Central Florida Global Economic Forum Theme: “Redefining Competition in the 21st Century”

Attention Students:  
Here is an amazing opportunity to hear global thinkers and experts regarding "Global Economies of the Future!"

Tuesday, April 12, 2011  9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon

Student Union, Key West Ballroom

Speakers

Parag Khanna, author of “How to Run The World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance.” He is a leading geo-strategist, world traveler and author. Presently a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, he is author of the international best-sellers "How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance" (2011) and "The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order" (2008). In 2008, Parag was named one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” and one of fifteen individuals featured in WIRED magazine’s “Smart List.” Parag served in the foreign policy advisory group to the Barack Obama for President campaign. During 2007, he was a senior geopolitical advisor to United States Special Operations Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2002-5, he was the Global Governance Fellow at the Brookings Institution; from 2000-2002 he worked at the World Economic Forum in Geneva; and from 1999-2000, he was a Research Associate at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Alex Counts, President and CEO of Grameen Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on enabling the poor to escape poverty, using microfinance and technology. Counts founded Grameen Foundation and became its CEO in 1997, after working in microfinance and poverty reduction for 10 years. A Cornell University graduate, Counts’ commitment to poverty eradication deepened as a Fulbright scholar in Bangladesh, where he witnessed innovative poverty solutions being developed by Grameen Bank. He trained under Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, and co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Counts has propelled Grameen Foundation’s philosophy through his writings: "Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance Are Changing the World." Counts also has been published in the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, the Miami Herald, the Christian Science Monitor and elsewhere. Counts chairs Project Enterprise’s board and is vice-chair of the Fonkoze USA board. He sits on the Advisory Council of the Center for Financial Inclusion and Co-Chairs the Microenterprise Coalition. Counts previously served as the legislative director of RESULTS, as a regional project manager for CARE-Bangladesh and speaks Bengali.