Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi has been leading the global fight against child slavery for over three decades. As the founder of a grassroots nonprofit, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save Childhood Movement, he has rescued more than 80,000 Indian children to date from various forms of exploitation from child labor to child trafficking. Kailash’s work has involved organizing almost weekly raid, rescue and recovery missions on workplaces that employ and enslave children. Since 2001, Satyarthi has risked his own life to rescue these children and has convinced families in more than 300 Indian villages to avoid sending their children to work, and instead send them to school. Satyarthi has also managed to grab and retain the world’s attention on the problem. He organized the Global March Against Child Labor in the 1990s to raise awareness and free millions of children shackled in various forms of modern slavery. His activism was also instrumental in the adoption of Convention No. 182 by the International Labour Organization, a statue that’s become a guideline for many governments on child labor. In 2014, he and Malala Yousafzai were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” Most recently, Satyarthi was named to Fortune’s list of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.”

Over his long and distinguished career in medicine and health policy, Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., has championed efforts to overcome health disparities in the U.S., and to inspire students from minority populations to enter the scientific and health care professions. Early in his career, he served as the founding dean and first director of the Morehouse School of Medicine, the first medical school established at a Historically Black College in the 20th century. Later, as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Dr. Sullivan led efforts to improve the health and health behaviors of all Americans through multiple public health strategies, and he promoted increased gender and ethnic diversity in senior positions at HHS.

We’re pleased to announce that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will be giving the welcome address at the Opening Dinner of our 2015 Annual Conference. The Opening Dinner is scheduled for Thursday, November 12th.

Kasim Reed is the 59th mayor of the city of Atlanta and began his second term in January 2014. Reed has increased core services, reduced spending, created the largest police force in the city’s history, reopened recreation centers, and improved fire-rescue response times. Under his leadership, the city has had four years of balanced budgets with no property tax increases, and its cash reserves have grown from $7.4 million to more than $138 million. Reed previously served eleven years as a member of the Georgia General Assembly and is a former partner of Holland and Knight LLP.

We’re pleased to announce that former Ambassador Andrew Young will be joining Mayor Reed in giving welcome remarks at the Opening Dinner of our 2015 Annual Conference. The Opening Dinner is scheduled for Thursday, November 12th.

Andrew Young is a prominent civil rights leader and politician. He first became a minister within the United Churches of Christ in the 1950s. Early in his career he studied Gandhi’s methods of nonviolent resistance. Young became involved in voter registration drives within the civil rights movement. He became an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King early in King’s career. Young gained a reputation as a negotiator and a strategist. At the time of King’s death in 1968, Young had become the executive director of King’s organization (the SCLC). In the early 1970s Young was elected to Congress, representing the region of Atlanta, Georgia. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, Young was appointed to be the U.S Ambassador to the United Nations. In the 1980s he was elected to two terms as Mayor of Atlanta. In the 1990s Young was instrumental in bringing the Olympic Games to Atlanta. In the 2000s Young served as the president of the National Council of Churches, and as co-chair of GoodWorks International.

Sworn in on February 13, 1998, Dr. David Satcher became the second person in history to ever simultaneously hold the positions of Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health simultaneously. Serving under both Democratic and Republican parties as Surgeon General, he led the Department’s efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health. He also released Surgeon General’s reports on tobacco and health, mental health, suicide prevention, mental retardation, sexual health and responsible sexual behavior, youth violence prevention, and obesity. Prior to accepting his position as Surgeon General, Dr. Satcher served as director of the Centers for Disease Control and president of Meharry Medical College. He currently occupies the Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and serves on the board of directors for Johnson and Johnson, MetLife, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most recently, Dr. Satcher teamed up with Fuel Up to Play 60, an in-school program dedicated to fighting childhood obesity by encouraging proper nutrition and exercise practices in schools. Well-respected by the medical, business, and political communities, Dr. David Satcher continues to dedicate his life’s work to promoting healthy lifestyles for all Americans.

Laura Turner Seydel is an international environmental advocate and eco-living expert dedicated to creating a healthy and sustainable future for our children. Laura is chairperson of the Captain Planet Foundation, which funds environmental stewardship projects worldwide. She co-founded Mothers and Others for Clean Air and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. She serves on the Board for The Turner Foundation, Environmental Working Group, League of Conservation Voters, Defenders of Wildlife, Waterkeeper Alliance, Carter Center Board of Councilors, Rotary Club of Downtown Atlanta and Advisory Board for the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Laura lives with her husband and her three children in the first LEED certified Gold residence in the southeastern US.

