World leaders, activists and executives will return to the University of Miami’s Shalala Student Center for the 2023 Concordia Americas Summit on March 9 and 10 to discuss Latin America’s most pressing issues and seek solutions through conversation.
Concordia announced a three year partnership with the University of Miami at its annual summit in New York City in September of 2022. The regional initiative, Concordia Americas Summit, will be held at UM between now and 2025, the centennial of the university.
“Sometimes we create this false dichotomy between action at the global level and at the national level. The truth is that everything is both global and local at the same time. You can’t be effective as a national leader if you’re not engaged locally.” said Dr. Julio Frenk, president of UM in reference to Concordia.
At the 2023 Americas Summit, themes of democracy, geopolitical risks and environmental sustainability will be discussed by prominent world leaders including Dr. Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla, the president of the Republic of Guatemala, Mark Viso, the CEO and President of Food for the Hungry and more, through various forums.
Discussions will focus on the challenges and opportunities in Latin America. On the main stage, participants will see panels, sit in on one-on-one interviews, as well as hear from prominent players in flashpoints, Concordia’s version of a TED talk.
“Participants will come in to experience a very important gathering around a part of the world that in my view, is largely overlooked, yet filled with enormous opportunity,” Matthew Swift, CEO and co-founder of Concordia, said.
Swift and Nicholas Logothetis formed Concordia after graduating from Georgetown University. The first annual summit took place in early 2011, running parallel to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the one time of year when over 150 heads of state gather in New York City for a week. Now, 13 years later, Concordia has become the largest summit next to the UN.
“We look at convening as an art form,” Swift said. “We look at how you bring people together, connect people to do important things and then address important issues.”
Concordia’s first regional initiative was hosted in 2016 in Miami at the invitation of Eduardo Padron, a member of Concordia’s Leadership Council and President Emeritus of Miami-Dade College. The Miami Summit has always focused on Latin American issues that impact the Western Hemisphere. Last year, the summit was held at the University of Miami for the first time in June.
“The university [UM] is one of the most entrepreneurial academic institutions I’ve ever seen. It’s been great working with President Frenk and his team,” Swift said. “We’re really happy with how this relationship has grown and developed.”
Concordia has put forth many efforts to include students in the conversation. UM students have interned with the organization and some have spoken in previous summits. Concordia has even made the summit accessible to students. The UM community is invited to participate virtually and free of charge, by using this link, and entering the virtual ticket code, “UMDigitalAccess.”
Students can register for in-person attendance using this link. Select “I have a promo code” as a pass type, and then enter the code “AMR23-UMiami” in the “Discount Code” field and click on “Apply.” Select the “Univ Of Miami” option to the right and complete the registration form with your personal details.
“One of the things that I love about Concordia is you walk into the space and to your left could be a president of a country, to your right is a CEO of a company and in front of you could be a student,” said Swift. “That’s one of the reasons that Nick and I started Concordia. We were interns, and if we didn’t have the exposure and those opportunities, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Any student who is interested in participating is advised to register online as soon as possible. For questions about registration, email rsvp@concordia.net. For more information follow @concordiasummit on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.