8th Clinton Global Citizen Awards Honorees and Additional CGI Participants Announced

Leo DiCaprio to be honored. Seth Meyers, Natalie Merchant, and The Roots to perform.

President Clinton, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton Announce More Participants for 10^th Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting and Honorees and Performers for the 8^th Clinton Global Citizen Awards^TM

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Michelle Bachelet, President of the Republic of Chile; Cherie Blair, Founder, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women; Carlos Alves de Brito, Chief Executive Officer, Anheuser-Busch InBev; Lauren Bush, Founder and CEO, FEED; John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco; Joaquim Alberto Chissano, Former President of the Republic of Mozambique, Chairperson, Joaquim Chissano Foundation; David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy, Inc.; Geena Davis, Founder, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO, XPRIZE; Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO, The Western Union Company; Fadi Ghandour, Founder and Vice Chairman of the Board, Aramex; Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Hugh Grant, Chairman, President, and CEO, Monsanto Company; Tony James, President and COO, Blackstone; Antony Jenkins, Group Chief Executive Officer, Barclays; Donna Karan, Founder, Urban Zen; Laurent Lamothe, Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti; Cindy Hensley McCain, Advisor, McCain Institute for International Leadership; Carolyn Miles, President and CEO, Save the Children; Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Vika Pota, Chief Executive Officer, Varkey GEMS Foundation; Group Director, Corporate Affairs, GEMS Education; Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America Foundation

Seth Meyers to host 8th Annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards™ honoring Leonardo DiCaprio, Founder, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation; Atifete Jahjaga, President of the Republic of Kosovo; Hayat Sindi, Founder and CEO, i2 Institute; and Greg Asbed and Lucas Benitez, Co-founders, Coalition of Immokalee Workers; with appearances by Madeleine Albright, Eva Longoria, Randy Jackson and musical performances by Aloe Blacc, Natalie Merchant, Jason Mraz with special guests Raining Jane, and The Roots

New York, NY – President Bill Clinton, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham

Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton announced new participants for the 10^th Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, to be held September 21-24 in New York City, including 45 current and former heads of state, and more than 1,000 of the most influential leaders from business, government, civil society and philanthropy.

Honorees, participants, and performers for the 8^th annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards^TM were also announced. CGI will open on Sunday, September 21^st with the Clinton Global Citizen Awards^TM, which have honored outstanding individuals in civil society, philanthropy, public service, and the private sector who exemplify global citizenship through their vision, leadership, and impact in addressing global challenges since the first Clinton Global Citizen Awards^TM in 2007.

Hosted by Seth Meyers, of NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” the 2014 ceremony will honor Greg Asbed and Lucas Benitez for their work on behalf of farm workers throughout the United States, Leonardo DiCaprio for his dedication to environmental causes and preservation efforts of the world’s oceans, Hayat Sindi for her work to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among young people in the Middle East, and the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, for promoting reconciliation in the region and building Kosovo’s political and economic institutions to gain EU membership. The event will feature musical performances by Aloe Blacc, Natalie Merchant, Jason Mraz with special guests Raining Jane, and The Roots and appearances by Madeleine Albright, Eva Longoria, and Randy Jackson who serves as music director for the event.

Newly announced participants in the Annual Meeting include the most influential from business, government, civil society and philanthropy, including: Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan;  Michelle Bachelet, President, Republic of Chile; Cherie Blair, Founder, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women; Carlos Alves de Brito, Chief Executive Officer, Anheuser-Busch InBev; Erin Burnett, Anchor, Erin Burnett OutFront; Lauren Bush, Founder and CEO, FEED; John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco; Joaquim Alberto Chissano, Former President, Republic of Mozambique, Chairperson, Joaquim Chissano Foundation; David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy, Inc.; Geena Davis, Founder, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO, XPRIZE; Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO, The Western Union Company; Shelly Esque, President, Intel Foundation; Kelly Evans, Co-anchor, "Closing Bell", CNBC; Fadi Ghandour, Founder and Vice Chairman, Aramex; Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister,  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and CEO, Monsanto Company; Mark Gunton, Chief Executive Officer, Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership; Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN; Tony James, President and COO, Blackstone; Antony Jenkins, Group Chief Executive Officer, Barclays; Musimbi Kanyoro, Chief Executive Officer, Global Fund for Women; Donna Karan, Founder, Urban Zen; Laurent Lamothe, Prime Minister Republic of Haiti; Parker Liautaud, Expedition Leader, Willis Resilience Expedition; Cindy Hensley McCain, Advisor, McCain Institute for International Leadership; Molly Melching, Executive Director, Tostan; Carolyn Miles, President and CEO, Save the Children; Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund; Vika Pota, Chief Executive Officer, Varkey GEMS Foundation; Group Director, Corporate Affairs, GEMS Education; Martin Riant, Group President, Global Baby, Feminine & Family Care, Proctor & Gamble; V. Shankar, Chief Executive Officer, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Americas, Standard Charter Bank; Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New American Foundation, and Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University; Uma Thurman, Founding Board Member, Room to Grow, Award-winning Actress; Xiaogang Wei, Executive Director, Beijing Gender Health Education Institute; Derek Yach Executive Director, The Vitality Institute; and, Fareed Zakaria, Host, Fareed Zakaria GPS, CNN.

