2020 Annual Conference

Thank you for your donation Daryl Walker, Dinah V Ryan, Lowell Bryan, Ian Cook, Mary Blankenship Pointer, David Barrutia, Geraldine Maxwell Jones, Lisa Bakerink, Gilbert Garcia, Bill Evans, Ellen I Goldberg, John Dabeet, Ricki Garrett, Jefferson Svengsouk, Presley Guio, Jane Cutler, Christine Warnke, Sonja Mejlaender, Frank Villani, Andrew Powell, Cynthia Miller, Lynn S Miyauchi, Patrick Gormalley, Chen Xiaojun, Shahrzad Dowlatshahi, Cynthia Elliot, Gary W Henry, Gislin Dagnelie, Andree Farley, Carolina Rendeiro, Kay Sargent, Tim Quigley, Mary Margaret Pat Fallin, Dr Michael McQuary, Carol Lopez, William Boerum, Kate Helwig, Helene Schneider, Aldon Kinney, Janet Downey, Michael Gardenswartz, Victoria Schwartz, Muhammad Sheikh, Shin Koyamada, Richard Buckler, Dawn Weinraub, Gayle Stallings, Heather Cunningham, Susan Minott, Smyrna Melvin-Young, Carol Lopez, Barbara Shepard, Peter Svarzbein, Anthony Anderson, Tony Phillips, Jennifer Priest, Mehran Shahidi, Justin Stenger, Linda Pfaff, Patricia Elwood, Carolyn Bishop, BMAXX Enterprises, Marianne Winfield, Eileen Kret, Robert Michaelson, Peter DuMont, Anthony Al-Jamie, Shafiqur Rahman, Kathy Houlihan, Thelma Press, Mark Walton, John Caputo, ALR Creative Services, Marla Wolkowitz, Carlos Reyes, Kathleen McCann, Aileen Chambers, Deborah Austin, Linda Roth, Deborah Givens, Crave Technologies, Ann K Lindsey, Laura Giroux, Jeff J Case, Bob Perez, Nancy Granovsky, Culver City Sister City, Michael Hyatt, Marcy Gitt, Randolph Russel, Jane Gehlhausen, Frederick Blanton, Jane Cahaly, Donna Scantlebury, Albert Dotson, William Knegendorf, Pelton Stewart, Len Olender, John Wolfe, Patricia Suppes, Sun City Entertainment LLC, Carl Lankowski, Donald Voss, Teri Simmons, James Donovan, Sophya Tabarovsky, Suhail Arastu, Paul Amamoo, Bonnie Manzon, Mary Neilson, Margaret Saavedra, Isabel Eleazar, Burga Santiago, Lorna Johnson, Cynthia Johnson, Giahao Ryan, Zeno Tutino, Richard Gerrard, Kristy Holch, Mary Palko, Pat Fallin, Susan Stone, Reinhold Schlieper, Alexis Gordon, Creighton Reinhard, Chiaki Al-Jamie, George Barks, Jay Tipirneni, C Hodshire, Neo-Tech South Inc, Sylvia Sass, Nevenka Lutzow Bralic, Gloria Hagans, Catherine Seagren, Councilmember Pio Renteria, Digital Health Info Network Inc, Maureen Dugan, W Fontaine Belle, Dorothy Kittaka, Chris Morriss, Dianne Peterson, Antonio Marcelli, Clare Petrich, Raul Peralez, Austin Esogbue, Frankie Gillette, Laura Smit, Matthias Hilger, Miriam Kramer, LueRachelle Brim-Atkins, Andrea Press, Diane Jacobus, Sharon Hargraves, Oscar Garcia, Polly Yu, Kathleen Kimura, Alfreda Lanier, BMAXX Enterprises, Nancy Perdomo, Lina Corinth, Cynthia A Bonta, Meriel Burgess Wright, Cheryl Laflen, Robert Harvaky,
Dear SCI Annual Conference Attendees,
Thank you for taking the time to attend our first ever Virtual Annual Conference! Our 2020 Annual Conference, “Reimagining Citizen Diplomacy: New Connections in a Virtual World” was brought to life through the involvement that everyone has had in the new territory of the online conference.
We had over 2,900 unique participants throughout the two-day conference, resulting in amazing questions and comments from viewers to our panelists and speakers!
We would like to extend our appreciation to our panelists, speakers, moderators, performers, and others who were a part of the conference. And of course, a very special thank you goes out to you all – our attendees – for your participation, investment, and donations to Sister Cities International!
If you haven’t had a chance to donate but would still like to, you can still make your greatly appreciated donation.
We’ve prepared a short survey for you all in order to know your thoughts on the conference. We greatly appreciate you supporting us by taking a couple of minutes to complete this survey.
Until then,

