Events
Pioneer holds three annual signature events: the Hewitt Health Care Lecture, the Better Government Competition Awards Dinner, and the Lovett C. Peters Lecture in Public Policy.
Named in honor of longtime Pioneer Chairman, Colby Hewitt, Jr., the Hewitt Health Care Lecture presents timely health care debates to an influential crowd of leaders in medicine, research policy, and business. Recent speakers have included Dr. Don Berwick, James Capretta, Jon Gruber, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
Pioneer’s national citizens’ ideas contest, the Better Government Competition, was established in 1991 to promote innovations and accountability in government. It is an annual contest that rewards innovative public policy proposals at an annual dinner. The Institute reports that winning ideas from the Competition have saved Massachusetts taxpayers more than $500 million. Recent awards ceremony keynote speakers have included Texas Governor Rick Perry, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and Massachusetts Governor Patrick.
The Lovett C. Peters Lecture is named in honor of Pioneer's founder, and is billed as an appreciation dinner for the Institute's core supporters. The Lecture's stated purpose is to honor individuals distinguished for the significance of their accomplishments and contributions to society, whose careers have enriched the intellectual climate and demonstrated tangible achievements. Recent honorees have included Sal Khan, Jeb Bush, Cory Booker, and Peter Diamandis.
The Institute hosts numerous events and forums that enable the public to engage directly with key players on the public policy scene. Pioneer has a long-standing practice of hosting speakers of both political parties and of including a wide range of views at its events. Recent speakers at Pioneer's major events have included: former Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, national school choice advocate Kevin Chavous, Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance Director Paul Peterson, education policy expert Jay Greene, presidential historian and Clinton speechwriter Jeff Shesol, former Massachusetts Education Commissioner David Driscoll, Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, former Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, Hoover Institution Fellow Bill Evers, former US Education Dept. official Nina Rees, nationally recognized education standards expert E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Democrats for Education Reform co-founder Whitney Tilson, Florida Virtual Schools' Director Julie Young, Indiana Superintendent Tony Bennett, former Ambassador to the Vatican and three-term Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, historian Gordon Wood, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate Thomas Birmingham, former Clinton White House education advisor Andrew Rotherham, and many more. Pioneer also holds Member Breakfasts and young professionals cocktails on topics of broader interest. Recent speakers have included national pollster David Paleologos, AEI Scholar Michael Greve, political consultants Steve Grand and Linda Moore Forbes, and many more.
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Famous quotes containing the word events:
“Whatever events in progress shall disgust men with cities, and infuse into them the passion for country life, and country pleasures, will render a service to the whole face of this continent, and will further the most poetic of all the occupations of real life, the bringing out by art the native but hidden graces of the landscape.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Reporters are not paid to operate in retrospect. Because when news begins to solidify into current events and finally harden into history, it is the stories we didn’t write, the questions we didn’t ask that prove far, far more damaging than the ones we did.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)