Cocktails 7:00 PM | Dinner 7:45 PM
Dessert Reception 9:45 PM

The Annual Awards Dinner is the Aspen Institute's flagship fundraiser and generates critical unrestricted funding that ensures Institute programming and initiatives can continue to drive actionable change towards a more free, just, and equitable society. 

This year's Annual Awards Dinner will honor Lester Crown, Chairman Emeritus of Henry Crown and Company, with the Henry Crown Leadership Award, and Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, with the Global Corporate Leadership Award.  The evening will feature a special conversation between Larry Fink and new President & CEO Ángel Cabrera, along with special remarks from Anna Novosad, co-founder of savED and 2026 McNulty Prize Winner, whose work is helping restore access to education and build resilient communities in Ukraine.

Please note that tickets are non-refundable after October 17th, 2026. A portion of each ticket is non-deductible, and a tax acknowledgment will be sent to each donor after the event.  For any inquiries about the event, please email liz.busch@aspeninstitute.org.

LESTER CROWN is Chairman Emeritus of Henry Crown and Company. He is past chairman of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, past chairman of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a past Director of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Director of The Jerusalem Foundation, Director of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, an Honorary Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a member of the Board of Advisors for Brandeis University's Crown Center for Middle East Studies. In addition, he is a Life Trustee of The Aspen Institute and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He has served on the boards of General Dynamics, Maytag Corporation, TWA, Continental Bank of Chicago, and Alltel Corporation. He is former Chairman of Material Service Corporation, subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation.

He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business.



LC

LAURENCE D. FINK is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988, and under his leadership the firm has grown into a global leader in investment and technology solutions. BlackRock's mission is to help our clients build better financial futures and the firm is trusted to manage more money than any other investment company in the world.

Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Mr. Fink was a member of the Management Committee and a Managing Director of The First Boston Corporation. He serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and Co-Chair of NYU Langone Medical Center. He also serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art and the Aspen Institute, and on the Advisory Board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing, as well as the Executive Committee of the Partnership for New York City.

Mr. Fink earned an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1976 and a BA from UCLA in 1974.

 

LF

Table and Tickets

$75,000 Co-Chair (10 Tickets)

  • Table of 10 guests for dinner with premier seating
  • Invitation for all guests to attend the general cocktail reception and dessert reception
  • Acknowledgement in the printed and digital program

$35,000 Benefactor (5 Tickets)

  • Half table of five guests with preferred seating
  • Invitation for general cocktail reception and dessert reception
  • Acknowledgement in the printed and digital program

$5,000 Donor (Individual Tickets)

  • Individual ticket to the dinner
  • Invitation for general cocktail reception and dessert reception
  • Acknowledgement in the printed and digital program

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners.