director and, in 2011, State Secretary at the Foreign Office, the first woman to hold either post. Earlier in her career, she served at the German Embassy in Ankara; in Berlin, she has served as Deputy Head of the Cabinet and Parliamentary Liaison Division, as Director of the OSCE Division, and as Deputy Director-General for the Western Balkans. Emily Haber has extensive knowledge of the Soviet Union and Russia, having worked both in the Soviet Union Division at the German Foreign Office and, on various occasions, at the German Embassy in Moscow, where she served as Head of the Economic Affairs Section and Head of the Political Affairs Department.

Emily Haber attended schools in New Delhi, Bonn, Paris, Brussels, Washington, and Athens. From 1975 to 1980, she studied history and ethnology in Cologne, earning her PhD with a dissertation on German foreign policy during the Morocco crisis on the eve of World War I.

Emily Haber is married to Hansjörg Haber. The couple has two sons.

Christoph Heusgen

Honorary Co-Chair

Ambassador Christoph Heusgen was appointed Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations on July 26, 2017. Prior to this appointment and since 2005, Heusgen was the Foreign Policy and Security Adviser to his country’s Federal Chancellor, Angela Merkel. He served as Director and Head of the Policy Unit for High Representative Javier Solana in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union from 1999 to 2005.

MORE

Between 1988 and 1999, Heusgen served in various capacities at the Foreign Office in Bonn, including Deputy Director-General for European Affairs from 1997 to 1999; Head of Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel’s Private Office in charge of European Affairs from 1993 to 1997, serving as Deputy Head since 1994. From 1990 and 1992, he was Deputy Head of the special section in charge of negotiations on the Treaty of Maastricht. He held the position of Private Secretary to the Coordinator for German-French Relations from 1988 to 1990.

From 1986 to 1988, Heusgen worked in Germany’s Paris Embassy, having begun his foreign service career in the Press and Economic Affairs Office of his country’s Consulate in Chicago, where he worked from 1983 to 1986. He joined the foreign service in 1980.

Heusgen is a graduate of the University of Saint Gallen in Switzerland, and Georgia South College in the United States. He earned a post-graduate degree from the University of Saint Gallen in 1980.

Rick Snyder

Honorary Co-Chair

Rick Snyder is Michigan’s 48th governor. When he assumed office in 2011, he pledged a commonsense approach to governing that focused on working together to find solutions for the state’s toughest problems. With the self-proclaimed moniker “one tough nerd,” Governor Snyder has focused on making government more efficient and effective for Michigan’s residents. In the past seven and a half years, the state has passed eight balanced budgets, eliminated a $1.5 billion deficit and reformed burdensome tax and regulatory codes that were stifling business growth and job creation.

MORE

Raised in a Battle Creek home known for a strong work ethic and service to others, Governor Snyder’s upbringing has aided in leading the state’s comeback. After graduating the University of Michigan, he joined accounting firm PwC (formerly Coopers & Lybrand). Following a successful career as partner at Coopers & Lybrand, Governor Snyder joined Gateway as President and COO. He later returned to Michigan to cofound an Ann Arbor-based venture capital fund.

Governor Snyder’s background as a successful job creator has helped him better serve Michigan, producing results that earned him ‘Public Official of the Year’ in 2014 from GOVERNING magazine. The Governor’s “Relentless Positive Action” has brought solutions to pressing problems and renewed optimism in Michigan’s future, setting the state on the best possible path for a future of endless prosperity.

Philip J. Murphy

Phil Murphy was elected as New Jersey’s 56th governor in 2017 after serving as U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 2009 to 2013. Governor Murphy, as he says, “grew up in a family that was middle class on a good day.” That has shaped his values, his priorities, and the kind of governor he will be.

MORE

Governor Murphy put himself through Harvard on loans and part-time jobs. After earning a graduate degree at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he started his career at the bottom, working his way up to help lead a major international business by learning how economies grow and create jobs.

He has helped lead local charities to support troubled teens and domestic abuse survivors, and these groups have changed thousands of lives for the better. Nationally, Phil served proudly as New Jersey’s sole representative on the board of the NAACP, the world’s oldest civil rights organization. He served as Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee, helping Howard Dean on the “Fifty-State Strategy” that rebuilt the Democratic Party from the grassroots up. He also has led national and state task forces on education and public employee pensions and benefits.

In 2009, Phil answered President Obama’s call to service and became the U.S. Ambassador to Germany after his confirmation by the U.S. Senate. After returning home in 2013, Phil and his wife, Tammy, saw their state falling behind. They couldn’t sit by and watch hard working families struggling to stay even, much less get ahead. They founded New Start New Jersey as a “think and do” organization to rebuild the state’s economy from the middle class out. New Start New Jersey partnered with the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University to create the New Start Career Network, which is helping older, long-term unemployed residents once again actively compete for good jobs.