AGENDA
July 8th
**Times listed are approximate and may change in real time**
Eastern Daylight Time
- Leroy Allala, President & CEO, Sister Cities International
Welcome Message
- Ron Nirenberg, Mayor of San Antonio, TX; Chairman of Sister Cities International
- Alan Webber, Mayor, City of Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Undersecretary General Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
- Karen Pence, Second Lady of the United States of America; Honorary Co-Chair, Sister Cities International
Award Presenter
- Leroy Allala, President & CEO, Sister Cities International
Categories
- Innovation in Arts and Culture
- Innovation in Humanitarian Assistance
- Dr. Jane S. Cahaly, State Representative Liaison & South Carolina State Representative, Sister Cites International
- V.C. Dale Holness, Mayor, Broward County, Florida
- Dr. Alex Akulli, Director, Center for International Studies, University of South Carolina, Upstate; Vice President, Sister Cities International of Greater Spartanburg, South Carolina
- Population under 25,000
- Population 25,001-100,000
- Population over 100,000
Moderator – Lorna K. Johnson, SCI Board Member, SCI Africa Regional Representative and Principal of Global Linkages, Inc.
- Global Awareness Team Presentation – Mary Palko, Chair, Global Awareness Team, Sister Cities International
- Video from Mexico-U.S. Sister Cities Mayors’ Summit in El Paso and Juarez, introduced by: Peter Svarzbein, Board Member, Sister Cities International; Mayor Pro Tem, City of El Paso, Texas
- Wunderbar Together: Building strong U.S.-German Sister Cities Programs
by:- Teri Simmons, Director, International & Immigration Practice Group, Arnall Golden Gregory, Atlanta; SCI EU Representative
- Christina Plewinski, Manager of International Relations, City of Nürnberg, Germany
- Message from Prince Kwame Kludjeson, President & Chair, Africa Global Sister Cities
- Meessage from Union of Russian Cities
- Message from Beijing Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
- Excerpt from first SCI Global Conversations with Hon. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Ambassador of the United States of America to the Hellenic Republic (Greece)
- Sherry Dowlatshahi, Chief Diplomacy & Protocol Officer, City of San Antonio
- Mark Chandler, Director of Mayor’s Office of Global Engagement, City & County of San Francisco, USA
- Maria Dolores Hernandez Montoya, Director of International Relations, City of Guadalajara, Mexico
- Stéphanie Jecrois, International Affairs Advisor, City of Montreal, Canada
Organizer and Moderator
- Barbara Shepard, State Representative Liaison & North Carolina State Representative, Sister Cities International
July 9th
**Times listed are approximate and may change in real time**
Eastern Daylight Time
Opening Remarks
- Carol Robertson Lopez, Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Sister Cities International
Keynote Messages:
- Hon. Clarence Anthony, CEO and Executive Director, National League of Cities
- H.E. Lin Songtian, President, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
- Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
- Shin Koyamada SCI Board and Executive Committee Member; Hollywood Actor (“The Last Samurai”), Chairman of Koyamada International Foundation
- H.E. Shinsuke Sugiyama, Ambassador of Japan to the United States of America
- Marie Royce, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State
- Leroy Allala, President & CEO, Sister Cities International
- Innovation in Youth and Education
- Youth Leadership Award
- Volunteer of the Year
- Population under 25,000
- Population 25,001-100,000
- Population over 100,000
- Announced by Fred Blanton
Moderator
- Afa Sadykhly Dworkin, President and Artistic Director of Sphinx Music
Panelists:
- Stuart Ashman, CEO, International Folk Art Market
- Sunil Iyengar, Research & Analysis Director, National Endowment for the Arts
- Dr. Aaron Prado | San Antonio, Texas, USA | Composer, Piano
- Brandon Guerra | San Antonio, Texas, USA | Digital Production, Percussion
- Anke Schimpf | Darmstadt, Germany | Flute, Saxophone
- Chen Hsien (Max) Huang | Kaohsiung, Taiwan | Trumpet
- Shlomi Cohen | Tel Aviv, Israel | Saxophone
- Prasanna | Chennai, India | Guitar
- Suzette Eises | Windhoek, Namibia | Saxophone
- Tomoko Sonoda | Kumamoto, Japan | Piano
- Vico Diaz | Guadalajara, Mexico | Bass
- Elemotho Gaalelekwe | Windhoek, Namibia | Voice, Guitar
- Carlo Capua | Fort Worth, Texas, USA | Electric Guitar
- Alan Donawa | Georgetown, Guyana | Box Bass
Moderator
- Kevin O’Donnell, Young Professional Representative, Board of Directors, Sister Cities International
Panelists:
- Jessica Coffield, Chair, Saumur, France Committee, Asheville Sister Cities, North Carolina
- Michael Jose Avila, Youth Ambassador, Southern California Sister Cities International
- Chairman Welcome
- Secretary Report (online election results)
- Treasurer Remarks
- Foundation Update
- President Remarks
- Chairman Presentation/Remarks
- Q&A
- Passing of the Gavel from Chairman to Chair-Elect
- Acknowledgments
SPEAKERS, PANELISTS AND PERFORMERS

Mary Palko
Chair, Global Awareness Team, Sister Cities InternationalSpeaker