Written by Aaliyah Butler
The 2021-2022 Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy Lecture Series, chaired by political strategist and author Donna Brazile, returns Tuesday, October 12 at 5 p.m. EDT online via YouTube. This year’s series is themed “Make the Future Your Own: Building Forward Together.”
The second virtual event will host approximately 20 students for the discussion filmed live in WHUT studios. Brazile will be joined by Patrick Gaspard, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and current president of the Center for American Progress.
Gaspard was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, to Haitian parents. During his tenure as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, from 2013-2016, he led over 1,000 staff and an annual budget of more than $600 million from 29 different government agencies. Gaspard led the effort to redesign PEPFAR – the U.S. government’s HIV/AIDS initiative – to integrate it effectively into the South African health care system. He also successfully led the trade negotiations that led to an unprecedented 10-year renewal of the bilateral African Growth and Opportunity compact between the trading partners.
Gaspard most recently served as the president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), one of the largest private philanthropies in the world. He first joined the foundation as its global vice president, responsible for its regional programs across five continents and its global advocacy strategy in multiple world capitals. He quickly became president during his first year in OSF in 2017 and served in that role for four years. As president, he managed and set the strategy for a 1.4-billion-dollar budget and a staff of 1,600.
During his tenure, he confronted significant threats to open societies around the globe, including the rise of authoritarian regimes and the spread of COVID-19 worldwide. In 2020, Gaspard conceptualized and stewarded Open Society’s urgent contribution of $200 million in investments to support essential workers and other communities hit hardest by COVID-19. He also 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.
Gaspard attended Columbia University and is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Columbia University and Bard College. He was also awarded the Spingarn Medal, which is the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP.