PIER is also a co-sponsor of the “Executive Forum” series of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut in Hartford (WAC). Held in Hartford, the Executive Forums are two-hour, evening conferences with major business and political figures. Their common format is a 30-minute presentation by a speaker, followed by 30 minutes of question and answer, followed by an hour reception for meeting the speaker informally and for networking. Most attendees are business executives, but a limited number of college faculty and students are welcome, and, as co-sponsors, PIER coordinates Yale’s participation. Recent Executive Forum speakers have included renowned political pollster John Zogby; Barbara Hackman Franklin, former US Secretary of Commerce and CEO of Barbara Franklin Enterprises; James Jones, former US Ambassador to Mexico and Chairman of the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce; Her Excellency, Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade for the United Arab Emirates; and Ms. Pernille Spiers-Lopez, head of Global Human Resources for IKEA.