Join us for one of Asia Society’s longest-standing traditions — the President’s Forum series — with Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, President, and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, and author of Trailblazer: From the Mountains of Kashmir to the Summit of Global Business and Beyond. He has been President of the company since 1985, and Chairman and CEO since 1988. He is the Founder of the Kashmir Study Group, formed to develop ideas and initiate a process to bring peace and a resolution to the Kashmir conflict. Most recently, he was tapped to join the congressionally mandated U.S. Institute of Peace’s (USIP) bipartisan Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States, co-chaired by Governor Thomas Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, who had formerly led the 9/11 Commission.
Mr. Kathwari served as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee, chairman emeritus of Refugees International, advisory member of the New York Stock Exchange, co-chairman of the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council, member of USIP’s International Advisory Council, among others. He has received many awards and recognition including the 2018 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the American Furniture Hall of Fame, Outstanding American by Choice, and was listed by Worth magazine as one of the 50 Best CEOs in the U.S.
Josette Sheeran is President and CEO of the Asia Society, and also serves as the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. She is former vice chair of the World Economic Forum, and Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. She served as a diplomat and negotiator for the United States, including as U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, and as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative.
Asia Society’s signature series “President’s Forum” began three decades ago, in which the president of Asia Society interviews prominent guests on a broad range of Asian and Asian-American topics, including politics, economics, culture, and the media. Past guests include: Yo-Yo Ma, David Henry Hwang, I.M. Pei, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, David Rockefeller, Kofi Annan, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Indra Nooyi, Nicholas Kristof, and many more. President’s Forum programs are made possible through the generous support of the Hazen Polsky Foundation.