Subject: Exciting Week Ahead for USGLC
From: "Liz.Schrayer" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 13:56:56 -0400

Dear Board of Directors,

The excitement is building for next week's USGLC State Leaders Summit and our 20th Anniversary Tribute Dinner.  I have to say, I have never been as proud of our team pulling off these two mammoth events at one time!  Oh, and the State, Foreign Ops bill has been moving through the House, and State Department Authorization bill through the Senate.

One logistical note: Regrettable, Secretary Kerry had to cancel his appearance at the Summit due to his recent leg injury and surgery.  As you know, he has cancelled all of his public appearances over the past few weeks.

A few quick updates before we all see one another next week:

1.      State Leaders Summit. Our field staff arrived in DC this week and the energy in the office is contagious. We are gearing up to welcome nearly 400 state leaders including 120 veterans and several former Governors and Congressman, from nearly 25 states.  The highlight will be our 175 meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with about half of the meetings scheduled with Members of Congress.  Congressmen Adam Kinzinger and Tom Emmer, who traveled with us on our Africa trip earlier this year, will rally the troops Wednesday morning before their Hill meetings.

Special thank you to Deloitte for sponsoring our Student Veterans and to Board Members Bill Lane, Greta Lundeberg, Leslie Griffen, Aaron Williams, Linda Padon, Peter Yeo, Sarah Thorn, Bob Zachritz, Mark Green, Ann Lewis, Dan Glickman, Jimmy Horner, Kristin Lord, Bill O'Keefe who will be speaking at the Summit throughout the day.

Please contact Jessica at [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]> if you have any questions or would like to attend the Summit, including the opening keynote with 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi or the closing Smart Power Expo & Networking Reception.

2.      20th Anniversary Tribute Dinner. Special thanks to Karl Hoffman of PSI and Carolyn Brehm of Procter & Gamble who are serving as Co-Chairs of Wednesday's Tribute Dinner.  We are expecting 800 guests for our special 20th anniversary celebration as we honor Senators Corker and Coons with a wonderful video tribute from their Senate colleagues. Admiral Mullen is primed to talk about how development and diplomacy is needed now more than ever and board members will have an opportunity to visit with top movers and shakers from the Administration, Washington Embassies, and the Hill. It should be a spectacular evening.

3.      Impact 2016 Update. Believe it or not, while this is all going on, we continue to engage and educate candidates.  Here are a few items to share.

§  Last week, Derek Gianino and John Glenn from our team led a delegation from our coalition to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to meet with Governor Jindal and his top policy advisors and had a very productive meeting.  Apparently, Governor Jindal said, "you are preaching to the choir." He was well versed on PEPFAR and MCC and said it is important to push back against the isolationist voices noting that our stories are powerful, but unfortunately "it takes our opponents 5 seconds to make their case, it takes us 5 minutes to make ours."   We like that he sees himself as part of us!

§  Jeb Bush's new Campaign Manager, Danny Diaz, was on our first Africa trip. We have plans to travel to Florida to brief the Bush team later this month. At a recent meeting in New Hampshire, our Outreach Director, Derek Gianino had a chance to talk with Governor Bush who said he was proud to have been a part of USGLC in Florida. He also answered a recent question with strong support.

§  We are close to settling on a date to brief Governor Christie, thanks to the help of his policy director who was on one of our Africa trips.

§  Last but not least, we have scheduled 8 more "in-district" meetings with Members of Congress for the summer, plus a state-wide event with Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) in Denver on July 31.  If you are interested in attending our Colorado event, please let me know.  It would be wonderful to have you there.

This is a very exciting time for USGLC, and I thank you for all of your support, especially for the Tribute Dinner.  Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing most of you next week.

Liz

Liz Schrayer, USGLC