top of page
gfr2022-hdr_edited_edited.png
gfr-logo2022-blue.png

An intimate, confidential gathering of influencers in a private dialogue about risks and opportunities in a rapidly changing global landscape.

29 November 2023

THE METROPOLITAN CLUB

NEW YORK CITY

"Congratulations on a world class event! It was a great, bespoke, curated group of people of high quality. I’ve been around top-level events for 15 years and hats off to you for building the right teams and relationships."
- Founder, Investment Advisory Firm

Leadership

We have been fortunate to learn from some of the world’s greatest leaders in foreign affairs and business at the Global Flashpoints Roundtable over the past several years. The caliber and prominence of our chairs and featured speakers - past and present - are one of the many ways the Roundtable stands apart from traditional conferences. We look forward to the unique insights and perspectives from various distinguished guests this year.

gfr-01a.jpg

LTG H.R. McMaster (Ret.)

White House National Security Advisor, 2017-18

Chair, Ergo Flashpoints Forum

gfr-02.jpg

Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison

US Permanent Representative to NATO, 2017-21

US Senator from Texas, 1993-2013

gfr-04.jpg

Gen. Michael Hayden 

Former Director of CIA & NSA

BSternlicht.jpg

Barry Sternlicht 

Founder of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Starwood Capital Group

2.jpg

Sen. George Mitchell 

Former US Senate Majority Leader and Peace Negotiator

General Glen VanHerck.jpeg

Gen. Glen VanHerck 

Commander, NORAD and NORTHCOM

gfr-03.jpg

Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

US Representative from Florida, 1989-2019; Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 2011-13

Karen Pierce.jpg

Karen Pierce

UK Ambassador to the United States

6.jpg

Evan Greenberg 

Chairman and CEO, Chubb Limited and Chubb Group

Stacey Cunningham.jpg

Stacey Cunningham

Former President, NYSE

Kevin Rudd.jpg

Kevin Rudd

Former Prime Minister of Australia

Chambliss-Senator-Saxby.jpg

Sen. Saxby Chambliss 

Former Ranking Member of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Leadership
About

About

The world has changed dramatically in the last several years, and the challenges we face today are more numerous and complicated than they have been in generations. Shifting political, economic, social, and public health forces have created an international business environment that is unfamiliar and unpredictable.

 

Today, it is not only governments that must develop strategies to safeguard their global interests. Because their influence and control of resources is greater than in any other period in history, firms must have domestic and foreign policies as well.

 

In crafting their policies, CEOs and heads of state must make decisions that could have repercussions for years to come. They need counsel, based on accurate, actionable intelligence, from trusted senior advisors to understand dynamic geopolitical and macroeconomic factors, many of which affect business and government equally.

 

Ergo, a leading global intelligence and advisory firm, has been providing bespoke access to critical information and this generation’s greatest strategic thinkers to the world’s leading companies and governments for nearly two decades. Once a year, we bring together these unique assets—our intelligence, our experts, and our clients—for a one-of-a-kind private working group on the issues and individuals who matter most.

 

Modeled on and leveraging the success of our previous events, Ergo’s 2023 Global Flashpoints Roundtable will be an exclusive, invitation-only session open only to the most influential leaders of the world’s most powerful companies and consequential government bodies. This intimate, off-the-record gathering will be limited to approximately 200 top executives of the largest corporations, banks, and investment firms, as well as to a handful of current and former officials from the highest ranks of the US and other governments.

 

The theme of the 2023 Roundtable is “Geopolitics Matters Again”—evidenced by the seismic shifts set in motion by unprecedented economic and military conflicts underway among the world’s great powers and their impact on business operations and markets.

Agenda

Agenda

Note: This is a draft agenda and is subject to change. Some speakers listed have not yet confirmed attendance. This draft agenda should not be distributed; it is intended only to provide a sense of our current planning as of November 2023.

The structure of the 2023 Roundtable will be similar to that of our previous events. We will use the “Oval Office briefing” model in which the world’s top experts on a subject will brief a “principal” on their current intelligence, perspectives, predictions, and recommendations on an issue of highest global importance. The principal will probe and prod his or her briefers to reveal the insights that are of greatest value to audience members—who are encouraged to actively participate in the questioning. Speaker names will be disclosed when panel construction is finalized. All panel times are subject to change. 

7:15-8:00am

Breakfast and Registration

8:00-8:05am

Ground Rules and Goals

R.P. Eddy, CEO, Ergo

8:10-8:55am

Desert Storms: The Middle East Ablaze

  • Zohar Palti, Director of Policy & Political-Military Bureau, Israel Ministry of Defense, 2017-22; Head of Mossad Intelligence Directorate, 2014-16

  • Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA), Member, House Armed Services Committee

  • Ted Singer, CIA Station Chief and Head of Middle East Operations, 1988-2023

  • Frank Wisner, Former US Ambassador to Egypt, Undersecretary of State, and Undersecretary of Defense

  • Principal: Linda Weissgold, CIA Deputy Director of Analysis, 2020-23; Head of Middle East Analytical Units, 2001-20

9:00-9:30am

The Kingmaker Who Would Be King

  • Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

    • In Conversation With Chris Stadler, Managing Partner, CVC Capital Partners

9:35-10:25am

Humanity’s Final Invention: The Coming AI Tsunami

  • Tim Hwang, Former Global AI Public Policy Lead, Google; Former Director, Harvard-MIT Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative

  • Wasim Khaled, CEO and Co-Founder, Blackbird.AI

  • Michael Kratsios, Chief Technology Officer of the United States, 2019-21; Managing Director and Head of Strategy, Scale AI

  • Alondra Nelson, Acting Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2021-23

  • Principal: Sophie Goossens, AI Policy Lead and Partner, Reed Smith

10:25-10:45am

BREAK

10:45-11:10am

Keynote: The Presidency and a World in Crisis

H.R. McMaster, White House National Security Advisor, 2017-18; Chairman, Ergo Flashpoints Forum

11:15-11:40am

The Talons of a China Hawk

  • Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Chairman, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party

    • In conversation with Clete Willems, Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics, Deputy Director, White House National Economic Council, 2018-19; Partner, Akin 

11:45am-12:35pm

Are You With Me: Will America Go It Alone on China?

