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Lifestyle

Chicago PR strategist Laurie Glenn receives National Order of Merit from France

Months ago, Laurie Glenn, founder, president and CEO of Chicago-based international political and public affairs consulting firm Thinkinc., was looking at her LinkedIn account on a Sunday, when someone slid into her direct messages asking questions like: “Are you this Laurie Glenn? Were you born July 5th?”“I was like, ‘What is this: identity theft?’” Glenn recalled, laughing.AdvertisementThe queries were from a representative from Crédit Agricole bank in New York City making sure the correct Glenn was contacted about being honored with France’s National Order of Merit, an award that recognizes individuals for distinguished service and/or connection rendered to the French Republic for at least 10 years. The honor is similar to the Legion of Honor, given to people in all fields of activity whose service to France is at least 20 years long.Awarded by the president of the French Republic, the Order of Merit was established by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963 for “distinguished merit” in service to France and the causes it supports. It is rare for a noncitizen of France to receive this award.AdvertisementGlenn is now on that list, joining honorees such as Quincy Jones, Toni Morrison, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. She received her insignia of merit — a six-armed Maltese asterisk enameled blue, suspended from a wreath of intertwined oak leaves — on June 2 at a New York City reception with diplomats, civic leaders and French nationals.Laurie Glenn, president and CEO of Thinkinc., a Chicago-based international strategic public affairs and political consulting firm specializing in policy issues, was awarded France’s National Order of Merit. (Charles Roussel)Fabrice Rozié, former cultural attache in New York and Chicago, nominated Glenn for the honor in 2019. According to Patrick Pagni, president of the American Society of the French Order of Merit, the pandemic prevented ceremonies from being conducted until recently.“She’s one of the very few to receive this,” Pagni said. “These are rewarded to people that have done something important in their field and who have been somewhat instrumental in developing a large level of cooperation between France and the United States.”The nomination stemmed from Glenn’s work with Rozié and the local French Consulate in broadening cultural ties between France and the U.S. Glenn’s work with the U.S. Embassy in Paris in support of the German Marshall Fund with leaders of inclusion on leadership development in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 also supported her nomination. Glenn taught workshops in 2017 and 2018 with the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle on using research as a tool for building power and influence on social policy issues.Other projects Glenn worked with the French Consulate in Chicago and U.S. Embassy In Paris on include:“City/Cite: A trans-Atlantic Exchange,” a 2015 event where leading scholars, policymakers, researchers, community organizers, activists and artists from both sides of the Atlantic were in Chicago to explore inequality, race and the state of urban democracy in the United States and France. This program is still in effect.In 2009 and 2010, Glenn’s firm was retained by the U.S. Embassy in Paris to bring delegations to Chicago in response to Barack Obama being elected president. Thinkinc. organized a 10-day delegation of French Muslim elected officials from across the political spectrum to understand how he got elected and how to translate his victory into lessons learned for elected officials of color in France. The second delegation was brought to the city to train local leaders in community organizing as an empowerment tool for local leaders.Glenn’s artistic arm, Th!nkArt, an international art and policy forum that features local, European and South American artists, organized a 2010 joint exhibition at the Richard J. Daley Center featuring the photography of 10 youths from Altgeld Gardens in Chicago and 10 youths visiting from La Courneuve in Paris. Th!nkArt’s mission is to move art from the canvas to a conversation between human beings about art, philosophy, politics and the world at large. In 2009, Th!nkArt worked in collaboration with French film director Yamina Benguigui as part of an international human rights summit in Paris.Pagni said fewer than 140 Americans have received the honor over the last 40 years, and that Glenn’s receiving the order is an achievement that is well deserved.“It was really an honor much bigger than I realized,” said Glenn, who has more than 40 years of experience working within the social justice and public policy realm and with marginalized communities. “Everything I learned from all the community organizers, all the groups I worked with in the United States, it was a culmination of my work, and it made me a better person, a better human being. I am so grateful to be recognized because you’re never a hero in your own hometown.”AdvertisementGlenn is already thinking about what comes next. She said she wants to continue to be engaged with people’s dreams in hopes that she sees the next generation of people who come to power. With Thinkinc and Th!nkArt, she’s already created a new endeavor called ThinkHeart. She hasn’t figured out yet what path that effort will take.“It’s just so clear to me that it’s all about how we treat one another, that we come from a place of love,” Glenn said. “And that real institutional change, you have to engage the hearts and minds of people to make real systemic change.”For Glenn, being awarded the National Order of Merit is proof to keep going. When most people are thinking retirement, Glenn says her work is something she will continue to do until she dies because “it’s about humanity and building a progressive voice that allows inclusion.”“My religion is social justice,” Glenn said. “I think that there’s nothing more important than people’s ability to have free will and to make choices about their life. I work with powerful community-based organizations in Chicago and in France … to build democracy with people on the ground, to assist them, to give them the tools to amplify their voice and to be strategic in understanding how to leverage and build power. My work is always about assisting a transfer of power from people who have too much of it to people who need more of it.”drockett@chicagotribune.com

Sports

Wife of Orioles owner Peter Angelos says she has ‘full faith’ in son John Angelos as head of the team

