Introductory Remarks FPA Annual Dinner 2024
Good evening. I'm Noel Lateef, president of the Foreign Policy Association, and I'm delighted to welcome you to our annual dinner in our hundred and sixth year. On this day, 80 years ago, our late chairman, John Whitehead, risked his life on the beaches of Normandy. In his memoir A Life and Leadership, John described what it was like on D-Day to ferry soldiers to the beach. On his landing craft of all the attack forces he wrote, the troops at Omaha Beach took the worst of the enemy fire that day, and half the soldiers who landed from the Thomas Jefferson were killed or wounded. And the assault, it was a horrible sight, completely unreal. But I had to concentrate on just doing my job, and it was critical that we get all our boats out of the way of the next wave of landing crafts, which were due to land just a minute behind us. I remember waving hello to the soldiers in the incoming boats as if we were on board a pair of launches on the pleasure crews. How odd that such gestures of civility should persist. Even amid such horror, I felt thankful that I had survived the worst part. I took a few deep breaths and suddenly felt elated. Proud to have played a part, and what was perhaps the biggest battle in history at the moment, soaked to the skin, seasick, dead, tired, cold, still scared I would not have wanted to be anywhere else.
This courage came with a price. I saw it firsthand with my father who had recurring nightmares throughout his life, from his service in the US Army during the Second World War. It is the courage to continue that counts, said Winston Churchill. It is the sacrifices and valor of the greatest generation that we remember with gratitude Today. Public service takes many forms. Our honorees this evening have distinguished themselves in both the public and private sectors. As you will hear over the course of the evening, they are from Canada. Charles Ima, president and Chief Executive Officer of Keto Depo Quebec from the United Kingdom, Barron Fiera, chair of Prudential, PLSC, and from the United States. Peter Oza, chief Executive Officer Lazar. Let's give them a hand.
Peter will be introduced by former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, a great public servant who couldn't be with us physically today because he came down with Covid, but we wish him a speedy recovery. Secretary Rubin delivered a speech nearly 30 years ago at the New York Economic Club that has stayed with me all these years. In the speech, he observed that an emphasis on education was vital for economic growth at the Foreign Policy Association. We believe that an educated public is critical to the well-being of our democracy. For the past 106 years, the mission of the Foreign Policy Association has been to reach young people before the due of curiosity evaporates to bring teachers from throughout North America to share best practices and global studies education, to offer introductory courses on international relations, on college campuses, and to engage the public at the grassroots.