BIO Announces Presidents Bill Clinton And George W. Bush To Provide Keynote At 2010 BIO International Convention

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 19 Nov 2009 - 12:00 PDT

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The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) announces that Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the 42nd and 43rd Presidents of the United States, will appear together for a moderated discussion at the 2010 BIO International Convention, which will be held May 3-6 in Chicago, Ill. at McCormick Place.

Presidents Clinton and Bush, who served in the White House for 16 years, will discuss a wide variety of issues relating to both domestic and foreign policy. Jim Greenwood, BIO's President and CEO, will moderate the discussion between the two former Presidents on Tuesday, May 4th at 11:30 a.m.

"We are honored to have the rare opportunity to host two such influential and experienced global thought leaders as they share the same stage at the same time as headliners at our Convention," said BIO President & CEO James Greenwood. "We look forward to a thoughtful and informative discussion between Presidents Bush and Clinton as they discuss top issues and explore how biotechnology can create a better tomorrow by healing, fueling and feeding the world. I'm sure this keynote discussion will inspire and engage the global industry leaders in attendance."

Elected U.S. President in 1992, and again in 1996, President Clinton was the first Democratic president to be awarded a second term in six decades. President Clinton's accomplishments include increasing investment in education, providing tax relief for working families, helping millions of Americans move from welfare to work, expanding access to technology, encouraging investment in underserved communities, protecting the environment, countering the threat of terrorism and promoting peace and strengthening democracy around the world. His Administration's economic policies fostered the largest peacetime economic expansion in history. President Clinton previously served as the Governor of Arkansas, chairman of the National Governors' Association and Attorney General of Arkansas.

After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence. Today the Foundation has more than 1,400 staff and volunteers around the world working to improve lives through several initiatives, including the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative which is helping 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS access lifesaving drugs. Other initiatives -- including the Clinton Climate Initiative, the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative, and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative -- are applying a business-oriented approach worldwide to fight climate change and develop sustainable economic growth in Africa and Latin America. As a project of the Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative brings together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing issues. In the U.S., the Foundation is working to combat the alarming rise in childhood obesity, and is helping individuals and families succeed and small businesses grow.

In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton has joined with President George H.W. Bush three times - after the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008 - to help raise money for recovery efforts. He also served as the U.N. Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, and was recently named U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti to assist its people and government as they "build back better" from recent storm damages and implement their economic vision for the future.

George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009. Prior to his election, he served for six years as the Governor of Texas. As Governor, George W. Bush successfully reformed the state's education, juvenile justice, welfare, and tort laws. In 1998, he became the first Governor elected to back-to-back four-year terms in the history of Texas with a record 68 percent of the vote.

During his time as President, George W. Bush worked to extend freedom, opportunity, and security at home and abroad. His first initiative as President was the No Child Left Behind Act, a bipartisan measure that has led to demonstrable gains in educational achievement, especially among minority students. Faced with a recession when he took office, President Bush cut taxes for every federal income taxpayer, triggering 52 months of uninterrupted job growth, the longest such streak in American history. President Bush also modernized Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit, a reform providing access to critical medicines for 40 million seniors and other beneficiaries.

Following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, President Bush implemented a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism, including the largest reorganization of the federal government since World War II. President Bush rallied the world in the defense of freedom and led a global coalition in the liberation of more than 50 million people from tyranny. In his more than seven years in office after September 11th, 2001, the United States was not attacked again.

Since leaving office, President Bush has focused on launching the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University. As part of that Center, President Bush recently announced the George W. Bush Institute to advance the principles that guided him during his time in public service. The four initial major areas of focus for Institute programming will be education, global health, human freedom, and economic growth.

Aside from keynote sessions, presentations and breakout sessions at the 2010 BIO International Convention will focus on research and development, partnership opportunities, and new business models required to meet global health challenges.

The 2010 BIO International Convention is expected to draw between 15,000 and 17,000 industry leaders from 48 states and 60 countries. This year, the Convention program will feature more than 125 sessions in 17 tracks. New tracks for 2010 include Delivery and Manufacturing of Biologics, Global Drug Development and Marketing, Innovations in Vaccines, and MarketPlace Watch. In addition, this year's BIO Exhibition will cover an estimated 200,000 net sq. ft. and host more than 1,800 exhibitors. Product Focus Zones within the BIO Exhibition will include BioProcess, Business Services, Clinical Trials, Contracts, Discovery and the BioPark.

The BIO International Convention helps to support BIO programs and initiatives. BIO works throughout the year to create a policy environment that enables the industry to continue to fulfill its vision of bettering the world through biotechnology innovation. For more information on the global event for biotechnology, including program and housing information, please visit http://convention.bio.org/.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO Asia Partnering Conference
January 25-26, 2010
Tokyo, Japan

BIO CEO & Investor Conference
February 8-9, 2010
New York, NY

Source
BIO

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