Second of three sector honorees to be announced ahead of the 2026 Concordia Annual Summit
NEW YORK, August 20, 2026 /3BL/ - The Concordia Leadership Council is proud to announce Dr. Laurie L. Patton, President of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as the second of three recipients of the 2026 Concordia Leadership Award, recognized for her work in civil society. Dr. Patton will be formally recognized for her exceptional leadership at the 2026 Concordia Annual Summit (September 20-23, Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel), the leading public-private sector forum alongside the UN General Assembly. Pass and registration information can be found here.
The Concordia Leadership Award recognizes global leaders who have made pioneering contributions and inspired others by turning vision into impact. Voted on by the Concordia Leadership Award Committee, recipients are committed to catalyzing positive social and economic change while promoting effective public-private collaboration to create a more sustainable future. Past civil society recipients include: Mr. Stephen Heintz, President & CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder of Grameen Bank; Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation; Christiana Figueres, Founder of Global Optimism; Mónica Ramírez, Founder & President of Justice for Migrant Women; and Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen.
For civil society, Concordia has selected Dr. Laurie L. Patton, President of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, for a career spent building bridges across institutions, disciplines, and belief systems. From 2015 to 2025, Dr. Patton served as the first woman president of Middlebury College, following academic leadership roles as dean of Duke University's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and inaugural director of the Center for Faculty Development at Emory University. An authority on South Asian history, culture, and religion, and more recently on theories of conflict and interreligious engagement in the public square, Dr. Patton is the author or editor of twelve scholarly books and seventy articles, as well as three books of poems and a translation of the Bhagavad Gita for the Penguin Classics Series. She served as president of the American Academy of Religion in 2019 and holds honorary degrees from Rutgers University and Hebrew Union College.
Anita McBride, Chair of Concordia's Leadership Award Committee, Leadership Council Member, Author, and Former Assistant to President George W. Bush & Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush, expressed her excitement:
"This committee looks for leaders who build bridges where others see divides," said McBride. "Laurie Patton has spent a career doing exactly that, across disciplines, institutions, and faiths, and doing it with the kind of intellectual rigor and generosity that changes how people see each other. That is civil society leadership at its best."
Bart Friedman, Member of the Board of the Trust of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and nominator of Dr. Patton, added: "As the President of Middlebury College and now as the charismatic President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Laurie Patton has been an effective advocate for higher education, championing both the humanities and sciences and demonstrating how they can work together. Laurie Patton has worked hard to ensure that research, education and teaching have advocates and resources to advance Enlightenment values. At a time when scholarship has been challenged and at times embattled, the AAAS is lucky to be helmed by such an indispensable leader."
Dr. Patton reflected on the recognition: "I am truly grateful and honored by this award, given by a Council whose members know deeply what it means to lead in difficult times. The most important work we can be doing right now is to be building impossible bridges, creating human connections where none have ever existed. Together, as a response to despair, we can re-imagine the public square in our own communities. If we can build a vibrant civil society with our neighbors, we can use those models across the globe. There are no more distant strangers; only neighbors whose stories we need to learn."
In the coming weeks, Concordia will announce its public sector honoree, completing the 2026 Leadership Award class. Together, their recognition reflects Concordia's broader commitment to elevating leaders across every sector who are translating vision into lasting impact.
About Concordia
Concordia is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to actively fostering, elevating, and sustaining cross-sector partnerships for social impact. Through its Annual Summit in New York, Horizon Summits held around the world, and year-round programming, Concordia convenes leaders from business, government, and civil society to drive collaboration and measurable change.
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