Global Issues
Middle East
Filmmaker & Founder, Family Health Alliance
Taraneh Salke is the founder & executive director of Family Health Alliance (FHA), a nonprofit organization focused on advancing women's reproductive health & rights in underdeveloped & resource-poor... |
Foreign Relations Expert & Fmr. Consul General of Israel
With nearly two decades of experience in foreign affairs, Ambassador Alon Pinkas has devoted his career to Israeli international relations. |
Federal Whistleblower
Peter Van Buren is the author of We Meant Well, which discusses how he blew the whistle on the federal government for failing to adequately help Iraq rebuild itself. |
Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Iranian Activist & Lawyer
An extraordinary woman of many firsts, Iranian lawyer and activist Ebadi has made history as the first Muslim to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous defense of human rights in Iran. One of the most... |
Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Columnist
A Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, Kristof is an extraordinary thinker, human rights advocate, and astute chronicler of humanity. As a seasoned journalist who has traveled China, Africa... |
Foreign Policy Expert
The former director of policy planning for the US State Department, speaker Anne-Marie Slaughter also wrote "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" for The Atlantic. |
Founder of the Arab American Institute
Speaker James Zogby is founder and president of Arab American Institute and hosts the award-winning Viewpoint with James Zogby. |
Former Representative to the UN
After a long diplomatic career as the former Permanent Representative to the United Nations from Pakistan, Ambassador Munir Akram shares his insights with global audiences. |
Expert on the Intersection of Technology & Foreign Policy
Gifted at finding creative solutions to age-old problems, Jared Cohen understands the powerful impact information-sharing technologies can have on today's world. |
The World's Leading Geo-Strategist
Parag Khanna is the leading next-generation voice on the future of global affairs. Named one of Esquire magazine's 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, Khanna was a foreign policy advisor to... |
Widow of Journalist Daniel Pearl
Pearl is a unique and versatile award-winning journalist who has written A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl, a gripping and profound narrative of her experience and the pursuit... |
Iranian Writer & Journalist
A celebrated poet and filmmaker, Hakakian’s recent film, Armed and Innocent, takes a close look at the involvement of underage children in wars around the world. Speaking on the Middle East and the importance... |
Pollster & Trendspotter
Hailed a "maverick predictor," speaker John Zogby is a pollster and trendspotter skilled in identifying, understanding, and unveiling the significance of trends. |
Journalist & Author
The author of the critically-acclaimed Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam, she is a former Wall Street Journal correspondent, and friend of Daniel Pearl. Her... |
Executive Editor of Lebanese Newspaper, The Daily Star
Khouri knows the Middle East like few other journalists. As the Editor-at-Large of The Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon, he reports from ground zero of the conflict as it unfolds. A Palestinian-Jordanian,... |
Foreign Correspondent & Author
A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans, he writes and speaks extensively on war, religion and the conflict... |
Military Correspondent, The Washington Post
Seasoned by reporting on global military conflict for decades, Washington Post Pentagon Correspondent Ricks spent five tours of duty in Iraq to get to the nitty gritty in his New York Times bestseller ... |
Award-winning Correspondent / Author
Kinzer is an award-winning correspondent who has reported from more than 50 countries on four continents. His book, Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, is an account of the... |
Messenger of Peace
Speaker Jehan Sadat authored A Woman of Egypt, recounting her life as the First Lady of Egypt and her marriage to the assassinated Anwar Sadat. |
Counter-Extremism Activist
Maajid Nawaz is a former member of the Islamic political group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the co-founder and executive director of Quilliam, the world's first counter-extremism think tank. He is also the co-founder of Khudi... |
