2019 Schedule

Keynote Address: "After the Trade War, a Real War with China?"

Chas Freeman

5:00pm

Food Trucks

6:30pm

Jazz Concert (Tickets Required!)

8:00pm

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Allyson Watson; Diane Seligsohn

8:45am

Trade wars: have we reached a truce?

Kevin McGuire

Scott Brown; Susan Harper; Reid Lohr; Frank Benyon

9:00am

St Petersburg: international dining destination

Robin Sussingham

Laura Reiley; Noel Cruz; Emmanuel Roux

9:00am

China: let's rule the world together.

Marguerite Moritz

Scott Brown; William Dowell; Ann Morrison; Allison Quatrini

10:10am

AIDs in the world: waiting for a cure.

Diane Seligsohn

Katrina Kubicek; Tiffany Chenneville; Linda Whiteford; Joannie Bewa

10:10am

How do countries less wealthy than ours provide a social safety net?

Kevin McGuire

Linda Lucas; Allison Quatrini; Pragati Ghimire

11:20am

Violence against women Presented with the generous support of Debbie Nye Sembler

Elizabeth Scott Osborne

Greg Kehoe; Linda Weil-Curiel; Lariana Forsythe; Louise Buhrmann

11:20am

Saudi Arabia: is the Kingdom in our corner?

Prudence Bushnell

William Jordan; Bruce Mabley; William Dowell; Michael Burch

2:00pm

Do like the Canadians; Legalize pot.

Iqbal Paroo

Amy Ronshausen; Adriaan Buma; Andrew Hano; Louise Burhmann

2:00pm

Let's talk Canadian exceptionalism.

Robert Sattin

Bruce Mabley; Susan Harper; Raymond Arsenault

3:10pm

Civil disobedience: It worked for Gandhi and King, so how about today?

George Hamilton

Douglas Herbert; Eric Lynn; Prudence Bushnell; Manu Samnotra

3:10pm

Public Art: what purpose does it serve?

Jim Rogers

Michele Kidwell Gilbert; Judy Kreith; Margaret Miller; Sarah Howard

3:20pm

Women in Global Business:Preceded by refreshments and networking from 5:00-6:00 pm

Karen Dee

Ronice Barlow; Janel Brown; Kavita May; Angie McCourt

6:00pm

To the UK: rethink Brexit!

John Maguire

Frank Benyon; Douglas Herbert; William Jordan; Ann Morrison

9:00am

If Trump is a nationalist, what are we?

Chuck Campbell

Donald Morrison; Dennis Jett; Eric Lynn; George Hamilton

9:00am

Sub-Saharan Africa Steps into the Limelight.

Iqbal Paroo

Michael Ranneberger; Robert Whitehead; Nabintu Mijambere; Elizabeth Scott Osborne

10:10am

Slash the State Department. Diplomacy is so much palaver.

George Hamilton

Robert Blake; Ed Marks; Prudence Bushnell; Orlando Acosta

10:10am

Films from the Youth Documentary Academy. Screening of short films by immigrant U.S. high school students navigating their identities in America.

Marguerite Moritz

Moritz
Yolande Morrison; Tom Shepard; Kathy Stults

11:15am

Climate change is real. What do we do now?

Mark Hafen

Ellen Prager; Don Chambers; Douglas Herbert

11:20am

Florida in the world's imagination: From conquistadors to Disney.

Robin Truesdale

Michael Francis; Gary Mormino; Laura Reiley; Jim Verhulst

11:20am

Peace Corps student recruiting luncheon. Students only. Space is limited.

Lindsay Wulff

12:30pm

Russia and Europe: friend and enemy, in that order?

Golfo Alexopoulos

Paul Kubicek; Douglas Herbert; Jamison Firestone

2:00pm

Why is everyone a wounded minority; or, what happened to e pluribus unum

Monique Quesada

John Zogby; Linda Lucas; Ann Morrison; Dorothy Davis

2:00pm

"Winning the war and losing the peace - why ISIS won't be defeated." A discussion of how war has evolved and why the response of the international community and the United States may lead to a military victory, but will not end the threat.

Dennis Jett

3:10pm

Why is America relinquishing its leadership role in the world?

