The Policy Circle is pleased to announce that Nancy Brinker, Founder of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and former Ambassador to Hungary, will be a principal speaker at the The Policy Circle’s 4th Annual Leadership Summit in Chicago on November 15th, 2019. Brinker will bring her expertise to the Policy Circle Summit mainstage focusing on ‘Making An Impact By Making A Promise To One Person.’
Nancy G. Brinker has been called the leader of the global breast cancer movement. In 1982, shortly after her sister’s death from breast cancer at the age of 36, Brinker founded Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, which has become the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cure. To date, Susan G. Komen raised more than $3 billion for breast cancer research, education and services.
A native of Peoria, Illinois, Brinker credits her father, “a businessman with a big heart” for instilling solid values in her, and her mother “a Girl Scout leader and community activist [who] lived her faith with daily acts of loving kindness” for her creative fundraising skills.
Brinker’s dedication to finding a cure also comes with a passion to enlist everyone for the fight – from leaders to everyday citizens – in order to take action. This passion and creativity in raising awareness led to programs that at the time were revolutionary: In 1983, she founded the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® series, which is now the world’s largest and most successful education and fundraising event for breast cancer. She also pioneered cause-related marketing, allowing millions to participate in the fight against breast cancer through businesses that share Komen’s commitment to end the disease. Komen’s unwavering advocacy for breast cancer survivors led to new legislation and greater government research funding. Continuously innovating, in 2018, Brinker spearheaded The Promise Fund, a revolutionary fundraising initiative aimed at connecting cancer care providers with vulnerable populations in South Florida.
From 2001-2003, Brinker served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary and served as U.S. Chief of Protocol from 2007-2009 where she was responsible for overseeing all protocol matters for visiting heads of state and presidential travel abroad. In 2008, Brinker was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” and President George W. Bush appointed her to The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees. In 2009, President Barack Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for this work. The same year, she was named Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control for the United Nations’ World Health Organization, where she continues her mission to put cancer control at the top of the world health agenda. And in 2015 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Brinker is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has received numerous accolades for her global work, including the prestigious Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Champions of Excellence Award presented by the Centers for Disease Control, the Porter Prize presented by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, the Forbes Trailblazer Award, Ladies Home Journal’s 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century, the Anti-Defamation League Americanism Award, and Biography Magazine’s 25 Most Powerful Women in America. Brinker currently serves on numerous corporate and non-profit boards and is an Executive in Residence at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.
The Policy Circle is honored to welcome Brinker to the main stage alongside several other impressive minds on public health, innovation, and so much more. Be sure to check out the full list of speakers and their impressive backgrounds.
Have you registered? Bring a friend, a colleague, a mentee, a daughter, a niece – register to attend. Thanks to the innovations of the last century, technology is reshaping everything from how we live in our communities, how we raise our families, grow our businesses and enterprises, and even how citizens interact with their government. Deciphering the non-stop dissemination of information is of critical importance in the debates that surround the most pressing issues of the day, and the policies that impact every American. The 2019 Policy Circle Summit will explore the many aspects of connectivity in our ever-evolving world, and dive deeper into key issues such as big data and privacy, healthcare and so much more.