Nashville. International leaders in business, academia, finance, culture, government, foundations, and nonprofits convened on December 7-8 for the 2021 Global Action Summit, hosted by Fareed Zakaria (CNN),  to reimagine global food, health, and economic systems in the light of challenges and deficiencies revealed by COVID.  

The program included 8 keynotes; 15 sessions, 75 speakers, and a global audience of 1,000 leaders.

The 2021 Global Action Summit was presented for the first time as a virtual event. The timing at the end of 2021 was designed to provide an opportunity to synthesize major findings and lessons learned from disruptions of COVID and to frame a new solutions-oriented agenda to create more resilient and inclusive food, health, and economic systems.

The Summit engages the world's most influential thinkers in business, academia, capital markets, government, and international nonprofits working on adaptive solutions to reimagine food, health, and economics in our COVID-disrupted world.  Among the program partners are

·        GALLUP

·        World Bank

·        United Nations

·        Oxfam

·        UC Davis

·        Vanderbilt University

·        Harvard Business School

·        Ernst and Young (EY)

·        FINN Partners

·        Rotary international

·        Oak Ridge Associated Universities

·        Social Progress Index, among others.  

A partial list of speakers includes,

‍

Fareed Zakaria (CNN), Host and Moderator

Jon Clifton, Global Managing Partner, GALLUP

Martina Cheung, President of S& P, Global Market Intelligence

Abby Maxman, President, Oxfam America

Michael Green, President, Social Progress Imperative

Bruce Gellin, Chief of Public Health Strategy, Rockefeller Foundation

Mary Lou Valdez, Deputy Director, PAHO, U.S. Representative to WHO

Khalid Abu-ismail, Senior Economist, UN-ESCWA

Elizabeth Usovicz, Rotary International

Rob Dongoski, Partner, Food and Agribusiness Lead, EY

Julio Frenk, President, University of Miami

Joxel Garcia, 14th Assistant Secretary for Health, and US Representative, World Health Organization during SARS Epidemic

Scott Miller, President and CEO, Circles USA

Efoso Ojomo, Global Prosperity Lead Researcher, Christensen Institute, Harvard Business School

‍

The Summit also included release of major new reports and announcements for the launch of new initiatives.  Through a new partnership with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, the Summit program serves as the foundation for the creation of a new research agenda to solve problems in the food/health/prosperity nexus through the work of the National Lab and their network of 127 affiliated research universities.

The overall objective was to conduct an end-of-year synthesis of findings and recommendations for action that can strengthen the local and global food, health, and economic systems as we continue to adapt and move beyond the impact of the pandemic.  

‍