Global Council of Trustees

URI’s primary governing body, the Global Council, is comprised of at least 24 Trustees, who are grassroots volunteers elected from – and by – URI Cooperation Circles. Each URI region selects three Trustees to serve on the Global Council for a four-year term, providing critical governance and oversight of URI’s operations, finances, and mission-related activities. In addition, At-Large Trustees are appointed as needed.

The Global Council is charged with helping guide URI’s fulfillment of its mission, as well as stewarding and supporting its long-term sustainability and strategic growth.

Please use the search box below to meet the Global Trustees from each Region.

OFFICERS and EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Preeta Bansal

Global Council Chair; Executive Committee Chair; Global Council Trustee (At-Large); Senior Advisory Council Member

Preeta Bansal served for more than 25 years in some of the most senior posts in the public and corporate sectors – from the White House, to US diplomatic and human rights work, to the top echelons of state government and global corporations and law firms. After a long career scaling the heights of institutional power, she is an anchor for ServiceSpace – an all-volunteer, global generosity-based ecosystem and movement of 2 million people worldwide committed to building collective capacity for sustainable transformation at the grassroots. ServiceSpace draws on all the world’s spiritual, indigenous, and wisdom traditions to further a vision of changing the world by changing ourselves, and innovates in network science and technology to amplify small shifts in behavior and consciousness by building local and global communities of practice. Preeta is a dedicated meditator, community volunteer, independent corporate director, investor, nonprofit leader, philanthropist, and lecturer at MIT. A constitutional lawyer by background, Preeta is Chair of Civic Nebraska, one of the largest democracy-building organizations in the American heartland, and is on numerous local and global nonprofit, foundation, and university boards. She is a graduate with top honors from Harvard-Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School. She received the National Organization of Women’s “Woman of Power and Influence Award”, was named one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal, and received the “Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Religious Pluralism” on Capitol Hill. She has been profiled by The New York Times as a “poised and playful” “superstar” and “nimble, unorthodox thinker.” She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Daniel Eror

Global Council Vice-Chair; Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee for Europe

Daniel Eror was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He obtained formal education at the University of Sarajevo, Master Studies of Economy and Management, with a focus on Human Resources as well as the Master Program of Interreligious Studies and Peacebuilding at the Faculty of Catholic Theology Sarajevo, the Faculty of Islamic Studies Sarajevo, and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology Vasilije Ostroski Foča. He is a member of civil society with 14 years of progressive experience in the field of intercultural dialogue, reconciliation, and peacebuilding, mainly working with young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as abroad.

He is a founder and president of Youth for Peace, an organization which has positioned itself as one of the most prominent youth-led organizations in BiH, working in the field of peacebuilding. Daniel has been an active member of the United Religions Initiative network for several years. He has been a URI Global Council Trustee and URI Europe Treasurer since 2018. In Religions for Peace Europe,  he serves as a co-president of the Organization. He is a certified trainer for work with youth, with expertise in the field of conflict transformation, dealing with past experiences, human rights, and discrimination.

Pulin Sanghvi

Treasurer, URI and URI Foundation; Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee (At-Large); Finance and Operations Committee Chair; Senior Advisory Council

Pulin Sanghvi is a speaker, author, and educator on the topics of purpose and meaningful work based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pulin led structural reimaginations of career development at Princeton University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and he created and taught a model of hypothesis-driven exploration that has engaged thousands of members of the Princeton, Stanford, and Yale communities. Previously, Pulin was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Palo Alto and an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in New York. Pulin holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with Distinction in Economics from Yale University. Pulin serves on the boards of The Peace Studio and Hospital de la Familia Foundation, and previously served on the national board of Positive Coaching Alliance. He also serves Yale in multiple capacities, including as a Fellow at Davenport College, and previously as Executive Officer of the Yale Alumni Association Board of Governors.

The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing

Founder and President Emeritus of URI; Former Episcopal Bishop of California

William E. Swing is the Founder and President Emeritus of the United Religions Initiative. Bishop Swing had the original vision of URI in 1993 in response to an invitation from the United Nations, which asked him to host an interfaith service honoring the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. Bishop Swing, along with 50 others, shaped the URI purpose (to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living beings). URI is currently the largest interfaith grassroot organization.

