Crain’s “40 Under 40” honors Open to Debate’s Clea Chang

Congratulations to Open to Debate Chief Operating Officer Clea Chang on her inclusion in Crain’s New York Business’s 2018 “40 Under 40” list. She was included alongside other honorees like Michael Barbaro (NY Times’ “The Daily” host) and Amber Ruffin (‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ writer).

“Clea Chang is trying to bring some harmony to the nation’s discordant dialogue,” the article says. “For Open to Debate, she is putting together formal, Oxford-style debates, during which debaters with opposing views take turns making their case before an audience, which then casts votes on who has been most persuasive.” Read the full story.

In her time as COO, Chang has spearheaded new partnerships to connect the nonpartisan, nonprofit debate series with internationally-recognized organizations like the Mayo Clinic and German Marshall Fund, the latter of which saw Open to Debate travel outside of the United States for the first time for a debate just this month at the prestigious Brussels Forum.

The Open to Debate podcast was downloaded over 4 million times in 2017, and their debates air on 225 public radio stations nationwide. Open to Debate also began airing on national television just this year with weekly show “Up For Debate” on new cable channel Newsy. The New Yorker has called their debates “fascinating,” and the New York Times recently dubbed them “a model for disagreeing well”

Open to Debate has become a New York City institution, plugged into the city’s cultural and political fabric. In 2017, the organization co-sponsored both general-election and primary New York City Mayoral debates during which all candidates had to address one specific motion in a special “Open to Debate” Open to Debate also partnered with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show this election season to organize a debate about whether New York state should amend its constitution.

Upcoming Open to Debate debates this spring tackle religion in society with Deepak Chopra and Michael Shermer (March 27), net neutrality with former FCC leaders and Mitchell Baker (April 17), and Bitcoin with Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne (April 21). Find more information on these at the Open to Debate website.