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A fireside chat between Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson and Patrick Gaspard, president and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The theme of their discussion was “International Relations and the Building of a More Equitable World.”
April 25, 2023
Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson and Patrick Gaspard, president and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, discussed Gaspard’s career trajectory, international relations, and the building of a more equitable world by investing in democracy, healthcare equity, and social justice.
In partnership with the Martin Mendelsohn ’63 and Syma R. Mendelsohn ’64 Lectureship in International Relations.
Patrick Gaspard is the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a leading public policy think tank working to build an inclusive and just nation. He has been a leader in government, philanthropy, labor, and global diplomacy, with an insistent focus on equity.
Gaspard most recently served as the president of the Open Society Foundations, one of the largest private philanthropies in the world, where he confronted significant global threats to democracy and rights. He shaped the foundation’s $220 million commitment to civil rights groups in the wake of the national reckoning on race following the murder of George Floyd, and refashioned investments in global health infrastructure in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is proud to have launched the foundation’s work in culture and arts as intrinsically tied to human rights practice.
During his tenure as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, Gaspard renewed the critical bilateral cooperation on security, health outcomes, and fair trade. He led the effort to redesign U.S. HIV/AIDS funding in the region and integrate it effectively into the South African health care system. He also successfully led trade negotiations that resulted in the unprecedented 10-year renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Gaspard served as the national political director for Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign, and went on to lead in the president’s administration as the associate director of personnel for the Obama/Biden transition, and assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs.
Gaspard has had a long career in labor and workers’ rights movements, which peaked during his service to healthcare workers as executive vice president for the Service Employees International Union / Local 1199.
Gaspard attended Columbia University and is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Columbia University and Bard College. He has also been awarded the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP.
