WCF ReceptionCommitee

Reception Committee Profiles

Prof. Ruud Lubbers

Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Ruud Lubbers was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, leading three successive governments, making him the longest-serving post-war premier. During his terms, he was influential in building Europe into what it is today. He was also the key figure in introducing the 'Dutch Model', which led to the successful turn-around of the Dutch economy. After that, he was the 9th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, from 2001 until February 2005.

A graduate of The Netherland's School of Economics, Ruud Lubbers' career began by managing the family business. He joined the Dutch Government in 1973 as Minister of Economic Affairs and continued as Senior Deputy Leader of the Christian Democratic Alliance.

After leaving politics, he taught university courses on globalization and sustainable development at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and as a visiting professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was instrumental in contributing to the success of The Earth Charter.

www.ruudlubbers.nl

Mr. Jacques Santer

Former Prime Minister Luxemburg, Former President of the European Commission

Dr. Jacques Santer is a Member of the European Parliament, Luxembourg for the Parti Chrétien Social. He studied law at the universities of Strasbourg and Paris, and attended the Institute of Political Science in Paris. In 1975 he became a Member of the European Parliament, and in 1984 was elected Luxembourg's Prime Minister, serving three successive terms in office to 1995.

Entering politics, he became the President of the Supervisory Board of Christian Labour Union in 1969 and has held several key positions in the political arena since then, some of which include: Parliamentary secretary of the PCS Group (1966-1972); Secretary-General of the PCS (1972-1974); National President of the PCS (1974-1982); Chairman of the Christian trade unions monitoring committee (1969-1972); President of the EPP (1987-1990); Member of the Chamber of Deputies (1974-1979). Dr. Santer also holds several distinguished honors which include Grand Cross of: the Order of the Legion of Honour (France); the Order of Merit (Germany and Italy); the Order of Leopold II (Belgium); the Crown of Oak (Luxembourg); the Order of Adolphe of Nassau (Luxembourg); the Order of Malta and other decorations.

Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal

Minister for Coal, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India

Sri Prakash Jaiswal is a Member of Indian Parliament in 14th Lok Sabha for Indian National Congress party and have won the election two times from Kanpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He is currently serving Indian government as a Minister of State for Home Affairs. He began his political career in 1989 as the mayor of Kanpur city. He also served as secretary, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee and also as president for Congress district committee. He was elected into the 13th Lok Sabha where he worked as member, Committee on Petroleum and Chemicals and member, Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament. He also served as a member of consultative committee in Ministry of Railways. He was re-elected to 14 Lok Sabha and from then onwards he has been the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs.

Mr. Nirj Deva

Member of the European Parliament

Nirj Deva was born in Sri Lanka and holds Sri Lankan and British citizenship. He became Chairman of the Bow Group (leading British political think-tank) in 1981. He was Chairman of the Department of Transport/National Consumer Council Committee on De-regulation of Air Transport, which resulted in low-fare airlines in Europe. In 1992, he was elected as Member of the House of Commons, and in 1999 as Conservative Member of the European Parliament, where he is a member of the Committee on Overseas Development and Cooperation and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

He is a Fellow of Britain's Royal Society of Arts, Chairman of the EU-India Chamber of Commerce and patron of the International Monarchist League. In April 2005, he was chairman of the European Parliament's delegation to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York.

www.nirjdeva.com

Ms. Monika Griefahn

Board Member, Right Livelihood Award

Monika Griefahn was born in 1954 in Mülheim-Ruhr, Germany. She graduated in sociology and mathematics in 1979. One year later, she co-founded Greenpeace Germany, and became a Member of the International Board of Directors in 1984. During her time at Greenpeace, she was first responsible for campaigns against chemical pollution and for the protection of the North Sea, and later for developing training programs and establishing new offices in Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Latin America.

In 1990, she became Minister of Environmental Affairs in Lower Saxony, Germany. From 1998-2009, she served as Member of the German Parliament, with her main focus on culture and media as well as on foreign affairs. She is a Member of the Board of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Chair of the Administrative Board of 'Deutsche Welle' (Germany's international broadcaster), and Member of the Board of the German UNESCO commission. She is married with three children.

www.monika-griefahn.de

Mrs. Jolanta Kwasniewska, Former First Lady of Poland

Former First Lady of Poland (1995-2005), Founder and President of the Foundation "Communication without barriers"; Lawyer.

Member of the Comité des Sages and the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation. Former Honorary Board Member of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. Board Member of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement and the Women Leaders' Council to fight human trafficking. Patron of the European Cancer Patient Coalition and the European Institute of Women's Health.

