2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award Finalists
Finalists come from Australia, India, Iraq, Israel, Japan, UK & US in multiple industries: technology, construction, food, health, law, gems & education
WASHINGTON DC, TOKYO, July 22, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — Ten business men and women from around the world are in competition for gold, silver and bronze medals for their work in interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace. All of the leaders are recognized for using their businesses to bridge cultural and religious divides.
Winners of the third biannual Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards will be announced and honored in a virtual global ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 24, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. For winners in Japan, a special awards ceremony will be held at the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo in Aug. 22, based on health protocols at the time (Japan is currently not admitting most international travelers).
Previous Awards were presented in tandem with previous Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro (2016) and in Seoul (2018), where former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Robert C. Gay, former managing director of Bain Capital, gave keynote addresses.
The awards are presented by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit, in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace initiative. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.
Finalists come from a variety of religious backgrounds and manage companies and enterprises in Australia, India, Iraq, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are given in three categories: Core Business, Philanthropy, and Advocacy.
Finalists in Core Business:
— Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s CEO, and Sandra Rivera, executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group at Intel Corporation (US & Global), who have helped create a culture where people can bring their whole selves to work – faith and all – thanks to solidly incorporating religious diversity into their overall diversity & inclusion commitments.
— John Tyson, Chairman of Tyson Foods (US & Global), was an early pioneer of building a faith-friendly workplace by recognizing the spiritual and psychological needs of all employees.
— Khalid Khowshnaw founder of the Hemn Group (Iraq), combating any form of discrimination including that of race, religion, ethnicity, or sectarian groups by promoting people of these differing nationalities to work alongside one another in reconstruction.
Finalists in Philanthropy:
— Dr. Judith Richter, CEO of Medinol (Israel), dedicated to the science of cardiovascular intervention, who also founded the NIR School of the Heart to help high school students not only understand cardio-vascular career opportunities but also connect the hearts of people from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in Israel, Jordon and the Palestinian Territories.
— Maurice Ostro, Chair of Ostro Fayre Share Foundation (UK & Global), Vice Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews (the UK’s oldest interfaith organization) and the Founding Patron of the Faiths Forum for London. He has been an interfaith champion in business and philanthropy.
— Dr. John Gathright founded Tree Climbing Japan, helping children of differing faiths, abilities, and challenges come together to find an increased self-confidence through embracing the challenge of climbing trees. The program’s goal is to help all children grow up like magnificent trees, standing tall and strong, kind and unique, and helping each other.
Finalists in Advocacy:
— King Husein, Chairman and CEO of Span Construction & Engineering (US & Global), has played a critical role addressing the rising tide of restrictions on religious freedom that has swept the globe over the past decade. His contributions range from helping found the South Asian Consortium for Religion and Law Studies, to helping kick off the first-ever Business Roundtable to advance International Religious Freedom during the 2019 UN General Assembly in New York City.
— Peter Mousaferiadis, founder of Cultural Infusion (Australia), is a pioneer in using cultural and artistic expression as a means of promoting social cohesion and interfaith understanding. Cultural Infusion has developed award winning and world leading platforms that can transform diversity and inclusion in organizations and communities and people’s understanding of cultural diversity.
— Candice Corby, CEO of Cobra Legal Solutions (India & USA), promotes the celebration of religion and belief, encouraging employees to be their full selves including bringing their faith and beliefs to work by observing every festival and religious holiday world-wide, and also by hosting a commemoration for religions in a week known as “Cobra Life Week”.
Additional Details:
The awards are presented as the culminating event of Dare to Overcome (DTO) (August 22-24, 2021), the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global “intersectionality conference” highlighting how diverse communities support one another in building more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies. Conference website: https://event.vconferenceonline.com/microsite/html/event.aspx?id=2056
The 2021 jury is comprised of a group of high-level experts, including from the European Union (H.E. Ján Figeľ, former Special Envoy for promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU); the NGO religious freedom community (Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, and a former Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom); and the business & peace community (Per L. Saxegaard, Business CEO, and Founder and Executive Chairman of the Business for Peace Foundation, Oslo, Norway).
Media Inquiries:
Dr. Brian Grim, President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation
Email: media@religiousfreedomandbusiness.org
Phone: +1-410-268-7809
Website: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/
Kenichi Shinagawa, Country Director, Dare to Overcome
Email: k.shinagawa@dtojp.org
Phone: +81-(0)42-458-7107
https://dto.world/ and https://dtojp.org/
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Dr. Brian J. Grim
Religious Freedom & Business Foundation
+1 410-268-7809
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Global chair of the Awards, Dr. Brian Grim shares awards’ inspiration, followed by former UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon and then former Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama.
