About Us | Intelligence Squared US

THE PROGRAM

Rethink your point of view with Intelligence Squared US, Oxford-style debates live in New York City. Launched in 2006, IQ2US can be heard on over 200 NPR stations across the country, and seen on the Bloomberg Television network. From global warming and the financial crisis, to Afghanistan/Pakistan and the death of mainstream media, IQ2US brings together the world’s leading authorities on the day’s most provocative issues. Witness an exciting battle of ideas, wit, and persuasion as the experts on both sides challenge your convictions. Best of all, your vote decides who has carried the day.
THE REACH

IQ2US debates are now available around the globe. The radio broadcast is available on over 200 NPR stations nationwide; check with your local station for air dates and times. The debates are televised on Bloomberg, reaching over 200 million homes worldwide and can also be heard on Bloomberg radio and viewed on Bloomberg terminals. For editorial coverage of each debate, read Newsweek, our 2009-2010 media partner.
THE GOAL

To raise the level of public discourse on our most challenging issues. To provide a new forum for intelligent discussion, grounded in facts and informed by reasoned analysis. To transcend the toxically emotional and the reflexively ideological. To encourage recognition that the opposing side has intellectually respectable views. To engage the live audience as active participants who will ask questions and decide which speakers have carried the day by voting on the motions both before and after the debate.
THE APPROACH

Intelligence Squared models the traditional Oxford-style debate format, with one side proposing and the other side opposing a sharply-framed motion. Before the debate begins, the audience registers their pre-debate opinion using an electronic voting system. These results are announced later in the program. Alternating between panels, each debater gives a 7-minute opening statement. After this segment concludes, moderator John Donvan opens the floor for questions from the audience and inter-panel challenges. This adversarial context is electric, adding drama and excitement. The debaters have one final opportunity to sway audience opinion through their 2-minute closing arguments. The audience delivers the final verdict by voting again whether they are for, against, or undecided on the proposition. The two sets of results are compared and the winner is determined by who swayed more audience members between the two votes.
THE WHERE AND WHEN

The debates are held at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University, located at 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South). Evenings begin at 5:45PM. with an aperitif on us; the debate begins at 6:45PM and ends promptly at 8:30PM. The live audience, including leaders of New York’s media, policy, and business worlds, often choose to continue the discussion at some of the fine local restaurants.
THE BACKGROUND

Intelligence Squared US is an initiative of The Rosenkranz Foundation. Building on three sold-out seasons, IQ2US is based on the highly successful debate program, Intelligence Squared, which began in 2002 in London. It is the brainchild of John Gordon, media entrepreneur, and Jeremy O’Grady, editor-in-chief of The Week. On both sides of the Atlantic, Intelligence Squared attracts a sell-out crowd of opinion leaders to each event.
THE TEAM

Robert Rosenkranzis Chairman and CEO of Delphi Financial Group, a NYSE listed insurance company, and the founder of a group of investment and private equity partnerships. He serves on the board of directors for the Manhattan Institute and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He is also a member of the Yale University Council, the Yale School of Architecture Dean’s Council, the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Visiting Committee for the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A graduate of Yale University (A.B. summa cum laude 1962) and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1965), he was a tax lawyer with the New York law firm of Cahill, Gordon & Reindel and an economist with The RAND Corporation, where he was engaged in research on foreign policy issues and municipal finance. In 1969, he joined Oppenheimer & Company where he was a General Partner when he left to form Rosenkranz & Company in 1978. Mr. Rosenkranz lives in Manhattan in an apartment that reflects his interests in Asian art and modern design. He has two adult children, Nicholas and Stephanie, and is married to Alexandra Munroe, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Asian Art at the Guggenheim Museum.

S. Dana Wolfe is Executive Producer of Intelligence Squared US debate series and Executive Director of The Rosenkranz Foundation and. Ms. Wolfe is a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who spent over a decade as a producer for Ted Koppel’s Nightline on ABC News. During the course of her career, she has conducted interviews with leading newsmakers, heads of state, and celebrities, including Salman Rushdie, Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Yasser & Suha Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin. After her Nightline tenure, Ms. Wolfe became an independent media consultant. Prior to Nightline, she worked for then-Ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu at Israel’s United Nations Mission and later became assistant managing editor at the Washington, DC-based foreign policy journal The National Interest. A Canadian native, she began her television career in Toronto at CTV’s Canada AM. Ms. Wolfe received her B.A. from York University in Toronto and her M.A. in International Studies from New York University.

Kris Kamikawa has been the researcher for IQ2US since its start in 2006. Prior to this, she worked in book publishing for five years at St. Martin’s Press. She is a graduate of Stanford University (AB) and Pratt Institute (MLIS).

Lindsay Nelson joined Intelligence Squared US as production manager in 2008. Previously she was the director of development for the Southern California based Promises Foundation and previous to that worked in political fundraising. She graduated with honors from University of California, Los Angeles.

Eileen Murphy is a public relations consultant with more than 20 years of experience in strategic, financial and corporate communications. She has served as the chief spokesperson and senior communications official for a number of media companies including Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., ABC News, Primedia and the New York Daily News. In addition, she has managed the press office of the New York City Department of Education and served as a corporate communications and management consultant. A native New Yorker, she is a graduate of St. John’s University.

Maureen McMurray has been the monthly radio producer for IQ2US since September 2008. She started her radio career in 2002 as the Associate Producer of WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show. She has produced segments for WNYC’s Soundcheck and PRI’s Marketplace and was a Supervising Producer on Martha Stewart Living Radio. She currently produces a program on The Catholic Channel, Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. Maureen McMurray graduated from Wesleyan University in 2001 with a degree in film and history.