AIAC AT THE EXPLORERS CLUB HOLIDAY CELEBRATION
For Immediate Release
December 12, 2024 - New York, NY American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) and its affiliates hosted its friends and colleagues at the Explorers Club Holiday Dinner Celebration at its headquarters in New York on Thursday, December 12, 2024. Prior to and during the celebration, Mr. Levie, Trustee of the Explorers Club, accompanied by officials of the club, conducted tours for his guests of the club’s priceless curated collection.
Mr. Levie highlighted treasures from the Explorers Club collection, showcasing artifacts from the great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, Napoleon, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Jane Goodall, Thor Heyerdahl, President Theodore Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Sir Richard Branson, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos.
Guests were treated to a reception with hors d’oeuvres, dinner, and desert prepared by noted Chef Bill Taradash. Edward Lovett’s popular a cappella singers, “Figgy Puddynge” performed holiday favorites.
L. M. Levie, hosted the following distinguished guests:
Rita Hauser, Esq., former Senior Partner, Strook, Strook & Lavin, US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission, White House Intelligence Advisory Board, Co-Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Harvard Law School, Director of Rand Corporation, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the New York Philharmonic.
Pamela Passman, Esq., Member, Council on Foreign Relations Nominating and Governance Committee, Chair, Corporate Advisory and Managing Director, APCO Worldwide, Director of Global Government Relations and Public Policy, Regulatory Compliance and Philanthropic and Corporate Social Responsibility Programs for Microsoft
Richard Salomon, Esq., Chairman, Richard Salomon Family Foundation, Executive Committee Member, Illinois Holocaust Museum, formerly, Partner, Mayer Brown
Tom Rogers, Editor-at-Large, Newsweek, Founder, MSNBC and CNBC, Chairman and CEO, Primedia, CEO, TIVO, Co-Chairman of A&E Channel and History Channel, New York Magazine
David Robb, CEO Frontier Group, a family office which he co-founded with Frank Carlucci, Chairman Emeritus of The Carlyle Group and former U.S. Secretary of Defense; early principal and manager, Carlyle Group
Ed Grebow, CEO, Lakewood Advisors; Senior Advisor, AIAC, Former associate and partner of Larry Tisch, Richard Ravitch, and Warren Buffett; former President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, Bowery Savings Bank and Sony USA
Abe Wellington, Founder and CEO, The Opal Group, the global conference organizer
Mr. Levie also greeted his guests, Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan, who made history and earned a Guinness World Record in 2009 for the first weightless wedding. Their wedding ceremony, which was officiated by Explorers Club President Richard Garriott and included an entourage of guests, took place aboard the Zero-G aircraft, a modified Boeing 727 jetliner. Their historic taking of the vows was captured on video. Mr. Levie commented, “It was momentous to bring Noah, Erin, and Richard together, on earth, after a lapse of 15 years. They all appreciated the gravity of the situation.”
During the reception and dinner, Mr. Levie greeted Explorers Club Officers, Directors, Fellows, Members, Friends, and guests, including Richard Garriott de Cayeux, Mark and Kellen Fowler, Martin Kraus, Daphne Liu, Jamie Robinson, Jen Bawden, Jonathan and Bibi Conrad, Alan and Ellen Pikitch, David Press, Christine Neally, Will Roseman, Garrett Bowden, Ken Murphy, and Brittany Barbezat.
In addition to serving as Explorers Club Trustee, AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie serves as Reciprocity Committee Chairman, Legacy Society Member, and unofficial Poet Laureate for the club. AIAC and its affiliates, Bradford Space, Canadian Kraft Paper Industries, SuperAlloy Manufacturing Solutions, Champlain Cable, and Umbilicals International are Partners of the Explorers Club. The Explorers Club’s Partners also include Rolex, the Discovery Channel, and The Philip Stevenson Foundation.
Mr. Levie commented, "It is both a pleasure and a privilege to once again share in the joyous holiday season with my dear friends at the Explorers Club. This year, we celebrate its 120th anniversary as a haven for the world's most accomplished explorers, scientists, innovators, and philanthropists. May it continue to flourish and inspire for many more years to come!"
