Join the Parliament in Addressing Critical Global Issues & Exploring the Role of Faith Communities

Served four U.S. Presidents, including Staff Assistant to the President (President Gerald Ford), Director of Operations for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (President Ronald Reagan), and as the U.S. Delegate to the World Tourism Organization (elected Chairman of the General Assembly and Security Council). He also served as a Foreign and Defense Policy Assistant at the U.S. Senate and Deputy to the Undersecretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. He is a combat-decorated U.S. Marine Corps officer, having served as an infantry Firebase Commander and Intelligence Officer in Vietnam.

The Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World's Religions, President and Founder of the International Academy for Transcultural Cooperation, President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, Chair of the UN Task Force of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, and co-facilitator of the United Religions Initiative UN Cooperation Circle.

The Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. He earned his B.A. in Religion from Tufts University, where he also earned an Asian Studies minor and completed the Program in Peace and Justice Studies. He subsequently earned his M.T.S. degree from Harvard Divinity School and his M.A. degree through the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He went on to receive his J.D. degree from University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where he also completed the Critical Race Studies Program and served as an editor for the Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law. He earned his Ph.D. through the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town, where his doctoral research focused on religion and popular culture.