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Shamil Idriss

Chief Executive OfficerSearch for Common Ground

Biography

Shamil is privileged to lead the largest non-governmental peacebuilding organization in the world. Believing that the most enduring change is that which makes allies of adversaries and that translates conflict into cooperation, he is honored to count among his colleagues over 800 frontline peacebuilders in more than 30 countries who drive such transformative change in some of the most challenging conflict contexts in the world.

Prior to his current role Shamil served as CEO of Soliya where he led a public-private sector coalition that capitalized the field of virtual exchange. Previously he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to serve as staff director of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, a project intended to improve relations between Western and Muslim-majority countries.

Idriss was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and won the Open Society Foundation’s 2015 New Executive Award. He lives with his wife and two teenage children in Washington, DC.

Regional Focus

Eastern and Southern Africa, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, North America, Southeast Asia, West and Central Africa