Bishop Swing Bishop Swing served as the 7th Episcopal Bishop of California from 1980 until his retirement in 2006. In that capacity, he was a national and international leader in response to the AIDS crisis, co-founded Episcopal Community Services to address San Francisco’s homeless problem, and co-founded Community Bank of the Bay to support local businesses and the economy.

He is married to Mary Taylor Swing and has two children and three grandchildren.

Books by Bishop Swing: A Bishop's Quest: Founding a United Religions and The Sacred and the Silly: A Bishop's Playful and Eventful Life. Both books are available on Amazon.com; the proceeds of book sales will benefit URI.

Issac S Thomas

Global Council Secretary; Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee for Multiregion

Mr. Issac S. Thomas is a young leader from Kerala, India. He joined URI at the age of 13 and has been working amongst youth since then. Initially part of the South India Sri Lanka region, he was one of the first young leaders training program (YLP) candidate and later became the Youth Ambassador for the region. He founded Global Youth Movement (GYM) CC in 2017 and joined the Multiregion. Under his leadership, youngsters have grown and thrived as individuals and as a group concentrating on platforms like interfaith, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue, conflict resolution and reconciliation, women and youth empowerment, environmental protection and sustainable development, disarmament of nuclear weapons, advocacy for human rights etc. His vision, work ethics and ability to build bridges have kept him steadfast in his mission as a peace multiplier. He is also the coordinator of ‘One Billion Youth for Peace’ movement by Cosmic Community CC and an active member of the Youth Ministry of Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Outside of URI, being a Bachelor of Technology graduate in electronics and communication, he works as a Network Engineer in Doha, Qatar. He strongly believes that URI is a global family and sticks to the motto 'Think globally and act locally.'

Jerry White

Executive Director URI and URI Foundation

Social Entrepreneur, Senior Ashoka Fellow, and humanitarian activist Jerry White furthers his peacebuilding journey by joining United Religions Initiative as Executive Director.

Jerry White is an author, diplomat, and humanitarian activist known for leading high-impact campaigns, three of which led to international treaties: the Landmine Ban Treaty, the Cluster Munitions Ban, and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 1984, White lost his lower right leg while hiking in an unmarked minefield in Israel. He worked closely with the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and shares the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. White wrote of his experience helping thousands of war victims build resilience in “Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down.”

White studied religion at Brown University, theology at Cambridge University, and business at the University of Michigan. He has an honorary degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and was a Professor of Practice for seven years at the University of Virginia, teaching courses on religion-related conflict, strategy, and social entrepreneurship. His latest book is "Religicide: Confronting the Roots of Anti-Religious Violence" (2022).

Jerry White and his wife Kelly live in Washington, DC, and have four adult children.

AT-LARGE TRUSTEES

Radia Bakkouch

Global Council Trustee (At-Large)

Radia Bakkouch is the head of research and documentation for the InterFaith Tour program, a world tour project of interfaith initiatives, whose mission is to identify, study, and promote peace practices. She was president and director of advocacy and research of Coexister France, a non-formal education movement that offers young people of different beliefs a positive experience of diversity in 30 cities in France.

She is a trainer and facilitator of numerous workshops and conferences in France and internationally on the connection between religion and social cohesion (notably for the UNAOC). She holds a master's degree in international public management from Sciences Po Paris (PSIA) where she specialized in the Middle East and in conflict resolution.

Preeta Bansal

Global Council Chair; Executive Committee Chair; Global Council Trustee (At-Large); Senior Advisory Council Member

Preeta Bansal served for more than 25 years in some of the most senior posts in the public and corporate sectors – from the White House, to US diplomatic and human rights work, to the top echelons of state government and global corporations and law firms. After a long career scaling the heights of institutional power, she is an anchor for ServiceSpace – an all-volunteer, global generosity-based ecosystem and movement of 2 million people worldwide committed to building collective capacity for sustainable transformation at the grassroots. ServiceSpace draws on all the world’s spiritual, indigenous, and wisdom traditions to further a vision of changing the world by changing ourselves, and innovates in network science and technology to amplify small shifts in behavior and consciousness by building local and global communities of practice. Preeta is a dedicated meditator, community volunteer, independent corporate director, investor, nonprofit leader, philanthropist, and lecturer at MIT. A constitutional lawyer by background, Preeta is Chair of Civic Nebraska, one of the largest democracy-building organizations in the American heartland, and is on numerous local and global nonprofit, foundation, and university boards. She is a graduate with top honors from Harvard-Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School. She received the National Organization of Women’s “Woman of Power and Influence Award”, was named one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal, and received the “Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Religious Pluralism” on Capitol Hill. She has been profiled by The New York Times as a “poised and playful” “superstar” and “nimble, unorthodox thinker.” She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Anne Jarchow

Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee (At-Large)

Anne Jarchow is a Human Resources (HR) and Operations Executive leading high-functioning work cultures and mission-driven staff within non-profit organizations for the last 16 years. She is currently the Sr. Director of People Operations at Direct Relief, an influential global humanitarian organization with the mission of providing medical resources to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty and natural disasters.