Peter Angelos’ wife Georgia on Wednesday became the latest and arguably most crucial voice to weigh in on the side of her son, John Angelos, as the head of the Orioles, pushing back against a lawsuit filed last week by her other son.With family patriarch and Os owner Peter Angelos ailing and no longer managing his holdings, Louis Angelos, 52, sued his younger brother and mother last week over what he said were John Angelos’ efforts to seize control of the team.AdvertisementBut in a statement the Orioles released Wednesday, Georgia Kousouris Angelos asserted her role as the voice of her husband and cast support to older son John, 54.“I, alone, have the authority to manage the family’s assets and make decisions,” Georgia Angelos said.Advertisement“Since I appointed John Angelos as chairman and CEO of the Orioles in 2020, he has led the organization thoughtfully and effectively, including through unprecedentedly challenging times,” she said. “John has my full faith, as well as the trust and confidence of Major League Baseball.”Peter Angelos, now 92, had designated his wife to act on his behalf, according to a power of attorney transfer that was among the documents Louis Angelos included when he filed his lawsuit. The document, signed in October 2017 as Peter Angelos’ health began deteriorating, said that should his wife no longer be capable of managing her affairs, the power of attorney would go to the couple’s two sons, acting “jointly or separately.”In the lawsuit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court last Thursday, Louis Angelos said his mother wanted to sell the Orioles, adding credence to a rumor that has long swirled around the team, particularly in the wake of Peter Angelos’ exit from its helm. The lawsuit said John Angelos “has done everything in his power to stall and, ultimately, to stall and, ultimately, thwart plans to sell the club,” single-handedly torpedoing “one highly credible group of buyers.”The suit reinforced another rumor with an inference that John Angelos’ consolidation of control over the team could allow him to move the team to Tennessee, where he lives in Nashville with his country music singer-songwriter wife.But on Monday, John Angelos denied the Orioles were going anywhere. In a statement also released by the team, John Angelos repeated a prior assertion that the Os will remain in Baltimore “as long as Fort McHenry is standing watch over the Inner Harbor.” The statement was silent on the subject of selling the team, as it was on the fact that his brother had sued him.But Georgia Angelos’ statement began by denouncing “the false and painful claims that have been alleged in the lawsuit that my son, Louis, has brought against me and my older son, John.“I want to set the record straight,” she said.Additionally, the Maryland Stadium Authority, the team’s landlord at Camden Yards, told The Baltimore Sun that it recognized John Angelos as the team’s CEO. Citing their “excellent working relationship,” the authority said it was continuing negotiations with John Angelos on a new lease to keep the Orioles in town.AdvertisementThe team is in its final year of a lease that includes a clause that expressly bars “the relocation of the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball Team from Baltimore, Maryland,” sweet words in a city haunted by its loss on a snowy night in 1984 of their beloved Colts football team.At issue is $600 million in bonds that the General Assembly authorized and Gov. Larry Hogan signed into law for improvements to Camden Yards, along with the same amount for Ravens Stadium. The bonds cannot be issued without a lease, and the lease must run long enough to pay off the bonds with the longest term.While there is no guarantee a new lease would contain the same no-relocation clause in the current one, the stadium authority says such clauses are common in similar agreements. The lease terms would apply to the new owner should the club be sold, according to the authority.The family fireworks have generated much attention, as Orioles Nation speculated on what it means for the team, who for all their losing ways in recent years manages to keep its grip on local hearts.Georgia Angelos noted her deep roots in town, saying she was “born and raised in Northeast Baltimore, within walking distance of Memorial Stadium, and attending city public schools: PS 50, PS 49 and Eastern High School.“I attended the first Orioles Opening Day in 1954,” she said, going on to credit her husband and his partners for restoring local ownership when they bought the team four decades later. That avoided, she said, “the constant threat of relocation that had taken the Colts away from Baltimore.Advertisement“Any suggestion that Peter, John, or I would explore moving the club is false and intentionally divisive,” she said.Fans should feel reassured by the statement, said Alan M. Rifkin, the former outside counsel to the Orioles.“She is and always has been a pillar of honesty and sincerity,” he told The Sun. “The public and Orioles fans should take great comfort in her continuing commitment to the city.”Georgia Angelos’ statement rejects the allegations made by Louis Angelos in his suit. He describes his brother as plotting to get rid of lawyers and team officials who were loyal to his father and replacing them with “yes men” that would allow him to exert total control. To do that, he intimidated and confused his mother and got her to agree to amendments to the trust that Peter Angelos created for his holdings.Louis Angelos’ attorney, Jeffrey E. Nusinov, previously decried John Angelos’ statement, in which John Angelos said he “was appointed Chairman and CEO according to my parents’ expressed wishes.” Nusinov could not be reached Wednesday for comment.The suit also claimed John Angelos co-opted a lawyer, Chris Jones, into working solely for his rather than the family’s interests. John Angelos’ wife, Margaret Valentine, took Jones’ daughter, an aspiring country-singer, under her wing, which resulted in her getting her gigs to perform in Camden Yards.AdvertisementBut Georgia Angelos defended Jones’ “professionalism and integrity,” saying he was a friend and invaluable in estate and Orioles planning.“Chris and his family as well as my son, John, and his family are owed an apology,” she said.She also expressed regret to the Orioles staff and, “most importantly, devoted Orioles’ fans,” over the public airing of a battle within her normally private family.“I have always believed,” she said, “that family disputes and concerns should remain among family members.“I look forward to putting this matter behind us all.”Sun reporter Jeff Barker contributed to this article.

Business

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