2007 Tanenbaum Award Ceremony: Honorees and Lecturer

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Former President William Clinton delivers the 2006 Memorial Lecture

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Thank You!

Tanenbaum's 15th Anniversary Award Ceremony & Memorial Lecture Shatters Past Fundraising Records

A packed house of leaders in business, international relations, politics, religion, and media gathered at the UN for our 15th Anniversary Award Ceremony and Memorial Lecture on the evening of June 4th.

The stellar lineup included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright , former Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead and NBC Today Show news anchor Ann Curry. Albright delivered the keynote and received the Marc H. Tanenbaum Award for the Advancement of Interreligious Understanding. Tanenbaum President Georgette Bennett proudly honored Leadership Council member John Whitehead as a Corporate Bridge Builder and Ann Curry as a Media Bridge Builder. New York State Governor David A. Paterson was the Honorary Chair for the evening.

Tanenbaum friends were out in full force from long-time supporters like Howard Milstein, this year’s Dinner Host, to newer friends like Sopranos star James Gandolfini. Mike Kobold of the Kobold Watch Company offered one of his incredible timepieces for auction to benefit Tanenabum while internationally acclaimed human rights artist Tom Block curated a stunning display of his recent work. Together, they and hundreds of other supporters helped us set a new fundraising record: $650,000!

The night also included a tribute to Tanenabum’s steadfast benefactor and dear friend, founding Board of Directors member Adam Solomon, who passed away suddenly in April at age 55.

Thank you to everyone who supported and attended this exciting event - our best Award Ceremony & Memorial Lecture ever! For those who were unable to attend, check out our photo galleries.

Contact Development Coordinator Zach Larson with any follow-up questions at zlarson@tanenbaum.org or (212) 967-7707 x104. For press inquires, contact Assistant Communications Director Michelle Weber at mweber@tanenbaum.org or (212) 967-7707 x118.

more about our awardees:

The Honorable Madeleine Albright

Madeleine K. Albright is a Principal of The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm, and Chair and Principal of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets.

Dr. Albright was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. In 1997, she was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. As Secretary of State, Dr. Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade and business, labor, and environmental standards abroad.

From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of the President’s Cabinet. She is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.

Dr. Albright co-chairs the UNDP’s Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute and the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security. Dr. Albright earned a B.A. with Honors from Wellesley College, and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government, as well as a Certificate from its Russian Institute.

Her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir, was published in 2003. In 2006, Dr. Albright published The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. Her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership was published in January 2008.

The Honorable John C. Whitehead

John C. Whitehead was born in Evanston, Illinois. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, attended public schools there and graduated from Montclair High School. He lived in nearby Essex Fells until 1985 and has resided in Manhattan since 1989.

Mr. Whitehead graduated from Haverford College in 1943, and served in the U. S. Navy, participating in the invasions of Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. While still in the Navy, Mr. Whitehead was assigned as an instructor at Harvard Business School. He received his M.B.A. degree, with distinction, from Harvard in 1947 and holds honorary degrees from Haverford, Pace, Rutgers, Amherst, Harvard, General Theological Seminary, Berea College and Bates College.

Mr. Whitehead began his professional career in 1947 at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he worked for 38 years. He rose quickly within the company and was named Partner in 1956, and Co-Chairman and Senior Partner in 1976. He has served on the board of numerous companies, and as a Director of the New York Stock Exchange, and Chairman of the Securities Industry Association.

In April 1985, Mr. Whitehead was asked to become Deputy Secretary of State, second-in-command to Secretary George Shultz, and served until January 1989. During this period, he was Acting Secretary of State when Mr. Shultz was away from Washington. Mr. Whitehead was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Reagan.

Since returning to New York from Washington in 1989, he has been active in a number of educational, civic and charitable organizations. He is a former Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the United Nations Association, the International Rescue Committee, International House, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Harvard Board of Overseers, Haverford College, and the Asia Society (not all at the same time). He is presently Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Foundation and is also Co Chairman of the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships and a former Director of Rockefeller University, Lincoln Center Theater, the J. Paul Getty Trust, Outward Bound, the East West Institute and the National Humanities Center. In Washington, Mr. Whitehead is Chairman Emeritus of the Brookings Institution and the Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art.

In late 2001, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the organization responsible for the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. He served in that position until May 2006. He is also the Founding Chairman of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

Ann Curry

Ann Curry was named co-anchor of “Dateline NBC” in May 2005 and news anchor for NBC News’ “Today” in March 1997.

Curry has distinguished herself in global humanitarian reporting. From March 2006 to March 2007, she traveled three times to Sudan to report on the violence and ethnic cleansing taking place in Darfur and Chad. While there, she provided in-depth reports focusing on the victims who have been caught in the deadly conflict in that region, and she also conducted exclusive interviews with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Idrsiss Deby. In July 2006, Curry reported on the Israel-Lebanon war, and she was one of the only American reporters to file stories on both sides of the conflict from Beirut and Northern Israel.

