American Summit on Competitiveness

Blagica Bottigliero, NBC5 Street Team (Video)

I had the pleasure to attend last week’s National American Summit on Competitiveness. Chicago had the honor of hosting the annual event in our own backyard -The Fairmont.

Needless to say, the list of panelists was packed with heavy hitters that included everyone from Maria Bartiromo (she also televised her CNBC show live from the Summit), former and current heads of Boeing, IBM and Intel, the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the Governors of South Carolina and Arizona and Steve Chen. You guessed it – the same Steve Chen who Co-Founded YouTube. Didya know that Steve is a graduate of U of I? Oh, I almost forgot, Mayor Daley was there, too:)

The focus of the summit was to talk tough love and understand how America can be more competitive in this ever changing global economy. From helping immigrant PhDs stay in our companies to treating public education more like a businesses (bonus, incentives, pay hikes), the chats got heated at some point. I liked it.

One of the highlights for me? Listening to Mayor Daley’s luncheon speech. He managed to get the entire crowd going about the upcoming Olympic bid, but also showcased Chicago as the stellar city it is. I have to admit, I got a little teary eyed at the end of his speech. You can see my video highlights here.

About these ads