Ambassador Paul Bremer, who headed up the provisional government in Iraq, and Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader whose policies are credited with ending the Cold War, will be the keynote speakers at the 91st annual Insurance Leadership Forum at The Greenbrier, Oct. 2-6, 2004, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Legendary stage and screen star Lauren Bacall will be a featured luncheon speaker.
The Greenbrier conference, a networking event for the commercial insurance industry, is sponsored by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, and includes business and technology workshops and general sessions relating to key international and industry issues.
Bremer was chairman and chief executive officer of Marsh Crisis Consulting Company, a division of Marsh & McLennan, prior to being named presidential envoy to Iraq. He served as the top U.S. government representative in that country from May 6, 2003, until June 28, 2004, when he handed over power to the interim government of Iraq.
Bremer is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on crisis management, terrorism and homeland security. He was appointed to the National Commission on Terrorism in September 1999, and he also served on the Bush administration’s Homeland Security Advisory Council before heading to Iraq.
Prior to entering private enterprise, Bremer had a distinguished, 23-year career with the State Department. He was a special assistant or executive assistant to six Secretaries of State, and he served overseas at American Embassies in Afghanistan, Malawi and Norway. He also was President Reagan’s Ambassador-at-Large for Counter Terrorism.
Bremer will deliver the keynote address on Monday, Oct. 4.
Gorbachev, who won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for improving relations with the West and promoting disarmament, will be a keynote speaker on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
Gorbachev served as president of the then-Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. He streamlined and decentralized the Soviet governmental system through his “perestroika” initiative and brought unprecedented political openness to repressive Communist institutions through “glasnost.”
He signed two broad disarmament pacts to secure and improve relations with the West and ended Communist rule in Eastern Europe. The revolutionary political changes in his native country and throughout Eastern Europe were precursors to the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, Gorbachev, 73, has received the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor and the Badge of Honor. In 1993, he founded Green Cross International, a non-profit environmental organization with chapters in the United States, Russia, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland that is dedicated to cleaning up military toxins and improving global ecology.
Bacall will be the featured luncheon speaker on Monday, Oct. 4. She is one of the American Film Institute’s top 25 film legends and won two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor for her acting.
Bacall’s triumphant film career began in 1944 with a memorable performance opposite Humphrey Bogart in “To Have and Have Not.” She married Bogart in 1945, and the two co-starred in several other firms including “The Big Sleep” and “Key Largo.”
Bacall has shared the marquee with a veritable “Who’s Who” of Hollywood heartthrobs including Charles Boyer, Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas, Fred MacMurray, Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Rock Hudson, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn, Paul Newman and James Garner.
She had an impressive career on Broadway, beginning with starring roles in “Goodbye Charlie” and “Cactus Flower.” In 1970, she made her musical comedy debut in “Applause!” and won her first Tony Award. Among her other theatrical credits were “Wonderful Town,” “Woman of the Year” – which resulted in another Tony – and “Sweet Bird of Youth.”
She received the National Book Award in 1980 for her autobiography, “By Myself.” Her second book, “Now,” published in 1994, also was a best seller. In addition to Bogart, she was married to actor Jason Robards.
Topics Leadership
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