AIAC CO-SPONSORED THE 120TH EXPLORERS CLUB ANNUAL DINNER GALA
For Immediate Release
New York, NY – April 20, 2024 - AIAC and its affiliates, Bradford Space, Arnprior Aerospace, SuperAlloy Manufacturing Solutions, Canadian Kraft Paper Industries, Champlain Cable, and Umbilicals International, co-sponsored the 120th Explorers Club Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony on April 20, 2024. Held at the Glass House, a modern, expansive ballroom overlooking the Hudson River, the black-tie gala was attended by members and guests from six continents, including prominent public figures from the realms of academia, business, finance, media, and government.
Entitled the “Cosmic Ballet,” the elaborate annual event included a formal reception featuring exotic appetizers, the Explorers Club Awards ceremony, a live auction, musical entertainment, and dancing, followed by after-parties throughout Manhattan. Earlier that day, AIAC co-sponsored a reception and luncheon in the Ballroom of the Asia Society, located one block from the Explorers Club headquarters.
Immediately prior to the Dinner Gala, Dr. Frederik D. A. Paulsen, Jr., Chairman of Ferring Pharmaceuticals and a Trustee of the Explorers Club, hosted a rooftop terrace champagne reception for fellow Trustees and invited dignitaries in honor of his guest, Her Majesty Queen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck of the Kingdom of Bhutan. A dedicated humanitarian and conservationist, Queen Jetsun serves as the President of the Bhutan Red Cross Society and as Ambassador of the United Nations Environment Program. The Queen was accompanied by Her Royal Highness, Princess Ashi Euphelma Choden Wangchuck. His Royal Highness Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck, Prince of Bhutan, is a member of the Explorers Club and an Honorary Director.
A reception beside the grand ballroom featured wine, champagne and exotic hors d’oeuvres, including roasted ant, cricket, and bamboo worm canapes. Skewered Madagascar cockroaches and Tarantula Tempura were reserved for particularly adventurous gourmands. Black tie and evening gown-clad guests boarded a lunar roving vehicle for photos.
Bertrand Piccard, the celebrated Swiss explorer and environmentalist, was hosted by Mr. Levie at his table during the dinner gala. Mr. Piccard was the keynote speaker for the evening, inspirationally reflecting on the indominable drive of explorers, who, against all odds, carry out their mission to pierce the frontiers of science. Mr. Piccard was met with a prolonged standing ovation from the assembled members and guests.
At the conclusion of the night’s formal festivities, Mr. Levie and his fellow Trustees, Directors, current and past Presidents, and the evening’s award winners all then joined on stage, receiving a standing ovation from the audience.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie commented, “It is a great pleasure and privilege to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Explorers Club. AIAC and its corporate affiliates were deeply honored to co-sponsor the 120th Explorers Club Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony.” Mr. Levie continued, “This year’s Annual Dinner was a grand celebration of the bold explorers and visionaries who energize us all with their relentless passion to expand our knowledge of our planet and our universe.”
AIAC hosted the following distinguished guests at its tables at the Explorers Club Annual Luncheon and Dinner:
Bertrand Piccard, Award winning explorer, psychiatrist and clean technology pioneer, balloon and solar powered plane circumnavigator.
Hon. Philip Lader, former US Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley, former Chairman of WPP plc.
Hon. Asa Hutchinson, Former Governor of Arkansas and U.S. presidential candidate.
Olivia Troye, Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, Member, White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Dr. Joel Myers, Founder and CEO of Accuweather.
Grover Norquist, Founder and Chairman, Americans for Tax Reform.
Justin Rockefeller, Trustee, Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Dennis Flannery, Chairman, Stone Hill Advisor, Former Senior Advisor, The World Bank, US Treasury, Inter-American Development Bank.
Brian C. McK. Henderson, Founder, Henderson International Advisors, Senior Advisor, Rockefeller Capital Management, Former Vice Chairman, Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Gordon Winston, Managing Partner, Inventive Capital.
Phillip Palumbo, Managing Director of The Walbrook Club.
Abe Wellington, Founder and CEO, the Opal Financial Group.
Commemorating the Explorers Club’s 120th Anniversary, Mr. Levie composed the following ode, which was featured in the Annual Dinner Program and permanently framed and displayed in the Explorers Club Board Room. Mr. Levie recited the poem at the Explorers Club Board of Trustees meeting held on April 19, 2024.
A Tribute to the Explorers Club
By L. M. Levie
A fellowship of seekers, who
Are bound by fervent flame,
Composed of men and women, true
Who etch a path to fame.
Explorers find their sacred creed,
Expanding knowledge, they proceed
To seek the stars, through vast expanse,
And revel in the cosmic dance.
From Arctic tundras’ cold embrace,
To distant parts of outer space.
Their mission, always firm and clear:
To push beyond, to vanquish fear.
Through jungles dense and mountains high,
They unlock secrets, touch the sky.
With courage as their compass, roam
All lands and seas they make their home.
They scale the peaks where eagles soar,
And sail the seas where waves all roar.
Confronting challenge, without fright,
Illuminating dark with light.
In oceans deep and caverns dark,
They journey forth to make their mark.
Each expedition turns the page
Of human progress in our age.
For them, it's not mere tour or chase,
But quest for knowledge, in each place.
To learn, to grow, to understand,
The wonders of our world so grand.
So let us follow in their stride,
With drive and courage as our guide
To lands and seas and outer space,
A noble quest, where we find grace.
About the Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is an American-based, international, multidisciplinary professional society with the mission of promoting and supporting scientific exploration and field study on land, sea, and space. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for explorers and scientists worldwide. Members of the club have been the first to explore the North Pole, South Pole, Mount Everest, the Mariana Trench, and to walk on the Moon. The club's notable current members or honorees include Buzz Aldrin, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Richard Branson, James Cameron, Ray Dalio, Wendy Schmidt, and Jane Goodall. In years past, prominent members have included President Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Edmund Hillary, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Thor Heyerdahl, Walter Cronkite, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Explorers Club’s historic clubhouse, at 46 East 70th Street in New York City, is a museum and monument to the “Famous Firsts,” the greatest explorers and expeditions of all time.
About the Explorers Club Annual Dinner
Held annually since the club’s inception in 1904, the Explorers Club Annual Dinner has served as a celebration of the world’s greatest achievements in exploration. Known as the most coveted invitation in the world, the formal, black tie event traditionally was held at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, and in recent years has migrated to the Glasshouse, a sleek, modern ballroom astride the Hudson River in Manhattan.
The Explorers Club Annual Dinner’s original menu at the Waldorf Astoria was famous for serving exotic animals, but the Club has long since departed from this tradition, and now embraces conventional cuisine, as the club’s conservationist credentials have taken precedence. Nevertheless, tempting insect hors d’oeuvres are still available for adventurous connoisseurs during the cocktail reception prior to the formal dinner.
Attendees of the iconic Explorers Club Annual Dinner have included the most prominent figures from the worlds of exploration, business, finance, government, media, and entertainment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, SEE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_explorers_club
https://www.explorers.org/ecad-photos/
For videos of the events please click the following links:
Video One
About AIAC
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 Corporation manufacturing 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 throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
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 also 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, Chysler- Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its paper manufacturing interests, 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 world-wide oceanographic research.
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). A Fellow of the Explorers Club, Mr. Sagnieres is also a noted international business leader and philanthropist.
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 more information, see:
