Prof. Azza Karam (PhD) served as the Secretary General of Religions for Peace. She holds a Professorship of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) - of which she is a citizen. Dr. Karam currently is a member of the United Nations Secretary General’s ‘High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism’. Prior to joining Religions for Peace, she served for nearly two decades in the United Nations (UNDP and UNFPA), including as a Coordinator of the Arab Human Development Reports, a Senior Advisor on Culture, and Lead Facilitator/Trainer for the UN Strategic Learning Exchanges on Religion, Development and Diplomacy. During her time in the UN, she founded and was Convenor of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development as well as the Multi-Faith Advisory Council of that Task Force.

Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D., is President/Founder of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation, President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, and Chair of the Anti-Racism Initiative and the Gender Equality Working Group of the G20 Interfaith Forum. She is the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the UN, a UN Representative for the URI, a member of the Advisory Council of the Global Security Institute, and a Board member of the International Center for Religion and Democracy. She has been listed in Who’s Who of American Law, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Prominent People of Hawaii. She was enstooled into the royal family of Ajiyamanti, Ghana as the Nekoso Hemaa (Queen Mother of Development) where a school she helped to build, the Nana Ode Anyankobea Junior Secondary School, is named after her.

Cassandra Lawrence is an author for Religion News Service