Robert Deutsch

Donald Morrison; Bruce Mabley; Dennis Jett; Orlando Acosta

2:00pm

The gig economy: the new normal.

Kevin McGuire

Linda Lucas; Ann Morrison; Reid Lohr

3:10pm

Dirty Wars and Polished Silver. Linda Schuster, a former foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, discusses her memoir about her journey from covering wars to the diplomat reception circuit.

Linda Schuster

3:10pm

Marguerite Moritz

Judy Kreith; Robin Truesdale

Film: Cuba's Forgotten Jewels: A Haven in Havana. Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe recreate a flourishing diamond-polishing trade in Cuba. Followed by Q&A with film makers Judy Kreith and Robin Truesdale. Presented in collaboration with the Florida Holocaust Museum and generously supported by the Jack Chester Foundation.

4:15pm

A Summit with Kim Jong Un and a broken agreement with Teheran: is this progress?

John Maguire

Douglas Herbert; Robert Blake; Robert Whitehead; Prudence Bushnell

9:00am

The debate over vaccinations.

Iqbal Paroo

Adriaan Buma; Katrina Kubicek; Jill Roberts

9:00am

Tales from the Foreign Service. Wayne Griffith, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, recounts adventures from his 30-year career in the State Department. Teaser: You'll hear a hair-raising account of a mission to North Korea to negotiate the release of an American Pyongyang was holding as a spy.

Wayne Griffith

9:00am

When facts and beliefs collide: let's talk about it.

John Maguire

Richard Briffault; William Dowell; Donald Morrison; Ellen Prager

10:10am

Give me your tired and your poor; should we take in people on the basis of their poverty?

Iqbal Paroo

Gary Mormino; Ann Morrison; Felicien Kakure

10:10am

Jamison Firestone, New York lawyer and human rights and anti-corruption crusader. The Magnitsky Affair: How the killing of a lawyer in Moscow led the Kremlin to send an emissary to Trump Tower offering a deal, and what that meeting reveals about the fears and aims of the Putin Regime.

Jamison Firestone

10:10am

Dictators are good allies; they stifle extremism and keep the peace

Robert Sattin

Greg Kehoe; Allison Quatrini; Jamison Firestone; Orlando Acosta

11:20am

When whites are in the minority, how will they be treated?

Raymond Arsenault

Donald Morrison; John Zogby; Felicien Kakure; Linda Whiteford

11:20am

Film: America's Diplomats. From Ben Franklin to Benghazi, American diplomats have been on the front line of U.S. foreign policy. Learn about the successes and sacrifices made by members of the U.S. diplomatic corps. Presented by Ambassador Ed Marks.

Ed Marks

11:20am

U.S. State Department student recruiting luncheon, presented by Monique Quesada. Students only, please. Space is limited.

Monique Quesada

12:30pm

Western democracy: when electors choose the grossly incompetent.

Felipe Mantilla

Paul Kubicek; Richard Briffault; William Jordan; Eric Lynn

2:00pm

The United Nations is a relic of a bygone era.

Dorothy Davis

Clint Elbow; Bruce Mabley; Allan Jury; Elizabeth Scott Osborne

2:00pm

Petting that cute cub hurts big cats everywhere. An audiovisual presentation

Marcia Cohen

Howard Baskin

2:00pm

The news and just the news; why the media feels moved to inject opinion.

Donald Morrison

William Dowell; Douglas Herbert; Marguerite Moritz; Jim Verhulst

3:10pm

Take Venezuela: Countries on the Verge of Collapse

Felipe Mantilla

Bruce Mabley; John Maguire; Fabrizio Gugliuzza

3:10pm

New science vs. anti-science. Veteran diplomat Judith Heimann talks about her book, Using Nature's Shuttle: the making of the first genetically modified plants and the people who did it. Hear about these personal acquaintances of the author and how their discoveries were opposed by a lobby of anti-science doubters.

Judith Heimann

3:10pm

Film: Barrow: Freedom Fighter. The inspiring story of Errol Barrow, leader of Barbados' independence from Great Britain and the country's first prime minister. Followed by Q&A with the film's director of photography, Curtis Graham. Introduced by Dorothy Davis

Dorothy Davis

Curtis Graham

4:15pm