Speaker Biographies
Alan J. Abramson is the director of the Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C. He oversees a variety of research- and dialogue-oriented initiatives focused on critical nonprofit issues. Before joining the Aspen Institute in 1994, Mr. Abramson was on the research staff of the Urban Institute. He has served on many nonprofit boards and advisory committees and is currently secretary of the board of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, a coalition of forty state-based nonprofit associations. He is also an adjunct professor in Georgetown University’s graduate public policy program, where he teaches a seminar on the nonprofit sector, and serves on the board of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington. Mr. Abramson is the author or coauthor of numerous books and papers and his work has won two awards from the American Political Science Association. He has been named among the fifty most influential leaders in the nonprofit sector by the NonProfit Times, one of the leading trade publications for the nonprofit sector.
Arthur C. Brooks is a professor of public administration and the director of the Nonprofit Studies Program at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. In 2007, he will be a visiting scholar at AEI. Mr. Brooks has published many articles and books on the connections between culture, politics, and economic life in America. His latest book is Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism (Basic Books, 2006). He speaks frequently in the United States, Europe, and Asia and is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. He is currently working on a new book about the government’s impact on citizens’ happiness (forthcoming from Basic Books), as well as a textbook on social entrepreneurship (forthcoming from Prentice Hall). Preceding his work in academia, Mr. Brooks spent twelve years playing the French horn professionally, holding positions with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles.
Adam Meyerson has served as the president of the Philanthropy Roundtable since October 2001. Prior to joining the Philanthropy Roundtable, Mr. Meyerson was vice president for educational affairs at the Heritage Foundation from 1993 to 2001. He coordinated the think tank’s civil society projects, its publications on the Founding Fathers, and its “No Excuses” work on high-performing, high-poverty schools. Mr. Meyerson was also editor in chief of Heritage’s magazine, Policy Review, from 1983 to 1998. From 1979 to 1983, he was an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal and editor of its “Manager’s Journal,” “Asia” columns, and book reviews. He also co-edited The Wall Street Journal on Management (Dow Jones-Irwin, 1985). From 1974 to 1977 he was managing editor of The American Spectator magazine.
Henry Olsen is vice president and director of the National Research Initiative (NRI). He disseminates and publicizes AEI’s work to the academic community; works with AEI’s visiting, adjunct, and NRI research fellows; commissions and supervises NRI projects; and oversees the production of NRI publications. Mr. Olsen previously served as vice president for programs at the Manhattan Institute and as a judicial clerk to the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Danny J. Boggs.
Kimon H. Sargeant is the vice president of Human Sciences at the John Templeton Foundation where he develops new research initiatives in the areas of religion and spirituality in the human sciences, character education, and the role of free enterprise solutions to alleviating poverty. He is also responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s proposal review process and is the executive editor of In Character: A Journal of Everyday Virtues. Prior to joining the Foundation, Mr. Sargeant was the director for Research and Programs in the Human Sciences at the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science. He developed the Spiritual Capital Research Program, a request-for-proposals competition to spur new research on the economic and social consequences of religion. He also helped launch, in partnership with The Atlantic Philanthropies, a new prize program that will promote a new vision for “giving back” in retirement. Mr. Sargeant also served as a program officer at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where he was responsible for a $20 million portfolio in the area of Religion and Public Life. He initiated new research programs on religion’s role in the incorporation of new immigrants in major gateway cities and on the role of faith-based organizations in social welfare provision. Mr. Sargeant is the author of Seeker Churches: Promoting Traditional Religion in a Nontraditional Way (Rutgers University Press, 2000).
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