Previously, she held the position of VP of HR at LifeMoves, a non-profit working with the homeless, and VP of HR and Interim CEO for AbilityPath, a non-profit working with individuals with developmental disabilities. Helping people feel supported and enabling them to make an impact as leaders in their communities and the world is her passion. Earlier in her career, Anne worked in HR in the for-profit space in the high-tech and publishing industries. In addition to being a graduate of Santa Clara University, she is a certified HR Professional (PHR), Co-Active Coach (CPCC), and Holistic Health Coach.

Fareena Maria

Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee (At-Large)

Fareena Maria is a Computer Science Engineer with a Master's degree in International Business. As a co-founder and CEO of a software company, she specializes in managing large-scale projects and is currently based in the UAE.

With a focus on youth upliftment and women empowerment, she has been the state president of the Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC) and an active part of URI for a decade. She was the Indian youth representative at the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) World congress held in the UK and has participated in multiple youth exchanges to Sri Lanka. Her goal is to change the world one deed at a time.

Kelsey Ramsden

Global Council Trustee (At-Large)

Kelsey Ramsden is most well-known for founding and scaling businesses in emerging industries. At her core, Kelsey is a creator who deeply values human connection. Twice named Canada’s Top Female entrepreneur, mother of three, cancer survivor, and Indigenous Metis, she holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Currently working to advance access to mental health and spiritual healing through drug research, Kelsey believes that our deep connected relationship with self and others has the power to heal all people and the planet.

Pulin Sanghvi

Treasurer, URI and URI Foundation; Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee (At-Large); Finance and Operations Committee Chair; Senior Advisory Council

Pulin Sanghvi is a speaker, author, and educator on the topics of purpose and meaningful work based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pulin led structural reimaginations of career development at Princeton University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and he created and taught a model of hypothesis-driven exploration that has engaged thousands of members of the Princeton, Stanford, and Yale communities. Previously, Pulin was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Palo Alto and an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in New York. Pulin holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with Distinction in Economics from Yale University. Pulin serves on the boards of The Peace Studio and Hospital de la Familia Foundation, and previously served on the national board of Positive Coaching Alliance. He also serves Yale in multiple capacities, including as a Fellow at Davenport College, and previously as Executive Officer of the Yale Alumni Association Board of Governors.

Barbara Shannon

Global Council Trustee (At-Large); Senior Advisory Council Member

Barbara Shannon is a business growth expert. She is CEO of the Shannon Group advising C-Level corporate executives with clients that include FEI/Thermo Fischer, Lumentum, HireRight, Flextronics, and others. She helps clients achieve game-changing results for themselves and their businesses. She is founder and chair of THECEOBOARD, a San Francisco-based CEO peer group, and ATHENA, a monthly mastermind group dedicated to the success of women entrepreneurs. Barbara hosts the Bernstein CEO Speaker Series, serves on the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change, and is a frequent speaker and panelist on big shift business transformation. Previously, she was with Deloitte Consulting, where she guided senior executives at JPMorgan Chase, MetLife, Lockheed Martin, Hewlett Packard and Applied Materials. Barbara gives back locally as a board member at We Vote, as a Global Ambassador for How Women Lead, and as the coach-in-residence at Save The Bay. She has also served as a member of the URI Foundation Board. Barbara received her BA from Smith College and her MBA at The Wharton School.

AFRICA

Hajji Katende Abdu

Global Council Trustee for Africa

Katende Abdu has just retired as a lecturer in the Department of Religion and Peace Studies, Makerere University where he has taught for the last 35 years in the areas of Islamic Theology, Peace Studies and Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue. He is also the Executive Director of the Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue (CIID). He is a Fulbright Fellow and a Peace Ambassador for the King Abdallah International Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue (KAICIID). He has over 30 years of experience in the areas of Religion, Peace and Conflict Studies.

