Latest Interviews
Showing 901–915 of 1,076 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute55 min
Bridging the College Gap: Preparing Low-Income Students to Succeed
Tom Boysen, Elaine Nguyen, George Weiss, Anna McCullough, Michael Lomax, Stephen Knapp
Moderator Tom Boysen led a panel of business leaders and education experts in diagnosing the stagnation of low-income student outcomes despite forty years of federal spending, highlighting how socioeconomic status increasingly overrides academic ability in degree attainment. The discussion showcased transformative models from organizations like Say Yes to Education and QuestBridge that combine full tuition coverage with holistic supports such as mental health services and mentorship to achieve graduation rates significantly higher than national averages. While panelists identified political gridlock and a lack of accountability mechanisms in higher education as major obstacles, they concluded that philanthropy and local community accountability must drive the systemic revolution required to scale these successful interventions.
- Milken Institute57 min
Lunch Program | Global Overview: Where Does Growth Come From?
Tony Blair, Paul Kagame, Scott Minard, Osamu Nakayama, Wilhelm Buter, David M.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and leading economists from Guggenheim Partners and Citicorp convened to analyze global challenges ranging from the Ukraine conflict and Middle East peace efforts to US interest rate projections and China's credit bubble risks. The panelists identified Sub-Saharan Africa as a critical long-term investment opportunity while warning that Japan's aging demographics and Europe's structural constraints require immediate policy adjustments to prevent stagnation. Ultimately, the discussion emphasized the necessity of structural reforms in Eastern Europe and the United States to sustain economic recovery amidst geopolitical instability and shifting market dynamics.
- Milken Institute57 min
America's Debt and the Economy: A Hard Look at Public Spending and Finance
Doug, Maya, Gene, Maria, Steve, Jean
Federal officials warn that rising mandatory spending on entitlements and surging interest costs have eroded U.S. fiscal flexibility while displacing investment in research and infrastructure. Despite the absence of immediate market panic, deep political gridlock and a collapsed bipartisan consensus are preventing the structural reforms needed to address long-term debt projections. Experts suggest that avoiding a grand bargain will likely result in continued incremental stagnation unless leaders adopt a culture of principled compromise to reallocate resources toward future growth.
- Milken Institute59 min
Where in the World Are the Real Estate Opportunities?
Bill Kahana, Bill McMorrow, Jonathan Pollock, Henry Silverman, Sam Zell
Real estate leaders including Sam Zell and Bill McMorrow outlined a strategic pivot toward emerging markets like Colombia and Mexico while identifying Europe's recovery as a key opportunity despite geopolitical tensions from the Ukraine crisis. The panel highlighted a structural shift in the US multifamily sector driven by demographic changes that favor renting, alongside a return of robust debt capital that contrasts with the excessive leverage of 2007. Ultimately, the consensus emphasized high-yield sectors such as healthcare, select-service hospitality, and urban-centric assets, with specific recommendations ranging from Mexico's manufacturing boom to Miami's de-risked development environment.
