Concordia is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is best known for its Annual Summit in New York City, which is a global affairs forums that promotes partnering between governments, businesses, and nonprofits to address the world's most pressing needs.
Founding Concordia was founded in 2011 by Matthew Swift and Nicholas Logothetis. They had been best friends since high school, where they were business partners in a successful food purveyor enterprise. Both attended university in Washington, D.C., and both had a background in journalism, media, politics, and international affairs.Coy, Peter. "A New Influencer Gabfest Is Set to Fill Clinton Global Initiative Void". Bloomberg Businessweek. September 22, 2016."Matthew A. Swift: Partnership Architect". TEDx Fulton Street. February 2017."Matthew Swift". McCain Institute. Retrieved July 2, 2017."Nicholas Logothetis, Executive Board Member at the Libra Group and Co-Founder and Chairman of Concordia, to Visit HCHC". Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. February 16, 2017. Noting the effectiveness of the formats of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council and the Clinton Global Initiative,"The Concordia Summit: A Partnership to Combat Extremism". Fox News. October 5, 2011. they founded Concordia as a nonprofit organization that helps develop public-private partnerships (P3s), in the belief that the most effective and sustainable way to find solutions to pressing global issues is through cooperation between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors."Concordia Edition". Diplomatic Call. Issue No. 25, April 2016.Dargan, Michele. "Duo lands George W. Bush to keynote Concordia Summit Group's first conference". Palm Beach Daily News. September 19, 2011."Concordia to Host Inaugural Counter-Terrorism Summit in New York City on September 20th". Business Wire. August 30, 2011.
In light of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Swift and Logothetis formulated their first concept as "Building Partnerships Against Extremism", and focused the first Concordia Summit, in September 2011, on combating the root causes of extremism – failing states, poverty, and lack of education – through dialogue and partnering between businesses, governments, and NGOs.
Concordia continues to convene a large annual summit each fall in New York City during the week of the United Nations General Assembly, as a gathering place for world leaders, business leaders, innovators, and nonprofit personnel to discuss and foster cross-sector partnership to address the world's most pressing problems.Lieberman, Amy. "The CGI annual meeting is no more. Can anyone fill the gap?". Devex. March 6, 2017. Along with these annual summits and additional regional summits, its year-round activities include events programming in diverse areas, targeted social-impact campaigns, and research into public-private partnerships.
Activities Events programming, campaigns, and research Concordia engages year-round in activities including programming, research, and campaigns. Its ongoing events programming, in which it partners with members, advisors, and other organizations to achieve meaningful solutions, encompasses areas including:
diplomacy and defense economic development and international finance education and workforce development environmental security and natural resource management gender parity and inclusive diversity global health and emergency response good governance and democracy human rights and civil liberties innovative technology and sustainable infrastructure shared value and social impact
Concordia also engages in focused longterm social-impact campaigns, in areas that include ensuring sustainable food supply, and combating labor trafficking."Concordia Receives Major Gift from Arnall Family Foundation". PR Newswire. June 22, 2016. The campaigns bring together public-sector partners, corporate partners, NGO partners, and academic partners, to raise awareness, generate research, and provide meaningful and sustainable social impact."Campaigns". Concordia.net. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
The organization also produces and contributes to research projects related to campaigns and other endeavors."Research" . Concordia.net. Retrieved July 19, 2017. These include the Concordia Partnership Index, a series of online dashboards and research papers to equip governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations with analytical tools to effectively evaluate global partnership environments; it ranks countries based on their readiness and need to engage in public-private partnerships, and includes indicators based on need.
Summits 2011–2015 Concordia held its inaugural summit in New York City in September 2011. The focus of the summit was the global fight against terrorism, and international efforts to counter the breeding of extremist thought. George W. Bush was the keynote speaker."George W. Bush To Keynote Summit On Fighting Extremism". Huffington Post. August 29, 2011. The event gathered world leaders, diplomats, and business leaders, and provided a platform for dialogue between private and public entities to create partnerships in combating the root causes of extremism."Concordia Summit: sustaining 'at risk' communities long-term". Homeland Security Newswire. October 7, 2011. Afterwards, Concordia posted details of three key findings that emerged from the summit concerning combating terrorism and the role of public-private partnerships in doing so.
