Dozens of Republican lawmakers, Trump administration officials, corporate executives, and billionaire donors gathered last month behind closed doors at a secluded resort off the Georgia coast, convening for one of the right’s most exclusive policy summits.

The gathering — the American Enterprise Institute’s annual World Forum, held March 12-16 at Sea Island, Georgia — included several Harvard affiliates on its agenda, alongside figures including JPMorgan Chase chief executive officer Jamie Dimon, Education Secretary Linda E. McMahon, and Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Daniel S. “Dan” Sullivan ’87 (R-AK).

The forum is designed to operate largely out of public view. AEI does not release an official participant list, and attendees agree that discussions remain off the record. But a detailed agenda, obtained through congressional ethics disclosures filed by lawmakers whose travel was privately funded, provides a rare window into the gathering. The specifics of the 2026 forum have not been previously reported.

The agenda and disclosure records reflect a cross-section of conservative political and financial influence. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Mississippi Governor Kevin Stitt, and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy were listed on panels alongside administration officials including Jay Bhattacharya and Mehmet C. Oz ’82.

Harvard affiliates were interspersed through the program.

University President Alan M. Garber ’76 joined Arizona State University President Michael M. Crow for a discussion on the “unprecedented federal efforts to push elite universities to reform,” asking which policies had proven “useful” and which had been “counterproductive.”

Economics professor Jason Furman ’92 was listed on two panels — a Friday panel on the ballooning U.S. national debt and a Saturday session on U.S. competitiveness with China and the Trump administration’s hands-off approach to the rivalry.

Economist Gita Gopinath was slated for a discussion on the state of the U.S. economy, focusing on the interplay between “white-hot” GDP growth and “pitiful” payroll gains. Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, meanwhile, was set to lead a session on executive authority that examined the Trump administration’s “ambitious vision” for presidential power.

Other Harvard-linked figures appeared elsewhere on the program. Billionaire philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, a former member of the Harvard Corporation, was scheduled to open the conference with remarks tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The lineup was largely dominated by Republican officials and conservative policymakers.

McMahon was billed as the headliner for the opening night conversation, discussing efforts to shrink the federal role in education and expand school choice. Bhattacharya and Oz were listed together for a session on biomedical innovation, focusing on how federal policy could accelerate new treatments and maintain U.S. competitiveness.

Cruz was scheduled to lead a wide-ranging discussion on Senate-led efforts to reshape foreign and domestic policy. Lee joined Stitt on the agenda for a panel focusing on affordability and federal spending, while Kemp, Dunleavy, and former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin were listed on a panel on energy costs, regulation, and the strain of artificial intelligence.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s first chief of staff and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel — who is widely considered to be weighing a 2028 presidential run — was the highest-profile Democrat listed on the agenda, scheduled to discuss where policymakers should place their focus.

AEI director of media relations Brady Africk wrote in a statement that “AEI’s World Forum brings together experts and leaders from different backgrounds to discuss the most pressing issues and policies facing America.”

Over four days, the conference centered on a slate of conservative policy priorities. Scheduled sessions focused on deregulation, federal spending, artificial intelligence, and geopolitical competition with China. Dimon was set to headline a moderated session on the Trump administration’s economic record.

A listed session on “The War in Iran” was set to feature Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, and former U.S. Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis, who served in the first Trump administration.

Several other members of the House of Representatives were invited — including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Stephen J. Scalise (R-LA), and Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06 (R-NY) — according to a draft agenda, but were not named in the final version of the program.

AEI describes itself as nonpartisan, but it has long served as a hub for conservative policy development, supported in part by organizations like the Charles Koch Foundation. The World Forum, in particular, is an established convening space for conservative policymakers, donors, and intellectuals.

The conference appeared to move away from its traditionally partisan tact in 2022 when it invited then-National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, a Biden appointee, and several critics of President Donald J. Trump.

But the 2026 speaker list skewed overwhelmingly conservative, headlined by Republican elected officials and some of the party’s most outspoken supporters, including former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.