Event Summary
AEI is committed to creating a better world for all people through innovation and the expansion of human potential. To continue this effort, AEI President Arthur C. Brooks hosted Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg for an exclusive discussion about how technology can better connect people and ideas.
After briefly addressing the recent allegations of liberal bias in Facebook’s news algorithms, Dr. Brooks and Ms. Sandberg discussed how national political leaders use Facebook on the campaign trail and after they are elected. Ms. Sandberg noted that Facebook is first and foremost a technology company with the purpose of helping people share and connect with each other. With this goal, she added, technology can be used to create opportunity by creating jobs, unleashing entrepreneurship, and expanding access to information.
Ms. Sandberg stressed the importance of a policy and regulatory environment that supports technology and innovation, including Facebook’s current work, for example, on virtual reality and artificial intelligence. On a more personal note, she also underscored her mission to give people, especially women, a voice so they can pursue their ambitions.
Concluding with a few questions from the audience, Ms. Sandberg emphasized Facebook’s efforts to improve public discourse with the goal of bringing people closer together through shared experiences.
–Heather Sims
Event Description
Facebook is a global technology company with the stated mission of giving people the power to share and making the world more open and connected. Now averaging more than one billion active users per day, the company plays a pivotal role in how people interact and learn about the world.
On June 22, AEI is hosting Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg for an exclusive conversation. Ms. Sandberg and AEI President Arthur Brooks will discuss Facebook’s work on breakthrough innovations that seek to open up the world. The conversation will cover the opportunities and challenges that new technologies pose for growing the economy, improving the open exchange of ideas, and building a more interconnected world.
Join the conversation on social media with @AEI on Twitter and Facebook.
Agenda
4:15 PM
Registration
4:30 PM
Conversation and Q&A
Participants:
Arthur C. Brooks, AEI
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook
5:30 PM
Adjournment and reception
Event Contact Information
For more information, please contact Laura Lalinde at [email protected], 202.862.5875.
Media Contact Information
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected], 202.862.5829
Speaker Biographies
Arthur C. Brooks is president of AEI. He is also the Beth and Ravenel Curry Scholar in Free Enterprise at AEI. Immediately before joining AEI, he was the Louis A. Bantle Professor of Business and Government at Syracuse University, where he taught economics and social entrepreneurship. Dr. Brooks is the author of 11 books and hundreds of articles on topics including the role of government, fairness, economic opportunity, happiness, and the morality of free enterprise. His latest book is the New York Times bestseller “The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America” (Broadside Books, 2015). His other books include the New York Times bestseller “The Road to Freedom: How to Win the Fight for Free Enterprise” (Basic Books, 2012), “The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future” (Basic Books, 2010), “Gross National Happiness” (Basic Books, 2008), “Social Entrepreneurship” (Prentice Hall, 2008), and “Who Really Cares” (Basic Books, 2006). Before pursuing his work in public policy, Dr. Brooks spent 12 years as a classical musician in the United States and Spain. He is a frequent guest on national television and radio talk shows and has been published widely in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Sheryl Sandberg is chief operating officer at Facebook, overseeing the firm’s business operations. Before Facebook, she was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google, chief of staff for the US Treasury Department during the Clinton administration, a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and an economist with the World Bank. She is the author of the number-one bestseller “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” (Knopf, 2013) and founder of LeanIn.Org, a global community committed to empowering all women to achieve their ambitions. She serves on the boards of Facebook, the Walt Disney Company, SurveyMonkey, Women for Women International, and ONE. Ms. Sandberg is a member of the fundraising council of the Second Harvest Food Bank and cochairs StandUp for Kids, the campaign to end childhood hunger in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. She received a B.A. in economics summa cum laude from Harvard University and an MBA with highest distinction from Harvard Business School.