- Milken Institute55 min
Why Wait? Young People Blazing Trails
Willow Bay, Adai Williams, Wynter Wanecki, Jack Andraka, Mary Patricia Hector, Flynn McGarry
Moderator Willow Bay convened a panel of five young innovators—including scientist Jack Andraka, gun violence advocate Mary Patricia Hector, and musicians Adai Williams and Wynter Wanecki—to discuss how they overcame institutional barriers and age-related skepticism through rigorous self-directed education and intense work schedules. These participants detailed their specific breakthroughs, such as Andraka's low-cost pancreatic cancer detection technology and Hector's "Think Twice" campaign, while emphasizing that parental flexibility and a global internet connection were critical enablers of their success. Ultimately, the group argued that adults should view youth as vital assets capable of driving social change, urging a shift away from viewing age as a liability and toward fostering environments where young people can execute their visionary projects.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Brand Battlefield: Mobile and Social Networks
Sean Amos, Josh Mandel, Bonin Bow, Jamie Goodfriend, David Rockefeller Jr., John McWhorter, Eric Schmidt, Josh Tenenbaum, Jimmy O., Kathleen King, Mike McDonald, Serena Rosso, Ron, Nick Smoot, Carolina Tolberti
The discussion highlights a decisive market shift where social media usage now surpasses television, driving 84% of purchasing decisions through peer influence while Millennials command $400 billion in projected spending. Brands like Mondelēz International are responding by realigning strategies toward mobile-first approaches and real-time engagement, exemplified by the Honey Maid campaign's rapid crisis-to-opportunity turnaround. This transformation is further fueled by organizational changes where executive sponsorship and machine learning empower sales teams to replace compliance silos with authentic relationship building.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Housing Finance and Private Capital
Phil Swagel, Gene Sperling, Josh Rosner, Drew Newton, Jim Lockhart, Don Layton
Former officials and industry leaders including Gene Sperling, Josh Rosner, and Jim Lockhart debated legislative frameworks to dismantle the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac duopoly, agreeing on the necessity of explicit government backstops and private capital buffers while clashing over specific regulatory powers and market concentration risks. The discussion highlighted a White House push for an affordability fee and highlighted deep disagreements on whether current proposals contain sufficient "first-loss" provisions to prevent future taxpayer bailouts or if they dangerously concentrate risk among a limited pool of private investors. Ultimately, the panel identified a contentious path toward reform that requires balancing reduced government market share against the urgent need for modernized infrastructure and robust counter-cyclical regulations within a $10 trillion mortgage system.
- Milken Institute59 min
Abenomics in Japan: Are the Three Arrows on Target?
Mr. Honda, Paul Sher, John Kodonos, Ambassador Chen, Curtis, Madeline Antonsica, Alec Ellison, Wei-Ming Yuan, Alex von Furstenberg
Following two decades of stagnation driven by persistent deflation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched the "Abenomics" framework in 2013, uniting aggressive monetary easing under Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, fiscal stimulus, and structural reforms. While these policies successfully shifted inflation expectations and expanded the central bank's balance sheet, the strategy faces significant headwinds including a consumption tax hike, a severe demographic decline, and skepticism regarding the depth of corporate governance changes. Although Japan retains unique advantages such as domestic debt currency and massive household savings, sustained economic recovery ultimately depends on the successful execution of long-term supply-side improvements to overcome bureaucratic barriers and low fertility rates.
- Milken Institute53 min
Global Risk
Jim Brooks, General Wesley Clark, Ambassador Hussein Haqqani, Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz
General Wesley Clark, Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz, Ambassador Hussein Haqqani, and Jim Brooks convened to analyze the global implications of Russian aggression in Ukraine, China's rising "China Dream," and instability in the Middle East and Latin America. The panelists collectively warned that U.S. reticence signals weakness to adversaries, urging an immediate shift from "leading from behind" to a strategy of robust defense for Ukraine, accelerated energy independence, and active support for opposition forces in Syria. They concluded that American global leadership is contingent upon restoring domestic economic vitality and reasserting credible hard power to prevent a geopolitical shift toward a new century of conflict.
- Milken Institute1h 12m
The Global Economy: Hoping for Momentum amid Tepid Times
Skip Reimer, Jim McCoggan, Terry Duffy, Alex Friedman, Joshua Harris, Alan Howard, Min Zhu
The 17th annual Milken Institute Global Conference convened 650 speakers, including Jim McCoggan, Joshua Harris, and IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu, to analyze diverging global monetary policies and tepid economic growth. Panelists debated U.S. GDP forecasts of 2.7% to 3% against risks from elevated valuations and potential recession, while highlighting Europe's banking deleveraging and emerging market vulnerabilities driven by China's credit boom. The discussion concluded with warnings that geopolitical tail events from the Russia-Ukraine crisis and regulatory fragmentation could disrupt market stability despite current low volatility.
