Nancy Birdsall
Nancy Birdsall is President of the Center for Global Development, a policy research institution in Washington, DC.  Prior to launching the center, Ms. Birdsall served as Senior Associate and Director of the Economic Reform Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focused on issues of globalization, inequality, and the reform of international financial institutions.  Previously, she was Executive Vice-President of the Inter-American Development Bank, and spent many years in research, policy and management positions at the World Bank.  Ms. Birdsall has authored, co-authored and edited more than a dozen books and monographs for audiences worldwide.  

Ann Curry
Ann Curry was named News Anchor for NBC News' Today in 1997 and Co-Anchor for Dateline NBC in 2005. She reported live from ground zero after 9-11, from Baghdad in the weeks leading up the Iraq war and from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. From national crises to global conflicts, Ms. Curry has distinguished herself as a humanitarian reporter. She was the first network news anchor to report from Southeast Asia in the wake of the tsunami, and the first to report on the refugee crisis caused by the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. She has earned two Emmy's, four Golden Mikes, a Gracie and an award for Excellence in Reporting from the NAACP. A leading advocate for breast cancer research, Ms. Curry has received numerous accolades for her charitable work, including the Anti-Defamation League's Woman of Achievement award. 

William Drayton
William Drayton is the Chairman and CEO of Ashoka, a global association of leading social entrepreneurs who envision and implement changes in the environment, education, human rights and other areas of human need. One of the first leaders to recognize the power of individual innovation in addressing social problems, Mr. Drayton founded Ashoka in 1981 (with a budget of less than $50,000) while working at McKinsey and Company. It was not until he was elected a MacArthur Fellow in 1984 that he was able to devote himself to Ashoka full-time. Today, Ashoka spends more than $17 million financing over 1,600 Fellows around the world. Prior to Ashoka, Mr. Drayton served in the Carter Administration as Assistant Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he launched the emissions trading that forms the basis of the Kyoto Protocol. 

Howard Gardner
Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine. The author of over 20 books, Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. In 1990, he was the first American to receive the University of Louisville's Grawemeyer Award in Education and in 2000 he received a Fellowship from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He has received honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities, including institutions in Ireland, Italy and Israel.

Vanita Gupta
Vanita Gupta is an Assistant Counsel at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where her work centers on civil rights litigation that promotes systemic reform of the criminal justice system.  Ms. Gupta successfully led the effort to overturn the racially-biased drug convictions of 38 defendants in Tulia, Texas, and recently settled the civil rights cases of these clients for $6 million.  She has received the 2004 Reebok Human Rights Award, the Upakar Foundation Community Ambassador award and the American Red Cross "Rising Star" award.  Ms. Gupta served as the Colloquium Editor of the Review of Law and Social Change at New York University School of Law, and has been awarded a Vanderbilt Medal for Public Service and the Anne Petluck Poses Prize. 

James F. Hoge, Jr.
James F. Hoge, Jr. is the Editor of Foreign Affairs, a publication of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Hoge spent three decades in newspaper journalism, serving as a Washington D.C. Correspondent, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, and then as Publisher and President of the New York Daily News. Under his leadership, the Chicago Sun-Times won six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence and the New York Daily News won one. Mr. Hoge was a Fellow at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1991 and a Senior Fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University in 1992. A former Director of the Council on Foreign Relations, he is currently Chairman of the International Center for Journalists and a Director of Human Rights Watch.

Mulu Ketsela, Ph. D
Mulu Ketsela is an Alternate Executive Director with the World Bank Group for 22 African countries. She is responsible for choosing which projects receive funding in the region and shaping the policy of the Bank in Africa. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Ms. Ketsela served as the State Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Ethiopia, where she negotiated cooperation with bilateral and multilateral partners. Born in Ethiopia, Ketsela served as Economic Advisor to the President of Ethiopia from 1992 to 1995, and has served as an Economic Consultant for the United Nations Development Programme.

