GSC (Global Steering Committee)
Interdependence Day Global Steering Committee
Benjamin Barber, Founder of CivWorld andInterdependence Day (USA)
Chairman: Miles S. Rapoport, President, Demos (USA)
Miles Rapoport has been President of Dēmos for seven years.
Prior to joining Dēmos, he spent 15 years in Connecticut government, first serving 10 years in the Connecticut legislature from 1985-1994. As a state legislator he chaired the Committee on Elections and was a leading member of the Finance Committee. In 1994, Rapoport was elected as Secretary of the State of Connecticut and was an energetic advocate for a vibrant and inclusive democracy, including voter registration, youth civic engagement, and campaign finance reform.
Jin Canrong (China) is both professor and Deputy Director-at the School of International Studies and School of Public Administration at the Center for American Studies, Renmin University of China. He is also the Deputy Director of The Beijing Pacific Institute for International Strategy Studies.
Aside from his extensive academic career, Canrong’s experience includes a history of advising various political figures on both sides of the Pacific.
Jacqueline Davis (USA) is Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. She was Director of the Lied Center of Kansas at the University of Kansas and currently serves as Vice President of the University of Kansas Theatre and Film Advisory Board. Ms. Davis served earlier as a staff assistant in the Office of Senator Edward Kennedy.
Luis Ernesto Derbéz (Mexico) recently became President of Universidad de las Americas Pueblais. He is formerly the President of the Center for Globalization, Competitiveness and Democracy at the Tec de Monterrey. He has held posts in the Vicente Fox Administration, first as the Minister of Economy (2000-03) and later as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2003-06). His handling of the reform of 35 different economies while at the World Bank established Derbéz´s legacy as an expert at economic reconstruction.
George Elvin (USA) is a New York based businessman and financial consultant. He is also involved with the arts as a musician and philanthropist, and has been an active advisor for CivWorld for several years.
Sebastian Escultor (Mexico) is one of Mexico’s most prominent living sculptors and was the co-host of Interdependence Day 2007 in Mexico City. He is a professor at La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and a member of the World Arts Forum Council and the National Council on Arts and Culture. He was the El Sistema Nacional de Creadores award winner three years in a row from 1994-1996.
Nancy Fitzpatrick (USA) is a well known philanthropist, community leader, and business woman. She oversees a hospitality business that includes The Red Lion, Jack’s Grill, Elm Street Market, and Porches Inn and is Vice Chairman of Fitzpatrick Companies Inc. Fitzpatrick is associated with numerous cultural organizations including the Mass MoCA Foundation, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berkshire Museum.
Joshua S. Fouts (USA) is the Chief Global Strategist of Dancing Ink Productions and is formerly the director of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy. He has over 18 years of expertise in new technology innovation, international relations, journalism and strategic non-profit management. Before joining USC, Fouts spent half a decade at the U.S. Department of State and the Voice of America launching numerous new technology and public diplomacy projects.
Guy Gypens (Belgium) is the Artistic Director of the Kaaitheater, and Host of Interdependence Day 2008. Previously he was the General Manager of Rosas, the dance company of choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the company in residence at La Monnaie Belgian National Opera
since 1992. He was also the General Manager of the Beursschouwburg, an arts centre in the heart of Brussels from 1987 to 1991.
Eileen Haring Woods (UK) is the Founder of Haring Woods Associates and Artistic Director for Gunpowder Park. Originally from New York City, her career covers over 30 years in arts and entertainment, producing, directing and promoting theatre, film and special events. She specializes in devising creative concepts with relevance to current international cultural trends, funding streams and partnership objectives. Her particular interest in arts, environment and the public realm has led Haring Woods Associates to work with local government, international cultural organizations, and the media.
Lord Frank Judd (UK) is a parliamentarian and international negotiator. He has represented many of the most powerful international organizations including Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Oxfam and is a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. He was Member of Parliament for Portsmouth West from 1966 to 1974 and in 1991 was made a life peer with the title Baron Judd of Portsea in the County of Hampshire.
Adam Michnik (Poland) is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, the first independent Polish newspaper, and is also a well known historian, essayist, political publicist, and the laureate of many awards such as the Knight of the Legion of Honour distinction. As co-founder of Solidarity (Solidarnosc)
Mr. Michnik’s influence on political movements is a definitive hallmark of his legacy.
Ferenc Miszlivetz (Hungary) is the Founder, Director and Jean Monnet Chair professor of the Institute of Social and European Studies Foundation as well as the Founder of Europe House in Köszeg. A leading figure in the Hungarian opposition in the 1980s with a major role in creating the Network of Free Initiatives, he is a world class scholar with credentials spanning 25 years in the fields of sociology, economics and European studies.
Claus Offe (Germany) is a Professor of Political Science at The Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. His fields of research are democratic theory, transition studies, EU integration, and labor market studies. His previous positions include professorships at Humboldt University, Berlin, where he held a chair of Political Sociology and Social Policy, and the universities of Bielefeld and Bremen, where he served as director of the Center of Social Policy Research.
Olara Otunnu (Uganda) is an internationally acclaimed advocate for children’s rights. Currently the President of LBL Foundation for Children, an international organization devoted to promoting protection, hope, healing and education for children in communities devastated by war.
From 1997 to 2005, he served as the UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
Lord Bhikhu Parekh (UK) is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Academy of the Learned Societies for Social Sciences and a Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Westminster. He is vice-chairman of the Gandhi Foundation, a trustee of the Anne Frank Educational Trust, and a member of the National Commission on Equal Opportunity. He was made a life peer as Baron Parekh of Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire in 2000.
Michel Rocard (France) has been member of the European Parliament for France (South East) since 1994 and has chaired several committees including the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1988-1991 working with President Mitterrand. He also held earlier Ministerial roles in Territorial Development, Planning, and Agriculture.
Imam Sajid (UK) has worked for over 35 years towards the cause of peace and justice across the world as a Muslim scholar, speaker and mentor, and his ideas are some of the most advanced in the search for meaningful interpretation of Islam in the 21st Century. Dr. Sajid is an advisor to a number of statutory and voluntary agencies on race, multi-cultural and religious issues and is currently Chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony and European representative of World Council of Muslims Inter-faith Relations.
Saskia Sassen (USA) is in the Department of Sociology and The Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. She is also a Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and is one of the foremost thinkers on cities in a global context. Her research and writing focuses on globalization, immigration, global cities and networked technologies. She has served as a Member of the Council of Foreign Relations, Chair of Information Technology, International Cooperation and Global Security Committee of the SSRC.
Faouzi Skali (Morocco) is an anthropologist and an ethnologist from Fes, Morocco, with a doctorate in Anthropology, Ethnology and Sciences of Religions. Dr. Skali is a professor from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Fes and was previously the Director of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music.
Sophie Stenbeck (Sweden/USA) has dedicated her life’s work to improving the condition of children all over the world. With a family background in international media, she serves in a number of philanthropic roles. Her Remedee Foundation works to help empower underserved and disempowered young people around the world by providing the resources and education to share their lives through documentary filmmaking.She is an ambassador of Corporate Social Responsibility for the Stockholm-based Kinnevik Group.
Cornel West (USA) is a Professor at the Center of African American Studies Princeton University. One of America’s most gifted and provocative public intellectuals he has published 17 books and edited 13 texts. In his major bestseller, Race Matters, he gave a searing analysis of the scars of racism in American democracy. He has held previous positions at Union Theological Seminary, Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Paris.