- Milken Institute1h 12m
The Path to Awakening
Shamar Rinpoche, Marc Junkunc, Skip Reimer, Lori Milken, Dr. Mark Junkins
At the Milken Institute Forum, Shamar Rinpoche, the 14th Red Hat Lama of Tibet, presented his secular commentary *The Path to Awakening* to a panel including Dr. Mark Junkins, addressing Western anxiety through non-sectarian mind training methods. Rinpoche outlined specific practices such as Tonglen meditation and the "horse eating grass" technique designed to help practitioners manage thoughts and emerge from dualistic illusions without requiring strict guru-disciple commitments. The session concluded with an electronic Q&A that clarified the relationship between ancient Buddhist concepts like karma and modern challenges, including the impacts of urban life, technology, and brain science on spiritual development.
- Milken Institute57 min
The 2014 Atlanta Summit - - The Business Case for Public Health
Mike Milken, Mahmoud, Rajiv, Steve Byrd, Bob, Judy, Leisha Hancock, Tom
This event synthesizes perspectives from the CDC, PepsiCo, Fidelity, Safeway, and the pharmaceutical sector to highlight a systemic shift from isolated interventions to cross-sector collaboration for managing chronic disease and innovation. Participants detailed how major corporations are reducing health risks through data-driven strategies, such as PepsiCo's portfolio reformulation and Safeway's biometric incentives, while biotech investors address the funding gap for high-risk scientific breakthroughs. Ultimately, the discussion emphasizes that saving lives requires a unified ecosystem where government agencies, private industry, and academic centers align resources to tackle preventable mortality and unsustainable healthcare costs.
- Milken Institute54 min
The 2014 Atlanta Summit - - Lunch Program
Judith, Trevor, Mike, Carmen, Frida, Tom
This event examines the century-long strategic evolution of major philanthropies like the Rockefeller Foundation, detailing their pivot from medical cures to integrated public health systems and the resulting cross-disciplinary fields. It highlights modern innovations such as geospatial data integration for polio eradication and the rise of non-traditional partnerships between governments, pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, and patient advocacy groups to address both infectious and non-communicable diseases. The discussion further underscores global health security challenges, including antimicrobial resistance and pandemic preparedness, while showcasing how mobile technology and crowdsourcing enable developing nations to leapfrog infrastructure barriers.
- Milken Institute57 min
The 2014 Atlanta Summit - - Government, Industry and a Healthier Future: A Leadership Forum
Mike Milken, Tom Frieden, Vince, Representative Kinston, Representative Bishop, Sue Siegel, Bob Hugin, Steve Knapp, Jack
Industry leaders from GE and Beckman Coulter, joined by Congressional representatives Sanford Bishop and Mike Kingston, convened to align public-private strategies for leveraging CDC data in pandemic preparedness and chronic disease management. Discussions highlighted a critical shift toward subscription-based surveillance funding and point-of-care diagnostic innovations, driven by the economic imperative to address the projected $1 trillion annual cost of chronic illnesses. Participants concluded by urging a reframing of public health as a driver of economic competitiveness, calling for rigorous data monetization to secure congressional support for prevention initiatives.
- Milken Institute47 min
The 2014 Atlanta Summit - - The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease: Preventing the Preventable
Ross DeVol, Margaret Anderson, Steve Bird, David Heber, Ken Thorpe
Milken Institute's Ross Duvall, Safeway's Steve Bird, UCLA's David Heber, and Emory's Ken Thorpe presented a unified analysis revealing that rising chronic disease prevalence, particularly in diabetes and stroke, is the primary driver of escalating healthcare costs despite controlled medical inflation. The panel highlighted successful private-sector interventions, such as Safeway's biometric wellness programs and social network strategies for obesity, which achieved significant cost reductions by targeting visceral fat and behavioral incentives rather than relying solely on traditional medical treatment. To scale these proven models, the speakers urged policymakers to reframe Medicare reform as a proactive health strategy, overcome Congressional Budget Office scoring constraints, and replace fee-for-service payment structures with value-based incentives that prioritize prevention and early disease management.