Daily Roundup from the Aspen Ideas Festival 2012 – June 28th
Today was the first full day of the Aspen Ideas Festival, and it was a very full day indeed, with more than 30 sessions and events focusing on themes ranging from world affairs, the economy, our planet, arts and culture and America 2012. We were very pleased to be involved in today’s conference program: 
28 Jun 2012
Thomson Reuters Digital Editor Chrystia Freeland opened the day with a session in which she interviewed Honeywell CEO Dave Cote about his proposal for an “American Competitiveness Agenda.”
Chrystia also interviewed Simon Johnson, professor of global economics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management in a session titled “White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You.”
We also hosted a Knowledge Exchange panel discussion on “The New Professional,” featuring our chief counsel Deirdre Stanley.
Other panelists included Mark Penn of Burson-Marsteller, Susan Peters of General Electric, and Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn. The discussion was moderated by Heidi Moore of American Public Media.
In the evening we celebrated our fifth year of underwriting the Aspen Ideas Festival with a reception honoring Kitty Boone, vice president, public programs, the Aspen Institute. Our CEO, Jim Smith and editor-in-chief and executive VP, News, Thomson Reuters, Stephen Adler welcomed attendees and honored Kitty Boone. Smith said, “I’m sure you can see why a company associated with news, information and insight would want to be involved with an event like this.” He continued, “It’s an enriching experience for me personally and for us to be involved here, and the real heart and soul of the event is Kitty Boone.”
Adler praised Kitty Boone on organizing an event that he characterized as “warm, fun, intellectually stimulating and non-hierarchical.”
“Basically what the Ideas Festival tries to do is to get you all to think. I love my job, and I’m very proud of the people I work with. I’ve never worked with people I respect more. That makes it all worthwhile and we have so much fun! It wouldn’t happen without them,” said Boone.
