Source: Fortune
Summary
Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence shared an unexpected embrace at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, where they were both awarded the inaugural Yale Patriot Public Service Award. The event, hosted by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, recognized Pelosi for legislative leadership and Pence for executive leadership. Attendees, including former officials and business leaders, praised both for putting country above party. The moment was described as historic and emotional by Sonnenfeld, who hopes it offers a model for leadership in a divided nation.
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The numbers tell one story.
Pelosi and Pence sat side by side, a stark contrast to their past clashes.
They were honored for putting country above party, a message that resonates in a divided nation.
Leaders praised their integrity, even as they remain political rivals.
The moment was more about symbolism than substance, a reminder of what’s possible when leaders choose unity.
Author: Evan Null
Two awards, one thesis
The award, inaugurated this year to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, went to Pelosi for “Legislative Leadership” and to Pence for “Executive Leadership.” Sonnenfeld, who has run the semiannual CEO Caucus for decades, designed the awards explicitly to honor “Americans of both parties who have devoted their lives to public service and rendered it with integrity, civility and devotion to country above party.”
The presenter list was a bipartisan reunion in its own right. Former Democratic House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt spoke forcefully about how Pence “put country over party, and more importantly, country over self.” He told the room, “Mike Pence is a patriot. He has good character. He did the right thing. He stood for the Constitution, he stood for the laws of this country, and he saved this democracy.”
Carla Hills, a Republican who served as U.S. Trade Representative and HUD Secretary, offered a parallel case for Pelosi: “In these highly partisan days, Nancy Pelosi has really been a model for outstanding government leadership,” she said. “She takes principled positions. Policy over politics. And policy over her own needs for reelection.”
Former Federal Reserve Chair and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, unable to attend in person, sent a pre-recorded tribute praising Pelosi’s “remarkable ability to look at seemingly impossible political situations, figure out what can actually be done, and then somehow get it done,” adding that “all of that political skill is grounded in a very clear sense of purpose and a strong moral compass.”
Other attendees who lifted the off-record ground rules to express their support for the awards included former HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Chief Executive Group CEO Marshall Cooper, USA Networks founder Kay Koplovitz and American Industrial Acquisition Chairman Leonard Levie.
A ‘vivid reminder’
The tributes to Pelosi and Pence were the emotional centerpiece of a caucus otherwise consumed by anxiety: over the ongoing war in Iran, Trump’s upcoming visit to China, and AI’s effect on jobs and markets. And yet Pence and Pelosi both offered several jokes, in keeping with Sonnenfeld’s tone as a free-wheeling master of ceremonies.
Fortune’s Diane Brady wrote this morning that she “did not expect to return from the Yale CEO Caucus in Washington feeling more hopeful than when I arrived,” crediting the standing ovations for Pence and Pelosi as proof that “what unites them isn’t their politics but their commitment to the Constitution, public service, integrity and something bigger than themselves.”
Reaction from other attendees echoed that relief. Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said manufacturers are “wrestling with enormous uncertainty, much of which has been brought about by populism and extreme partisanship.” He called the joint tribute a “vivid reminder that our nation is at its best when our leaders work together to advance America’s highest ideals.”
Robert Hormats, who served as a senior State Department economic official across five administrations, was more emphatic, describing Pence and Pelosi as “HEROES WHO SAVED OUR DEMOCRACY THAT DAY. … A TRULY MEMORABLE DAY.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
