Management

LibForAll Foundation's board and management consist of a close-knit team of individuals whose lifelong experience, training and passions have equipped them to play a vital role in accomplishing the Foundation's mission.

Chairman & CEO: C. Holland Taylor
C. Holland Taylor was educated at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Princeton University; has studied in Berlin, Germany; and has been involved with the Muslim world for more than four decades—having spent years in the Middle East and Indonesia.

At the age of 26, Mr. Taylor co-authored two books (The Prosperity Handbook and A Christian Guide to Prosperity) which presented the case for economic liberty and political reform to a wide general audience. Endorsed by the American Economic Council, The Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education and over 40 U.S. congressmen and senators, The Prosperity Handbook and its companion volume went on to become bestsellers in the U.S. (sample endorsements).

From 1993-98, Mr. Taylor served first as president, then CEO of USA Global Link, a pioneering international telecom company which he helped to build from scratch, with sales representatives and/or customers in over 100 countries worldwide, including Dupont, IBM, Baker & McKenzie, Bechtel, Dun & Bradstreet, Eli Lilly, Colgate-Palmolive, Del Monte, Kimberly Clark, Hyatt, Lehman Brothers, Levi Strauss, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Unisys, Arthur Anderson, the Rockefeller Foundation, Lloyds Bank, The National Bank of Canada, Air France, Airbus Industrie, Banque Rothschild, Banque National de Paris, Credit Lyonnais, Interpol, Medecins Sans Frontieres, GEC Alstom, Hoechst, Sandoz, Commerzbank, ING Bank, Siemens, Daewoo, Fuji, Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Seiko, CARE International, the United Nations and the United States government, among others.

Mr. Taylor has been credited by numerous leading business and telecom industry publications as being one of the essential catalysts in the deregulation of the global telecommunications industry. In his work at USA Global Link, Mr. Taylor used his knowledge of economics and politics to build a successful business by introducing competition to previously monopolistic markets; freeing customers from their dependence on a single high-priced and inefficient service provider; navigating a hostile regulatory environment; dealing effectively with governments on six continents, which generally owned the monopolies being undermined by USA Global Link; harnessing the power of the mass media to promote his company's interests; forging powerful business alliances (including a 'sole provider' relationship with the World Trade Centers Association, representing 283 World Trade Centers in 86 nations with over 400,000 members), and dramatically lowering the cost of telecommunications service to customers worldwide.

Mr. Taylor has served as Vice-chairman of the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA); was elected to multiple terms on the board of directors of the U.S.-based Telecommunications Resellers Association (now known as CompTel/ASCENT) by the TRA's approximately 400 members; and served as an advisor to the U.S. State Department, and to the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, on matters of global telecom liberalization.

In his roles as author and businessman, Mr. Taylor has appeared on numerous U.S. and international television and radio programs, and been the subject of widespread print coverage including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, Barron's, Financial Times, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, Business Week, AP, UPI, Reuters, Communications Week International, tele.com, Internet Week, Der Spiegel, Stern, Nikkei, Telecomunicaciones Latinoamerica, and numerous other national and international publications.

Following his retirement from the telecom industry in 1998, Mr. Taylor pursued an in-depth study of Javanese culture, inspired by its unique synthesis of religious pluralism, tolerance and diversity.  In the wake of 9/11, this in turn led to the establishment of LibForAll Foundation, and its work to strengthen moderate and progressive Muslims in their efforts to promote the culture of liberty and tolerance, while preserving the positive values of local, native cultures throughout the Muslim world.

Mr. Taylor is also the author of The Mystics, a recently-completed historical novel which tells the story of Senopati ing Alogo, an heroic figure who defeated radical Muslim attempts to annihilate his ancient culture, 500 years ago. In doing so, the novel reveals how tolerant, mystically-inclined Javanese Muslims triumphed in their military and ideological conflict with an earlier generation of militant extremists, who were much like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

Mr. Taylor is fluent in English, Indonesian/Melayu and German.

 

Vice President: Dr. Ravi Krishnamurthy
Dr. Ravi Krishnamurthy was born in Chennai, India. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras) and a Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, USA. He secured the All-India rank of 32nd out of 80,000 applicants in the highly competitive nationwide entrance exam to the IITs.

A successful technologist and businessman, Dr. Krishnamurthy holds 18 patents in several technical areas. His business experience includes the penetration of new markets; managing the adoption of visionary solutions; designing new and complex technologies; and managing globally distributed projects, executed by virtual teams.

Dr. Krishnamurthy has a profound grasp of the essence of Islam and applies his business and technical skills to develop LibForAll’s organization and oversee its programs. He has been instrumental in refining LibForAll’s strategy, expanding LibForAll’s portfolio of programs, developing detailed proposals, elaborating work plans, executing programs, managing project teams and creating reusable project templates. He played a key role in the expansion of LibForAll’s counter-radicalization programs to Europe and neighboring regions.

Dr. Krishnamurthy manages relationships with partner organizations and presents LibForAll’s work at public forums. He has been an expert presenter at several international conferences, including: the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s conference on Preventing Incitement to Terrorism in Vienna; the European Commission’s conference on Preventing Radicalization through Education in Brussels; the National Homeland Defense Foundation’s annual symposium in Colorado Springs; and Religious Freedom Day on the Hill in Washington, D.C. He was invited to the First Annual Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in Madrid. In March 2008, he was invited to speak at COASI, the European Union’s Working Group on Asia, where he was requested to present “LibForAll’s general experience of how to work the anti-extremist agenda,” and “provide suggestions on how the EU could contribute to the promotion of moderate Islam.” He is also an advisor to the Asia Europe Foundation on their Dialogue of Cultures and Civilisations Programme.

