Celebrating 75 Years of Leadership and Impact

This year is an exciting one for the Aspen Institute as we celebrate our 75th anniversary.

It all began with our mid-century founder, Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke, who believed that the world urgently needed “humanistic leaders who valued reason, knowledge, dialogue, culture, and moral inquiry.” In 1949, Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth brought together 3,000 global leaders for the Goethe Bicentennial in Aspen, Colorado, to explore how humanism could shape leadership and problem-solving in a post-war world. Their vision was clear: Address the uncertainty and challenges of the time through meaningful dialogue and deep, thoughtful engagement.

Over the past 75 years, the Aspen Institute has grown into a global convening and leadership organization with more than 60 programs and 13 international partners, connecting thousands annually through our programs, seminars, events, and fellowships. Our work spans key areas such as strengthening societal trust, expanding economic opportunity, engaging and inspiring the young, addressing climate and energy challenges, and fostering cross-generational leadership.

Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke’s belief in the transformative power of ideas, leadership, and dialogue continues to drive us today. As Walter once said, “The difficulty of our time is a difficulty of the human spirit.” These words remain our guiding light.

This year, we reflect on our progress, celebrate our impact, and look forward to the future with optimism and excitement. To mark this milestone, we’re debuting a new 75th anniversary logo, which you’ll begin to see across our social media, at events, and on our campuses in Aspen and Washington, D.C.

The Aspen Institute's purpose and mission remain as relevant today as ever. Working together, we can and must continue our efforts to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world.

Dan Porterfield

President and CEO of the Aspen Institute

Upcoming Events

Rising Generations

Luka Dončić on the Future of Basketball

February 13, 2025

Virtual

How are basketball players trained in the U.S. vs. other countries? What can we learn from each other? On the eve of NBA All-Star Weekend, join the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program for the next event in the Future of Sports conversation series, this one of the future of grassroots hoops. They will talk with Luka Dončić, five-time All-NBA first team guard from Slovenia, about his experience in Europe and with a panel that explores findings and recommendations in a new report by Dončić’s foundation comparing the U.S. and European systems.

Economic Opportunity

Re-Entry and Good Jobs: Buildings the Second Chances We All Believe In

February 26, 2025

Virtual

Today, approximately 77 million Americans (or 1 in 3 adults) have a criminal record. In part two of our series “Work Behind and Beyond Bars: Improving Job Quality During and After Incarceration,” the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program will explore the opportunities and challenges of accessing good jobs for people after incarceration.

Societal Trust

Building Trust in Science for a More Informed Future

March 10-11, 2025

Cambridge, MA

A collaboration between the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program and the MIT Press, this conference will be ideal for science communicators, journalists, researchers, students, policymakers, and anyone interested in mobilizing knowledge for a better world.

Big Ideas

Aspen Ideas Festival and Aspen Ideas: Health

June 22 - July 1, 2025

Aspen, CO

Passes are on sale for Aspen Ideas Festival and Aspen Ideas: Health 2025! Engage with inspiring leaders, brilliant thinkers, and bold change-makers on our awe-inspiring Rocky Mountain campus. From dawn to dark, we’ll stretch our minds, feed our imaginations, and explore the ideas that are shaping our collective future.

Building an Economy for Everyone

From bold vision to global impact.

Over the past five years, the Aspen Institute and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth have partnered to drive transformative solutions worldwide—helping to build an economy that works for everyone. Today, we celebrate this milestone and the progress we've made together.

This partnership has delivered real impact—from catalyzing efforts to create the first-ever National Strategy for Financial Inclusion in the U.S., to strengthening small businesses through Community Development Financial Institutions, to cultivating the next generation of leaders committed to inclusive growth.

This is more than a partnership—it’s a movement.

Watch the short video above to see the journey, the inspiration, and what’s next—including a new fellowship experience for seasoned executives.

Around the Institute

Leadership

Leadership and Belonging in Rural Communities

At the Aspen Institute, we believe leaders can come from anywhere. But realizing that vision requires us to rethink where—and how—we search for them. Donna Daniels of the Brushy Fork Leadership Institute and Chris Estes of the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group have dedicated their careers to working in rural communities—places where great leaders are often overlooked.

Economic Opportunity

Announcing the 2025 Workforce Leadership Academies

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program is thrilled to announce the launch of six new Workforce Leadership Academies in 2025. Like their predecessors, the 2025 Academies will convene cohorts of leaders from across their local workforce ecosystems for a 10-month fellowship to deepen networks and strengthen their systems leadership skills.

Leadership

In Session: Carly Zakin

Carly Zakin is a Henry Crown Fellow and the co-founder and co-CEO of theSkimm, a digital media company dedicated to giving its audience of 16 million the information they need to navigate life’s most important decisions. In our latest episode of In Session, she shares lessons on leading through the unknown.

Rising Generations

Meet the 2025 Champions for Change

The Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute is thrilled to announce the Champions for Change class of 2025 – a cohort of five remarkable Native youth who are leading impactful change within their communities. The 2025 class joins the decade-strong Champions for Change program, including more than 50 active alumni.

In the News

Societal Trust

Executive Director of the Aspen Strategy Group, Anja Manuel, joined CNBC's "Closing Bell Overtime" to share thoughts on U.S.-China relations moving forward.

Climate and Energy

Natural disasters are uprooting Americans' retirement plans, and Tim Shaw, Director of the Benefits Transformation Initiative at the Aspen Institute, recommends diversifying savings in Business Insider.

Big Ideas

Learn more about how a gathering of brilliant minds at the 1949 Goethe Bicentennial led to the founding of the Aspen Institute in a series from Aspen Daily News.

Rising Generations

Gene Pinkard, the director of K-12 Leadership for the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, talks about social-emotional learning for EducationWeek.

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