Daniel Lubetzky

Daniel Lubetzky "is the Founder of PeaceWorks Holdings LLC, a business corporation pursuing both peace and profit, and of The PeaceWorks Foundation and the OneVoice Movement. In many ways, the evolution of these unorthodox entities reflects Mr. Lubetzky's life experience.

"The son of a Holocaust survivor and a Mexican Jew, Mr. Lubetzky was born in 1968 and raised in Mexico City, where he began his education in Hebrew, English, Spanish and Yiddish. As a teenager, he moved with his family to the U.S., where he added French to his languages. During his college years, Mr. Lubetzky studied abroad in both France and Israel and created a retail watch operation, Da'Leky Times. While in the Middle East, he began developing relationships with Israeli and Palestinian friends. At Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, the seeds of PeaceWorks were planted as Mr. Lubetzky wrote his 268-page thesis, "The Influence of Economic Factors in Resolving the Arab-Israeli Conflict." After receiving his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, in 1990, Mr. Lubetzky worked in Tokyo for a summer with Japan Counselors, a strategic marketing firm, and began learning Japanese. In 1991, Mr. Lubetzky worked as a clerk for The Honorable Thomas R. Phillips, Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of Texas.

"Mr. Lubetzky earned his Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School in 1993, and immediately following, he worked briefly as an attorney for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, and then as a consultant for McKinsey & Company. While deciding whether to go into consulting or legal practice, Mr. Lubetzky was awarded a fellowship from the Haas Koshland Foundation to write about legislative means to foster joint ventures between Arabs and Israelis. He accepted, and traveled to the Middle East where he conducted his research and subsequently published "Incentives for Peace and Profits: Federal Legislation to Encourage U.S. Enterprises to Invest in Arab-Israeli Joint Ventures" in the Michigan Journal of International Law, Winter 1994

"While carrying out his research in Israel, Mr. Lubetzky discovered a delicious sundried tomato product that, along with plans for Arab-Israeli economic cooperation, provided the foundation for PeaceWorks LLC in1994. Since then, Mr. Lubetzky has dedicated himself to fostering the growth and success of the company. PeaceWorks’ distribution network now spans across eight food industries, reaching over 10,000 food outlets, and has developed ventures across four continents. Its brands – from KIND Fruit & Nut Bars which donate 5% of their profits to the PeaceWorks Foundation, to Meditalia and Bali Spice which are made through cooperative ventures among neighbors striving to co-exist in the Middle East and Southeast Asia - have won many awards and wide praise from critics for their quality, taste, packaging and unique mission.

"In the fall of 2000, Mr. Lubetzky began to research creative ways to amplify the voice of moderates in the Middle East, culminating with the creation of the PeaceWorks Foundation’s OneVoice Movement in 2002. With offices in Ramallah, Tel Aviv, London and New York, the OneVoice movement now has 240,000 Palestinian and Israeli members, including 1,800 Youth Leadership Ambassadors with chapters in every Israeli and Palestinian University, and across cities, villages and refugee camps. The movement’s Boards include over 60 luminaries, dignitaries, religious authorities, business leaders, scholars and celebrities across an unprecedented spectrum of politics, ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs, all standing as OneVoice against violent extremism and for a two-state solution.

"In 2006, the PeaceWorks Foundation also launched the Who Am I? Video Exchange Platform project and the PeaceWorks Prize, recognizing positive contributions to the world by exceptional young leaders from the Mideast.

"Mr. Lubetzky was a Visiting Fellow to the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies from 1993-1994 and also founded METIC, a Middle East trade and investment consultancy. He has published numerous articles on legislative, cultural, social and corporate means to foster co-existence in the Middle East. In addition, Mr. Lubetzky has lectured at several prestigious universities such as Harvard, The Fletcher School, and The University of Pennsylvania/Wharton, as well as at the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and the United Nations.

"In 1997, Mr. Lubetzky, then 28 years old, was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow (GLT), and formed the Business of Cooperation GLT Task Force to examine ways in which business can be used as a catalyst for peace and mutual understanding in war-torn and divided societies. He also serves on the WEF’s Council of 100 Leaders on West-Islamic Dialogue.

"In 2003, Mr. Lubetzky received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from his alma mater, Trinity University. In 2004, the World Association of NGOs bestowed him with its Peace, Reconciliation and Security Award. In 2005, Mr. Lubetzky was honored with the Catholic Theological Union’s PeaceMakers Award, and the OneVoice movement received the King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Prize from Queen Noor. In 2006, Mr. Lubetzky was named Young Leaders Forum Fellow by the National Committee for United States-China Relations, and the Monitor Group & Fast Company Magazine recognized him with its Social Capitalist Award as one of “43 Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the World.” In 2007, the World Economic Forum again recognized him as a Young Global Leader, an honor bestowed “on the most distinguished 250 young leaders below the age of 41 from around the world.”"

• Official Core Supporter, United States Committee for a Free Lebanon
• Community of West and Islam Dialogue: Members