His Grace Salika Dasa Adhikari

Global Council Trustee for Africa

His Grace Salika Dasa Adhikari, a Comparative Religionist,  is the Temple President of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Jos, Plateau State. He also serves as Vice-Chairman of the National Council of the ISKCON Movement in Nigeria. A recipient of several national and international awards, His Grace has travelled widely and presented papers at local and international conferences on religion, world peace, development, and environmental degradation. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Leadership, Education and Development (CILED).  He also serves on the Governing Council of the Global Interfaith University.

Wambui Ngige

Global Council Trustee for Africa

Wambui Ngige is an attorney based in Nairobi, Kenya. Wambui mobilizes young men and women to join URI and break the cycle of youth being used to propagate hate. Her experience in research and advocacy on youth and women’s rights has enabled her to use unity of religions to bring women and young people together as a way of fighting extremism and uniting Kenyans. Wambui strives to help URI engage and sustain interconnected communities to promote respect for diversity, non-violent resolution of conflict and social, political, economic, and environmental justice.

ASIA

Ashwani Kumar

Global Council Trustee for Asia

Ashwani Kumar is a born learner by nature, a student of literature, and a volunteer in social organizations. His journey brought him to serve special children. He was a founding CC of URI in 2000, and is a founding member of Patiala CC, in India. While serving the community for the welfare of the handicapped, his NGO was awarded best NGO in India for the services to the Deaf and Blind children by the President of India and a national award for Best Caretakers to the disabled children.  He joined the Special Olympics in India an international program founded by Eunice Kennedy, sister of US President John F Kennedy. In 1987, helped found the state chapter and registered thousands of special children as athletes. While working with the Special Olympics India, the registered athletes won medals in the International Special Olympics and were honored in India. For the last fifteen years, Ashwani served URI as the President of the North Zone Executive Council of URI. 

Dr. Devi Raj S

Global Council Trustee for Asia

Devi Raj S, is a psychologist, wellness coach, trainer, peacebuilder and entrepreneur. She is the Managing Director of Pranaah Holistic Health Care Pvt Ltd, a pioneer in the Mental Health industry in India. She is the Director of Pranaah Autism and Child Development Center & Pranaah Neuro Rehabilitation Center. She is the Founder and Secretary of the Psychological Research and Development Council, a Non-Government Organisation, which is one of the biggest platforms for Psychology & Social Work professionals. She serves as the Principal of LaaDe Institute of Social Sciences. She joined in URI movement in 2012. Since then she has been actively participating in all the programs and projects of URI including Youth camps, Zonal, National, and Asian Assemblies, Holy books conferences etc. Actively participating in the activities of URI Zero Limits CC, winner of Sahayog Samman - 2017 Her projects named Good Touch & Bad Touch-(Personal Safety Awareness), Punarjani (Suicide Prevention campaign), Teen Summit(Conference for teens), Teen Line24X7 telephonic counseling support for teenagers), Girls Summit (Conference for Girls on Girl Power) and RISE (Women Empowerment training Series):- created a great impact especially her training series on personal safety awareness reached the hearts of more than 1.5 lakhs of girls. Her awareness training named "Surakshitha Koumaram" for adolescent girls and their mothers in association with Malayala Manorama daily crossed 54 venues across the state with more than 75000 participants. She is the Master Trainer for various Government departments and their projects. She has twelve years of experience as a trainer and had conducted more than 1500 training sessions; she is a well-known parenting expert and YouTuber. She has successfully conducted parenting sessions for more than one 100000 parents. During the covid-19 pandemic, her team of psychologists conducted online tele-support for Covid patients across the country in association with local Govt. and various

Sri Chintamani Nath Yogi

Global Council Trustee for Asia

Dr. Chintamani Yogi is a great scholar of Nepal; a Nath Yogi, spiritual master, an educationist and peace activist. He is a founding principal of Hindu VidyaPeeth Schools based on love, peace, selfless service etc. He also established Peace Service Centre, Youth Society for Peace to help children, women, senior citizens. He runs community-based programs - Children's Peace Home – orphanage, Women's Training Program, Girls Scholarship Program, Gorakhnath Sewa Sangh and Biswa Omkar Ekata Mahabhiyan to reform society in totality. He lectures about Conflict, Peace and Development Studies, at Universities in Nepal. He lectures at Rotary, Lions, Corporate Sectors, Government Offices, Armies, Police, TVs, Radios. He is associated with many international organizations - HVP-UK, Peace Service Center-USA, Global Communities for Peace-Australia, Global Network of Religions for Children, United Religions Initiative. He has written several books and songs, won national/international awards. He conducts camps, classes to understand ''The Art of Life''

