DC Awards Dinner Salutes Steven Chu and I.M. Pei
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2009 - Asia Society Washington's 2009 Annual Awards Dinner recognized Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, architect I.M. Pei, Seung-Yu Kim, chairman and CEO of Hana Financial Group, and John Wood, founder and executive chairman of the non-profit group “Room to Read.”
More than 350 guests attended the event held at The Fairmont Washington, which brought together distinguished guests including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Richard Holbrooke, Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Jim Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank and a host of diplomats and dignitaries from around the world.
The Chairman of Asia Society Washington, Leo A. Daly III, opened the evening and welcomed everyone to the Annual Awards Dinner to the sound of traditional Korean drummers. Asia Society Washington’s signature event honors distinguished leaders from various fields, who are recognized as visionaries for the significant contributions they have made to deepen connections and build partnerships among Americans and Asians.
Asia Society President Vishakha Desai highlighted the theme for the evening: “that [Americans] in this century, this moment, must figure out a way to partner with Asia” and engage with each other in ways we never thought was possible. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu echoed this theme in his remarks emphasizing the importance of addressing climate change because it is now “a common foe, a common enemy” and “collectively, we have to teach each other how to move towards sustainable energy.”
Chu received Asia Society’s Public Policy Leadership Award for his lifetime service devoted to energy and environmental issues. He stressed the importance of energy efficiency, reducing carbon consumption, and building collaborative communities across international boundaries. “In the end, we are all in this together,’ noted Chu, adding the future of the world depends on the ability of the US and other nations to build legitimate and sustainable environmental agreements, and in finding ways to share ideas in collaborative ways, especially with China; “We have so much to teach each other.”
This theme resonated in each of the honorees remarks which also included famed International Architect I.M. Pei for Cultural Achievement and Seung-Yu Kim, the chairman and CEO of Hana Financial Group, who received the International Business Leadership Award. The Social Responsibility Award went to John Wood, founder and executive chairman of the non-profit group “Room to Read”, which builds schools and libraries around the world.
This evening was truly a celebration of what Asia Society does best: as Senator Dianne Feinstein said, it “shrinks that vast Pacific Ocean and enables Americans to have a positive relationship with the people of Asia and vice versa.”
The evening's festivities received generous support from major corporate sponsors including Lockheed Martin, Hana Financial Group, and ExxonMobil, as well as, friends of Asia Society in D.C. and around the world.
Reported by Trixie Canivel and Allyson Slater