2014 Public Service Award Honoring the US Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez JD '87, MPP '87
Join us as we honor the exceptional Thomas E. Perez JD '87, MPP '87, U.S. Secretary of Labor, for his distinguished career in public service. Check-in at 11:30/program begins promptly at noon. Members and their guests $65/non-members $95.
2014 Public Service Award
This event is the Harvard Club's flagship event of the year - if you can join us for one event in 2014, please join us on Tuesday, October 21st, at the University Club for a lovely luncheon.
The Harvard Club is pleased to honor the US Secretary of Labor, Thomas E. Perez.
Nominated by President Barack Obama and sworn in on July 23, 2013, Thomas E. Perez is the nation's 26th secretary of labor. He has committed to making good on the promise of opportunity for all, giving every working family a chance to get ahead, and putting a middle-class life within reach of everyone willing to work for it. To accomplish this, Perez's priorities for the department include ensuring a fair day's pay for a fair day's work; connecting ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs, through skills programs like Registered Apprenticeship and on-the-job training; promoting gender equality in the workplace; ensuring that people with disabilities and veterans have access to equal employment opportunity; and insisting on a safe and level playing field for all American workers.
Perez's maternal grandfather was the ambassador to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1930s until he spoke out against his home country's brutal dictator and was declared non grata. His Dominican-born parents eventually settled in Buffalo, N.Y., where Perez was born and raised. His father served in the U.S. Army and worked for many years in at the VA hospital in Buffalo, instilling in his son a dedication to public service, where the younger Perez has spent his entire career. Most recently, Perez was assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, leading the same division where he worked for a decade as a career federal employee beginning in the late 1980s. From 2002 until 2006, he was a member of the Montgomery County Council. He was later appointed secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. He was a law professor for six years at the University of Maryland School of Law and was a part-time professor at the George Washington School of Public Health. He received a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1983. In 1987 he received both a master's of public policy and a law degree from Harvard University. He lives in Maryland with his wife, Ann Marie Staudenmaier, and their three children.
The Harvard Club of Washington, D.C. first awarded its Public Service Award (PSA) in 2000, in memory of the late Elliot L. Richardson, ’40, L.L.B. ’47, L.L.D. ’72, someone who exemplified public service. The award is presented annually to an individual who has attended or been affiliated with Harvard University and who has made significant contributions to the public good, and whose service has at least in part been focused on the Washington, D.C. area.While current or former elected officials have been among those considered as potential recipients of the PSA, the “public good” is not limited to government service. The Harvard Club has awarded the PSA to individuals whose contributions are in areas as diverse as social entrepreneurism, the arts, and journalism.
Over the years, recipients of the PSA have included James R. Schlesinger, Earl A. “Rusty” Powell III, Alice Rivlin, Benjamin Bradlee, The Honorable Anthony A. Williams, Senator Paul Sarbanes, William T. Coleman, Jr., Bill Drayton, Donald Graham, The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Marvin Kalb, Robert Reischauer, Peter Edelman, and Al Kamen.
Ticket and Seating Information
- $65, Members and their guests
- $95, Non-members
Sustaining Members and Patron Members will be seated at a limited number of specially reserved tables on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register early to reserve your seat!
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Refunds of any kind are no longer possible. If you find that you can not attend an event, please find a substitute or consider all fees paid as a charitable donation to the Harvard Club of Washington, DC. Your cooperation in this regard would be appreciated. 