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Elliot Gerson, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust since 1998, manages all aspects of the U.S. Rhodes Scholarships competition. Elliot Gerson is also executive vice president of the Aspen Institute, responsible for it public policy work, its public convenings, and its international affiliates. A non-partisan organization with campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Chesapeake Bay in MAryland, and headquarters in Washington, D.C., the Aspen Institute ranges across almost all policy areas from the arts to foreign policy. While much of its work is addressed to leaders in their fields from across the world, it also has programs targeted to young people. One example is The Aspen Challenge. Funded by the Bezos Family Foundation, it provides a platform for high school students to design solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. Launched with the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2013, it expanded to the Denver Public Schools in 2014. Superintendent Tom Boasberg called it "a tremendous opportunity for our students to learn from experts... and put that knowledge to use in their own communities." The program included a focus on the value of the arts. Laura Zabel, CEO of Emotion Technology, spoke to the students about how technology could help the arts, and how important their contributions and leadership could be to reinvigorate the arts sector. According to Laura Zabel, executive director of Springboard for the Arts, the next generation is more than willing to tackle these challenges. After speaking with Denver Public Schools students, Zabel was asked questions that displayed the students' understanding of the current state of the arts and its future. Zabel believes that these attributes are what the arts culture needs in order to thrive in the midst of an ever-changing cultural landscape.

As the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, the governing body of the Rhodes Scholarships, Elliot Gerson is responsible for setting the rules of the scholarship in the United States and for appointing the chairs members of the organization's sixteen selection committees. In addition, he advises newly elected Rhodes Scholars about their courses and colleges at Oxford University, advises the Rhodes Trust generally, and serves ex-officio on the board of the American Association of Rhodes Scholars, and as an Elector for the Eastman Visiting Professorship at Oxford. He was a Rhodes Scholar himself, from 1974-76, at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics and won first class honors. The Rhodes Scholarships are one of the most coveted and prominent scholarships in the world. Rhodes Scholars have included such famous personalities as President Bill Clinton, many Senators and Representatives, including newly elected Senator Corey Booker, Supreme Court Justices, University presidents, prominent scientists, CEOs, writers and scholars, and even leading figures in the arts, such as multi-award-winning film director Terrence Malick. The application process involves obtaining the endorsement of one's college or university and a minimum of five letters of recommendation. Applicants also write a personal essay, and all finalists are interviewed. The selection committees for the 32 annual awards in the U.S. look for much more than academic excellence, though that is essential and needs to be of the highest level. The other factors sought are leadership, character and ambition and energy to make a large and positive impact in the world, not by and means necessarily in politics. The Scholarship is often associated with sports because one of the criteria, coming from the will of Cecil Rhodes, is "fondness for and success in ...sports...." While many famous college athletes have won the Scholarship, and while exceptional sporting success can make a difference, it is not a requirement.

The Aspen Ideas Festival is a yearly event that brings together luminaries from all over the world to share their ideas and insights with the general public. The festival is a weeklong program of discussions, seminars, forums, and panels on a wide variety of topics, such as health, education, technology, international diplomacy, and politics. The people who have spoken at the festival include many heads of state, prominent CEOs, Cabinet Secretaries, Senators, Representatives, and Governors, leading scholars, writers and journalists, as well as many younger people with global impact, such as Pakistani teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai, and Tony Fadell, the inventor of NEST, which Google recently acquired for $3.2 billion. Now in its tenth year, the Aspen Ideas Festival will take place this summer in Aspen, Colorado, and will be divided into thirds: Spotlight Health will take place from June 24 to 27, Festival Session 1 from June 27 to 30, and Festival Session 2 from June 30 to July 3.

Elliot Gerson currently serves as the executive vice president of the Aspen Institute, which aims to improve decision making on critical domestic and international issues by providing neutral venues, non-partisan analysis, and opportunities for candid dialogue. In 2005, Elliot Gerson led the launch of the Aspen Ideas Festival, now one of America's foremost intellectual forums. The Aspen Ideas Festival, an annual weeklong event, has brought together some of the most prominent leaders in the arts, sciences, and economic and political fields to discuss pressing ideas and issues that impact society, both nationally and globally. The festival engages participants through lectures, tutorials, seminars, show-and-tell events, and thought-provoking discussions on a variety of stimulating topics. Since its inception, the Aspen Ideas Festival has hosted prominent thinkers and leaders such as Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Toni Morrison. The event will celebrate its tenth year in the summer of 2014. The theme for this anniversary is Imagining 2024. Some of the topics under discussion will be innovations in science, technology, and medicine, and the dynamics that will shape society in the coming decade, both at home and abroad.

Noted for his work in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector following a career in law, politics and business, Elliot Gerson currently serves as the executive vice president of the Aspen Institute, where he is responsible for its policy and public programs, as well its relations with international partners. In recent years, Elliot Gerson has been instrumental in expanding the Institute's emphasis on the arts and culture, areas that were at the heart of the Institute at its founding in 1950. Since his arrival, he has launched or sponsored the Harman-Eisner Artist in Residence program, the Aspen Programs in the Arts, the Aspen Cultural Diplomacy Forum, and ADS Works at Aspen. Elliot Gerson also brought the Aspen Writers Foundation to the Institute. One of the nation's foremost literary foundations and workshops, the Aspen Writers Foundation has been promoting literature and writing as a means of stimulating thought, expanding perspectives, and fostering relationships since 1976. To this end, it hosts an annual celebration of the written word every year in the form of Aspen Summer Words (ASW). Described by USA Today as one of the nation's premier literary gatherings, ASW is a six-day event that brings together authors, agents, editors, and other writing enthusiasts to celebrate words, stories, and ideas.  The ASW consists of two parts: a writing retreat, which features both introductory and intensive workshops hosted by some of the country's most recognized writing instructors and consultations with editors and literary agents; and a literary festival, which honors writers from different cultural and literary heritages. Over the years, Aspen Summer Words has hosted over 300 writers, including Nobel Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners, and more than 20,000 audience members and students.

A graduate of Oxford University and a Rhodes Scholar, Elliot Gerson serves the Rhodes Trust, a British charity, as its American Secretary. In that capacity, Elliot Gerson manages the U.S. Rhodes Scholarships competition.  Established in 1902 by the British colonial leader Cecil Rhodes and now headquartered at Rhodes House in Oxford, England, the Rhodes Trust is the entity which awards Rhodes Scholarships to recipients from 14 geographical areas around the world for study at Oxford University. The Scholarship provides for up to four years of study. Initially, 57 scholarships were offered. Today, more than 80 are awarded annually. In 2002, the Rhodes Trust joined with Nelson Mandela to create the Mandela Rhodes Scholarships, which provide scholarships to African students for study in Africa. Today, the Trust offers its Scholarships with the help of many benefactors other than the founder, Cecil Rhodes, the largest gift thus far coming from John McCall MacBain, a Canadian Rhodes Scholar.