The Aspen Institute, Inc.

Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, The Aspen Institute, Inc. (Aspen Institute) and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry, enlightened leadership, and an appreciation for common values.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Institute has offices in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore, as well as a formidable international network. This network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership programs in Africa, Central America, and India.

The Institute's Policy Programs have achieved an international reputation for fostering impartial and constructive dialogue on significant policy issues, to improve public- and private-sector policy decision making. Through a variety of activities, these programs help leaders understand critical issues and choices, including the competing values that inform these choices, in order to encourage more informed, values-based policy making.

A key example is the Institute program Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative (EGI), which seeks to integrate human rights norms and standards into a more ethical globalization process. EGI also supports local and national human rights capacity-building efforts using the New Partnership for Africa's Development as a case study. In a rapidly globalizing world, it is important to make sure governments uphold their commitments to the legal framework of human rights. The program is directed by Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and, more recently, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Aspen Institute seminars start where traditional leadership programs leave off, bringing together diverse groups of experienced leaders to learn from each other and from the greatest thinkers and leaders of all time. In an environment conducive to reflection and dialogue, participants wrestle with fundamental questions about the nature of value-centered leadership. Skilled moderators lead small groups in Socratic, roundtable discussions. Through this experience, participants come to a new awareness of the organizations they lead and the values they find important—returning to their organizations with renewed energy, inspiration, and commitment.

The Institute also hosts a variety of public programs, including a six-day Aspen Idea Festival, the McCloskey Summer Speaker Series in Aspen, and monthly book and roundtable series in Washington, D.C. Other programs in Aspen, which are open to the public throughout the year, include free lectures and seminars for adults and high school students, book discussions, foreign policy discussions, and special events.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, chair of the Aspen Institute’s Partners for a New Beginning (PNB), speaks with Turkish business and civil society leaders at a preliminary PNB meeting in Turkey in December 2010. Photo courtesy of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.