David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Awards 2005

Each year, University for a Night participants honor a person and/or organization that exemplify what the evening stands for -- working together for the common good. The first such honoree was David Rockefeller, for whom this award is named.

Corazon C. Aquino and James D. Wolfensohn are the 2005 honorees.

Mr. Rockefeller, Richard Debs, Mark Malloch Brown, Chef de Cabinet to the UN Secretary-General, and John C. Whitehead, Chairman, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, presented the awards.

Corazon C. Aquino

As President of the Republic of the Philippines 1986-1992, Corazon C. Aquino presided over her country's difficult transition from dictatorship to democracy. During her term, she re-established democratic institutions, bringing about substantive economic and social reforms. Because of her determined dedication to democracy and commitment to non-violence, she was able to finish her term with the orderly transfer of power to her successor, President Fidel V. Ramos, elected to office in the first democratic presidential elections in the Philippines in 23 years.

After leaving office, she continued to defend and strengthen democracy in the Philippines. Together with His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin, she led People Power, a movement formed in the mid-1980s in opposition to the ruling dictatorship, in efforts to thwart attempts of succeeding administrations to tamper with the Philippines constitution, especially provisionspertaining to the extension of the President's term.

Cory Aquino actively crusades for the rebuilding of the moral foundation of Philippine society, especially in the political arena. Recently, she has stood firm in opposition to the administration of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. With Cardinal Sin and many emerging leaders of civil society, she again inspired People Power toward a peaceful and democratic change in the country's political leadership.Cory Aquino's vital role in Philippine society stems from her marriage to Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. Senator Aquino, a leader of the political opposition in exile at the time of his assassination, had been imprisoned in military camps for nearly eight years before he was allowed by the dictatorship to leave for the United States to undergo heart surgery in 1980. After hisdeath, Cory Aquino became the symbolic, then official, head of the opposition movement in the Philippines.

Currently, Mrs. Aquino serves as Chairperson of the Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Foundation, established to offer scholarships to students unable to afford education. The Aquino Foundation has grown substantially since its founding in 1983, and in 1993 established the Institute for People Power and Development, a research and training institute devoted to the institutionalization of People Power in Philippine society. The Institute is also involved in applied policy research. Mrs. Aquino chairs the Board of Advisors of the Metrobank Foundation, a major philanthropic foundation in thePhilippines, and also chairs the Sulung Pampanga Foundation, a foundation dedicated to the construction of low-cost housing for victims of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. In 1999, Cory Aquino became the first woman and non-Japanese board member of the Sanyo Electric Company, Limited. Cory Aquino has received numerous honors and awards, including twenty-four honorary degrees, Time magazine's Woman of the Year for 1986, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize, the Noel Award for Political Leadership from the United Nations Development Fund for Women, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, in addition to numerous others.

James D. Wolfensohn

As President of the World Bank 1995-2005, James D. Wolfensohn focused the spotlight back on that institution's true purpose -- fighting global poverty and helping the world's poor forge better lives. Under his leadership, the World Bank implemented significant reforms to help achieve its mission, and broke ground in several major areas including corruption, debt relief, disabilities, the environment and gender.

As a bridging leader, he drew attention to the importance of involving young people in the Bank's work and also to the need to expand the development dialogue to include civil society, indigenous peoples, faith-based groups and other non-governmental stakeholders. In 1996, together with the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Wolfensohn initiated the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) as the first comprehensive debt reduction program to address the needsof the world's poorest, most heavily indebted countries. In 1999, Mr. Wolfensohn introduced the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF), to create a new compass for international development. Not a blueprint, the CDF approach places the country front and center and focuses on building stronger partnerships to reduce poverty -- engaging a wide variety of audiences including ministers and senior officials of both developed and developing countries, academics,civil society and the private sector, and other stakeholders. Together with the Bank's partners, the CDF is being piloted in over a dozen countries.