L. M. Levie composed the following poetic tribute to the club, honoring its 120th Annual Holiday Celebration:
For further information, please see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-np0MiqArQ
https://www.space.com/6786-weightless-wedding-planned.html
https://www.space.com/6786-weightless-wedding-planned.html
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. AIAC companies manufacture materials, components, assemblies, packaging, equipment, and finished products. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for major airports, schools, hospitals, performing art and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, signage and illumination structures in North America, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades and blisks for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell. AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler- Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
Another AIAC affiliate, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance emergency portable power generators required during natural disasters, including extreme climate events worldwide. Clients include government agencies and the International Red Cross.
For further information, please see:
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, and exploration. The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
In recent months, AIAC Companies have proudly served as a corporate sponsor of Hubert Sagniere’s historic circumnavigation of the earth in a single-engine plane (www.flightaroundtheglobe.com).
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, and the Trilateral Commission.
For further information, see:
https://www.aiac.com/our-values
About the Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is a world-renowned international organization dedicated to promoting scientific exploration and field research across land, sea, air, and space. Founded in 1904 in New York City, the club was created to unite explorers, scientists, and adventurers involved in expeditions to uncharted territories, providing a platform for the exchange of knowledge and collaboration on significant discoveries. Its mission is to advance the cause of exploration, encourage scientific research, and inspire the next generation of explorers.
The club was born from the vision of a group of prominent adventurers and scientists, including Henry Collins Walsh, Adolphus Greely, and Carl Lumboltz, who sought a place where those pushing the limits of human endurance and curiosity could gather. Early on, the club became a meeting ground for individuals who were mapping the world’s unknown regions, from the polar ice caps to the deepest jungles. Over time, the Explorers Club attracted some of the greatest explorers and scientific minds in history.
Famous members of the club include many iconic figures who have made their mark on history. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States and an avid explorer of the Amazon and Africa, was an honorary member. Aviator Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, was a pioneering member, as was Walter Cronkite, the legendary news anchor who chronicled many of the 20th century’s great scientific achievements. Astronauts John Glen and Neil Armstrong, the first to walked on the moon, were also members.
Other notable members include Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Mount Everest, Charles Lindbergh, who made the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, and Thor Heyerdahl, known for the Kon-Tiki expedition across the Pacific. The club’s roster also includes oceanographer Sylvia Earle, and deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic. It is also known for embracing the next generation of explorers, such as modern-day space pioneers and conservationists.
The club’s headquarters, located at 46 East 70th Street in Manhattan, is a historic landmark filled with artifacts, maps, and memorabilia from expeditions around the globe. The building serves as a meeting place for members, and it regularly hosts lectures, special events, and its famed annual dinner, which attracts the world's leading explorers and scientists. The Explorers Club Flag, first introduced in 1918, is awarded to expeditions of scientific merit, and has been carried to the highest mountains, the deepest oceans, the North and South Poles, and even to the moon.
Today, the Explorers Club continues to support and sponsor expeditions in fields ranging from archaeology and anthropology to oceanography and space exploration. The club provides grants and fellowships to emerging explorers, while also educating the public about the importance of conservation and exploration. Its motto, "To the Field," captures its enduring commitment to advancing human knowledge through exploration and scientific discovery.
With its distinguished history and its continued role in shaping the future of exploration, the Explorers Club remains one of the most influential organizations in the world for those seeking to uncover the unknown.
The Explorers Club continues to attract an elite group of modern-day pioneers, entrepreneurs, and scientists who push the boundaries of exploration and discovery. Among its current distinguished members are some of the most influential figures in various fields. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, and Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, represent the new frontier of space exploration. Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, remains an active symbol of human space exploration. Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist and conservationist, champions the cause of wildlife and environmental preservation through her membership. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, embodies the spirit of adventure and innovation in both space tourism and exploration. Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, and D.E. Shaw, the influential hedge fund manager, are both dedicated to supporting global scientific initiatives.
The Explorers Club also includes royalty among its ranks. Prince Albert II of Monaco, a passionate advocate for environmental protection, and the King of Bhutan, known for his environmental and conservation efforts, are both members. Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, who was recently made an honorary member of the club, is a supporter of exploration and scientific research, further cementing the club's global influence. The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a noted aviator and conservationist, was a long-time member.
For further information, please see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Explorers_Club
Media Contact:
Isabel Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+ 1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com