Initiator of remarkably successful national health campaigns (breast cancer, AIDS, heart disease, diabetes, etc.). For her charity and humanitarian work and achievements honoured with many national and international awards and decorations, including a honorary doctorate, and the Order of the Smile â given by children for providing aid to children.

Mr. Ram Labhaya Lakhina

Founder, President The Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce and Trade (NICCT), Chairman Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation

He has been espousing the interests of Non-resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) for more than 30 years. He was the first Chairman of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), serving from 1994 until 2002. In 1980, he co-founded the Foundation for Critical Choices for India to mobilize the intellectual and material resources of NRIs and PIOs for India's development.

In January 2009, the President of India conferred upon Ram Lakhina the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for his valuable contribution in promoting the honor and prestige of India and in fostering interests of overseas Indians. In September 2009, Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted Ram Lakhina for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Indo Dutch cooperation. The publishers of 'the Indian' have named Ram Lakhina as one of the "100 Global Indians - luminaries, achievers and entrepreneurs."

Ms. Erika Mann

Former Member of the European Parliament

Erika Mann was a Member of European Parliament from 1994 to 2009, serving in various capacities including Head of the Joint EU-Delegation with Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, and Member of the Delegation to South Asia. Among other posts, she is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, as well as a Member of the Board of the World Forum for Ethics in Business.

She has extensive experience in several fields, including international trade, foreign policy, media/ telecommunications/internet, and transatlantic relations. She conceived the notion of a "Transatlantic Market" between the EU and US, which led to the foundation of the Transatlantic Economic Council. In 2005, she received the European-American Business Council Award 2005 for exceptional transatlantic commitment.

Erika Mann holds a Masters Degree in Social and Political Science, and was a researcher at the University of Hanover before becoming an IT business consultant. She is an Academic of the International Informatization Academy of the United Nations.

Mr. Madhu Rao

CEO Shangri-La Hotel Group International

Madhu Rao is the managing director and chief executive officer of Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited (commonly referred to as Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts).

Mr. Rao has more than 20 years experience with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, which he joined in 1988 as group financial controller. He was appointed chief financial officer of Shangri-La Asia Limited in 1997 and continues to concurrently hold that position.

Previously, he was 17 years at a leading chartered accountancy practice in Mumbai, India, responsible for the management consultancy practice of the firm, including 12 years as partner. He is a graduate in Commerce from the University of Mumbai and a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Rabbi David Rosen

International Director of Interreligious Affairs, American Jewish Committee Rabbi David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, is the Director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs and the AJC's Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding. He is the immediate past chairman of IJCIC, the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations.

Rabbi Rosen also serves as the Advisor on Interreligious Affairs to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel; is a member of the Chief Rabbinate's delegation for Interreligious Dialogue; and serves on the Council of the Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.

He is an International President of the World Conference of Religion for Peace (WCRP), the all-encompassing world inter-faith body (incorporating fifteen religions in over fifty countries); Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ), the umbrella organization for more than thirty national bodies promoting Christian-Jewish relations (the ICCJ's Abrahamic Forum promotes dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews;) serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Imams and Rabbis and as a member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum's Council for promoting relations and cooperation between the Muslim and Western worlds.

Rabbi Rosen was a member of the Permanent Bilateral Commission of the State of Israel and the Holy See that negotiated the normalization of relations between the two.

In November 2005, Pope Benedict XVI made Rabbi Rosen a Knight Commander of the order of St Gregory the Great for his outstanding contribution to promoting Catholic-Jewish reconciliation. In 2010he was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, for his contributions to interfaith relations in the Middle East and between Israel and the U.K.

Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan

Founder Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance

Gesine Schwan was born in Berlin in 1943. She studied Roman Languages, History, Philosophy and Political Science in Berlin and Freiburg/Breisgau. In 1971, Gesine Schwan became Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Free University Berlin and lectured on the philosophical and economical bases of the social critique of Karl Marx. In 1977, she became professor of Political Science, in particular of Political Theory and Philosophy, at the Free University Berlin. Her main fields of research are Political Philosophy and Theories of Democracy and recently, problems of Political Psychology and Political Culture.

Since October 1999, she is President of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). At request of Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, she assumed the office of Coordinator of the Federal Government for Civil Cooperation with the Republic of Poland in January 2005.

Ms. Schwan, who joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1972, has collaborated in numerous political committees, alongside her scientific career. From 1977 to 1984 and again since 1996, she has been member of the Commission for Fundamental Values of the board of governors of SPD. In March 2004, she was nominated by SPD as candidate for the office of the Federal President of Germany.

Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp

Former President of the European region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, Dutch chair of the Solidarity Committee for Jews

Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp is an award-winning human rights advocate, lecturer, writer, environmental activist and champion of civil society. Born in 1943 in Amsterdam, he was saved by a righteous couple and survived as a 'hidden child'. He received his ordination from Leo Baeck College and was instrumental in the re-establishment of Jewish communities in the Netherlands. He is the Rabbi Emeritus of congregation Beth Jehuda (The Hague) and former European region president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He is a founding member of Green Cross International, and the Islam and the West dialogue group of the World Economic Forum. He is founder and chair of the Hope for Children Fund, and serves as an Earth Charter commissioner and a Millennium Development Ambassador.

Rabbi Soetendorp is a recipient of numerous honors, including the Peacebuilders Award (2005) and the James Parks Morton Interfaith Award (2008). He was honored by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands with the Royal Distinction as an Officer of the House of Orange (1994).

Mrs. Erna Hennicot-Schoepges

Former Minister of Culture, Rapporteur to the European Parliament for the Year of Intercultural Dialogue

Erna Hennicot-Schoepges developed her passion for culture through Musical studies, for which she was awarded the gold medal as a pianist, combined with studies in philosophy and literature at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique Bruxelles, Ecole Normale in Paris, the Mozarteum in Salzbourg, and the Centre Universitaire in Luxembourg.

Her political career is paved by cultural affairs. It started early as a politician on the local level in her hometown in Walferdange as Major and she became the first female President of Luxembourg's Parliament and quickly advanced to a main figure in Luxembourg politics as Minister of Culture, Higher Education and Research and Public Works. At the same time she remained highly engaged as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament.

Erna Hennicot-Schoepges is known for her active involvement in numerous foundations, where issues such as Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue and Cultural Itineraries are treated.

On a national level she is responsible, among others, for the creation of the University of Luxembourg in 2003 and the Luxembourg Philharmonic hall JosƩphine Charlotte in 2005. On a European level she had the honor to become rapporteur of the "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, 2008", through which she managed to create an intense political debate on cultural issues by organizing conferences and publications.

She is regularly invited to take part in national and international conferences, by different foundations and universities, to speak and elaborate on her experiences in the European and the Cultural field.

As an independent expert she currently is a member of the Jury for the European Capitals of Culture.

Mr. Jacek P. Krawczyk

Vice President of European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels

"In the past 30 years the Art of Living Foundation has been bringing people together, contributing to the understanding between them, inspiring a way of life, bringing health and harmony. It has been successful in reminding us that mere tolerance is not enough in a multicultural world. The encounter with the other can only be successful if tolerance goes hand in hand with genuine curiosity, responsibility, openness and the respect for the otherness of the other. Well done and congratulations!

As a Vice President of European Economic and Social Committee, I am immensely grateful to the foundation for its actions in favor of ethics in business. At a time when the crisis brought into focus the critical importance of the ethical dimension of business, a thorough reflection on the issue is more important than ever. "

Since 2010, Jacek P. Krawczyk is a Vice President of European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. Since 2004, he is a Member of the European Economic and Social Committee. Between 2004 and 2006 he was a Vice- President of the Section INT (common market), from 2006 Vice- President of Employers Group and Member of the Presidium of the Committee. He has prepared several opinions including: European aviation relief programme, Single European Sky II, Transatlantic dialog.

Currently he is the Vice-President of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers LEWIATAN as well as Chairman of Supervisory Board of several companies including LOT Polish Airlines, Microtech –R&D company listed at the OTC market in Warsaw, and PETROLOT – company distributing fuel at Polish airports.

Jacek P. Krawczyk has spent 20 years of his professional career as a manager of various business entities. He begun in 1989 as a consultant and then moved in 1993 to the financial sector working as board member and subsequently CEO of a number of commercial and investment banks. In 2000 he moved to IT sector as the CEO of OPTIMUS S.A. he lead spin off of the largest Polish internet portal ONET.pl from the OPTIMUS Group. In 1991 he joined the second Solidarity government as the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Since 2002 he has changed his professional career into consulting and coaching for change.

Mr. Josef Winkler

Member of German Parliament, Board Member Green Party

"I applaud the International Art of Living Foundation and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for its outstanding service to mankind during the last 30 years. 10 Mio trees planted, lives of 200.000 prison inmates transformed , 61.546 rural youth trained in leadership and vocational skills and 138 free schools and uncountable peace initiatives are an outstanding track record. Sri Sri Ravi Shankars Ghandian` approach of resolving conflicts through non-violence and dialogue is much needed in today's times of domestic violence, religious intolerance and intercultural conflicts. I am pleased, that the World Culture Festival will provide a precious opportunity for the diverse cultures of this world to come together in a ecumenical spirit of belonging and connectedness!"