MEDIA ADVISORY: NCIV Honors Keith Reinhard With Citizen Diplomat Award
MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Mark Overmann, NCIV
202-842-1414, movermann@nciv.org
Cell (on day of event): 513-237-7480
Cari E. Guittard, BDA
415-608-0806, Cari.Guittard@sf.ddb.com
National Council for International Visitors Honors
Keith Reinhard, President, Business for Diplomatic Action
With Citizen Diplomat Award
Washington, DC, February 9th, 2007 ¿ As part of their annual conference, the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) will present the prestigious Citizen Diplomat Award to Keith Reinhard, President and founder of Business for Diplomatic Action at their opening Global Connections event held at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel. The evening is sponsored by The Boeing Company and will kick off a week of events geared towards engaging every American in citizen diplomacy
The NCIV Citizen Diplomat Award honors an individual who, motivated by a deep understanding of world issues and a commitment to the exchange of persons and ideas, has achieved a recognized standard of excellence in furthering the cause of citizen diplomacy. The highest honor NCIV bestows, the Citizen Diplomat Award has been presented only four times to date. Senator J. William Fulbright was the first to receive the award in 1987. Other recipients include the Honorable John Richardson, former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and founder of the U.S. Institute for Peace (1990), Maya Angelou, the internationally acclaimed poet and activist (1993), and Richard Stanley, founder and president of The Stanley Foundation (2000).
¿The NCIV Board of Directors could not have identified a more worthy recipient of this Award. Keith is a role model that our dedicated citizen diplomats across the country admire and seek to emulate,¿ commented NCIV President Sherry Mueller.
Gene Cunningham, Vice President for Business Development with Boeing added, ¿The Boeing Company supports citizen diplomacy initiatives and is proud to sponsor this NCIV event that honors a businessman who had the courage to develop a way for companies to engage in public diplomacy efforts.¿
Keith Reinhard is founder and President of Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), a nonprofit private sector effort to enlist the U.S. business community in actions aimed at improving the standing of the United States in the world. BDA¿s strategy is to sensitize Americans to the rising problem of anti-Americanism, work to change negative perceptions of Americans as a people, amplify those qualities about America that are still admired, build new bridges with key foreign constituents through business-led initiatives, and serve as the connection between the U.S. government public diplomacy efforts and the resources of the private sector.
¿I am honored to receive this award and to be in the company of so many passionate citizen diplomats. Each of us is an Ambassador for the United States and there has never been a more important time for us all to engage. I began Business for Diplomatic Action three years ago in the hope that we could enlist US companies in private sector led public diplomacy efforts. Now in our forth year, I am proud to say that we not only have companies engaged and taking the lead, but hundreds of partners in the NGO community as well as countless universities and thousands of citizen diplomats working alongside us,¿ Reinhard added, ¿To quote one of our former presidents, Bill Clinton, ¿There is nothing wrong with America that can¿t be cured by what¿s right with America¿¿Citizen Diplomacy is one of those things that is right about America and I challenge every American to join our collective efforts.¿
The program, featuring a keynote presentation by Mr. Reinhard, begins at 6:00 p.m. on February 14, 2007 and is open to the media.
NCIV, a nonprofit organization founded in 1961, is comprised of more than 90 community organizations throughout the country. These nonprofit groups design annd implement custom-tailored professional programs, provide cultural activities, and offer home hospitality opportunities for foreign leaders, specialists, and international scholars. They serve participants in the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program and other exchanges, building person-to-person relationships ¿one handshake at a time.¿ Each is dependent on a corps of volunteers ¿ citizen diplomats ¿ who serve as board members, program officers, professional resources, mentors, and home hosts. Each year more than 80,000 volunteers are involved in NCIV member activities.
The mission of the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV) is to promote excellence in citizen diplomacy. Citizen diplomacy is the concept that, in a vibrant democracy, the individual has the right ¿ even the responsibility ¿ to help shape U.S. foreign relations. For additional information on NCIV, visit http://www.nciv.org
For additional information on Business for Diplomatic Action, go to www.businessfordiplomaticaction.org. To arrange for an interview with Mr. Reinhard please contact Cari E. Guittard, Executive Director of BDA at 415.608.0806 or on Cari.Guittard@sf.ddb.com.
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