PBLN Summit on Business Leadership and Public Policy on November 20 A Great Success

With the economy and our communities reeling from the effects of short-sighted business practices and public policies, the Progressive Business Leaders Network (PBLN) brought together over 200 CEOs, thought leaders, and top public policy officials on Friday, November 20 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for the PBLN’s Summit on Business Leadership and Public Policy: Inventing a More Sustainable Economy.

The event featured Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, and U.S. Senate Candidates including Congressman Michael Capuano, Alan Khazei, Stephen Pagliuca, and Jack E. Robinson.  Other special guests included Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, and American Prospect co-founder Robert Kuttner. Joining them were CEOs that included Richard Pops of Alkermes, Janet Kraus of Spire, Martin Madaus of Millipore Corporation, Jim Roosevelt of Tufts Health Plan, Patti Prairie of Brighter Planet, and Paul Sagan of Akamai Technologies

Focusing around the belief that business leadership must be a leading part of the solution to some of our most pressing challenges, the event encompass peer-to-peer engagement on public policy and innovation with topics that included:

• Pricing Carbon to Address Climate Change
• How to build more Affordable Housing
• Economic Development that Creates Jobs
• Healthcare Reform and Cost Containment
• Innovation in K-12 Education
• Clean Tech and Life Sciences Cluster Development
• Technology Companies And Public Policy
• Zero Taxes for Zero Net-Energy Buildings
• Measuring the Corporate Carbon Footprint

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Diane Hessan, President & CEO - Communispace
According to Advertising Age Communispace is one of the fastest growing marketing and technology companies in the country, with a Blue Chip client list that would make a Madison Avenue giant jealous. A pioneer in creating online communities to help marketers deeply engage customers, Diane helped found Communispace in 1999 and hasn't looked back.