The evening included a welcome from the Foundation’s new CEO, Nike Irvin and then moved into a lively discussion with two great guest speakers: former Congressman Tom Campbell, now Dean of the Haas Business School; and former Mayor of Los Angeles Jim Hahn.  Mike McCurry, Chairman of the Board of The Junior Statesmen Foundation, and an alumnus of the Junior State program, moderated the discussion.  

Several members of the Junior Statesmen Foundation Board of Trustees attended the event as well as many local Junior State alumni.  Northern California JSA Governor Anne-Marie Mitchell was also present with a group of current JSA students from the Bay Area.  Former Junior Statesmen Foundation Executive Director, Richard Prosser, and his wife Karen Prosser attended on the eve of their move to Washington, D.C. and we recognized for their lifetime of service to The Junior Statesmen Foundation and the JSA program.

The Junior Statesmen Foundation would like to thank the following members of the host committee for sponsoring Cocktails and Conversation:  Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos, & Rudy LLP; New Leaf Press; Postal Systems, Inc.; Jean Atkinson; Connie Cummings; Rahul Prakash; Atulya Sarin; Kathleen Arnold; Helen Hilton Raiser and Jennifer Raiser.

The inaugural Cocktails and Conversation event was a smashing success and will be the model for a number of similar events to be held around the country in the upcoming year.  If you are interested in sponsoring a Cocktails and Conversation event in your area or for information on upcoming events please contact Carly Baleix at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 800-334-5353 ext. 234.