AIAC AT THE 2026 TIME100 SUMMIT IN NEW YORK CITY
For Immediate Release
New York, NY – April 22, 2026 L. M. Levie, Chairman of American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) and Trustee and Poet Laureate of The Explorers Club joined the world’s most influential figures for the sixth-annual TIME100 Summit, held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. The day-long program brought together heads of state, Nobel laureates, scientists, artists, athletes, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs from across the globe to mark the unveiling of TIME’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, presented by Time Chief Executive Officer Jessica Sibley and Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs.
The TIME100 Summit: A Day of Global Conversations
The sixth-annual TIME100 Summit took place on Tuesday, April 22, 2026, at Jazz at Lincoln Center, convening leaders from the global TIME100 community for a day of conversations spanning geopolitics, business, culture, artificial intelligence, climate, and the creator economy. Presented by premier partner Booking.com, with signature partners JPMorgan Chase, PepsiCo, Reliance, and Toyota, the Summit drew an extraordinary roster of speakers and concluded with a special musical performance by Tony Award–winning actor and singer Jonathan Groff.
Mr. Levie engaged throughout the day with TIME’s leadership team and with the speakers, panelists, and honorees who took the stage, including the following distinguished participants:
António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres has led the world body since 2017, following a decade as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a tenure as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. At the Summit, he headlined the marquee panel “The Next World Order,” moderated by TIME Senior Correspondent Justin Worland, addressing the war in the Middle East, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the urgent need for a global transition to renewable energy.
Victoria Beckham
Founder and Creative Director, Victoria Beckham Ltd. and Victoria Beckham Beauty
A 2026 TIME100 honoree, the former Spice Girl has built one of the most respected independent fashion and beauty houses in Europe, with her tribute in TIME this year written by Anna Wintour. She spoke at the Summit about her evolution as a designer, founder, and businesswoman, and the discipline of building enduring brands in a fast-changing global marketplace.
Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast)
Creator, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist; Founder, Beast Industries
The most-subscribed creator on YouTube — with a global following approaching half a billion — Jimmy Donaldson runs the entertainment and consumer-products empire Beast Industries, recently valued at approximately $5 billion, alongside the philanthropic channel Beast Philanthropy. He closed out the Summit with a wide-ranging conversation on the future of independent media and the new economics of attention.
Kate Hudson
Academy Award–Nominated Actor, Producer, and Recording Artist
Co-founder of the wellness and apparel brand Fabletics, Kate Hudson is a Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee whose career spans Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and the recently released Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. She spoke at the Summit on reinvention, family, and the long arc of a career in Hollywood.
Hilary Duff
Singer, Actor, and Entrepreneur
A multi-platinum recording artist and television star whose work spans Lizzie McGuire, Younger, and How I Met Your Father, Hilary Duff returned this year with her first new album in a decade. She discussed creativity, motherhood, and the candor that has defined her recent work in a featured Summit conversation.
Wyclef Jean
Grammy Award–Winning Performing Artist, Producer, and Composer
A founding member of the Fugees and one of the most influential musicians of his generation, Wyclef Jean is a Grammy Award–winning artist whose career has bridged hip-hop, world music, and humanitarian advocacy. A longtime champion of Haiti and global humanitarian causes, he spoke at the Summit on the role of artists in cultural diplomacy and rebuilding.
Nita Ambani
Founder and Chairperson, Reliance Foundation
Founder and Chairperson of the Reliance Foundation — the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries, India’s largest private-sector enterprise — Nita Ambani is a leading figure in education, health, sport, and the arts in India. She is also founder of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai, India’s flagship cultural institution, and a longtime advocate for women’s empowerment across the Indian subcontinent.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin
Educator, Advocate, and Author
A teacher whose son, Hersh, was held hostage following the October 7 attacks, Rachel Goldberg-Polin has become an internationally recognized voice for the families of hostages and a powerful advocate for unity through grief. Her Summit appearance was among the day’s most moving — a meditation on faith, motherhood, and the human capacity to find common ground in the most painful of circumstances.
Darren Walker
President and CEO, Anonymous Content; Former President, Ford Foundation
President and CEO of Anonymous Content and former President of the Ford Foundation, where he served from 2013 to 2025, Darren Walker is one of the most influential voices in American philanthropy. He joined the Summit’s panel on institutional trust and the evolving responsibilities of business and cultural leadership.