  • Amb. Julian King, Final British Commissioner to EU, 2016-19; Senior Advisor, Flint Global

  • Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific, EU Diplomatic Service (EEAS), 2016-23; Senior Fellow, GMF

  • Hon. Han-Koo Yeo, South Korean Minister of Trade, 2021-22 and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics 

  • Principal: Amb. Paula Dobriansky, US Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, 2001-09; Vice Chair, Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy & Security

12:40-1:40pm

LUNCH

Presentation of the 2023 Michael V. Hayden Award for Courage, Service, and Patriotism

  • Elizabeth Cheney, US Representative (R-WY), 2017-23; Vice Chair, House January 6 Committee, 2021-23

    • Award presented by Michael Hayden, CIA Director, 2006-09; NSA Director, 1999-2005  and R.P. Eddy, CEO, Ergo

    • In conversation with Evan Pressman, Managing Partner, Head of Flashpoints Forum, Ergo

1:45-2:35pm

It’s the (Geopolitical) Economy, Stupid: Winning in Volatile Markets

  • Scott Bessent, Founder, KeySquare Capital

  • Dambisa Moyo, Economist, Author, and Investor; Member of the UK House of  Lords

  • Clete Willems, Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics, Deputy Director, White House National Economic Council, 2018-19; Partner, Akin

  • Principal: Jonathan Hausman, Executive Managing Director, Global Investment Strategy, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

2:40-3:30pm

Bend or Break: US Democracy Bracing for a Hard Landing

  • Reggie Babin, Chief Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, 2017-22; Senior Counsel, Akin

  • Brendan Dunn, Top Advisor to Senate Minority Leader McConnell, 2012-18; Partner, Akin

  • Katie Harbath, Public Policy Director and Elections Lead, Meta, 2011-21; Chief Digital Strategist, National Republican Senatorial Committee, 2009-11

  • Mary McCord, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, 2016-17

  • Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State

  • Principal: Mo Elleithee, Communications Director, Democratic National Committee, 2013-15; Founding Director, Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service

3:35-4:25pm

Europe’s Front Line: The Future and Legacy of Putin’s War in Ukraine

  • Oleksandr Dnylyuk, Ukrainian Minister of Finance, 2014-16; Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, 2019

  • Vladimir Milov, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy, 2002; Chair of Russian Political Party Democratic Choice, 2012-15

  • Britt Mosman, Attorney-Advisor at OFAC; Lead Attorney on Iran and Russia-Ukraine Sanctions Programs, 2019-20

  • KT zu Guttenberg, German Minister of Defense and Minister for Economics and Technology, 2009-11

  • Principal: H.R. McMaster, White House National Security Advisor, 2017-18; Chairman, Ergo Flashpoints Forum

4:25-4:45pm

BREAK

4:45-5:35pm

Should I Stay Or Should I Go: Is China Still Investible

  • Max Baucus, US Ambassador to China, 2014-17; US Senator, 1978-2014

  • Laura Black, Inaugural Director of Policy and International Relations, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), 2018-22; Senior Counsel, Akin

  • Liza Tobin, Director for China, White House National Security Council, 2019-21

  • Shang-Jin Wei, Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank, 2014-16

  • Principal: X. Rick Niu, Co-Founder, The Impact Council

5:35-6:25pm

Interactive Simulation: Wargaming US-China-Taiwan Conflict

  • Adm. Mark Montgomery (Ret.), Director of Operations, US Pacific Command, 2014-17

  • Travis Whitworth, CIA Chief of Several East Asia Analytical Units, 2000-22

  • Facilitated by Edward Price, Principal, Ergo

6:25-6:30pm

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

6:30-7:30pm

COCKTAILS AND HORS D’OEUVRES

Partners

2023 Partners

Akin-2023.png
sponsor-1.png
Reed-Smith-Logo.png
blackbird new logo.jpg
Attendees

Attendees

The Global Flashpoints Roundtable is an invitation-only event that is limited to senior executives from the world’s largest and most influential multinationals, hedge funds, private equity firms, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds. Attendees of previous Roundtables represent over $4T in market cap and over $10T in AUM.

ing-group.png
ford-1.png
soft_bank.jpg
google-logo.png
Dell_Logo.svg.png
boeing-ar21.png
1280px-BlackRock_wordmark.svg.png
general-electric-logo.png
Ontario_Teachers'_Pension_Plan_logo_2021.svg.png
brookfield_edited.png
Aetna-logo.png
general_atlantic_edited.png
Apple_logo_black.svg.png
the-blackstone-group-inc-logo.png
metlife-1.png
Panel11front_850_1-600x600-1.jpeg
merck.png
kkr-kohlberg-kravis-roberts-and-co-lp-logo-vector.png
chubb_logo_black.png
brevan-howard-seeklogo.com.png
Meta_Platforms_Inc._logo.svg.png
abbott-logo-vector.png
Carlyle.png
nfl-logo-default_rgb.png
Highlights

Highlights of Previous Roundtables

highlights-2.png

Opening remarks by Gen. Michael Hayden, former Director of CIA and NSA

bottom of page