JaLynn Prince is a humanitarian, photographer, businesswoman and the president and founder of the Madison House Foundation. She received her bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, and has done graduate studies at American University in arts administration and at Wesley Theological Seminary in theology.
Professor of sociology and religion at Harvard, Yale, and now Boston University, and visiting professor at many foreign universities, Hillel Levine helped facilitate the first workshops between Israelis and Palestinians organized at Harvard in the early 1970s. Mr. Levine has since conducted research and written books and articles on ethnic and religious conflict. In 1989, he was first sent by the U.S. Department of State as a consultant to China and Japan. He continues that work in those countries as well as South Korea, Cambodia, and India.
Executive Board
A Holocaust survivor who later lived in Israel, Canada, and the U.S., Richard Koerner is a business executive. He co-founded NEC’s semiconductor business in the U.S. and, more recently, High Speed Solutions Corporation, an Intel Company.
Lawyer and international media expert, Wilder Knight is particularly active in Germany and concerned with education about World War II, the media representation of its different facets, and the institutions that support this.
Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann is currently working on a book exploring the role of a small group of American, Diaspora Jews in the arming of the Yishuv between 1945-1949. Prior to returning to the realm of academia, Mr. Hermann spent 30 years in the business world. He was a co-founder of the private equity firm, Heritage Partners, Inc. and helped lead the organization from its inception in 1994 until 2009.
Samir Melki
Dr. Samir Melki is a physician of Lebanese/Palestinian origin whose family comes from Jaffa. He was raised in Lebanon and grew up during the civil wars of Beirut. He studied medicine at Vanderbilt University and did his Fellowship and advanced training as a surgeon at Harvard Medical School. He has had practices in Beirut and London as well as in Boston and suburbs, developing innovative techniques in laser treatments and offering special services to impoverished and immigrant patients from any religious and ethnic backgrounds who would not have access to his specialized medical services. He has visited many countries of the Middle East and he is active in fostering dialogue and cooperative ventures between the minorities of the Middle East.
Matt Ratner
Matt Ratner spent several years working in politics and at the National Security Division at the Department of Justice. He is the President of Tilted Windmill Productions, which he founded with the belief that commercially viable and artistically fulfilling filmmaking need not be mutually exclusive. Tilted Windmill provides both business and creative producing services to projects in all stages of development, working with talented artists to help shepherd their films to the screen.
Emmanuel Tchividjian is a senior vice president and chief ethics officer at Ruder Finn, Inc. He has been with the agency since 1997 when he worked on the Government of Switzerland’s account on issues relating to World War II and the Holocaust. Before this, he worked for the Swiss government and organized special media events. Previously, Tchividjian was the program director of the New England-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Boston. He is the ethics officer of the New York Chapter of PRSA and an ex-officio member of the National Board of Ethics and Professional Standards.
Emmanuel Tchividjian
Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Laureate, and master teacher, Wiesel was known for his passion for peace and his concern for memory as a humanizing force. In his many artistic and philosophical works, he has pointed to the tragic syndromes whereby the memory of pain legitimates future bloodshed. His life, his teachings, his bold leadership and his friendship were great gifts to all. Ely has followed the activities of the Center from its very inception and provided the inspiration for it to be the aim of mitigation for his thought. He has entertained the guests of the Center from friendly and less friendly areas of the world and encouraged us to think about better institutionalizing humanitarian interventions and seeking balance with the mandates of human rights. This inspiration is expressed in everything that we do.
Eugene Weiner
Inspirations
Elie Wiesel
Hillel Levine
JaLynn Prince
Richard Koerner
Wilder Knight
The ICfC was but the last of many organizations that Eugene Weiner inspired in his last year. He managed to get to the first meeting in New York, considerably weakened by his 15-year battle with the cancer that would not enable him to finish his seventh decade and help us get moving, as he was so determined to do. His devotion to reconciliation and identity-based conflicts would present a creative dilemma in the priorities that we established. It would be hard to believe that the same man initiated the frameworks for such different types of organizations, run by and responding to such different needs. But, that was the point. Gene could talk with anyone, and quickly enough, their needs were his and his needs were theirs. For a man of such keen intelligence and emotional strength and strong values, Gene could find merit in the most different types of people. At the same time that he was discovering the importance of engaging the Arabs of Israel, he became responsive to the needs of Jews from Arab countries with large families. We will forever miss him.