Ploughshares Fund presents: Chain Reaction 2016 - Women in Security

Global peace and security foundation Ploughshares Fund’s annual fundraiser Chain Reaction 2016 will take a closer look at the essential role women play in building a safer, more secure world for everyone. It will take place on Monday, June 6, 2016 from 6:00 – 9:00pm at The Open Square at Futures Without Violence in the Presidio, San Francisco.

While national security and international arms control efforts have disproportionately been led by men, women have always cared deeply about these issues and have been tirelessly working to address them at the local, national and global levels for decades. The vital contributions of women addressing peace and security spans the globe and includes top policymakers, grassroots leaders, expert analysts, journalists, multi-media activists and women working in many other disciplines.

This year, Chain Reaction will honor and highlight the efforts of just some of these notable women, including Valerie Plame, Former CIA officer and bestselling author; Hon. Michèle Flournoy, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Co-Founder and CEO of the Center for a New American Security; Kavita Ramdas, Senior advisor on global strategy at Ford Foundation; Kelsey Davenport, Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association; and Ploughshares Fund grantee and a critical voice in civil society advocacy efforts that helped secure the Iran nuclear accord. Additionally, producer Smriti Keshari, will bring an excerpt of her cutting edge, multimedia film called the bomb – which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last weekend – to Chain Reaction.

"We are thrilled to honor women in security at the third annual Ploughshares Fund Gala,” said Joe Cirincione, President of Ploughshares Fund. “Women helped lead us to victory in some of our most notable national security achievements, including the New START Treaty and this past summer’s historic Iran nuclear accord. We honor their leadership and thank them for their dedication to creating a more just, peaceful and secure world.”

Ploughshares Fund itself was created by an extraordinary woman concerned about peace and security. Since the late Sally Lilienthal started up Ploughshares Fund in her San Francisco living room at the height of the Cold War, the foundation has grown into a major global player in the peace and security field with offices in San Francisco and Washington, DC. Over the past 35 years, it has distributed more than $100 million in grants to reduce nuclear weapons and other security threats – many of them going to women and women-led initiatives and organizations.

Speaker bios:

Valerie Plame – Former covert CIA officer who worked to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, specifically nuclear weapons. Plame is the author of New York Times best-selling memoir Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House and a sought-after expert speaker on national security, women in intelligence and nuclear proliferation. She joined Ploughshares Fund as a Board Member in 2015.

Hon. Michèle Flournoy – Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2009-2012) where she served as principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

Kavita Ramdas – Senior advisor on global strategy at Ford Foundation, working to ensure that support for women and girls is integrated into Ford’s work; founder of the Program on Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford University bringing together global leaders in social innovation; former president and CEO of Global Fund for Women.

Kelsey Davenport – Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, Davenport is an expert on nuclear security issues, specifically the nuclear and missile programs in Iran, North Korea, India, and Pakistan. She is the former Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow.

Smriti Keshari – A multi-disciplinary artist who focuses on stories of underrepresented perspectives that inspire social action. Keshari was a producer of Food Chains with Eva Longoria and best-selling author Eric Schlosser, and recently premiered a cutting edge immersive experience called the bomb at Tribeca Film Festival in April.


Tickets
Individual tickets for Chain Reaction start at $250. Sponsorships, some of which include access to the VIP reception, tickets and recognition are $2,500, $5,000, $10,000 and $20,000. Call Ploughshares Fund at (415) 668-2244 or visit http://ploughshares.org/chainreaction2016 for more information or to purchase tickets online.

About Ploughshares Fund:
Ploughshares Fund is a leading global peace and security foundation that has been making the world safer for 35 years by working to build a world where nuclear weapons can never be used again. A publicly supported foundation, Ploughshares Fund develops and invests in initiatives that strive to reduce and ultimately eliminate the world’s nuclear stockpiles, and to promote stability in regions of conflict where these weapons exist. Such initiatives include its successful civil society campaign to support efforts to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb through peaceful means.

WHAT: Ploughshares Fund Chain Reaction 2016


WHEN: Monday, June 6, 2016

Reception: 6:00pm

Program: 7:00pm

WHERE: The Open Square at Futures Without Violence

100 Montgomery Street

The Presidio of San Francisco

WHO: Special Guests:
Valerie Plame – Former CIA officer and bestselling author.

Hon. Michèle Flournoy – Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Co-Founder and CEO of the Center for a New American Security.

Kavita Ramdas, Senior advisor on global strategy at Ford Foundation.

Kelsey Davenport – Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association and former Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow.

Smriti Keshari – Multi-disciplinary artist and producer, will bring her cutting edge immersive experience called the bomb to Chain Reaction.

TICKETS AND EVENT INFO:

Individual tickets start at $250

Call (415) 668-2244 or visit http://ploughshares.org/chainreaction2016

for more information or to purchase tickets online