EUROPE

Jaume de Marcos

Global Council Trustee for Europe

Jaume de Marcos is a member of the Board and former President of AUDIR (UNESCO Association for Interreligious Dialogue), an NGO based in Barcelona (Spain) which is a founding member of URI and dedicated to interreligious and interconvictional dialogue. Born in Barcelona, Mr. de Marcos has a Master's degree in History of Religions and a Postgraduate degree in Religion and Human Rights. He is also a distinguished member of the Michael Servetus Institute, and of the Spanish Society for the Science of Religions (SECR). He has published 2 books and several articles on topics related to history of religion, particularly the Protestant Reformation, as well as interfaith dialogue and understanding among traditions and cultures.

Daniel Eror

Global Council Vice-Chair; Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee for Europe

Daniel Eror was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He obtained formal education at the University of Sarajevo, Master Studies of Economy and Management, with a focus on Human Resources as well as the Master Program of Interreligious Studies and Peacebuilding at the Faculty of Catholic Theology Sarajevo, the Faculty of Islamic Studies Sarajevo, and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology Vasilije Ostroski Foča. He is a member of civil society with 14 years of progressive experience in the field of intercultural dialogue, reconciliation, and peacebuilding, mainly working with young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as abroad.

He is a founder and president of Youth for Peace, an organization which has positioned itself as one of the most prominent youth-led organizations in BiH, working in the field of peacebuilding. Daniel has been an active member of the United Religions Initiative network for several years. He has been a URI Global Council Trustee and URI Europe Treasurer since 2018. In Religions for Peace Europe,  he serves as a co-president of the Organization. He is a certified trainer for work with youth, with expertise in the field of conflict transformation, dealing with past experiences, human rights, and discrimination.

Eric Roux

Executive Committee Member; Nominating Committee Chair; Global Council Trustee for Europe

Eric Roux is currently the President of the European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom and the Vice-President of the European Office of the Church of Scientology for Public Affairs and Human Rights. He engaged in advocacy for religious freedom in the 2000s, and never stopped since. Writer of several books and dozens of articles, he always considered that advocacy for religious freedom should be done by multifaith coalitions. He is regularly invited as a speaker at OSCE, Council of Europe, EU Parliament, United Nations, US Capitol, etc. He also works in various interfaith platforms at the European level. He is an ordained Minister of the Church of Scientology.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Salette Aquino

Global Council Trustee for Latin America and the Caribbean

Maria Salette Mayer de Aquino is from Brasília, Brazil. She was the bilingual secretary by Siemens from 1975 to 1985. With a Masters in Applied Linguistics, she worked as a professor at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas from 1988 to 2012, in the areas of German Language and Community Work (university extension), Collaborator in the Discipline of Art, Science and Society for a Culture of Peace, as well as Director of CEL - Language Teaching Center of UNICAMP from 2009 to 2011.

Salette has been a member of the United Religions Initiative (URI) since 2000 and is the co-founder of the URI Cooperation Circle in Campinas. She has served as a member of the URI Global Council since July 2016, and is now re-elected for 2020-2024. She is also a member of four URI Cooperation Circles in the Latin America region, including CC Brasília, Wisdom CC, WIN-CC and the CC of Latin American Musicians. Salette's areas of interest are interfaith cooperation, cultures of peace, disarmament, environment, Indigenous peoples, and the anti-racism struggle.

Francisco Morales

Global Council Trustee for Latin America and the Caribbean

Francisco Morales is Urban Indigenous member of the Aymara community in Argentina, and he is a social science student and writer on issues of Indigenous worldview and Latin American thinking. Francisco has been a part of URI since 2008, when he and others founded Comunidad Cosmica CC. He was selected as URI Youth Ambassador in 2010 and serves as a member of the URI Multiregion Leadership Team. He has been a part of the youth facilitators team since 2017.

Currently, Francisco is also advisor to different social organizations on issues of interreligious dialogue and diversity in conflict situations. He is a member of the First Nations of America Student Community - CEPNA. Together, with other Indigenous writers, Francisco founded the Circle of Indigenous Written and Oral Knowledge.