The 2012 Concordia Summit addressed five key topics: global security, the economy, education, environmental sustainability, and health around the world.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "Concordia Summit: A Greek's Vision to Change the World Through Public-Private Partnerships". Greek Reporter. September 26, 2012. Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker of the summit, which convened former and current heads of state, business executives, and nonprofit leaders devoted to promoting public-private partnerships.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "Bill Clinton: 'There is Nothing Wrong with Greece – Issue Bonds'". Greek Reporter. September 28, 2012."FBN's Liz Claman Hosts Panel at Concordia Summit". Fox Business News. September 27, 2012
The 2013 summit focused on the global issue of youth unemployment.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "2013 Concordia Summit to Attract World Leaders in New York". Greek Reporter. August 24, 2013.Diamataris, Antonis H. "Concordia's 2013 Summit of Hope". The National Herald. October 3, 2013. Key participants included corporate executives, international heads of state, public-policy and business scholars, nonprofit leaders, diplomats, journalists, and members of the Obama administration.Taylor, Adam. "Estonian President Explains His Country's Tech Boom And Why America Is Falling Behind". Business Insider. September 27, 2013. At the summit, Concordia also released its first Index Report, a composite rating tool covering 17 emerging and growing markets, with case studies into key regions, measuring the readiness and need of a country to engage in public-private partnership activities for positive social and economic impact.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "Concordia 2013 Attracts World Leaders for Public-Private Partnerships". Greek Reporter. September 29, 2013."INDEX REPORT: September 2013". Concordia. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
The 2014 Concordia Summit, titled "Scaling Proven Solutions Through Collaboration", focused on how collaboration between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can facilitate large-scale impact by leveraging each sector's unique expertise.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "2014 Concordia Summit to be Held September 29-30 in New York". Greek Reporter. August 21, 2014. The summit, which convened more than 700 former and current heads of state, business executives, and nonprofit leaders, explored the role of public-private partnerships in creating positive social and economic impact in a variety of areas.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "2014 Concordia Summit Attracts Leaders for Public-Private Partnerships". Greek Reporter. October 3, 2014. Subjects discussed included human trafficking,"Klobuchar and Cindy McCain Discuss Efforts to Fight Sex Trafficking at Annual Concordia Summit". Klobuchar.Senate.gov. September 29, 2014."District Attorney Vance Announces Formation Of Human Trafficking Response Unit" . Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York County. October 1, 2014.Belinda Luscombe, Belinda. "How to Spot a Trafficking Victim at an Airport". Time. September 30, 2014. and the partnerships the military engages in to aid communities around the world.Simeone, Nick. "Winnefeld: Military's Public-Private Partnerships Yield Benefits". U.S. Department of Defense. September 29, 2014. Featured speakers during the summit included Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator John McCain, Dr. Mehmet Oz, New York District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James A. Winnefeld Jr."The 2nd Fastest Growing Criminal Industry In The U.S. Is Shocking". Carbonated.TV. 2014."USAID leads, DoD supports U.S. Ebola response". Arthur D. Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation. October 7, 2014.
Concordia's fifth annual summit, held in October 2015, convened hundreds of thought leaders, heads of state, dignitaries, business leaders, and nonprofit/NGO representatives.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "Public and Private Sector Address Global Issues at the 2015 Concordia Summit". Greek Reporter. October 13, 2015. Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! News filmed and livestreamed the conference online for the first time."Watch live: 2015 Concordia Summit". Yahoo! Finance. October 1, 2015. The topics discussed included labor trafficking,Febrey, Annick. "Concordia Summit Spotlights Labor Trafficking". Human Rights First. October 8, 2015. youth unemployment,Rodin, Judith. "Concordia Summit Opening Remarks: Employing the Future". Rockefeller Foundation. October 1, 2015."Bonnie Chui Attends Concordia Summit As Resolution Fellow". Lensational. October 2, 2015. transportation infrastructure,Stacom, Don. "Malloy: National Lack Of Spending On Transportation 'Gigantic Problem'". Hartford Courant. October 3, 2015. global food security, corporate responsibility, and democracy in Latin America.Papapostolou, Anastasios. "2015 Concordia Summit to Host Dignitaries and Partner with Leading Corporations, Governments and Non-Profits". Greek Reporter. September 21, 2015. Vice President Joe Biden spoke on political and social issues including corruption, sustainable development, climate change, and America's middle class,Martens, Laura Hennessey. "UVA Darden School Institute for Business in Society and Faculty Participate in 2015 Concordia Summit". University of Virginia Darden School of Business. October 6, 2015.Metrofocus. "Listening In: VP Biden At Concordia Summit". PBS. October 8, 2015.Tani, Maxwell. "Joe Biden may have taken veiled shots at Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders". Business Insider. October 19, 2015. and Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in praise of public-private partnerships and on behalf of the State Department's Office of Global Partnerships, noting efforts on several political and material fronts including climate change, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and anti-terrorism.Kerry, John. "Video Remarks for Concordia Summit". U.S. Department of State. October 5, 2015.
2016–present
At the 2016 Concordia Summit, a major topic was the global refugee and migrant crisis."Becca Heller Pushes for Private Sponsorship at Concordia Summit". Urban Justice Center International Refugee Assistance Project. September 27, 2016. "Private Sector Forum on Migration and Refugees at the 2016 Concordia Summit". United Nations. September 2016. Holodny, Elena. "Soros: The refugee crisis 'has no simple solution'". Business Insider. September 20, 2016. La Roche, Julia. "George Soros outlines his 7-pillar plan to solve the refugee crisis". Business Insider. September 20, 2016