To view additional details about our Milestone Celebration Dinner, including list of sponsors from the event, please click here.

The Economic Club of Washington celebrated many milestones on September 13, 2018 with 1,500 members and their guests in attendance for a dialogue between Club President David M. Rubenstein and Jeff Bezos, CEO and Founder of Amazon. Among the milestones the Club was celebrating were David Rubenstein’s 10-year tenure as president, his participation in more than 100 interviews with featured speakers, and the 10-year anniversary of the Club’s unique scholarship program focused exclusively on graduates of DC public schools and public charter schools. Under President Rubenstein’s leadership, the Economic Club has doubled in both membership and number of Signature Events held each year and has vastly expanded its education initiatives and scholarship program.

Following the precedent set during the Club’s 25th Anniversary event in 2012, the proceeds of the Milestone Celebration event were donated to ten community-serving organizations that positively impact youth in the D.C. metropolitan area. A list of those organizations can be seen here. The event also featured a brief video of congratulations from our 25th Anniversary guest of honor, Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway.

Jeff Bezos discussed with David Rubenstein his successes across various industries, including Amazon, the Washington Post, and Blue Origin, his aerospace manufacturing and spaceflight services company. A crowd of Economic Club members, business leaders, and government officials, as well as nearly 100 members of the media, were hopeful that Bezos would provide insight about the prospects of Amazon’s HQ2 coming to the D.C. region. He told the audience, “We will announce a decision before the end of this year… we’ve made tremendous progress.” Bezos also discussed his new Bezos Day One Fund, a new $2 billion investment that is focused on fighting homelessness and providing quality education to children. “We know for a fact that if a kid falls behind, it’s really, really hard to catch up. And if you can give somebody a leg up when they’re two, three, or four years old, by the time they get to kindergarten or first grade, they’re much less likely to fall behind,” said Bezos of his new foundation. “[We are going to] identify and fund family homeless shelters.”

To view news coverage of our Milestone Celebration featuring Jeff Bezos, CEO and Founder, Amazon, please click here.

To view additional highlights and excerpts from the event, please click here.