Previously announced participants include President Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States; His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Mary Barra, Chief Executive Officer, General Motors Company; Matt Damon, Co-founder, Water.org; Melinda French Gates, Co-chair and Trustee, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group; Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group; Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Chairman, The Paulson Institute, Former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States; Becky Quick, Co-anchor, Squawk Box, CNBC; Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President & CEO, IBM; Charlie Rose, Host, “Charlie Rose Show”; Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation; and Muhammad Yunus, Chairman, Yunus Social Business.

Hillary, Elvis Costello, and The Roots Set to Honor Recipients of 7th Annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards

That is quite a lineup of folks set to honor the awardees! 

President Clinton Announces Recipients of 7^th Annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards

Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Vice President Joe Biden, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, The Roots, and Elvis Costello among those set to honor newly revealed recipients of 2013 Clinton Global Citizen Awards

2013 honorees include New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, 16-year-old girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai, social entrepreneur Bunker Roy, and South Sudanese bishop Elias Taban

New York, NY – Today, President Bill Clinton announced the recipients of the 7^th annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards, where he, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton, and a newly announced lineup, including Vice President Joe Biden, will honor seven people from the public, private and non-profit sectors for their vision and leadership in addressing global problems. Available online in October, the awards will be presented in a special ceremony on Wednesday, September 25 during the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City, where more than 1,000 top business, government, and civil society leaders will convene to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

2013 Clinton Global Citizen Award honorees include 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who, after being shot by the Taliban less than a year ago for her outspoken support for girls’ education, has co-founded the Malala Fund to continue advocating for universal access to education. For his efforts in the areas of health and the environment, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will receive an award for leading the city's response to Hurricane Sandy.

In addition to Vice President Biden, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Nicholas Kristof, columnist, The New York Times; Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and president, Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice; and M. Sanjayan, lead scientist, The Nature Conservancy are slated to make appearances.

The awards show will also feature performances by The Roots, Elvis Costello, Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara, and the musical producer Randy Jackson.

Each year, honorees are nominated by the CGI community based on their visionary leadership, demonstrated impact, and sustainable and scalable work in solving global issues. The 2013 Clinton Global Citizen Award recipients include the following outstanding leaders from government, civil society, the private sector, and philanthropy:

Leadership in Public Service

Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor, City of New York
Michael R. Bloomberg was elected the 108th mayor of the City of New York in 2001. He began his career in 1966 at Salomon Brothers, and after being let go in 1981, he began Bloomberg LP, a startup financial news and information company that now has more than 15,000 employees around the world. As mayor, Bloomberg has cut crime by 35 percent, revitalized the waterfront, implemented ambitious public health strategies, including the successful ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and expanded support for arts and culture. His education reforms have driven graduation rates up by more than 40 percent since 2005. The Mayor’s economic policies have helped New York City avoid the level of job losses that many other cities experienced during the national recession. In fact, New York City has gained back more than 260 percent of the jobs lost during the national recession, and even surpassed the previous record for the number of private-sector jobs, which had been set in 1969. Mayor Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School, and is the father of two daughters, Emma and Georgina.

Leadership in Civil Society

Malala Yousafzai, Campaigner for Girls’ Rights, The Malala Fund
Malala Yousafzai, an educational campaigner from Swat Valley, Pakistan, came into the public eye by writing for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban. Under the pen name Gul Makai, Yousafzai often discussed her family’s fight for girls’ education in her community. In October 2012, Yousafzai was targeted by the Taliban and shot in the head as she was returning from school on a bus. However, she miraculously survived and continues her campaign for education. In recognition of her courage and advocacy, Yousafzai was honored with the National Peace Prize in Pakistan in 2011 and nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in the same year. The youngest person to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Yousafzai was shortlisted for TIME magazine’s Person of the Year and has received numerous other honors. She continues to champion universal access to education through The Malala Fund, a nonprofit organization investing in community-based education programs in disadvantaged communities.