Now Jim Wolfensohn is building upon his years of experience in internationaldevelopment and partnership building in his work as Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement. In April of this year he was given that task by the Quartet Principals (the US Secretary of State, the Russian Foreign Minister, the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the UN Secretary-General) to help the international community's efforts in support of Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank. He ispromoting coordination and cooperation between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority on implementation of Israel's disengagement initiative, focusing both on the methodology of withdrawal and on economic issues related to post-withdrawal revival of the Palestinian economy, including investment and financing.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn was an international investment banker. His last position was as President and Chief Executive Officer of James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., his own investment firm set up in 1981 to advise major corporations. He has held other senior positions in finance, including Executive Partner of Salomon Brothers in New York and head of its investment banking department.

Throughout his career, Mr. Wolfensohn also has closely involved himself in a wide range of cultural and volunteer activities, especially in the performing arts. He has served as Chairman of New York's Carnegie Hall, leading the successful effort to restore the landmark New York building. He hasalso served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. In other nonprofit work, he has been President of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, a Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development, and served on the boards of The Rockefeller Foundation, the Population Council, the Rockefeller University and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. Born in Australia, he served as an offi- cer in the Royal Australian Air Force and was a member of the 1956 Australian Olympic Fencing Team. He is now a naturalized US citizen. He holds degrees from the University of Sydney and the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Award Presenters

Richard A. Debs is an Advisory Director of Morgan Stanley and a member of itsInternational Advisory Board. He was founding President of Morgan Stanley International. Earlier Dr. Debs served as Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he was also an Alternate Member of the Federal Open Market Committee. Dr. Debs has been Chairman of the Board of the American University of Beirut, Chairman Emeritus of Carnegie Hall, Trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Institute of International Education and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt and a Ford Foundation Fellow, and subsequently served as a pro-bono advisor to President Anwar Sadat of Egypt at the suggestion of David Rockefeller.

Mark Malloch Brown has served as Chef de Cabinet to the United Nations Secretary-General since January 2005. From July1999 to August 2005 he was the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN's global development network. During that time he also Chaired the UN Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all UN funds, programs and departments working on development issues. At UNDP, Mr. Malloch Brown oversaw a reform effort which included expanding UN support to developing countries in democratic governance, a new advocacy dimension reflected in pioneering publications such as the Arab Human Development Reports, and strengthening UNDP leadership in natural disasters and post-conflict situations. Mr. Malloch Brown also led the UN system's efforts to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals -- eight time-bound development targets with the overarching goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 which were agreed to by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit. He held senior positions at the World Bank, helping expand its partnership with the United Nations and civil society organizations. Previously, Mr. Malloch Brown worked at the Sawyer-Miller Group, a strategic communications firm, where he advised Corazon C. Aquino of the Philippines when she ran against Ferdinand Marcos. Mr. Malloch Brown founded the Economist Development Report.

David Rockefeller has worked on a broad range of international, governmental, civic and cultural issues. Among his accomplishments are fostering public-private partnerships for economic development and the arts in New York City and helping expand educational opportunity among African- Americans. He has helped improve political, economic and cultural relations on a worldwide basis and led initiatives to strengthen private enterprise in developing nations. He retired as chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1981 and is a member of the International Council of J.P. Morgan Chase. He has served as chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and was instrumental in creating the International Executive Service Corps. He is the honorary chairman of the Japan Society and of International House, and is a member of the Bilderberg Conference. He helped to found the Trilateral Commission in 1973. He is honorary chairman of the Americas Society and its affiliate, the Council of the Americas, an organization which he founded to promote closer inter- American cooperation, both on a business and cultural level, as well as better communication between the public and private sectors.

John C.Whitehead is Chairman of the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the organization responsible for the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. He served in the US Navy and as an Instructor at the Harvard Business School. He has held a variety of positions at Goldman, Sachs & Co., including Co-Chairman and Senior Partner. He has served on the boards of numerous companies, as a Director of the New York Stock Exchange, and Chairman of the Securities Industry Association. He has been a US Deputy Secretary of State and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Reagan. He has been active in a number of educational and civic organizations, includingserving as chair of the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the United Nations Association, the International Rescue Committee, International House, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Asia Society, among others. He has worked in places including Afghanistan, Kosovo and Nicaragua on the issues of free and fair elections and refugees. He sits on the boards of the Nature Conservancy, Lincoln Center Theater, the East-West Institute and theEisenhower Exchange Fellowships.