American Program Bureau, Inc.

A political economist, Marvin Zonis is a Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. He teaches courses on International Political Economy, Leadership, and Business Strategy in the Era of E-Commerce. In addition, he heads Marvin Zonis & Associates, Inc., political risk consultant...s. The firm works with corporations and professional asset management companies throughout the world to help them identify, assess, and manage their political risks in the constantly changing global environment.

Zonis develops and presents executive training programs for senior business leaders. He is a leading professional speaker on the international political economy and leadership, at corporate meetings and conferences worldwide. He constantly seeks to give business executives the tools to be able to decide what they must do to stay competitive in the global market, and how they can lead employees. Zonis accomplishes this by explaining and analyzing the transformations in the social, political and economic environment worldwide, and the ensuing implications for business and public policy.

What sets Zonis apart from his contemporaries, and makes him a much sought-after speaker, is his awareness of the intersection of politics, economics and emerging technologies. He "gets" the big picture and explains what is going on in the world and potential impacts on businesses. He understands and talks about how technology and globalization are permanently transforming the way business is conducted.Read more

In September 2008, veteran economic and financial journalist Robert Kuttner published a prophetic book predicting the financial crash and Barack Obama’s election, and pointing to the recovery program needed to revive America.

In Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency, K...uttner argues that there is no middle ground. Obama will either be “a great president or a failed president.” He will either rally Americans to support a strategy of effective public investment and rebuilding of a shattered financial system, or a collapsing economy will fall in on him and the country.

The release of Obama’s Challenge marks Kuttner’s eighth book in what has proven a distinguished career in journalism. He has held positions including columnist for BusinessWeek for twenty years, national staff writer for The Washington Post during the Watergate era, national policy correspondent for the New England Journal of Medicine, chief investigator for the US Senate Banking Committee, columnist for Boston Globe, as well as teaching stints at Brandeis and Harvard.

Kuttner is a compelling public speaker, who can address a variety of audiences. He is unique in the passion he brings to his speeches and his ability to render complex economic issues in plain, clear English. Currently co-editor of The American Prospect, a magazine that he founded in 1989, Kuttner is a distinguished senior fellow at the think tank Demos.
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John Crowley has never, never, never quit. After two of his young children were diagnosed with Pompe disease, a rare and fatal neuromuscular disorder that affects only several thousand children worldwide, Crowley defied the odds of survival and embarked on a journey to find a cure, parlaying his personal struggle into ...a professional juggernaut.

The Crowley family story has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, is the subject of the book, The Cure, as well the inspiration behind the upcoming film starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, and Keri Russell. It is an inspiring story of what it means to do "whatever it takes," against phenomenal odds, for your children. It is about hope, learning, life and love.

Traveling the world over, competing against time, Crowley located a scientist developing an enzyme therapy for Pompe. Grasping at this last hope, he quit his job, took out a $100,000 home equity loan and founded Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, a five-person startup biotech company zeroing in on the drug.

In less than a year, Crowley raised over $27 million for Novazyme. It quickly grew to a 100-person company and Genzyme acquired it for $225 million—one of the largest amounts ever paid for a preclinical drug development company in biotech history. He watched in awe as his own children began receiving potentially lifesaving therapy.

Crowley’s emotion-packed presentation details what it means to truly do whatever it takes, against phenomenal odds, to reach a goal. Taking life’s adversity and turning it around to scale the heights of hope and inspiration, he personifies relentless determination and the power of never giving up.

Now Chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, Crowley continues to guide emerging biotech companies, inspiring them to seek out opportunity and reach unprecedented success.
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