Elias Taban, National Bishop, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of South Sudan and Uganda
Elias Taban, a former child soldier, grew up during Sudan’s civil wars. Despite great hardships, Taban was educated in Africa, receiving diplomas in civil engineering and theology, but returned to Sudan to pastor devastated churches. His courage and selfless efforts saved many lives, and after the war, Taban became known throughout South Sudan as he built schools, orphanages, and hospitals in the region. He and his wife adopted four orphans and currently oversee three orphanages. In addition to leading the Sudan Evangelical Alliance, he organized Tent Makers International to help with challenging construction and transportation needs. Taban also partnered with Water is Basic and became its general director, leading efforts to drill 433 water wells while also providing employment for citizens devastated by the war. He continues to lead peace negotiations among the tribes and provides aid and education for those internally displaced by the tribal violence.

Bunker Roy, Founder, The Barefoot College
Bunker Roy is the founder of the Barefoot College, which has been providing solutions to problems in rural communities for more than 40 years. The Barefoot Approach is a proven community-based model, providing basic infrastructure for power and water in remote, rural areas, as part of an integrated solution to alleviating global poverty. The Barefoot model of community-owned, managed, and financially sustained household solar light systems is today replicated in more than 54 countries, empowering more than 600 Women Barefoot Solar Engineers and providing clean energy access to 450,000 people in nearly 1,650 communities throughout India, Africa, Latin America, the Pacific, and Asia. As a result of Barefoot’s work, one million litres of rainwater have been harvested to provide clean drinking water to over 239,000 school children in more than 1,300 communities worldwide. Roy has been named one of the 50 environmentalists who could save the planet by the Guardian and one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine.

Leadership in the Private Sector

Jessamyn W. Rodriguez, Founder and CEO, Hot Bread Kitchen
Jessamyn Waldman is the founder and CEO of the award-winning Hot Bread Kitchen—a nonprofit bakery often referred to as the “United Nations of Bread.” Since 2008, Waldman has grown the organization from a visionary idea to a thriving workforce development program that blends business and social outcomes. Through this work, Hot Bread Kitchen has become a nationally recognized brand that is sold in over 50 outlets, including Wholefoods and Dean and Deluca, and it’s business model has been recognized by Echoing Green, the Eileen Fisher Company, and the Social Venture Network’s Innovator Award. Before starting Hot Bread Kitchen, Waldman worked around the world in NGOs, government, and the United Nations, focusing on human rights, education, and immigration issues. Waldman holds a Master in Public Administration from Columbia University. In addition, she has a Master Baker certificate from the New School University and was the first woman to be hired as a baker at Chef Daniel Boulud’s renowned restaurant Daniel.

Adam Lowry, Co-Founder and Chief Greenskeeper
Eric Ryan, Co-Founder, Method Products PBC
Adam and Eric make soap. Really nice smelling soap that’s non-toxic and good for the planet. In 2000, Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan co-founded Method Products, the leading innovator in stylish and sustainable personal and home care products. Today, Method has over 100 planet-friendly products in stores across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Method has been ranked #7 on the Inc 500, and #16 on Fast Company’s list of the world’s 50 most innovative companies. As chief greenskeeper at Method, Lowry focuses on bringing sustainable innovations to the Method business through product design, sourcing, production, and marketing. Ryan is the design and marketing side of the duo, working as chief brand architect to leverage Method’s creativity to create a new generation of environmentally-conscious consumers. He has been named an eco-leader by Vanity Fair, a Food & Wine Tastemaker, an eco-revolutionary by Time Magazine, and PETA’s Person of the Year. Lowry and Ryan both reside in San Francisco, California.

About the Clinton Global Citizen Awards
The Clinton Global Citizen Awards were launched in 2007 to honor outstanding individuals for their visionary leadership, demonstrated impact, and sustainable and scalable work in solving global issues. Recipients were chosen from government, civil society, the private sector, and the philanthropic community. Last year’s recipients include: Carlos Slim Helú, founder of Fundación Carlos Slim; Luis A. Moreno, president of Inter-American Development Bank; Denis O’Brien, chairman and founder of Digicel Group; Pepe Julian Onziema, programme director and advocacy officer of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG); The Right Reverend Christopher Senyonjo, executive director of St. Paul’s Reconciliation and Equality Centre; and Katie Stagliano, founder and chief executive gardener of Katie’s Krops. Previous awardees include President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, President of the Dominican Republic Dr. Leonel Fernández, businessman and Mo Ibrahim Foundation chair Dr. Mo Ibrahim, Avon Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung, legendary music producer and jazz performing artist Quincy Jones, TNT CEO Peter Bakker, Voice of Women Organization Executive Director Suraya Pakzad, Rainforest Fund founders Trudie Styler and Sting, and others. Past event performers include Seal, Alicia Keys, Sting, James Taylor, Tony Bennett, K’NAAN and Juanes, among others.