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America’s values and leadership have fostered security, freedom, and prosperity unmatched in human history. Yet these ideals are under threat from authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups seeking to destabilize free societies and challenge America’s global leadership.

Join the World Affairs Council of Charleston on April 29 for an engaging conversation with Jim Hake, Founder and CEO of Spirit of America. For over 20 years, Spirit of America has partnered with U.S. troops and diplomats in the world’s toughest environments – defending freedom, strengthening democracy, and creating opportunities for a safer, more prosperous future. 

Hake will share firsthand insights from Spirit of America’s work on the front lines of today’s geopolitical hotspots, including Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. He will explore how Americans and private philanthropy can make a unique and meaningful impact on national security, stepping in to address challenges that government alone cannot solve.

 About Jim Hake
Jim Hake founded Spirit of America in response to the attacks of 9/11. SOA is a privately funded 501c3 nonprofit. SOA has pioneered a new model of philanthropic private assistance that supports America’s national security and unites the American people with U.S. troops and diplomats in common cause—saving and improving lives, defending freedom, and strengthening the frontlines of democracy. Spirit of America promotes patriotism without politics—i.e., it is nonpartisan and apolitical. Its unprecedented partnership with the U.S. military is based on an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense that allows the military to collaborate, identify needs, receive and distribute SOA assistance, and provide logistical support.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General (ret.) Joe Dunford says, “Spirit of America represents a new capability—not just another nonprofit” that is “important to our country’s future.”

Prior to SOA, Hake was an entrepreneur. He founded and sold Access Media, one of the first internet media companies. In 2000 and 2001, Hake was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is an honorary member of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs Regiment. Hake is a contributing author to Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military, a book edited by General James Mattis and Dr. Kori Schake. He has been published in The Wall Street Journal and given talks at the TED conference, the Bush School of Government, the Aspen Institute, the Fletcher School, Dartmouth’s Tuck School, SMU, and USC.

Hake received a BA with distinction in economics from Dartmouth College. Throughout college, he worked as a member of Local 161 of the International Association of Ironworkers, the riggers union in Philadelphia. After Dartmouth, Hake trained as a hovercraft pilot with the Canadian Coast Guard and was part of a team that tested the viability of commercial hovercraft transportation in southwestern Alaska.

Hake earned an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He received the business school’s Catalyst Award recognizing alumni who “change lives, change organizations, and change the world” and is the founder and president emeritus of The Friends of Arjay Miller (FOAM), Stanford business school’s longest-lived social institution.