My Speaker List
Find Your Speaker:
Speakers By Topic
Speakers By Type
Speakers By Topic
Speakers By Type
Leadership
Over his lifetime of public service, Senator Graham has not only learned the principles of leadership in what is considered one of the most competitive environments, American politics, but he has also mastered these principles to the point of being able to teach them to management teams. The Senator has learned over the years that the fundamental differentiation between management and leadership is the former takes what is and attempts to make it as efficient and productive as possible while a leader challenges the status quo. Senator Graham shows management teams how to possess the characteristics of leadership. Everyone can be a leader if you are willing to make the sacrifice to acquire the qualities necessary to challenge the status quo and shape a new future.
Economic Policy
Senator Graham spent ten years on the Senate Finance Committee; six on the Banking Committee. His background on this topic is augmented by his service on the board of directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Norwegian Cruise Line.
U.S. Relations in the World
Senator Graham has traveled and actively participated particularly in the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean for the last twenty-five years.
Environment
Having spent eighteen years on the Senate environment and public works committee and as Governor in 1983, he initiated a series of programs to Save Our Coasts; Rivers; the endangered manatee and his signature the Save the Everglades program. This initiative became the largest environmental restoration undertaken in American history. In June of 2005, he received the National Park Trust Public Service Award. President Barak Obama recognized his environmental stewardship when he tapped him to co-chair a bipartisan presidential commission investigating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ``We're drawing on America's best minds and using the world's best technology to stop the leak,'' Obama pledged in his weekly radio address, disclosing his choice of Graham and William K. Reilly, former President George H.W. Bush's EPA administrator, to chair the seven-member commission.
Education
During the two terms of serving as Florida's Governor, Senator Graham earned the title "Florida's Education Governor." Her served as chairman of the Education Commission of the States. During his tenure as Governor, he was recognized by the United States Chief State School Officers as the public official who had made the greatest contribution to American education. He is currently serving on the board of directors of ACT, America's most widely accepted college entrance examination.
9/11, Over a Decade Later: How Safe Are We, Really?
Civic Activism: Making Government Work For You
Reflections on a Life in Public Service
The Gulf Oil Spill: Lessons on the Horizon
The Financial Crisis: Looking Back, Moving Forward
Senator Bob Graham is the former two–term governor of Florida and served for 18 years in the United States Senate. This is combined with 12 years in the Florida legislature for a total of 38 years of public service. Bob Graham retired from public service in January 2005, following his Presidential campaign in 2004.
Bob Graham is recognized for his leadership on issues ranging from education, economic development, healthcare, environmental preservation and his service on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — chairman in 2001–2002.
In recent years, Senator Graham was appointed by the President and served as Co-Chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. This followed his service as a Commissioner on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, as Chairman of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism and his service as a member of the CIA External Advisory Board. Currently he is serving on the federal St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission.
Senator Graham is also the author of four books. Work Days – Finding Florida on the Job: descriptions of early jobs in what became his 30 year commitment to over 400 work days; Intelligence Matters, 9/11 and the run up to the Iraq War from the perspective of the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Keys to the Kingdom, a novel of suspense which draws upon his background in government and intelligence.
Senator Graham’s passion has been civic engagement. After retiring from public life, Senator Graham served for a year as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He participated in the 2008 establishment of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida and currently serves as the chair of its council of advisors. He is co-chair of the Florida Joint Center on Citizenship which is devoted to enhanced civics education in primary and secondary schools. He serves on the board of the National Conference on Citizenship. In 2010 with Chris Hand, Graham co-authored America the Owner’s Manual: Making Government Work for You, which teaches the skills of active citizenship.
{{formatCrumb(term)}}
