Shamil Idriss

Shamil Idriss is CEO of Search for Common Ground (Search), an international non-profit organization whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches toward cooperative solutions.
With 800+ staff working in 35 countries, Search is the largest non-governmental dedicated peacebuilding organization and was nominated by the Quakers for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking of Search’s impact in 2016, then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said “your work in Burundi helped to prevent genocide…and during the Iran [nuclear] talks, the fresh ideas you provided helped us to achieve a breakthrough.”

Prior to his current role, Idriss was the CEO of Soliya where he led a public-private sector coalition to establish the field of virtual exchanges. In 2005, he was appointed by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Deputy Director of the UN Alliance of Civilizations. He served on the Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum's Council of 100 Leaders and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders and recipient of the 2015 Open Society Foundation New Executive Award. He serves on the Boards of Giving Tuesday, Ploughshares Fund, and Soliya.