NEWSWEEK: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Open Second Annual Newsweek Global Environmental Leadership Conference With Keynote Address

NEW YORK, April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will open Newsweek's Second Annual Global Environmental Leadership conference at Georgetown University on Tuesday, April 8.

There will be a pre-luncheon question-and-answer session with Keith Hennessey, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council. The day-long event is tied to a special report on Global Leadership and the Environment in the April 14 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, April 7).

"We are delighted to have Mayor Bloomberg and Keith Hennessey headlining our second annual conference on environmental leadership," said Newsweek's Chairman Richard M. Smith. "Along with an all-star list of other speakers, we are sure that they will inspire a lively discussion on a topic that is vitally important to all of us."

After Mayor Bloomberg's speech, the first panel discussion on "Profitability via Sustainability" will begin. Panelists are Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO of Stonyfield Farm; Ben Packard, Director of Environmental Affairs, interim Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Starbucks Corporation; Ann Thrupp, Ph.D., Manager of Sustainability and Organic Development, Fetzer Vineyards; and Adam Werbach, President and CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi. Newsweek Senior Editor Dan Gross will moderate.

The conference ends with an afternoon panel discussion "Politics, Advocacy and the Environment." The panelists are Lee Brenner, Executive Producer, Political Programming, director of IMPACT (Public Affairs) MySpace; Scott P. Dickey, CEO, LIVE EARTH; Ira Magaziner, Chairman, Clinton Climate Initiative, William Jefferson Clinton Foundation; Peggy Shepard, Co-Founder and Executive Director, West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. and the Honorable R. James Woolsey, Venture Partner and Senior Adviser, VantagePoint Venture Partners and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Newsweek's San Francisco Bureau Chief, Karen Breslau will moderate.