The Atlantic Council will honor Romanian president Klaus Iohannis with the Distinguished International Leadership Award for his remarkable career, exemplary leadership of Romania, and his transatlantic and European leadership role.
The Atlantic Council’s Distinguished Leadership Awards are often referred to by media as “the Washington Oscars.” Among the honorees are a European head of state, a US cabinet official, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, and an Academy Award-winning actress, according to the official press release.
Each year, the Distinguished Leadership Awards convenes a high-level international audience of more than six hundred policy, business, military, artistic, and civil-society leaders to celebrate individuals—including policy leaders, business executives, military brass, and artistic and humanitarian champions—who best represent the pillars of the global relationship.
This year, those receiving awards will be recognized at a star-studded dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on May 8 in Washington, DC.
Stephen J. Hadley, chairman of the Atlantic Council’s International Advisory Board and former US national security advisor, will introduce president Klaus Iohannis and present the award.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo will also receive the Distinguished International Leadership Award. She will be recognized for her remarkable public service as the fortieth U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the seventy-fifth, and first female, governor of Rhode Island, as well as for her private sector accomplishments.
General Christopher G. Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and commander of US European Command, will receive the Distinguished Military Leadership Award in recognition of his more than thirty-five-year career in the US Army, serving in a wide variety of positions in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Michelle Yeoh, Academy Award-winning actress and producer, will be honored with the Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award.
“The recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Awards are remarkable and remarkably diverse representatives of global leaders who, through their lifetime of commitment and contributions, have contributed to a better world,” said Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. “By honoring them, we hope to inspire others to step up at a moment when the world so urgently needs distinguished leaders.”
The Distinguished Leadership Awards is among the most important gatherings of international decision-makers in Washington each year, recognized for its style, substance, prominent international guest list, and recognition of some of the world’s most influential changemakers.
Past recipients of the award include US presidents George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and then-Vice President Joe Biden; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; current and former International Monetary Fund managing directors Kristalina Georgieva and Christine Lagarde; World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; and illustrious artists including Dua Lipa, Lionel Richie, Bono, Gloria Estefan, and Renée Fleming.
(Photo source: Presidency.ro)