In the summer of 2005, Curry traveled with First Lady Laura Bush throughout Africa to discuss issues that plague the continent such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic and women's rights and education. She was the first network news anchor to report from inside the tsunami zone in Southeast Asia, filing live and taped reports from Sri Lanka for “Dateline,” “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.” She was also the first network news anchor to report on the humanitarian refugee crisis caused by the genocide in Kosovo, reporting for NBC News from Albania and Macedonia.

In the first two weeks following the attacks of September 11, Curry reported live from ground zero every day. When the United States bombed Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan in November 2001, she reported extensively from the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea, and landed the first exclusive interview the war’s military commander, General Tommy Franks. Curry reported from Baghdad in the weeks leading up to the war in Iraq, and then from the USS Constellation as the war began, interviewing fighter pilots who flew the first wave of bombing runs over Iraq. She also filed reports from inside Iraq, from Qatar, and Kuwait during the first weeks of the war.

Curry’s exclusive interviews include Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first female elected President of an African nation, the first highly sought after interview with Thomas Hamill, the truck driver for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, who escaped captivity in Iraq, the first interview with accused spy Wen Ho Lee after he was cleared of all charges of espionage against the United States, and the first interview with the parents of the McCaughey septuplets. Curry has also repeatedly landed the first exclusive interview with Lance Armstrong after his Tour de France wins.

Curry first joined NBC News in August 1990 as a Chicago-based correspondent. In 1992 she was named anchor of “NBC News at Sunrise.” She later helped launch MSNBC and then became news anchor at “Today.” Before coming to NBC, Curry was a reporter for KCBS in Los Angeles. In 1981, she was a reporter and anchor for KGW, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon.

Curry has earned two Emmys, four Golden Mikes, several Associated Press Certificates of Excellence, two Gracies, and an award for Excellence in Reporting from the NAACP. She has been awarded by Americares, the Anti-Defamation League as a Woman of Achievement, and the Asian American Journalists Association, receiving its National Journalism Award in 2003. She has also won numerous awards for her charity work, primarily for breast cancer research.

Curry graduated from the University of Oregon School of Journalism in 1978.

Tom Block

Tom Block's Human Rights Painting Project highlights the struggle for human rights the world over. Using a contemporary artistic voice, Mr. Block interprets different aspects of the struggle for human rights, emphasizing the stories that bring it to life. The works themselves capture the range of emotions experienced in this battle. Ultimately, the paintings bring together man's best and worst impulses – the heroes of the images are a counterpoint to the regimes and authorities that forced them into that role. We are left with the uncomfortable question of which group is more typical of our human race – and which the exception.

The works have been exhibited in 25 different venues around the United States and Europe, as well as being covered by NPR's "Talk of the Nation," Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Reader, Sojourners Magazine, Utne Magazine, Galway (Ireland) Advertiser and many other periodicals, radio and televisions stations throughout the United States and Europe. Mr. Block has support from the Puffin Foundation, Nelson Talbott Foundation, Amnesty International, UNESCO Center for Peace and numerous private donors to fund various aspects of the project.

Marc H. Tanenbaum Memorial Lecture
is delivered by prominent individuals whose work in the public arena enables them to inspire broad audiences to work toward greater interreligious understanding. The lectures address issues of substance and are published in print and online for distribution. They are underwritten by a member of Tanenbaum’s Leadership Council, Richard A. Smith. See our past lecturers and read the transcripts.

Marc H. Tanenbaum Award for the
Advancement of Interreligious Understanding
is presented to individuals whose careers have significantly advanced the cause of interreligious understanding. It is underwritten by Tanenbaum Center Board Member Adam Solomon. Honoreess include:

2007 H.E. Archbishop Demetrios

2006 President Bill Clinton

2003 HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal

2002 Dr. Eugene J. Fisher

1999 Senator George J. Mitchell

1998 Elie Wiesel

1997 Archbishop Iakovos

1996 Bishop Krister Stendahl

1994 Father Theodore Hesburgh

Corporate Bridge Builder Award
is given to business leaders who use their positions of influence to promote human rights and build bridges between ethnic and/or religious communities. Past honorees include:

2005 Nader F. Darehshori

2004 William J. Marino

1999 Howard P. Milstein

1997 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke

Media Bridge Builder Award
is presented to journalists and media personalities whose work focuses public attention on issues of human rights and intergroup understanding. Past honorees include:

2007 Brian Williams

2006 Judy Woodruff

2000 Jerry Della Femina

1998 Edward Lewis

1997 Kati Marton

Do you know someone worthy of a Tanenbaum Award or someone who would deliver an interesting lecture? Let us know! Contact us at info at tanenbaum dot org.

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