More than 2,000 donors are helping to finance Obamas Jan. 20 swearing-in festivities. At least 378 gave the maximum $50,000.
Top donors include financier and major Democratic donor George Soros, actors Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson, Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, directors Ron Howard, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and actor, singer and director Barbra Streisand.
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/News%20&%20Features/capitalcomment/10927.html
What: Bytes & Books Inaugural Ball.
Where: Folger Shakespeare Library.
When: Tuesday, January 20, 6:30 PM.
Who: Bytes & Books brought out 450 teachers and tech geeks, spruced up for the occasion in dapper tuxedos and glitzy floor-length gowns. The most noteworthy person in the over-40 crowd was movie director George Lucas, there to accept an award for his work on education technology.
George Lucas, Mellody Hobson, First Lady Michelle Obama, Sidney Poitier, President Barack Obama, Paul Tetreault at the gala re-opening of Fords Theatre that happened last Wednesday night, on Lincolns 200th birthday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellody_Hobson
Mellody Hobson (born April 3, 1969) is the president of Ariel Investments, LLC, a Chicago investment firm managing over $3 billion in assets. She is also the Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds. Hobson is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC's Good Morning America and a spokesperson for the annual Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey.
Hobson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991 from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy at Princeton University. She joined Ariel soon afterward as an intern and rose up to become the firm’s senior vice president and director of marketing. She ascended to become the firm’s president in 2000.
Hobson serves on the board of many organizations, including the Chicago Public Library, the Field Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corporation, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc. Hobson has been acclaimed in selections such as Ebony magazine's “20 Leaders of the Future” (1992), Working Women Magazine's “20 Under 30” (1992), the World Economic Forum's “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” (2001), Esquire's “America's Best and Brightest” (2002), The Wall Street Journal's 50 “Women to Watch” (2004)[1] and Time's Global Business Influentials (2004).[2]
Hobson is unmarried and has no children. She is dating film director and producer George Lucas and accompanied him to the Academy Awards ceremony in February 2007, an American Film Institute event in October 2007, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network awards in February 2008, and the “We Are One” Presidential Pre-Inaugural Concert on January 18, 2009.[3][4]