New Ideas for a New Day in Congress

The Horizon Project

February 1, 2007, 8:30am – 10:00am

About This Event

As the 110th Congress gets under way, it does so against the backdrop of significant, urgent, and growing challenges facing our nation’s economy. Comprising 11 members from a range of sectors—from business leaders to policy innovators—The Horizon Project was established to develop legislative ideas for the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and others who share concerns about America’s continued prosperity and competitiveness, economic security, and commitment to economic and social justice.

The Horizon Project has just published a report that articulates a set of ideas in four key sectors: trade and economic growth, education, health care, and infrastructure. Their creative ideas will be presented to the leadership and members of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, as well as the Senate Republican Policy Committee, later in the day, but the report and recommendations will be publicly unveiled for the first time at this event.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund invites you to join The Horizon Project and other distinguished panelists for a lively discussion about these recommendations.

Featured Panelists:
Leo Hindery, Jr., Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners VII and Chair of The Horizon Project
Rob Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Jason Furman, Senior Fellow and Director of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution
Bernard L. Schwartz, Chairman and CEO, BLS Investments, LLC

Moderated by:
Susan Lee, Vice President for Economic Policy, Center for American Progress

Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Rob Atkinson is President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based technology policy think tank. He is the author of Supply-Side Follies: Why Conservative Economics Fails, Liberal Economics Falters, and Innovation Economics is the Answer and The Past and Future of America's Economy: Long Waves of Innovation that Power Cycles of Growth.

Prior to founding ITIF, Dr. Atkinson was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and Director of PPI's Technology & New Economy Project. While at PPI, he wrote on numerous topics in technology and innovation policy, including broadband, Internet telephony, e-commerce, e-government, privacy, copyright, RFID, and the R&D tax credit. Dr. Atkinson also served as the first Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC), a public-private partnership including the Governor, legislative leaders, and corporate and labor leaders. As head of RIEPC, he was responsible for drafting and implementing a comprehensive economic strategic development plan for the state. Prior to his role at RIEPC, he was Project Director at the former Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Dr. Atkinson is a board member or advisory council member to many groups, including the Alliance for Public Technology, Information Policy Institute, Internet Education Foundation, NanoBusiness Alliance, and NetChoice Coalition. He also serves on the advisory panel to Americans for Computer Privacy and is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Atkinson was appointed by President Clinton to the Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy. He is also a member of the Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, co-chaired by Markle Foundation president Zoe Baird and former Netscape Communications chairman James Barksdale. In 1999, he was featured in "Who's Who in America: Finance and Industry," and in 2006, Inc. Magazine listed Atkinson as one of "19 Friends" of small business in Washington.

He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989.

Jason Furman is the Director of The Hamilton Project and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is also a visiting scholar at New York University's Wagner School and a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Prior to that, he held the position of Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy during the Clinton Administration, where he chaired the interagency technical working group on Social Security reform and was the principal White House staff member responsible for budget and tax issues. He also previously served as a Staff Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers and Senior Economic Adviser to the Chief Economist of the World Bank. In addition, Furman has been a visiting lecturer at Columbia and Yale Universities. Furman received his B.A. and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He has published numerous articles including: "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right," "Tax Reform and Poverty," "Our Unhealthy Tax Code," "Economic Crises: Evidence and Insights from East Asia," and the "Economic Consequences of Inequality."

Leo Hindery, Jr. is Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners VII, LLP, a media industry private equity firm and the successor to six previous InterMedia investment partnerships, the first of which Mr. Hindery founded in 1988. He is also the author of It Takes a CEO: It’s Time to Lead with Integrity. Until October 2004, Mr. Hindery was chairman, and until May 2004, CEO of The YES Network, the nation's premier regional sports network and the television home of the New York Yankees. From December 1999 until January 2001, Mr. Hindery was chairman and CEO of GlobalCenter, Inc., a major Internet services company, which was then merged into Exodus Communications, Inc. Until November 1999, Mr. Hindery was president and CEO of AT&T Broadband, which was formed out of the March 1999 merger with Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI).

Mr. Hindery has received numerous awards, including the Foundation Award of the International Radio & Television Society, the Executive Achievement Award of the National Association of Minorities in Cable, and the Joel A. Berger Award for his leadership in AIDS and HIV initiatives. In 1999, Mr. Hindery was named Cable Television Operator of the Year, received the Distinguished Vanguard Award for Leadership from the National Cable Television Association, and was named by Business Week one of the "Top 25 Executives of the Year."

Mr. Hindery graduated from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in 1971 and received his bachelor’s degree from Seattle University. Mr. Hindery has also received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Emerson College and the Rabbinical College of America.

Susan Lee is the Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress. Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Lee spent over five years at McKinsey & Company, where she worked with a broad range of clients in the health care and nonprofit sectors and gained expertise across a variety of strategy and management issues. Her experiences have included developing a set of Medicaid reform options for a governor, shaping a major foundation's investment strategy in K-12 education, and working with leaders of England's National Health Service to reform regulation of the hospital system. During law school, Ms. Lee worked with Attorney General Janet Reno and at the law firm of Covington & Burling. She conducted research with professor Elizabeth Warren on health care affordability and with professor Derek Bok on opportunity in America. In addition, she taught legal research and writing to first-year law students. Ms. Lee received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College and her law degree from Harvard Law School, and she is a member of the New York Bar.

Bernard L. Schwartz is Chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC. Mr. Schwartz retired in March 2006 after 34 years as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL) and its predecessor, Loral Corporation. Mr. Schwartz has established several permanent programs at various institutions to study economic and public policy development, including Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the New School University, The Council on Foreign Relations, The Brookings Institution, and Tel Aviv University. Mr. Schwartz serves as a trustee of the New York University Hospitals Center, the New York Historical Society, Thirteen/WNET Educational Broadcasting Corporation, and Baruch College; and he is vice chairman of the New York Film Society. In addition, Mr. Schwartz is a member of the Democratic Leadership Council; director of the New America Foundation, where he sponsors several fellows; and a trustee of Third Way, a progressive advocacy organization. Mr. Schwartz graduated from City College of New York with a B.S. degree in finance and holds an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the college.