Good afternoon. First, my hearty thanks to Patrick Hanington, Coen Adema, and others who supported my nomination. I am grateful for—and humbled by—their support. It has been a great privilege throughout my career to have worked with many waves of very talented junior colleagues. They were going to succeed on their chosen paths in any case, even in spite of anything I might have said to them. I have often thought that I am verging on parasitism myself here, drafting along in the slipstream provided by the energy, enthusiasm, and talent of my younger colleagues. I marvel at what they have achieved—things I never could have done myself—and at what I have learned from them. I have been the true beneficiary. This I note is a recurrent theme among Read award acceptance speeches.
It is especially an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence with Clark Read. He was...