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The June Roundtable meeting is online at noon on Thursday the 18th.

Our speaker is Atlanta-based photographer Steven Thackston, author of Flowers in a Thorn Tree: On the Road with the Warriors for Peace and Wildlife.  In his book, Thackston follows the wildlife, the people sworn to protect it and the people of northern Kenya. He rides with the commandos of the Northern Rangelands Trust in Kenya, who do much more than combat poachers in the wildlife reservation—they operate within communities to support peace and local economies.  

Steven Thackston is a photographer and multi-media artist. His work has been published by The Smithsonian, The New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN, Rolling Stone, and The Wall Street Journal.  Steven’s focus is observing and documenting human behavior, culture and, in some cases, how humans affect animal cultures and the environment.

The May meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday the 21st. 

 Our speaker is Charles Shapiro, president of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and former ambassador to Venezuela. 

At the US Department of State, Amb. Shapiro held several senior positions including Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere.  In addition to Venezuela, Shapiro’s foreign postings included Chile, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago and Denmark.    From 2011-2013 Shapiro was the president of the Institute of the Americas, a think tank at the University of California San Diego. There he led two policy trips to Cuba.

Charles Shapiro has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and M.Ed. from Georgia State.

The April meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday April 16th.  No RSVP is necessary.  Several days before the meeting you will receive an email invitation with instructions for joining the online presentation.  For those that want to test the connection before the meeting, we’ll have a casual session several days early so you can see Zoom.com work from your device.  

We’re pleased to have as speaker Polly Price, the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law and Global Health at Emory.  She will lecture on the current unpleasantness and the legal aspects of COVID-19.  We plan on a presentation of about 25 minutes, followed by Q&A.  We will adjourn before 1:00 pm.  

In 2017, Prof. Price was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and used the fellowship to research her forthcoming book, Plagues in the Nation, about the ways epidemics have shaped US law.  In 2019, she won the Hughes-Gossett Award from the US Supreme Court Historical Society for the best journal article.  

Before joining the Emory Law faculty in 1995, Prof. Price clerked for Judge Richard Arnold of the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals and then practiced law at King & Spalding in Atlanta and Washington, DC.  She has BA and MA degrees from Emory.  Her JD is from Harvard.

Notice: this meeting has been cancelled.

The March meeting of the Roundtable is at noon, Thursday, the 19th at the downtown Capital City Club. 

We honored to have as speaker Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council.  Mr. Corso will tell us about the council’s work in general and plans for hosting the NCAA Basketball Final Four in early April.

The Atlanta Sports Council’s mission is to facilitate the growth and development of sports in metro Atlanta by serving as a recruiter for major regional, national and international sporting events.  The council’s accomplishments include hosting the Superbowl, CFP football championship, NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four, MLB, NHL and NBA All-Star Games, and WrestleMania XXVII. 

Mr. Corso has been with the Sports Council for 21 years and has served as president since 2010.  He serves on the boards of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and College Football Hall of Fame. Prior to joining the Sports Council, Corso was vice chair for the 1998 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.  He is a graduate of Florida State University.

NOTE: The Atlanta Sports Council has a promotion code for Roundtable members to attend the Final Four Fan Fest.

The February meeting of the Roundtable is at noon on Thursday the 20th at the downtown Capital City Club. 

We’re pleased to have as speaker Dr. Judy Monroe, President and CEO of the CDC Foundation.  The CDC Foundation was created by Congress to mobilize philanthropic resources to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s health protection work.

Dr. Monroe will enlighten us on the CDC Foundation, including how the Foundation interacts with the CDC, why it is a separate organization, and its projects and funding sources.  She will provide insights on key issues facing global health, including the Coronavirus and what the Foundation and other health organizations are doing to address the crisis.

Dr. Monroe currently serves on the board of directors for the Georgia Global Health Alliance and is a member of the Milken Institute’s Public Health Advisory Board. Additionally, she serves as a member of the World Health Organization Foundation’s Advisory group, as well as several national advisory committees and boards.

Dr. Monroe received her doctor of medicine from the University of Maryland and a bachelor of science degree from Eastern Kentucky University.