Press Release from…

The Commonwealth Club of California

595 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

Contacts: Riki Rafner

415.597.6712

For Immediate Release

 

THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA

26TH Annual distinguished citizen award dinner

 

A Night with Star Players from Tech and Philanthropy

 

The Palace Hotel, San Francisco

Tuesday, APRIL 8, 2013

 

SAN FRANCISCO (March 19, 2014) —What did it take to create Google and LinkedIn, operate an investment fund that came out of the Great Depression and bring philanthropy to the classroom? A selection of smart, transformative leaders, who have put Silicon Valley on the global map with innovation, charitable giving, and an eye for the future. This year, The Commonwealth Club of California will celebrate Transformative Leadership by honoring:

 

John & Cynthia Gunn with a William K. Bowes, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. John Gunn is the Former Chairman and CEO of Dodge and Cox Investment Managers, a Stanford University Trustee and former Chair of the Stanford Board, Vice Chair of Stanford University Hopital & Clinics Board of Directors, Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the San Francisco Opera. Cynthia Fry Gunn is a philanthropist who is a San Francisco Fine Arts Museum Trustee, serves on the Board of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, Stanford’s Hoover Institution Board of Overseers, and is a member of Family and Children Services Silicon Valley Advisory Board.

 

Reid Hoffman: Co-founder and Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, a partner at Greylock Partners, former Executive VP of PayPal, and board member of Zynga, Kiva.org and DoSomething.org.

 

Eric & Wendy Schmidt: Eric Schmidt, PhD, is the Executive Chairman of Google, Co-Founder of Schmidt Ocean Institute, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the New America Foundation, Trustee of Princeton University’s Institute of Advanced Study and member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Wendy Schmidt is the President of the Schmidt Family Foundation, Co-Founder of Schmidt Ocean Institute, Founder of The 11th Hour Project and Climate Central, and board member of the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), and the America’s Cup Organizing Committee.

 

Laura Arrillaga Andreessen: Andreessen is the Founder and President of the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation (LAAF), Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Silicon Valley Venture Fund (SV2) and the Founder and Chairman of Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS).

 

The Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner will be emceed by Dan Ashley, anchor at ABC7 News and, a panel discussion among the honorees will be moderated by Sir Michael Moritz. The dinner is the Club’s most significant annual fundraising event, which raised $1 million last year.  Evelyn S. Dilsaver, Former Exec. Vice President, Charles Schwab is this year’s Dinner Chair.

 

 

26th Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner location and logistics:

•           When: Tuesday, April 8, 2014

•           Where: The Palace Hotel [2 New Montgomery Street × San Francisco, CA 94105]

•           Time: Cocktails: 5:30 pm; Dinner: 7 pm; press must arrive and check in by 5 pm

•           For tickets and information contact Ellie Levine: (415) 869-5909

 

Covering the event? Please contact us by April 1, 2014 to secure a spot in the press box.

 

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The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum, bringing over 400 thought leaders to the Bay Area every year. Since its founding in 1903, the Club has been dedicated to advancing nonpartisan dialogue and discussion, and providing a place for the exchange of ideas. The Club hosts a wide range of speakers, from leading politicians and policymakers to artists, activisits, authors, scientists, and more, always striving for what its founder, Edward F. Adams, set out to do: “We only propose to find the truth and set it loose in the world.”