Junto (club) - Modern-day Juntos

Modern-day Juntos

There are several modern-day Juntos modeled on Franklin's original meeting operating today. Hedge fund manager Victor Niederhoffer has been running the New York City Junto since 1985. Meeting monthly, the New York Junto focuses on libertarianism, Objectivism (the philosophy of Ayn Rand), and investing. The London Junto meets monthly in the heart of London's hedge-fund community at the Lansdowne Club, where Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris with Lord Shelburne. It attracts some of the leading global investment minds of today, engaging them in critical, Socratic-style discussions. Nicholas Vardy has been running the London Junto since 2005.

P'unk Avenue hosts a monthly Junto in their studio in Philadelphia, where the Junto originated. Since January 2006, the Silicon Valley Junto has met in Palo Alto and San Francisco to discuss topics such as happiness, love, storytelling, and Americanism. Two graduates of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, run the Montreal Junto, devoted to professional networking and public service. They meet on the last Wednesday of each month.

The University of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Junto Society is also in operation. As founder of both institutions, Ben Franklin remains an important motif for both the Penn Junto Society and the University in general. The Penn chapter has strong roots in Philadelphia's history, but was revived last year by an elite group of members graduating with the Class of 2011. The society exists primarily for intellectual discourse, socialization and networking purposes. As members disperse to the four corners of the globe, they hope to expand the society's scope and activities worldwide.

The Hong Kong Junto was established in 2009 comprising a diverse group of the business community including lawyers, bankers, investors, authors and entrepreneurs. The Hong Kong Junto meets the second Thursday of every month, usually in Central, with one of its members chairing the evening during which one of Franklin's original questions is asked and answered by all present, along with one other question that is the discretion of the member hosting. In 2012 the Hong Kong Junto started to become involved in promoting and supporting selected social enterprises in Hong Kong.

A Denver, Colorado Junto group was formed in 1995. It has become the Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Inc which cooperates with local chambers of commerce to form similar groups.

The Atlanta Junto was formed in 2011 to provide entrepreneurs, inventors, and business-minded Atlantans an opportunity to turn ideas into businesses.

The California Alumni In Arts & Entertainment Club, founded in 2004 by California Alumni Scholar David Herrera, was created intently on the model of Franklin's Junto and organizes alumni of the University of California, Berkeley who work professionally in the Arts and entertainment industry to create events and collaborative artistic projects which bring intelligence and insight to these media. The Club currently has more than 500 members worldwide at major film studios, TV and Cable networks, record labels, new and traditional media outlets, and art museums and galleries.

There is also a Junto formed in 2012 based in Curitiba, Brazil.

Flying Dog Brewery, based in Frederick, Maryland, began hosting a monthly Junto Society meeting at the brewery in January, 2012. The Society boasts 101 members.

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