Global Summit XVII
Join us, for our 17th year of serving the Erie community with a new Global Summit lineup of groundbreaking researchers, writers, and presenters. The JES invites speakers from around the world to speak on a broad range of globally important issues each year as part of our Global Summit Speaker Series.

A Conversation with President Barack Obama

September 16th,2025 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Erie Insurance Arena
Speaker: President Barack Obama

Date/Time: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 6:30-8:30PM

Location: Erie Insurance Arena - 809 French St, Erie, PA 16501

Parking: Parking is available in two city garages located at 8th and French Streets and 10th and French Streets. Parking is also located across from the arena on 8th in the Erie Insurance garage. The Erie Insurance garage opens 90 minutes prior to event start time. Limited metered street parking is available in the blocks around the arena.

NEED TO KNOW INFO: 

  • Arrive early: Doors open at 4:00 p.m., please be patient with our volunteers and staff as we all make sure the event is enjoyed by all.
  • Seating: Seating is first-come, first-served per each designated section.  
  • Photo ID: You must present your photo ID at the door to enter the event.
  • Ticket holders: NO ONE who is not registered BY NAME will be admitted. If you purchased tickets for someone who is no longer able to attend, you must call to update us with the name of the person coming in their place. Tickets cannot be transferred to anyone while checking into the event. Please call us to update any ticket holder information 48 hours before the event- 814.459.8000.
  • Updated information: Please check the JES website, JESErie.org, for the most up-to-date event information.
President Barack Obama

Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States. 

 

Few presidents have walked a more improbable path to the White House.  Born in Hawaii to a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, Obama was raised with help from his grandparents, whose generosity of spirit reflected their Midwestern roots.  The homespun values they instilled in him, paired with his innate sense of optimism, compelled Obama to devote his life to giving every child, regardless of his or her background, the same chance America gave him. 

 

After working his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans, Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked with a group of churches to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants.  That experience honed his belief in the power of uniting ordinary people around a politics of purpose, in the hard work of citizenship, to bring about positive change.  In law school, he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, then he returned to Illinois to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago and begin a career in public service, winning seats in the Illinois State Senate and the United States Senate. 

 

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, winning more votes than any candidate in history.  He took office at a moment of crisis unlike any America had seen in decades – a nation at war, a planet in peril, the American Dream itself threatened by the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression.  And yet, despite all manner of political obstruction, Obama’s leadership helped rescue the economy, revitalize the American auto industry, reform the health care system to cover another twenty million Americans, and put the country on a firm course to a clean energy future – all while overseeing the longest stretch of job creation in American history.  On the world stage, Obama’s belief in America’s indispensable leadership and strong, principled diplomacy helped wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, decimate al Qaeda and eliminate the world’s most wanted terrorists, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program, open up a new chapter with the people of Cuba, and unite humanity in coordinated action to combat a changing climate. 

 

In times of great challenge and change, President Obama’s leadership ushered in a stronger economy, a more equal society, a nation more secure at home and more respected around the world.  The Obama years were ones in which more people not only began to see themselves in the changing face of America, but to see America the way he always has – as the only place on Earth where so many of our stories could even be possible. 

 

Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of two daughters – Malia and Sasha.