ADVISORY: Globalization, Growth, and Social Justice: American and European Perspectives

John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Karen Kornbluh, Policy Director, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)
Linda Lanzillotta (Italy), Italian Minister of Regional Affairs and Local Autonomy
Alan Milburn (UK), Member of Parliament, former Secretary of State for Health
Robert Rubin, Chairman of Citigroup and former Secretary of the Treasury
Gene Sperling, CAP Senior Fellow and former National Economic Advisor
Stewart Wood (UK), Special Adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown

WASHINGTON DC – Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Gene Sperling will be joined by current and former cabinet ministers from across Europe and the United States for a morning symposium addressing how progressive politics must be responsive to the new social and economic risks associated with the Dynamism Economy. The symposium, in conjunction with the Policy Network, a premiere progressive think tank based in the United Kingdom, will address the trends of income inequality and polarization in the context of an era of increased global economic integration.

Generously sponsored by the Alfred Herrhausen Society 

Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Program: 9:00am to 11:00am
Admission is free.

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About the Panelists

John Hutton (UK) was appointed Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in June 2007.  Hutton first entered the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in May 2005 and was subsequently appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in November 2005.  Hutton served on the Select Committee for Home Affairs from 1994 to 1997, and he was PPS to Margaret Beckett, both while she was President of the Board of Trade and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1997-8), and in her role as President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (1998).  He was then appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in October 1998, served as Minister for Health in the Department of Health beginning in 1999, and finally served as Minister of State for Health beginning in 2001.  Before his election to Parliament, Hutton was a Senior Law lecturer at the University of Northumbria.

Karen Kornbluh (US) is Policy Director for United States Senator Barack Obama.  Previously, she founded the New America Foundation’s Work and Family Program where she argued for a modernized social contract for the global economy in numerous publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times and the Washington Post; columnist David Brooks cited her “Families Valued” article as one of the notable magazine articles of 2006.  Kornbluh served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and as Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Federal Communications Commission.  She began her career as an economist at Alan Greenspan’s economic forecasting firm.

Linda Lanzillotta (Italy).  Linda Lanzillotta is Italian Minister of Regional Affairs and Local Autonomy. In previous roles directing the Budget Commission and as a council member in the City of Rome, she implemented measures to contain legislative costs and increase transparency and accountability at both regional and national levels. As Secretary General of the Parliamentary Office in 2001 she was successful in slashing national and regional administration costs. Before being appointed as Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomous Provinces she spent five years as Professor of Public Management at the University of Rome.

Alan Milburn (UK) has been Member of Parliament for Darlington since 1992.  In government, Milburn served first as a Health Minister, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and was Secretary of State for Health from 1999 until 2003, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, September 2004 to May 2005. Before being elected for Parliament, he worked in business development and for a trade union research centre. He coordinated the Sunderland Shipyards Campaign in 1988.

Robert E. Rubin (US) joined the Clinton Administration in 1993, serving in the White House as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the first Director of the National Economic Council.  He served as our nation’s 70^th Secretary of the Treasury from January 10, 1995 until July 2, 1999.  He joined Citigroup on October 26, 1999 as Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee and also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation’s leading community development support organization.  He serves on the Board of Trustees of Mount Sinai-NYU Health and is a member of the Harvard Corporation.  In June 2007, he was named Co-Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Gene B. Sperling (US) is Senior Fellow for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.  Previously, Mr. Sperling served as National Economic Advisor to President Clinton from 1997 to 2001 and as Deputy National Economic Advisor from 1993 to 1997.  He also served as a top economic advisor to the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign in 2004.  Mr. Sperling is the author of the book The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity.  Mr. Sperling is also a Contributing Editor and Columnist for Bloomberg News, a Governor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and for four years was a consultant and contributing writer for the television show, The West Wing.  

Stewart Wood (UK) has been a member of the Council of Economic Advisers at the Treasury since 2001.  He is co-editor of Options for Britain: A Strategic Policy Review (1996) and author of “The Politics of Neoliberalism: Britain and the United States in the 1980s” (1999) with Desmond King and “The British General Election of 1997” (1999). Wood is currently on sabbatical from Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he is a fellow in politics.

About the Center for American Progress

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

About the Policy Network

Policy Network is Europe's leading progressive think tank, dedicated to promoting progressive policies and the renewal of social democracy. We facilitate the sharing of ideas and experiences among politicians, policymakers, and experts on the center-left.

Progressive governments and parties across Europe and the world are facing similar challenges linked to globalization. The limitations of traditional policy prescriptions demand that progressives work across national boundaries to find solutions. Insecurities associated with immigration flows, terrorism, shifts in economic power, and environmental change are increasingly driving the political agenda. By working with politicians and thinkers across Europe and the world, Policy Network seeks to find innovative solutions to common problems.

Policy Network organizes regular conferences, symposia, and roundtable discussions on issues of interest to the center-left. Our research and activities have focused on the future of the European Social Model, immigration and integration, and social justice in a global era. The outcomes of our discussion and research are published in individual pamphlets and articles available online. The new interactive Policy Network website allows you to access the latest progressive ideas and analysis from across the world.

About the Alfred Herrhausen Society