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:
“One of the extraordinary things about human events is that the unthinkable becomes thinkable.”
—Salman Rushdie (b. 1948)
““The ideal reasoner,” he remarked, “would, when he had once been shown a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which would follow from it.””
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“One cannot be a good historian of the outward, visible world without giving some thought to the hidden, private life of ordinary people; and on the other hand one cannot be a good historian of this inner life without taking into account outward events where these are relevant. They are two orders of fact which reflect each other, which are always linked and which sometimes provoke each other.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)