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Collaboration Session:
Responding to COVID-19

An interactive discussion with Stanley Bergman, Dr. Lu Dezhi, and Peggy Dulany
Wednesday, 29 April • 9:00–10:30 AM ET

During this time of crisis, GPC Members are looking for ways to connect, collaborate and increase their impact.

We are creating virtual spaces to enable our the GPC community to explore collective action in the face of the global pandemic - both today and in a post-COVID-19 crisis world.

Predictions about how the world will be changed by COVID- 19 have tended towards a retreat to the local and familiar, despite the global character of the pandemic. We believe that, on the contrary, deepening our global connectivity and learning are crucial in helping stem the crisis, bridge divisions, and creating a more resilient future, with a call for bridging leadership as an essential approach to how we build trust.

Join us for a ‘hands on’ discussion with other GPC members responding to the crisis. We will also feature a conversation with three GPC Members as they share their stories and emerging responses to the global challenge.

Our time together will include small group breakouts organized around GPC Member interests indicated listed below:

Providing medical equipment
Supporting health systems
Health research
Supporting vulnerable groups affected by the consequences of the lockdown
Consequences of the crisis

Participation in this event is by invitation only; contact your Synergos relationship manager or collaborate@synergos.org for more information.

Our speakers

Stanley Bergman

Since 1989, Stanley M. Bergman has been Chairman of the Board and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc., a Fortune 500® company and the world’s largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental and medical practitioners, with more than 19,000 Team Schein Members and operations or affiliates in 31 countries. Henry Schein is a member of the S&P 500® index. In 2019, the company’s sales from continuing operations reached $10.0 billion. Henry Schein has been a Fortune World’s Most Admired Company for 19 consecutive years.

Mr. Bergman serves as a board member or advisor for numerous institutions including New York University College of Dentistry; the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine; the Columbia University Medical Center; University of the People; Hebrew University; Tel Aviv University; the University of the Witwatersrand Fund; The World Economic Forum’s Health Care Governors; the Business Council for International Understanding, the Japan Society and the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Bergman is an honorary member of the American Dental Association and the Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity. Mr. Bergman is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; the CR Magazine Corporate Responsibility Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2017 CEO of the Year award by Chief Executive Magazine; Honorary Doctorates from The University of the Witwatersrand, Western University of Health Sciences, Hofstra University, A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Case Western Reserve University and Farmingdale State College (SUNY); and Honorary Fellowship from King’s College London - Dental Institute and the International College of Dentists.

Dr. Lu Dezhi

Dr. Dezhi Lu, born in Taojiang County, Hunan Province, is the Chairman of the Huamin Charity Foundation. He also serves as the Chairman of Hongkang Life Insurance, LLC, the China Foundation Center, and the China Charity Fair Shenzhen Development Center. He is Vice Chairman of the International Confucian Association, China Association of Social Security, China Policy Research Fund, and China Association for Nonprofit Organizations. He is also a member of the World Productivity Academy of Sciences and adjunct professor and doctoral advisor at Peking University, Beijing Normal University and Hunan Normal University. In 2014 he became one of the first Chinese members of the Global Philanthropists Circle (GPC).

Dr. Lu’s fields of study include philosophy, economics, sociology and nonprofit management. His published works include Theory of Trading Ethics (2007), Spirit of Capital (2007), Thoughts On Charity (2013), On the Way to Collective Sharing (2013), Collective Sharing of Capital (2015), Spirit of Capital: The Power of Coordinated Development (2016), Capital and Collective Sharing:The Theme of Coordinated Development (2017), and Civilization of Collective Sharing: New Form of Coordinated Development. Over the years Dr. Lu has extensively explored modern philanthropy theories and practices in China. He has delivered more than 100 speeches on the topic, and is regarded as one of the foremost experts on modern charity in China. His theoretical frameworks, in particular those relating to capital and collective sharing, have had meaningful impacts and generated discussion worldwide.

Peggy Dulany

Peggy is Chair of Synergos, a global organization helping solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action. Drawing from her experience living and working in Rio de Janeiro as a young woman, she realized that the people most affected by adverse living conditions also have the greatest energy and motivation to solve their problems. The resources they lack are connections to the economic and political realms where necessary changes can affect whole communities.

Peggy founded Synergos in 1986 to promote trust and collaboration among grassroots groups and government or business leaders and organizations, people who otherwise would not have access to each other, so that they can develop long-term relationships and forge new paths in overcoming poverty. In 2001, she co-founded Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle with her father, David Rockefeller, to support philanthropic families in using this approach.