Richard Edelman
Chief Executive Officer, Edelman
Chief Executive Officer of Edelman, the world’s largest independent communications firm, Richard Edelman is publisher of the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, which has tracked global trust in institutions since 2001. He spoke at the Summit on the rising responsibilities of business leaders at a moment of broad institutional skepticism.
Glenn Fogel
President and CEO, Booking Holdings
President and CEO of Booking Holdings — the global travel technology company that owns Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, Agoda, and OpenTable — Glenn Fogel spoke at the Summit on a panel addressing the impact of artificial intelligence on entry-level employment and the responsibilities of leadership in an era of rapid technological change.
Clara Shih
Founder, dear [CC]; Senior Advisor and Founder of Business AI, Meta
A pioneer of enterprise AI and a longtime board director at Starbucks, Clara Shih is the founder of dear [CC] and the founder of Business AI at Meta. A former CEO of Salesforce AI, she joined Summit panels on women’s leadership and the future of work in the age of artificial intelligence.
Maria Sharapova
Five-Time Grand Slam Champion, Entrepreneur, and Investor
One of the most accomplished tennis players of her generation and a five-time Grand Slam champion, Maria Sharapova is the founder of Sugarpova and an active venture investor. She spoke on the women’s leadership panel about building a meaningful second act after professional sport and the discipline of long-term company building.
Athina Kanioura
Chief Executive Officer, Latin America, and Global Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer, PepsiCo
A leading voice on enterprise transformation, Athina Kanioura serves as Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Latin America and as the company’s Global Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer. She joined the Summit’s panel on women’s leadership in an era of transformation.
Nelle Miller
Head of New York Region, J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Head of J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s New York region, Nelle Miller is one of the most senior leaders at one of the world’s largest financial institutions. She joined the panel on business leadership at a moment of eroding institutional trust.
Navrina Singh
Founder and CEO, Credo AI
Founder and CEO of Credo AI, a leader in AI governance, accountability, and responsible deployment, Navrina Singh is a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National AI Advisory Committee. She spoke at the Summit on the architecture of trust in artificial intelligence.
Arianna Huffington
Founder and CEO, Thrive Global; Founder, The Huffington Post
Founder and CEO of Thrive Global and founder of The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington is one of the most influential media entrepreneurs of the past two decades and a longtime advocate for well-being, sleep, and human-centered leadership.
Jonathan Groff
Tony Award–Winning Actor and Singer
Tony Award–winning actor and singer of Merrily We Roll Along, Hamilton, and Spring Awakening, Jonathan Groff delivered a special musical performance closing the Summit’s afternoon program.
The TIME Editorial Team: Hosts, Interviewers, and Moderators
The Summit was led from the stage by TIME’s senior editorial leadership, who interviewed the speakers and moderated the day’s panels:
Jessica Sibley
Chief Executive Officer, TIME
Chief Executive Officer of TIME since 2022, Jessica Sibley has overseen the brand’s evolution into a multi-platform media and live-events company, expanding its reach into AI, climate, health, and philanthropy verticals while leading the modernization of its iconic franchises. She delivered the Summit’s opening welcome.
Sam Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, TIME
Now in his fourth year as Editor-in-Chief, Sam Jacobs leads TIME’s global newsroom and curated this year’s TIME100 list with the editorial team. He has been a steady editorial steward of the brand through a period of rapid expansion and platform transformation.
Edward Felsenthal
Executive Chairman, TIME; Former Editor-in-Chief
Executive Chairman of TIME and former Editor-in-Chief, Edward Felsenthal is a longtime steward of the brand. At the 2026 Summit he moderated the marquee conversation on women’s leadership in an era of transformation, featuring Maria Sharapova, Athina Kanioura, and Clara Shih.
Nikhil Kumar
Executive Editor, TIME
A veteran international correspondent who has reported from across South Asia, Europe, and Africa, Nikhil Kumar is Executive Editor at TIME. He moderated the Summit’s panel on “Leadership in the Age of AI,” featuring Glenn Fogel and Clara Shih.
