Tommy Loper

Tommy Loper is Vice President for Network Strategy & Enterprise Development at the Aspen Institute, where he leads network engagement and development strategy, including Aspen Network Intelligence and the Aspen Passport platform. Since joining Aspen in 2008, he has helped launch or co-found initiatives including the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, and Weave: The Social Fabric Project.

Trust Is Built Through Repeated Practice, Not Civic Sentiment

At Dan Porterfield’s final Aspen Ideas Festival as president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, leaders of Weave, Aspen Kyiv and the Institute’s network strategy made a shared case that trust is not a civic sentiment but a capacity built through repeated practice. Frederick Riley argued that local trust must be rebuilt neighbor by neighbor; Yuliya Tychkivska described dialogue and leadership formation under wartime exhaustion in Ukraine; and Tommy Loper said Aspen’s dispersed alumni and programs need stronger connective tissue to turn relationships into usable institutional strength.

The Aspen InstituteJun 30, 202619 min read