In November, 2014, Dr. John Eaves was elected to his third four-year term as Chairman of the Fulton County Commission receiving 63 percent of the popular vote. Since 2007, he has led the state’s most populous and dynamic county, home to nearly one million residents and 14 municipalities including Georgia’s capitol city of Atlanta. Before entering politics, John, a two time Fulbright recipient, held leadership roles in nonprofit and academic arenas, both nationally and abroad. For seven years, he served as the Southeast Regional Director of the Peace Corps, helping bring educational and healthcare assistance to the people of South Africa, Sierra Leone, Paraguay, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Here at home, he is most proud of launching Fulton County’s SMART Justice Advisory Council, a group of community and law enforcement leaders working to reduce recidivism rates, find alternative programs for first-time offenders, and help motivated inmates reclaim their lives. He has also been an unwavering champion for the Grady Hospital System – a pillar of our community and the chief caregiver for so many working class people across metro Atlanta. Chairman Eaves is a graduate of Morehouse College; he has a Master’s Degree in Religion from Yale University and earned his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of South Carolina. When he isn’t working for Fulton County, John stays busy providing leadership training and executive coaching with TalentQuest. John resides in Atlanta and is the devoted father of two children, Isaac and Keturah.

Bea Perez will be joining other noted panelists in a Mercer University Signature Panel on Sustainability on Saturday, November 14th during the Fulbright Association 2015 Annual Conference. As Chief Sustainability Officer for The Coca-Cola Company, Bea Perez drives a global Sustainability strategy that’s growing the business while making a positive difference for people and the environment. Prior to becoming CSO, Perez was the Chief Marketing Officer for the company’s North American Division, where she helped bring brands to life through partnerships with NASCAR, NBA, LeBron James, American Idol, the OSCARS, Ryan Seacrest, and others. Perez is a member of the American Advertising Hall of Achievement and the Sports Business Journal’s Hall of Fame. In 2014, Hispanic Executive magazine named her as a Top 10 Leader, and Green Building & Design magazine included her on their list of the “10 Most Powerful Women in Sustainability.” She has been featured as one of the 25 Most Powerful Latinas on CNN en Español as well as in People en Español

Dikembe Mutombo is a champion of many humanitarian efforts and a frequent speaker on his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Best known for his 18 years in the NBA, Mutombo was a prolific shot-blocker and will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. He came to the United States on a USAID scholarship to study Pre-Med at Georgetown University and was recruited to play basketball by legendary coach John Thompson during his sophomore year. Giving back has been a lifelong mission for Mutombo. He is Chairman of the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, which he founded in 1997 to improve the health, education and quality of life for people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Located in Atlanta, his foundation raised $29M to fund the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa. Former spokesman of international relief agency CARE, he has been recognized with numerous awards for his humanitarian efforts including recognition by Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama. Currently, he serves on several boards including the Special Olympics, CDC Foundation and UNICEF.

Dr. Madeleine E. Hackney, Ph.D, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Movement Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She is a Research Health Scientist at the Atlanta VA Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation and an Assistant professor of Medicine, in the division of General Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine. For 15 years, Dr. Hackney had a successful professional dance career and taught fitness, Pilates, yoga and dance classes. Performance credits include the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, the musicals, Evita, Oklahoma and Phantom of the Opera, the movies Mona Lisa Smile, Mad Hot Ballroom, industrials for Emanuel Ungaro, and an appearance on the Today Show. She has performed ethnic dances, ballet, contemporary and many ballroom and Latin dance styles.

Her doctoral work began inquiry into the analysis of challenging exercise programs: traditional exercise, Tai Chi and partnered dance & tango classes, designed to improve physical function and quality of life in people with Parkinson Disease (PD) and older adults. Currently, Dr. Hackney aims to determine the characteristics of physical rehabilitative strategies, in terms of movement pattern and timing, dosage, duration, intensity and the role of the partner to enhance balance, mobility and quality of life for older adults with movement disorders. Her research has received media coverage in the New York Times, Scientific American, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, National Public Radio and in Musicophilia, by Oliver Sachs. Dr. Hackney has presented her work about exercise for those with PD internationally, including at the Karolinska Institute Nobel Forum.