The 2009 Time 100 Gala

Each year, TIME identifies the 100 most influential people in the world in special issue called the Time 100. In conjunction with this highly-anticipated editorial event, Time Magazine hosts an ultra high level dinner gala attended by the year's Time 100 honorees as well as past honorees. Empire Entertainment was chosen to serve as the overall event producer for this most prestigious of events which featured Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, John Legend, AR Rahman, Jimmy Fallon, the Twitter Founders and a host of others.

The Time 100 gala took place on May 5, 2009 at New York’s Jazz @ Lincoln Center; the event commenced with grand entrance to the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle and a red carpet treatment that passed through the multi-level lobby that allowed the general public to view the arriving dignitaries and honorees. Honda, one of the evening’s sponsors, presented one of their newest vehicles on the red carpet.The Jazz @ Lincoln Center Atrium hosted the cocktail reception and bar, with catering provided by Great Performances. This area featured music and interactive stations where guests could explore the Time 100 issue on HP’s new TouchSmart PC. This star-studded reception gave politicians and movie stars the opportunity to mingle with moguls, performers, and Nobel laureates.

Some of the guests who attended the event included Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Claire Danes, Gayle King, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Barbara Walters, Ann Coulter, Whoopi Goldberg, Diane Sawyer, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Steve Schwarzman, Meredith Whitney, Zhang Ziyi, and Billie Jean King.Guests then moved into the Allen Room for dinner where guests enjoyed a sumptuous meal on tables intricately decorated by Empire’s design team as they looked out on Central Park. The Time 100 program began with an introduction by Managing Editor Richard Stengel, followed by a Time 100’s Sizzle video created by Empire Entertainment’s multi-image team. After the video, the First Lady and Honored Guest Michelle Obama spoke of the importance of public service in her own life, and subsequently announced that the President's budget proposal for the next year would include $50 million to support nonprofit groups and promote national service.

Time President Mark Ford then took the podium to thank the evening’s sponsors – Honda, Cartier, HP, and Verizon Wireless. Next, Deputy Managing Editor Josh Tyrangiel introduced Slumdog Millionaire’s A.R. Rahman and his band who performed two sings including the film’s hit ‘Jai Ho.’ Rahman had arrived from Mumbai only a few hours prior to the start of the event and still managed to wow the guests. Following this performance a series of toasts to the honored guests were delivered by Oprah Winfrey, writer Paul Krugman, designer Stella McCartney, human rights activist Somaly Mam, and the Twitter Founders Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey. These toasts were interspersed with a performance and hilarious tribute remarks by Late Night host Jimmy Fallon who also performed an uproarious original song “Carwash for Peace.”

Following dessert, Time Warner Chairman and Chief Executive Grammy Jeffrey Bewkes took the stage to introduce Grammy Award winner John Legend and his band who delivered a 30-minute set of hits that brought the audience on their feet. The event was heavily covered by worldwide media, with Empire Entertainment providing a live feed and online B-roll posting later that evening. For this exceptionally complex and highly anticipated project, Empire served as overall event producing managing all aspects including venue coordination, catering coordination with Great Performances, design & décor of all spaces, sponsor fulfillment, branding, step & repeat, printing, design & production of video and graphics packages, staging, sound, lighting, video projection, video documentation, live media feed, coordination with all presenters and speakers, talent booking & coordination, stage management, staffing, security, Secret Service integration, and coordination with the White House Advance Office.

Empire Entertainment is a leading producer of high-level programs and events and is proud to have been chosen to produce this remarkable program.