Guila Clara Kessous, PhD. UNESCO Artist for Peace and Peace Ambassador, Harvard University
A UNESCO Peace Ambassador and an executive coach using theatrical techniques to enhance corporate communication and help heal those who have suffered from prior trauma. A French human rights artist and academic. She was nominated UNESCO Artist for Peace for her dedication in the arts and human rights and Knight of Arts & Letters by the French Ministry of Culture for her work on the influence of French culture overseas.

Chair, International Commission on the Future of Education

Sahle-Work Zewde was elected as the fifth President and first woman President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on 25 October 2018.

She began her career in the Ministry of Education and later joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988. She began her long diplomatic carrier as Ambassador to Senegal with accreditation to Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and the Gambia. She served as Ambassador in Djibouti and as Permanent Representative to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for 10 years.She was subsequently appointed as Ambassador of Ethiopia to France, Tunisia and Morocco and Permanent Representative to UNESCO. After her return to Ethiopia she was appointed Permanent Representative to the African Union and Director General for African Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.

President Sahle-Work Zewde joined the United Nations in 2009 and served as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) thus becoming the first African woman to become an SRSG. In 2011, she was appointed as the first dedicated Director-General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON) at the level of Under-Secretary-General. In June 2018, she was appointed by Secretary- General Antonio Guterres as his Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU). She was the first woman to hold these two positions.

Arjun Appadurai, Professor, New York University; Hertie School, Germany

Arjun Appadurai is the Goddard Professor in Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, where he is also Senior Fellow at the Institute for Public Knowledge. He serves as Honorary Professor in the Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Tata Chair Professor at The Tata Institute for Social Sciences, Mumbai and as a Senior Research Partner at the Max-Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Gottingen. He was previously Senior Advisor for Global Initiatives at The New School in New York City, where he also held a Distinguished Professorship as the John Dewey Distinguished Professor in the Social Sciences. Arjun Appadurai was the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at The New School from 2004-2006. He was formerly the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of International Studies, Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the Center on Cities and Globalization at Yale University. Appadurai is the founder and now the President of PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research), a non-profit organization based in and oriented to the city of Mumbai (India).

Patrick Awuah, Founder and President, Ashesi University, Ghana

Patrick Awuah is the Founder and President of Ashesi University, ranked as one of the top ten Most Respected Companies in Ghana and was the first educational institution to win the award. In the same survey, Patrick Awuah was named the 4th Most Respected CEO in Ghana. Before founding Ashesi University, Patrick worked for Microsoft where he spearheaded the development of dial-up internet working technologies. He has won many prestigious international awards including the MacArthur Fellowship; the McNulty Prize; Membership of the Order of the Volta — one of Ghana’s highest awards, given to individuals who exemplify the ideal of service to the country; Chevalier dan’s l’Ordre des palmes academiques du Niger; and the World Innovation Summit for Education Prize. In 2015, Patrick was named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune, and received the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, given to UC Berkeley alumni with distinguished records of service to their countries.

Masanori Aoyage, PhD. Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo

As one of the leading researchers on ancient Greek and Roman Art History, Dr. Aoyagi has excavated Mediterranean ruins for over 40 years. Positions previously held include Vice-President of Tokyo University, Director-general of National Museum of Western Art, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the  Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art, and Cultural Affairs Commissioner. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Tokyo University. He is a member of the member of The Japan Academy, was conferred the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2006, and was awarded the NHK Broadcasting Award in 2011.

Justin Yifu-Lin, Dean and Professor, Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University

Vaira Vike-Frieberga, President, World Leadership Alliance/Club de Madrid; Former President of Lativia

Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga was president of the Republic of Latvia from July 8, 1999, to July 8, 2007, the first female president of Latvia.

. Since 1957, Vike-Freiberga has been actively engaged in community service, focusing on Latvian identity and culture, and the political future of the Baltic States. She has held prominent positions in national and international scientific and scholarly organizations, as well as in a number of Canadian governmental, institutional, academic and interdisciplinary committees, where she acquired extensive administrative experience.

In June 1998, Vike-Freiberga was elected professor emerita at the University of Montreal and returned to Latvia, where the prime minister named her the director of the newly founded Latvian Institute. On June 17, 1999, Vike-Freiberga was elected president of the Republic of Latvia. She played a leading role in achieving Latvia’s membership in NATO and the European Union. She was awarded the 2005 Hannah Arendt Prize for political thought.

A member of the Council of Women World Leaders since 1999, Vike-Freiberga participates in the World Economic Forum and the American Academy of Achievement. Since 1999, she has received many medals and awards, twenty-seven Orders of Merit and ten honorary doctorates. She was named special envoy on the reform of the United Nations in 2005 and was an official candidate of the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) for the position of secretary general in 2006.

Founder, Foundation for a Culture of Peace; former Director General, UNESCO
Federico Mayor Zaragoza is a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet. He served as Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999. He is founder and Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace as well as the Honorary Chairman of the Académie de la Paix. He was a professor in biochemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid and co-founded the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre at the University. He is a member of the World Academy of Art and Science

Darlene Shelton, PhD., Community psychologist; Founder and Executive Producer, PeaceChannel.com

Darlene Shelton is founder and executive producer of PeaceChannel.com. A peer-reviewed author and lecturer, Dr. Shelton has been honored by the White House for her work with disadvantaged multicultural communities and is cited in multiple volumes of Marquis’ Who’s Who.  A licensed clinical psychologist, she has served on the research faculties of the University of Miami School of Medicine and Yale Medical School Departments of Psychiatry