Rosa Delia Macas

Global Council Trustee for Latin America and the Caribbean

Rosa Delia Macas (Quizpe), from Ecuador, is a teacher of primary education. She speaks Spanish and Kichwa, the language of the Indigenous people - Kichwa Saraguro. She has a Masters degree in Bilingual Education and is a member of the URI member group CC Samay. Rosa Delia shares her ideas for the URI Latin America and the Caribbean region:

“Start from a new dawn and persevere from the cleanliness and positive changes that we have experienced living in this time of the pandemic-coronavirus since March 2020, in which, the whole of humanity has put on the table the spiritual, material and economic aspect. Generate actions for the responsible care of the environment and good coexistence with the beings of Mother Earth, starting from each of its spaces. Strengthen harmony and peace for the world, starting from the person or from himself- the family, community - people and the world. Exercise and practice inter-religious coexistence, and in harmony achieve consensus for actions for the good of our represented [people].”

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Anwar Dehaq

Global Council Trustee for Middle East and North Africa

Anwar Dahak is from Yemen and is head of the Youth of Peace organization. He works as an Investigative Journalist in ARIJ network and he graduated from the Faculty of Information in Sanna’a University's Public Relations program. Anwar is a member of the United Nations Volunteer Advisory Committee in Yemen, a trainer in the United Nations Volunteer Administration, a trainer in Active Citizenship for the British Council, and he has participated in many conferences worldwide as well. Anwar is the founder of several youth initiatives that have served young people since 2011 and he believes that, in life, all the religions have one thread, which is peace. 

Naoufal El Hammoumi

Global Council Trustee for Middle East and North Africa

Mr. El Hammoumi started working with youth NGOs in Morocco when he was seven years old, and went on to found several national and international level initiatives focused on youth empowerment and engagement in peace tolerance. He is the president of the Young Peoples' Development NGO in Tiflet, the founder of Salam Shabab CC, and a founder-member of the Association of Arab Youths, the International League of Young Journalists, and the Arab Fund to Support Mobility for Young People. Selected as one of the top ten best young journalists in Morocco in 2003 by the Moroccan government, he is also regularly featured in the press and authors works on subjects pertinent to his activism. Through his work with Salam Shabab CC particularly, he hopes to contribute to establishing a harmonious society with people of different religions and an appreciation of this diversity of faith. He is based in Tiflet, Morocco.

Omar Tayeh

Global Council Trustee for Middle East and North Africa

Dr. Omar Ahmad Tayeh is from Amman, Jordan and has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with experiences in the private sector, public institutions, NGOs, and educational institutions. Dr. Tayeh is one of the founders of the Arab Council for Gifted and Talented, Jordanian Psychological Association and Jordanian Volunteer Center, and has worked as a general director for one of the biggest schools in Jordan, as well as the President of Private Schools Council. He has also established cultural exchange programs between Jordan and the USA, Germany, Italy, and other Arab countries. Dr. Tayeh is interested in subjects related to education, peace, cross-cultural Issues, human rights, and religions. 

MULTIREGION

Perri ("P.K.") McCary

Global Council Trustee for Multiregion

Perri (P.K.) McCary is a Houston artist, educator, and social activist who works tirelessly to cultivate relationships across racial, gender, generational, and cultural aisles. P.K. is a founding member of URI, one of many individuals from diverse backgrounds and religions. She is the author of nine books, starting with her acclaimed Black Bible Chronicles series. Her current book, Hindsight2020?, was recently released this year. “Mama PK,” as she is affectionately called, is the co-founder of Think Peace International, a communications media network for peace activists. She is a world traveler and believes that when we PRACTICE to do better, we GET BETTER. 

Morgana Sythove

Global Council Trustee for Multiregion

Morgana Sythove, a Wiccan Elder, first became aware of URI in 2004 at the PWR/Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona but it was not until 2008 that she became involved with URI in the Netherlands. Since then, she has become involved in various CCs in Europe, North America, and South-East Asia. Her interest and passion for Earth Spirituality and environmental issues brought her into contact with many diverse people and cultures. As she became more involved with various grassroots projects she became more aware of the problems Indigenous people face and the many problems caused by pollution and monoculture, resulting in climate change. Morgana has been instrumental in the formation of the new Multi CC Planetary Wellbeing and, together with the URI Environmental Network CC and Spirituality and the Earth CC, has strengthened the bonds with many environmentalists and partner organizations such as Charter for Compassion in supporting grassroots initiatives.

