Billy Bush Will Host and Members of the Cast of GLEE Will Give Special Performance
This year's recipient will be legendary actor and humanitarian Harrison Ford. In February 2010, Ford volunteered his time, piloting skills and aircraft in response to an urgent request from Operation Smile for logistical support after the organization announced it was sending additional teams and over 2 1/2 tons of medical supplies across three locations in Haiti. Ford made several trips over a two-day period to a remote dirt landing strip in Haiti and delivered a team of Operation Smile volunteers along with critical medical supplies.
The Universal Smile Award will be presented to actor/producer John Stamos. Stamos' career has spanned over 25 years, beginning with the hit soap General Hospital, later segueing to the popular ABC series Full House, and recently starring in NBC's Emmy Award-winning drama series ER. ..Currently in development is a project for Lifetime titled Safe Haven, based on a charity Project Cuddle® for which Stamos is National Spokesperson and Chairman of the Advisory Board.
Philanthropist and long-time Operation Smile supporter Susan Casden will receive the Wallis Annenberg Public Service Award. In 1991, Casden participated in Operation Smile's inaugural mission to China and earlier this year took part in a mission to Cebu, Philippines. Casden has been an active board member of Aviva Family and Children's Services and a member of the Women's Initiative Advisory Council for the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas. She also sits on the Board of Councilors of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC) and, with her husband, Alan, established the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life at USC. Casden is a founding member of the Friends Committee of the Asian Cultural Council in Hong Kong and serves on the Visiting Committee of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Her philanthropic interests and activities reflect her global perspective and are focused in three areas: children and family, education and the arts.
“I do turnrounds,” Mark Wilson said shortly after his appointment as Aviva’s chief executive in 2013. It was just as well given the to-do list — in the wake of Andrew Moss’s unpopular tenure, capital needed boosting, costs needed cutting and the share price decline needed reversing. And do it all he did.
But after spending five years currying favour with investors, Wilson has just performed a less positive turnround. He has caused anger among investors, first with his aggressive plan to redeem “irredeemable” preference shares, and then with a bizarre decision to take a board seat at rival asset manager BLACKROCK.
It’s not a bank, nor an insurance company, central bank, finance ministry or sovereign wealth fund. But it advises or owns such institutions. It operates virtually unregulated, often in the background, yet there is scarcely a company, country or region of the planet that this, the world’s largest asset management firm, does not touch or influence.
Specifically, BlackRock is one of the top shareholders in all major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo.
In terms of America’s most profitable and recognizable corporations, BlackRock is a top shareholder of Walmart, General Electric, General Motors, Ford, AT&T, Verizon, Google, Apple, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
BlackRock’s other large holdings include Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Amazon, Facebook, Berkshire Hathaway, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Merck, Intel, Coca-Cola, Walt Disney Company, Home Depot, Philip Morris, VISA, McDonald’s, Cisco Systems, PepsiCo, IBM, Oracle, Comcast, Lockheed Martin, MasterCard, Starbucks, Boeing and ConocoPhillips, along with thousands of other, smaller brands.
But despite its size and influence, BlackRock remains virtually unregulated as an asset management firm.
In 2013, BlackRock hired to its board of directors Cheryl Mills, a “longtime confidant and counselor to former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.” Mills was chief of staff to Clinton at the State Department, and was “among the inner circle of advisers helping Clinton chart her plans for the future.” Mills has a long history with both Clintons; she was one of President Bill Clinton’s top attorneys during his impeachment.
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fogdryer ago
I had difficult time researching operation smile. These companies above are researched and known dirty/nefarious. And then you introduce Chery Mills the " cover-up expert" and now we know for sure...…………………...