Dena Merriam
As Founder and Convener of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, Ms. Merriam has worked to engage women in peace-building activities in conflict and post-conflict regions around the world. She has organized major international interfaith events and has built a global network of renowned women spiritual leaders. Currently, Ms. Merriam is working with the United Nations to organize a series of regional youth leadership summits around the world to mobilize young people to initiate efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Dena Merriam is also a Partner and Vice Chair of the Ruder Finn Group, a global communications company. She holds a master's degree from Columbia University and has served on the advisory boards of the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, and the Manitou Foundation. 

Kathleen Newland
Kathleen Newland is Director and Co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute. Her work focuses on refugee protection, international humanitarian response and migration management. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she co-directed the International Migration Policy Program. She chairs the Board of Directors of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and sits on the Board of the International Rescue Committee. Ms. Newland has worked as an independent consultant for such clients as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Bank and the office of the Secretary-General of the UN. She has taught at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Ms. Newland is the author or editor of five books, 11 shorter monographs and was the Executive Producer of three documentary films on humanitarian issues. 

Eric S. Nonacs
Eric S. Nonacs is the Foreign Policy Advisor in the Office of President William Jefferson Clinton. Prior to joining President Clinton's staff, he was the Executive Director of The Coexistence Initiative. Previously, Mr. Nonacs served as the U.S. Executive Director of Co-operation Ireland and was the Inaugural Director of The Project on Justice in Times of Transition. During his tenure in the nongovernmental sector, he has developed and implemented a broad array of programs on topics including conflict resolution, peace-building, truth commissions, state security files, restorative justice and freedom of the press. He has also worked on reconciliation in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, El Salvador, Nicaragua and throughout Africa. Mr. Nonacs holds degrees from the University of Chicago, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Stern School of Business at New York University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Reverend Mpho A. Tutu
The Rev. Mpho A. Tutu is a Clergy Resident at Christ Church in Alexandria, VA. She was ordained to the priesthood in 2004 by her father, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Prize Laureate and anti-apartheid activist. For several years prior, Rev. Tutu was Director of the Discovery Program at All Saints Church in Worcester, MA. Rev. Tutu studied and taught in Grahamstown, South Africa at the College of the Transfiguration, the Anglican seminary of Southern Africa. For five years, Rev. Tutu was Director of the Bishop Desmond Tutu Southern African Refugee Scholarship Fund of the Phelps Stokes Fund. The Rev. Mpho Tutu is a member of the boards of the Global AIDS Alliance and Reinvest in South Africa. Rev. Tutu holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. 

Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Boston University.  The recipient of 110 honorary degrees, Professor Wiesel has received numerous awards for his writings, which include nonfiction works, essays, novels, plays, a cantata and a children's book.   His latest books include Les temps des déracinés (2003) and Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters (2003).   In 1995, he was included as one of fifty great Americans in the special fiftieth edition of Who's Who In America. He has received the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1986, Professor Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and shortly thereafter he founded the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which is dedicated to combating indifference, intolerance and injustice.

Jason H. Wright
Jason H. Wright is the Senior Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Wright holds global responsibility for all external and internal communications activities, including media and government relations; employee, business group, executive, shareholder and public policy communications; corporate marketing and brand identity, and other related activities. Before joining Merrill Lynch, he was principal of his own firm, Geer Mountain Holdings, LLC, providing capital and advisory services to several companies in the business services and consumer products industries. Prior to that, he served as Head of Worldwide Communications at Nabisco Group Holdings Corporation. Mr. Wright received a degree in government from Georgetown University.

Ethan Zohn
Best known for his success on the hit television series “Survivor Africa,” Mr. Zohn has used his fame and fortune to help people in need. After graduating from Vassar College, he began a five-year professional soccer career, which reached its pinnacle when he journeyed to Zimbabwe to play for Highlanders FC during their 2000/2001 championship season.  Mr. Zohn returned to the United States to coach soccer. Since winning the Survivor challenge in January 2002, he has worked with various organizations to promote youth education through sports. More notably, be founded Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit that trains professional African soccer players and other role models to educate youth about critical life skills and HIV/AIDS prevention strategies.

>>>View 2004 Global Action Awards Judges