Issac S Thomas

Global Council Secretary; Executive Committee Member; Global Council Trustee for Multiregion

Mr. Issac S. Thomas is a young leader from Kerala, India. He joined URI at the age of 13 and has been working amongst youth since then. Initially part of the South India Sri Lanka region, he was one of the first young leaders training program (YLP) candidate and later became the Youth Ambassador for the region. He founded Global Youth Movement (GYM) CC in 2017 and joined the Multiregion. Under his leadership, youngsters have grown and thrived as individuals and as a group concentrating on platforms like interfaith, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue, conflict resolution and reconciliation, women and youth empowerment, environmental protection and sustainable development, disarmament of nuclear weapons, advocacy for human rights etc. His vision, work ethics and ability to build bridges have kept him steadfast in his mission as a peace multiplier. He is also the coordinator of ‘One Billion Youth for Peace’ movement by Cosmic Community CC and an active member of the Youth Ministry of Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Outside of URI, being a Bachelor of Technology graduate in electronics and communication, he works as a Network Engineer in Doha, Qatar. He strongly believes that URI is a global family and sticks to the motto 'Think globally and act locally.'

NORTH AMERICA

Geneva Blackmer

Global Council Trustee for North America

Geneva Blackmer is the current Program Director for The Interfaith Center at Miami University. She holds a B.A. in Religion and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Athens State University. She is a first-year interdisciplinary Ph.D. student in Theology at Amridge University. She serves as an At-Large Director for the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council and an Administrative Director for the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada. As an intern and historian for CRES, she helped found the Kansas City Interfaith History Project, in conjunction with her published thesis. She has previously worked with the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington on Emergency Services Resource Outreach and the Parliament of the World's Religions on their Climate Commitments Project.  

Fred Fielding

Global Council Trustee for North America

Mr. Fielding is an Episcopalian and a lifelong resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, and first discovered interfaith work as a seminary student. His background in television production has also translated into his interfaith work, supporting youth activists and use of digital technology to enable a deeper interfaith, inter-generational focus. He has produced videos and facilitated programs with youth and digital media as an entry to interfaith relationship building for URI, Partners in Peace, and Crop Walk SF. He is based in California, USA.

Valeria Vergani

Global Council Trustee for North America

Valeria Vergani is a graduate student in religious studies at the University of Toronto, where she focuses on the history and development of the interfaith movement in North America. She also works as Interfaith Coordinator for City in Focus Foundation, an interdenominational Christian foundation based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Originally from Italy, Valeria moved to Canada in 2012, to pursue her interest in interfaith action and cooperation.

SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Abelardo A. Moya

Global Council Trustee for Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Abelardo A. Moya transcends from being a political activist and revolutionary into a peacebuilder and community development expert, and a conflict transformation practitioner, who embraces the active-non-violent principle anchored in the Christian faith. With over 27 years of experience, he has built on the theory and practice of Mindanao conflict resolution processes with non-state actors: Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth. He successfully implemented 40+ peace and development projects; conducted more than five project-end external evaluations, one appraisal mission on forced internal displacement, and various technical consultancy works. Abel values unity in diversity and practices mission-based leadership and governance.

Butmao Sourn

Global Council Trustee for Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Butmao Sourn lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and has more than thirteen-year experience in the legal and human rights field including nine years with a senior management level. He is responsible for managing program development, conducting research-analysis legal and policy records, leadership, and office management. He is a fellow of KAICIID and a part-time professor teaching criminal law and technical research with Preah Sihanoukraja Buddhist University. He is the Head of the Human Rights and Land Rights Section at the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC). He is a former Executive Director of Minority Rights Organization, Project Management, and Research Advisor to Ministry of Cult and Religion, Legal Consultant for Statelessness at Jesuit Refugee Service and a Legal Assistant to Co-Civil Party Lawyers before the ECCC. Butmao has experienced presenting the report to UNHRC-UPR pre-session 3rd cycle in Geneva and UN Regional in Bangkok. 

Bishop Stephen L. Villaester

Global Council Trustee for Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Chairing the Interfaith Council for Peace in Mindanao, Bishop Stephen L. Villaester has been doing interfaith work for over twenty years. He knows that accomplishing the goals of URI at the local level contributes to the synergy that is created at the global level.