FOREIGN DIGNITARIES VISIT THE EXPLORERS CLUB DURING CLIMATE WEEK, CO-SPONSORED BY AIAC
Explorers Club President Richard Garriott de Cayeux, Crown Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Prince Albert II of Monaco at Climate Week at the Explorers Club.
For Immediate Release
September 27, 2024 – New York, NY Bradford Space, an AIAC company with design and production facilities in the Netherlands and in Luxembourg, co-sponsored Climate Week at the Explorers Club, an annual event held in New York from September 23 to the 27. L. M. Levie, Chairman of AIAC and Bradford Space and Member of the Board of Trustee of the Explorers Club, joined with other club officials in greeting the following foreign dignitaries who visited the Explorers Club during Climate Week:
H.R.H. Crown Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg
H.R.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
H.R.H. Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Ambassador to the US
H.E. Pascal Cagni, Ambassador for International Investment of the Republic of France and Chairman of Business France
H. E. Zalabata Torres, Colombian Ambassador to the United Nations
Saudi Ambassador Reena Bandar al Saud, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and French Ambassador Pascal Cagni each toured the Explorers Club’s headquarters, inspecting its rare collection which includes art, artifacts, and furniture from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, Napoleon, President Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Edmund Hillary, the Wright Brothers, Amelia Ehrhart, Thor Heyerdahl, Richard Branson, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Explorers Club Medalists and Guinness World Record Holders in attendance included:
Richard Garriott de Cayeux, President of the Explorers Club, Director of the X Prize Foundation, astronaut on the International Space Station.
Dr. Sylvia Alice Earle, “Her Deepness,” Honorary Director of the Explorers Club, world renowned marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer
M. Bertrand Piccard, Fellow of the Explorers Club, circumnavigator in a Balloon and a Solar powered plane, and President of the Foundation Solar Impulse
Victor Vescovo, “Grand Slam Explorer” to the highest peaks on seven continents, solo diver to the Mariana Trench and to the site of the RMS Titanic
Other notables in attendance during Climate Week at the Explorers Club included:
Patricia Ricard, Member of the Board of Directors, Pernod Ricard, Chair, Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute, Member of the France Ocean Committee established by the French Ministry of the Ecological Transition
Olivier Wenden, CEO of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation
Dr. Ken Lin: Senior Vice President for Global Investment, of Charoen Pokphand Group Company, Ltd. (CP Group, Thailand), the $100 billion revenue, family-owned private holding company
Christopher Kaminker, Managing Director at Blackrock, formerly at Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale
Axel Baratte, Chief of Staff to the French Ambassador for International Investment
Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Chair of Arctic Parliamentarians and Greenlandic Member of the Danish Parliament
Dr. Alexander More, Professor, Harvard University, Director of Climate Week
Dr. John Holdren, Research Professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Co-Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and former Science Advisor to President Obama
Setsu Goto, Member of the Board of Directors of the Midori Foundation Inc.
Ed Grebow, Former associate and partner of Larry Tisch, Richard Ravitch, and Warren Buffett; former President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank and Sony USA
Abe Wellington, Founder and CEO, Opal Group, the organizer of the premier global conferences Finance, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Technology, Facilities Management, Athletics and Human Resources.
George Rodriguez: Fellow, American Chemical Society, Founder STEM Leadership Award
At a reception initiating Climate Week, on Monday, September 23, Explorers Club President, Richard Garriott de Cayeux officially awarded Crown Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg with Honorary Membership in the Explorers Club. He commended the Crown Prince for his service in promoting Luxembourg’s burgeoning space industry and for his wide ranging philanthropy. At the ceremony, L. M. Levie, Trustee, recited the following commemorative poem:
Crown Prince Guillaume then delivered a moving address in which he gratefully accepted the Honorary Membership in the Explorers Club and noted the club’s 120 year history as a bastion of environmental stewardship and bold scientific inquiry. He pointed out his long involvement as Board Member of the World Scouting Foundation, whose mission is closely aligned with that of the Explorers Club. Referencing his speech earlier that day at the United Nations, Crown Prince Guillaume commented, “What could be more central to a Summit of the Future than addressing climate change? It’s not just about protecting the planet—it's about safeguarding our future, ensuring that the world we leave behind is one where life can thrive for generations to come. There is no silver bullet to these challenges. Only commitment counts.”
Following the ceremony, Prince Guillaume greeted Prince Albert II of Monaco, a Trustee of the Explorers Club, who then introduced a panel discussion entitled, Beyond the Ice: The Worldwide Impacts of Arctic Extremes.
Later in the week, on September 26, L. M. Levie took part in a Bradford Space-sponsored reception and ceremony at the Explorers Club in which he introduced George Rodrigues, who formally announced Explorers Club President, Richard Garriott, as the 2024 recipient of the CME STEM Leadership Awards. Former award winners have included Henry Kravis, Chair of KKR, Ed Breen, Chair of Dow Dupont, Roy Vagelos, Chair of Merck, James and Marilyn Simons, Founders of the Simons Foundation, Jon Huntsman, Founder and Chair of the Huntsman Corporation, David Cole, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell Corporation, Martin Brudermuller, Chair of BASF, Bob Patel, CEO of Grace, and Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA.
Climate Week at the Explorers Club highlighted the fundamental changes needed in our everyday lives, to protect nature, as climate change unfolds. Leading with groundbreaking journalists from the Pulitzer Center for Journalism, Inside Climate News, and PBS-NOVA, Climate Week covered new discoveries from polar landscapes to the Amazon and beyond. The Explorers Club announced cutting-edge solutions to confront the climate and biodiversity crises, from the Daniels Family Sustainable Energy Foundation and X-Prize.
The program for Climate Week is found here:
https://www.explorers.org/special-events/climate-week-2024/
AIAC is a corporate sponsor of the Explorers Club, along with its affiliates, Bradford Space, Champlain Cable - Umbilicals International, SuperAlloy Manufacturing Solutions, and Canadian Kraft Paper Industries.
Bradford Space (www.bradford-space.com) designs and produces advanced propulsion and guidance devices for orbital satellites used for precise weather monitoring and prediction. Specifically, Bradford Space has designed and manufactured advanced equipment for high performance weather forecast satellites launched and maintained by the European Space Agency. These include the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) as well as the METOP low earth orbit satellite constellation.
Mr. Levie noted, “Bradford Space is proud and privileged to serve as co-sponsor of Climate Week at the Explorers Club. The presence of so many prominent international dignitaries at the club’s historic headquarters this week is testimony to the critically important role the Explorers Club is playing in highlighting and confronting the challenge of climate change.”
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 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.
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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 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.
For further information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_explorers_club
About CME
Chemical Marketing & Economics, Inc. (CME) located in Morristown, NJ, is focused on accelerating diverse Space Age STEM talent leadership for sustainable innovation, environmental stewardship and global impact at the intersection of business, science and technology. Established in 1954 as a New York Section outgrowth of the past Chemical Marketing & Economics Division of the American Chemical Society, CME is today an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that plans events in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Lab, ACS Technical Divisions and Chapters, U.S. Department of Energy, and the American Chemistry Council. CME sponsors the CME PMSE Student & Mentor Awards and is a proud National Partner of the ACS Scholars Program and an AIChE collaborator of the FOSSI scholarships for underrepresented groups.
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