Edward M. Kennedy Institute to Give Lifetime Achievement Award to President Biden

Awards for Inspired Leadership to be Presented at 10^th Anniversary Celebration; Former Labor Secretary and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Retired Admiral Lisa Franchetti to Receive Leadership Awards

BOSTON, July 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Edward M. Kennedy Institute will present President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with a Lifetime Achievement Award at its 10th Anniversary Celebration this fall, an event that the former president will attend.

The Kennedy Institute will honor the President at the Oct. 26 celebration at its Columbia Point building in recognition of his more than four decades in public life, beginning with his election to the United States Senate from Delaware in 1972, to his ascent to leadership positions in the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees, to the vice presidency and ultimately to the White House.

The Kennedy Institute will also honor former Secretary of Labor and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Retired United States Navy Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with its Award for Inspired Leadership.

“We believe that we can inspire new generations of leaders by highlighting the example of those who came before them like Senator Ted Kennedy,” said Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Senator Kennedy’s widow and the co-founder of the Kennedy Institute that bears his name. “President Biden, Secretary Walsh, and Admiral Franchetti are all such exemplary and inspiring leaders, dedicated to improving the lives of others in our community and throughout our country.”

The Kennedy Institute’s fall dinner is its major annual fundraiser, helping to support the organization’s mission to foster bipartisan political leadership, provide a forum for civil discourse about critical issues, and educate the public about the Senate’s role in the United States’ system of democratic government.

“President Biden’s life has been one of honorable service to his country, and like the man for whom the Kennedy Institute is named, fought for the interests, and to better the lives, of all Americans from all socio-economic, cultural, and personal backgrounds,” Kennedy Institute Chairman Bruce A. Percelay said. “His tenacity and persistence – again, traits that echo those of Senator Ted Kennedy – are constant reminders to our current political leaders of the dedication and hard work required to do the people’s business in Washington.”

President Biden served as a United States Senator from 1973 through 2009, when he was sworn-in as former President Barack Obama’s vice president, serving until 2017. He returned to public service four years later as the Democrat Party’s standard bearer, winning a crowded primary before besting incumbent President Donald Trump in November 2020. President Biden decided to not seek re-election last year.

Martin J. Walsh, a native of Dorchester’s Savin Hill neighborhood who currently serves as the executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association, was chosen by then-President Elect Biden in January 2021 to serve as Secretary of Labor. He served as Boston’s mayor from 2014-2021, and in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1997-2013.

Admiral Franchetti was selected by President Biden as the Navy’s chief of naval operations (CNO) in 2023, making her the first female to hold that position and thus the first female member of the Joint Chiefs, the heads of each of the armed forces who advise the president on military matters. A Rochester, N.Y., native, she entered the Naval Reserve Officer Training Program while a student at Northwestern and received her commission in 1985. Prior to being named CNO, she served as the vice chief, and prior that held several major commands, including the United States Sixth Fleet, two aircraft carrier strike groups, and United States Naval Forces Korea, among other duty assignments.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry, who served with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the Senate and led the State Department during Biden’s vice presidency, is serving as honorary chair of the Kennedy Institute’s 10th Anniversary Celebration. Four co-chairpersons are leading the event committee: former Bank of America executive Anne Finucane, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers President Michael Curry, former State Department Chief of Protocol Rufus Gifford, and Laborers’ International Union of North America General President Emeritus Terry O’Sullivan. Past award recipients include Secretary John Kerry, Jack Connors Jr., Anne Finucane, Governor Charlie Baker, Governor Chris Sununu, Governor Wes Moore, Moderna’s Stephane Bancel and Pfizer’s Albert Bourla.

SOURCE Edward M Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate