Tuesday‚ April 14
6pm - 8pm

Aaron M. Bates‚ ESIA BA ’98‚ Bates is the Head of Ultra-High Net Worth & Growth Strategies at Bernstein Private Wealth Management. In this role‚ he is responsible for the firm’s work with Global UHNW Families and Family Offices. In addition‚ he oversees Bernstein Private Wealth’s inorganic growth strategy‚ strategic partnerships‚ and the firm’s Marketing & Digital functions. Prior to his current position‚ Mr. Bates was head of the Private Wealth Platform overseeing Bernstein’s Wealth Strategies team responsible for wealth planning research and content and served as senior managing director. Previously‚ he led Bernstein’s Northeast Private Wealth practice. From 2004 to 2011‚ he worked in London launching the firm’s global private client practice in Europe; he was appointed Principal in 2008. Prior to that‚ from New York City‚ Mr. Bates oversaw the Northeast US Private Wealth Management Services Group and served an analyst in the Private Wealth Management Executive Group‚ reporting on trends in the international high-net-worth marketplace to aid in the strategic development of the firm’s practice. He previously served in the Executive Office of the President of the United States‚ Office of the US Trade Representative. He has twice been selected to represent the US at the German Marshall Fund’s Conference on Transatlantic Relations. Mr. Bates holds a BA in international affairs from George Washington University. Dow Jones names him one of the Top 40 Under 40 in Europe. Mr. Bates serves on the Board of Trustees for George Washington University‚ Board of Directors for the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence and for StoryCorps‚ as well as the Board of Overseers for WGBH Boston. Mr. Bates has authored numerous articles for the Family Office Journal and Crains and is a frequent commentator on trends in the private wealth industry for the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

 

Appointed in February 2021‚ Alyssa Ayres is the first woman to serve as permanent dean at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government‚ nonprofit‚ and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021‚ she was a senior fellow for India‚ Pakistan‚ and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations‚ where she remains an adjunct senior fellow‚ and from 2010 to 2013 served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Ayres is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations‚ the Trilateral Commission‚ and the Halifax International Security Forum’s agenda group‚ and serves on the board of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and the Women’s Foreign Policy Group.