Justin Worland
Senior Correspondent, TIME
Senior Correspondent at TIME covering geopolitics, climate, and energy, Justin Worland is one of the magazine’s most decorated journalists. He led the Summit’s headline foreign-policy session, “The Next World Order,” with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
Alice Park
Senior Health Correspondent, TIME
Senior Health Correspondent at TIME and one of the magazine’s longest-tenured journalists, Alice Park has reported on medicine, public health, and biotech for more than two decades. She moderated the Summit’s panel on institutional trust featuring Richard Edelman, Darren Walker, and Nelle Miller.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie issued the following statement on his attendance at the 2026 TIME100 Summit:
“It is a profound honor and joy to be present, alongside my dear friend Jessica Sibley and her remarkable colleagues at TIME, for this celebration of human achievement. For more than a century, TIME has had the rare gift of recognizing not only the famous, but the consequential — those whose work quietly bends the arc of our era. To witness, in a single room, a Secretary-General of the United Nations, a designer who has reshaped global fashion, a mother whose grief has become a force for unity, a creator who has redrawn the very map of modern media, and the editors who have, with such care, traced the contours of all of it — is to be reminded that influence, at its best, is not a measure of fame but of consequence.
It was an extraordinary delight to greet my dear friend Jessica Sibley and her colleague Sam Jacobs, along with the wider TIME team, and to meet in person so many of the day’s presenters and guests. Among them, I was especially glad to embrace Richard Edelman — a longtime personal friend and one of the foremost champions of truthful and responsible corporate communication of our generation. For more than two decades, Richard and the institution he leads have set the global standard for the discipline of trust, publishing the annual Edelman Trust Barometer that has become required reading for leaders the world over. His presence on the Summit stage was a fitting reminder of why TIME has gathered such a community in the first place: because honest storytelling, in journalism and in business alike, remains one of the most consequential forms of leadership in our time.
Under Jessica Sibley’s stewardship, TIME’s century-old tradition has been carried forward with extraordinary grace, ambition, and integrity. She has guided this storied institution into a new era — expanding its franchises into the great frontiers of our time, from artificial intelligence and climate to health and philanthropy — without ever losing sight of what has always made TIME indispensable: its devotion to telling, with rigor and humanity, the story of the people and ideas shaping our world. To Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, Executive Chairman Edward Felsenthal, and the entire editorial team — Justin Worland, Nikhil Kumar, Alice Park, and so many others — I extend my deepest admiration. The craft and conviction with which you select and present the TIME100 each year is itself an act of great public service.
I would be remiss, too, not to extend my deep admiration to Marc Benioff, founder and chair of Salesforce, whose vision and steady stewardship of TIME since his 2018 acquisition of the magazine has restored this storied American institution to its rightful place at the center of our national conversation. In an era when the future of independent journalism has rarely felt more uncertain, Marc has shown, year after year, that a great American entrepreneur can also be a thoughtful patron of the press — investing in TIME’s people, its mission, and its editorial independence with the same boldness and clarity of purpose that built Salesforce into one of the defining enterprises of our age. The TIME100 we celebrate today is, in no small measure, the fruit of his conviction that influence is best understood, and best honored, when illuminated by the steady light of trustworthy journalism.
It is also a remarkable and deeply pleasing fact that so many of the most celebrated TIME100 honorees, across the decades, have belonged to two communities I am proud to call my own: The Explorers Club, on whose Board of Trustees I am honored to serve, and the Ellis Island Honors Society, where I have had the privilege of receiving the Medal of Honor and of serving on the Advisory Committee. From Dr. Sylvia Earle and the late Dame Jane Goodall to Sir Richard Branson, Ray Dalio, and the long line of NASA astronauts who have carried the human story to the surface of the Moon, the deepest trenches of the ocean, and now, with Reid Wiseman’s Artemis II crew, the farthest reaches humans have ever traveled — TIME has, year after year, recognized the very same men and women who have devoted themselves to exploration and to the celebration of America’s great immigrant inheritance. It is a beautiful confluence, and one that speaks to a truth at the heart of all three institutions: that influence, well lived, is exploration in another form.
“On behalf of AIAC and our worldwide affiliates, I extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 100 honorees of 2026 and our profound gratitude to Jessica and her colleagues at TIME for a day that truly reflects the very best of our shared century. May the next hundred years of this remarkable institution be as luminous as the first.
