Former NATO ambassador Ivo Daalder to kick off ABA Presidential Speaker Series

Ivo H. Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, will headline the inaugural program in the American Bar Association Presidential Speaker Series with a free online conversation Thursday, October 5.

Daalder, currently chief executive officer of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, will share his thoughts on pressing international issues involving Ukraine, China, North Korea, the Middle East and more. He will be interviewed by Ertharin Cousin, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture, and currently CEO and founder of Food Systems for the Future.

The program will start at 3 p.m. and will be available to watch on the program webpage at www.americanbar.org/groups/ leadership/office_of_the_presi dent/presidential-speaker-series. Advance registration is not required.

The ABA Presidential Speaker Series, an initiative of ABA President Mary Smith, is a collection of diverse virtual conversations with globally recognized figures, spotlighting trailblazers and thinkers shaping our collective future. Under the theme “Lifting Our Voices, Charting the Future,” these fireside chats will promote dialogue, civility and exposure to diverse viewpoints, innovative ideas and career insights.

Future speakers in the series will include:

• Labor rights leader Dolores Huerta, October 12

• Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese and Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear, October 19

• U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and a panel of Native American women “firsts,” November 2

• A discussion about artificial intelligence featuring a panel of special advisers to the ABA Task Force on the Law and Artificial Intelligence, November 9           

• Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Charles Johnson and former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, December 7

Additional programs will be announced. To introduce the series, the first four installments will be free to ABA members and the public. Thereafter, programs will be free for ABA members but will include a charge for non-members. More information on the Presidential Speaker Series can be found at ambar.org/PresidentialSeries.