CHICAGO, Oct. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, is in Chicago today to receive the prestigious John W. Gardner Leadership Award. The Award was established in 1985 to honor outstanding Americans who exemplify the leadership and the ideals of John W. Gardner (1912-2002), American statesman and founding chair of Independent Sector. Independent Sector presents the award each year to an individual whose leadership in or with the nonprofit community has been transformative and who has mobilized and unified people, institutions, or causes that improve people's lives. Independent Sector works with people annually across America's nonprofit sector to identify a recipient who is a beacon of achievement.
Before the award ceremony, Bill Drayton told reporters, "I am deeply moved. First, because John Gardner was a wonderful early advisor. And, second, because it is so very important to have Independent Sector's community of remarkable leaders focusing with Ashoka's community of nearly 3000 of the world's top social entrepreneurs on how best to build the "everyone a changemaker world™" that is now so clearly where we must go."
As the founder and CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, Bill Drayton is a true social entrepreneur. During his time as a student at Harvard, Oxford, and Yale Law School, he launched a number of organizations. He began his career at McKinsey and Company and then served as Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he launched emissions trading (the basis of the Kyoto Protocol) and other reforms. In 1981, he founded Ashoka and was able to grow it with the support that he received when elected a MacArthur Fellow in 1984. In addition to his current role as Chairman and CEO of Ashoka, Mr. Drayton is the chair of Youth Venture, Community Greens, and Get America Working! Mr. Drayton has won numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including selection as one of America's Best Leaders by US News & World Report and Harvard's Center for Public Leadership, the Goi Peace Foundation's Peace Award and the Essl Social Prize, for his work creating and building the field of social entrepreneurship. Most recently, Bill was honored with the Prince of Asturias Award in International Cooperation, one of Europe's most prestigious honors.
"We are so pleased to honor Bill, whose leadership, vision, and commitment to the nonprofit and philanthropic sector is an inspiration to us all," said Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector. "From civic engagement and economic development to health care and human rights, Ashoka has been dedicated to solving our world's social problems through supporting, financially and professionally, the social leaders we need to do real work on the ground."
John W. Gardner was the ultimate builder of ideas, people, and causes. He was an active and distinguished participant in America's educational, philanthropic, and political life. His many achievements stand as a tribute to the ideals his award celebrates. He was the president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; Chairperson of the National Urban Coalition; and founding chairperson of Common Cause. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil honor, in 1964. Among his many endeavors, from the White house Fellowship Program to being an early supporter of Ashoka, he was integral to the launch of Get America Working! www.getamericaworking.org
Award recipients are builders -- people who, quite apart from personal achievements, have raised the capacity of others to advance the common good. Their leadership has either had national or international impact or, if at the regional level, has attracted wide recognition and imitation. Gardner Award recipients, who may be of any age, may be the creators of needed institutions or may concentrate on education and advocacy that changes public opinion. Whatever means they use, their work has transformed their chosen field and has served as a role model to other fields. The winner presents at the award ceremony, held at Independent Sector's Annual Conference in Chicago, on Monday, October 31, 2011 at the Farimont Chicago Hotel. The dinner begins with welcoming remarks by Emcee Irene Hirano Inouye, President and CEO of the U.S.-Japan Council. Alberto Ibarguen, President and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will make brief remarks and will introduce a musical performance by Benjamin Pila, a young, classical guitarist. Following dinner, Bernie Milano, President and Trustee of the KPMG Foundation, and Chair of the 2011 John W. Gardner Leadership Award Committee, will make remarks and introduce Bill Drayton.
About Ashoka
Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world's working community of nearly 3000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capability to integrate and connect entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure that is supporting the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka's vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.
About Independent Sector
Independent Sector is a nonpartisan leadership network of 600 nonprofits, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs, collectively representing tens of thousands of charitable groups in every state across the nation. Its mission is to advance the common good by leading, strengthening, and mobilizing the nonprofit and philanthropic community. To learn more about Independent Sector, please visit: IndependentSector.org.
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SOURCE Ashoka
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