The 2016 English Ball will take place on Wednesday 27th April at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City. At this prestigious event, St. George’s Society will present awards to three distinguished people in the British community in New York: Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP; Danny Lopez, Her Majesty’s Consul General in New York; and Dr. Amanda Foreman, award-winning historian and 2016 Man Booker Prize Chair.

The English Ball is the most prestigious and important event in St. George’s Society of New York’s calendar with proceeds directly supporting its charitable programs. Starting back in 1770 as a banquet to celebrate St. George, the patron saint of England, it has been held with rare exceptions every year since and is now established as the premier English social event in New York.

The Honorees

THE MEDAL OF HONOR: SIR MARTIN SORRELL
Sir Martin Sorrell founded WPP, the world’s largest advertising and marketing services group in 1985 and has been chief executive throughout.

Collectively, WPP employs over 190,000 people (including associates and investments) in over 3,000 offices in 112 countries.  Clients include 344 of the Fortune Global 500, all 30 of the Dow Jones 30 and 69 of the NASDAQ 100.  In 2014, WPP had revenues of $19 billion and billings of $76 billion.

Sir Martin actively supports the advancement of international business and he has been publically recognized with a number of awards including the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award. In the Time 100 “Builders & Titans” he was voted one of the world’s most influential figures in business.  He was also nominated for CNBC’s First 25 List (“Rebels, Icons and Leaders”) of people judged to have had the most profound impact on business and finance in the last 25 years. He received a knighthood in January 2000.  He was recently awarded the 2014 Hugo Shong Lifetime Achievement Award in Communication by Boston University’s College of Communications. In October 2015, Sir Martin was named the fifth best-performing CEO on the planet by Harvard Business Review.

Sir Martin contributes to many important organizations and charities.  Sir Martin is a non-executive director of Alpha Topco, the Formula 1 company, and Alcoa. He is on the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum International Business Council and a member of the Business Council in the US.  He is a member of the corporate Advisory Group of the Tate Gallery, the International Advisory Board of The Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, the Board of Directors of the Bloomberg Family Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of Stanhope Capital and Bowmark Capital Group. He is chairman of IBLAC Shanghai and chairman of IBAC London, IBAC Rome and IBAC Jerusalem.

The Medal of Honor was established in 1996 to recognize those who have rendered exemplary service to British interests and/or the international community at large.

THE ORDER OF ST. GEORGE’S SOCIETY: DANNY LOPEZ
Danny Lopez has been Her Majesty’s Consul General in New York since July 2011. He is responsible for promoting the UK’s economic profile, foreign policy and national security priorities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut’s Fairfield County. He also leads UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in its operations across the US.

Prior to joining the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Danny enjoyed a varied career in the UK’s public and private sectors. From 2009 to 2011, he worked for the London Development Agency, the Mayor of London’s economic-development arm, as Group Director for Business Support and Promotion. During this time, he created London & Partners, the city’s promotional agency for business, visitors and students, and was its inaugural CEO. From 2006 to 2009, he was a managing director at UKTI, where he was responsible for delivering a new marketing strategy to promote and showcase the UK economy internationally. Before that, Danny spent ten years with Barclays Bank, where he held a number of senior international positions in New York, Miami, London, and India.

Born in England, Danny grew up in Spain and is a fluent Spanish speaker. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in economics and a master’s degree in international economics and finance from the University of Essex. Danny is married to Susan; together, they are the proud parents of Lucy and Stella.

Danny will depart New York in the summer of 2016 when he will return to London. He and Susan would like to thank everyone in the tri-state area who has made their last five years so memorable, especially the wonderful team at St. George’s Society of New York and the diverse and dynamic British expat community in the region.

The Order of St. George’s Society was established in 2004 to recognize individuals who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary service in furtherance of the Society’s mission.

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN CULTURAL AWARD: DR. AMANDA FOREMAN
Dr. Amanda Foreman is an award-winning historian, and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times and The Smithsonian Magazine. Her first book, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was an international bestseller, and won the 1998 Whitbread Prize for Biography. It has been developed into a television documentary, a radio play starring Dame Judi Dench and the Oscar-winning film, The Duchess. Her second book, A World on Fire, was also a bestseller and won the Fletcher Pratt Award for Civil War History. It was a runner-up for five further awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was chosen by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of 2011. In 2015 Amanda wrote and presented The Ascent of Woman, a critically acclaimed documentary series for BBC2.

Amanda divides her time between London and New York, where she founded House of SpeakEasy, a non-profit organization that works with local communities to bring writers and audiences together in innovative ways. Amanda is currently the 2016 Chair of The Man Booker Prize. Her new book, The World By Women: A History of Women from the Apple to the Pill, is scheduled to appear in 2017.

The Anglo-American Cultural Award was established in 2010 to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the US-UK cultural world.

 

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