A Fitting Sequel to ECAD 2026
The 2026 TIME100 Summit arrived in New York City just one day after the conclusion of the 122nd Explorers Club Annual Dinner Weekend, themed “Odysseys,” at which AIAC and its affiliates served as proud co-sponsors. For Mr. Levie, the back-to-back gatherings — one celebrating the explorers who venture into the unknown, the other honoring the leaders, innovators, and changemakers shaping the world we already know — together captured the breadth of AIAC’s commitments to discovery, achievement, and the public storytelling of both.
AIAC and its affiliates extend their congratulations once again to Jessica Sibley, Sam Jacobs, and the entire TIME team, and to every member of the 2026 TIME100 list.
About the Time 100 Summit
The TIME100 Summit is an annual event hosted by TIME magazine in New York City that brings together leaders from the global TIME100 community — the people featured on TIME's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. It takes place alongside the TIME100 Gala, which recognizes the listmakers; in 2026, the Summit was held on April 22 and the Gala on April 23.
The Summit brings together cultural voices and business leaders to discuss the evolving state of work, technology, culture, and more. Recent editions have featured on-stage conversations covering topics like AI's impact on jobs, climate solutions, the future of media, and global policy. The 2025 Summit, for example, included AI leaders debating progress and safety, Ted Sarandos on Netflix and Hollywood, and discussions about Trump's trade war and the future of the U.S. dollar.
Speakers and attendees are typically a mix of CEOs, world leaders, scientists, athletes, and entertainers. The 2026 Summit drew names like Kate Hudson, Alan Cumming, Claire Danes, Ethan Hawke, David and Victoria Beckham, Dakota Johnson, Ben Stiller, Benicio Del Toro, and MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), and the Summit and Gala together generate significant media coverage and red-carpet attention.
The Summit is held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC and is sixth-annual as of 2026, making it a relatively recent addition to TIME's franchise compared to the much older TIME100 list and Gala.
About American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products and serve as critical suppliers for the construction of major airports, schools, hospitals, performing arts and sports centers, offices and hotels throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. AIAC is a leading manufacturer of building, street, and highway signage in Europe, and a distributor of electrical products throughout France.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005 and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra-high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies produce 2,200 fan blades for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell.
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components for launching and propelling spacecraft and satellites. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. AIAC affiliate, Champlain Cable Corporation, supported the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions with high performance wire and cable. AIAC companies also lead in the design and manufacture of undersea umbilical cables for worldwide oceanographic research.
AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chrysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its kraft paper manufacturing interests in Canada and the US, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
AIAC affiliate, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen GmbH, located in Germany, designs, manufactures and distributes high performance, emergency portable power generators utilized in global conflict zones and during natural disasters.
For further information, please see: www.aiac.com
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, exploration, and the performing arts.
The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include The Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
AIAC's other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, the Trilateral Commission, and the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
For further information, please see: https://www.aiac.com/our-values
About The Explorers Club
Founded in 1904, The Explorers Club is a prestigious international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Based at its historic headquarters in New York City, the Club has served as a meeting point and unifying force for explorers and scientists worldwide for over a century.
The Club's membership includes many of history's most renowned explorers and scientists, from polar explorers Robert Peary and Roald Amundsen to oceanic pioneers Jacques Cousteau and Robert Ballard, from aviation legends Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart to space pioneers like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell. The Club continues to support cutting-edge exploration in every realm—from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest peaks, from archaeological discoveries to space missions.
The Explorers Club is renowned for its rigorous standards of membership, requiring nominees to have made significant contributions to exploration or the sciences that advance our understanding of the world. The Club's Board of Trustees, Legacy Society, and various committees work to preserve the Club's mission while fostering new generations of explorers through grants, expeditions, and educational programs.
The Club's famous annual dinner, featuring exotic cuisine and presentations by leading explorers, has become legendary in New York society. More importantly, The Explorers Club continues to fund and support expeditions that push the boundaries of human knowledge, from climate research in Antarctica to biodiversity studies in remote rainforests to preparations for future Mars missions.
AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie serves as Member of its Board of Trustees and as Poet Laureate and Member of its Legacy Society. As Poet Laureate, Mr. Levie contributes to the Club's cultural mission by capturing the spirit of exploration through verse, honoring both historical achievements and contemporary discoveries that continue to expand the frontiers of human knowledge and experience.
For further information, please see:
Media Contact
Isabel Carro-Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com