we are very pleased to welcome john bryson, the new secretary of the u.s. department of commerce. cretary bryson was appointed by president obama to be the 37th secretary of commerce. he was sworn in in october of october 2011. prior to the commerce department, he served as president and chief executive officer of edison international in california for 18 years. before the private sector, mr. bryson served as president of the california public utilities and chairman of the california state water resources control board. he was also a partner in the law firm of morrison and foerster. at the commerce department, secretary bryson will play an extremely important role in president obama's economic team and will work to implement policies to address to the administration's economic priorities, including job creation. this morning, secretary bryson will discuss his agenda for the department of commerce, including issues related to international trade and manufacturing, increasing investment in the u.s., and, of course, job growth. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming secreta

ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming secretary of commerce john bryson. [applause] >> good morning to all of you. it is such a pleasure to be here. many thanks to the chamber of commerce. it is a pleasure to look across the room and see so many wonderful friends, business people. i will name only one business person in the room, but it is kind of a special case. greg bachman. he served on our manufacturing council. most significantly, he was recently named the connecticut small business person of the year. greg, where are you? >> right here. [applause] >> i want to recognize a very special person who makes a real difference for us. he is the house ranking member. without you, the commerce department could not do the great work we do. thank you very, very much for that support. [applause] and i want to acknowledge an extraordinary person, our deputy secretary at the commerce department, dr. becky blank. and along with becky, and our bureau heads, substantially home are here today. this is an extraordinary group of people. i have not been there for long, bu

ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming secretary of commerce john bryson. [applause] >> good morning to all of you. it is such a pleasure to be here. many thanks to the chamber of commerce. it is a pleasure to look across the room and see so many wonderful friends, business people. i will name only one business person in the room, but it is kind of a special case. greg bachman. he served on our manufacturing council. most significantly, he was recently named the connecticut small business person of the year. greg, where are you? >> right here. [applause] >> i want to recognize a very special person who makes a real difference for us. he is the house ranking member. without you, the commerce department could not do the great work we do. thank you very, very much for that support. [applause] and i want to acknowledge an extraordinary person, our deputy secretary at the commerce department, dr. becky blank. and along with becky, and our bureau heads, substantially home are here today. this is an extraordinary group of people. i have not been there for long, bu

i look 55 next august -- but we have bill bryson coming, justice stephen breyer, justice john paul stevens and diane keaton, so we really, she does give some great stuff and i have to thanked thank jackie for that. [applause] tonight, we are honored to have.or deepak chopra who is the author of more than 60 books including numerous "new york times" bestsellers and among his many distinctions he is a fellow of the american college of physicians. "time" magazine named him one of the 100 heroes and icons of our century. pretty impressive. dr. leonard mlodinow is also not going to be a pushover. he will soon be teaching at caltech. he is a renowned physicist, author of several books including the drunkard's walk, how randomness rules our lives, very interesting subject which is on "the new york times" bestseller list. he is also a writing collaborated with stephen hawkins. the moderator tonight is timothy shriver. we are very lucky to have him tonight. he is the chairman and ceo of the special olympics. he is a social leader, educator, activist, filmmaker and entrepreneur and i found out tonig

looked at the five next authors who are coming to light, six but we have bill bryson, jeffrey, justice stephen breyer, justice johnaul stevens and dalia mckeithen so she does get some great stuff and i have to thank jack kiefer that. [applause] to let we are honored to have dr. deepak chopra who is the author of more than 60 books including numerous "new york times" bestsellers and among his many distinctions he'sfe