Category: Meeting Announcements

The February meeting is at noon, Thursday, February 17th, at the Capital City Club downtown. 

 Our speaker is Dr. Brian Blake, the new president of Georgia State University. Prior to joining Georgia State, he was Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at George Washington University.

Dr. Blake’s undergraduate degree is from Georgia Tech in electrical engineering. His PhD is in information and software engineering from George Mason University. Blake worked as an engineer with General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and the MITRE Corporation before joining Georgetown University as a professor of computer science. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 journal articles and refereed conference/workshop papers.

Blake grew up in Savannah and attended Benedictine Military Academy. He and his wife, Bridget, have two sons, Brendan and Bryce.

About Georgia State University:U.S. News and World Report ranks GSU as the second most innovative university in the nation. GSU has the largest student enrollment in the state (above 50,000) and has gained national recognition for having closed the achievement gap across socio-economic and racial divides. GSU’s massive building program has transformed a deteriorating quadrant of Atlanta.

The January meeting of the Roundtable is at noon Thursday the 20th at the downtown Capital City Club. RSVP whether you plan to attend.

Our speaker is Georgia Tech president Ángel Cabrera. Dr. Cabrera is the first native of Spain to serve as president of an American university. He holds BS and MS degrees in computer and electrical engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Cabrera came to Georgia Tech in 1990 as a Fullbright Scholar and earned his PhD in cognitive psychology.

Cabrera has been named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, a “Star of Europe” by Bloomberg Businessweek, and a “Henry Crown Fellow” by the Aspen Institute. He serves on the boards of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Harvard College Visiting Committee.

Dr. Cabrera is married to management scholar and Georgia Tech classmate, Elizabeth. Their son Alex is a recent Georgia Tech graduate and their daughter Emilia is a senior at Harvard.

The November meeting of the Roundtable is at noon on Thursday the 18th at the downtown Capital City Club, 7 John Portman Blvd.

Lawrence Shaw, co-founder of Winshaw Global, will lead a roundtable discussion on entrepreneurship.  Lawrence will interview two native Atlantans, Jason Pritchett and Nick Purdy.  The program will take us through the highs and the lows of the entrepreneurial journey.

Jason Pritchett is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Sport-Travel College. His company is the “Official Team Travel Provider” for 30 NCAA Athletic programs.  Nick Purdy is the co-founder of Wild Heaven Beer, with two brewery and taproom locations in metro Atlanta, the original one in Avondale Estates and the newest overlooking the Westside Trail of the Atlanta Beltline.  

The October meeting of the Roundtable is at noon on Thursday the 21st at the downtown Capital City Club.  RSVP to me whether you plan to attend. And remember to pay your Dues.

We’re pleased to have as speaker, Dan Corso, President of the Atlanta Sports Council. The Council’s mission is to facilitate the growth of sports in metro Atlanta by serving as a recruiter for major sporting events. The council’s recent successes include Super Bowl LIII and the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Dan will tell us about the council’s mission and work towards hosting World Cup soccer matches in 2026. World Cup events in Atlanta could have a larger economic impact than Super Bowl LIII in 2019.

The September meeting of the Roundtable is at noon on Thursday the 16th at the downtown Capital City Club.  You must RSVP in order to attend.

We have acceptances from four of the major candidates for mayor of Atlanta: Felicia Moore, Andre Dickens, Sharon Gay and Antonio Brown. We’ll have one candidate at each table. At 12:45, each candidate will have 10 minutes for a presentation and/or Q&A.

Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the candidates up close and personal.

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.