Dr. Krishnamurthy was one of the organizers of the historic Bali Holocaust Conference, sponsored by LibForAll Foundation and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where top Muslim leaders rejected the evils of Holocaust denial and affirmed religious tolerance as a "blessing for all creation."  Held in response to the December '06 Holocaust denial conference in Tehran, the summit showcased Indonesia's ability to play a unique role in promoting tolerance between religions, and discrediting the ideology of hatred.

Dr. Krishnamurthy speaks English and Tamil and reads/writes Hindi fluently.

 

Academic Director, International Institute of Qur'anic Studies: Dr. Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd
Dr. Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd is a renowned Egyptian scholar and reformer, and a respected member of LibForAll’s Board of Advisors. Dr. Abu-Zayd is a pioneer in the field of Qur'anic hermeneutics – examining the Qur'an from a linguistic and contextual perspective to understand its nature, contents and origin. He combines this with a study of modern Islamic thought, by critically approaching classical and contemporary Islamic discourse in the fields of theology, philosophy, law, politics and humanism. The aim of his research is to suggest and develop a theory of hermeneutics that might enable Muslims to build a bridge between their own tradition and the modern world of freedom, equality, human rights, democracy and globalization

Born in Tanta, Egypt in 1943, Dr. Abu-Zayd holds a BA, MA and Ph.D. with highest honors in the field of Arabic and Islamic Studies from Cairo University. Dr. Abu-Zayd is widely regarded as a reformist hero, for his courage in opposing Islamist attempts to stifle freedom of speech in his native Egypt. The object of death threats issued by Ayman al-Zawahiri (Osama bin Laden’s lieutenant) and others, Dr. Abu-Zayd relocated to Europe with his wife in 1995, and now occupies the Ibn Rushd Chair of Humanism and Islam at the University of Humanistics in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He was the 2005 recipient of the Ibn Rushd Prize, awarded by the Ibn Rushd Fund for Freedom of Thought.

Dr. Abu-Zayd is the author of 14 books and scores of articles in his native Arabic. His writings have been translated into Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Persian and Turkish.

 

Director of Finance, Southeast Asia: Sonia Sri Suryani
Sonia Sri Suryani has a bachelor’s degree in English Language Education from Taman Siswa University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Member of a successful business family in Central Java, Ms. Suryani has experience in a variety of fields, including sole management responsibility for a mid-sized agricultural transport company prior to joining LibForAll. In the course of directing these enterprises, Ms. Suryani acquired extensive experience dealing with Indonesia’s local government and bureaucracy—minimizing the impact of an unstable security situation, and a weak judiciary, upon the businesses she has managed.

Ms. Suryani is fluent in Javanese, Indonesian/Melayu and English.

 

Programs Director, Southeast Asia:  Hodri Ariev
Hodri Ariev coordinates various programs in Southeast Asia, as well as key international projects such as LibForAll's 26-episode "Ocean of Revelations" Grassroots Pluralist Network TV/Video Program.  A highly-trained kyai, or 'alim (religious scholar), Mr. Ariev was born in Jember, East Java and hails from a Nahdlatul Ulama pesantren (Islamic Boarding School) background closely affiliated with LibForAll co-founder Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid.  

Kyai Ariev completed his Bachelors degree in Islamic Law (Shari‘ah) at the Annuqayah Islamic Sciences College in Madura Island, East Java, graduating cum laude, and his Masters degree in Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism at the prestigious Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University in Jakarta. His areas of expertise include Islamic law, philosophy, mysticism and Qur’anic exegesis.

Kyai Ariev has served as interim Rector (President) of Annuqayah Islamic Sciences College, handling the process of development and succession within the College, which together with its affiliated boarding school has approximately 8,000 students. He is also an advisor to the Al-Falah and Bahrul Ulum Islamic Boarding Schools in Karangharjo, Silo and Jember, East Java respectively, on academic and institutional development. He lectures on Arabic and English textual studies at Annuqayah Islamic Sciences College in Madura.

Kyai Ariev has written numerous book reviews, essays and articles that have been published in leading newspapers. He has also translated many books from English and Arabic into Indonesian, including Kitâb Kunh Mâ Lâ Budda li al-Murîd Minhu by Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, Tadbîrât al-Ilâhiyyah fî Islâh al-Mamlakah al-Insâniyyah  by Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, Divine Flashes by Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi, The Way of Love by Nigel Watt, The Clash of Fundamentalists by Tariq Ali and Two Faces of Islam by Stephen Schwartz.

Kyai Ariev is fluent in Madurese, Javanese, Indonesian/Melayu, Arabic and written English.

 

Director, International Institute of Qur'anic Studies, Southeast Asia: Dr. Ratno Lukito
Dr. Ratno Lukito is Director of LibForAll’s International Institute of Qur’anic Studies (IIQS) in Southeast Asia. In this capacity, he is responsible for setting the direction of Institute activities within Indonesia; developing the IIQS network and coordinating ongoing relationships with associates, institute faculty and alumni; and organizing all institute activities, including various courses and special programs.  

Dr. Lukito has extensive experience in developing and assessing academic programs, and currently teaches Islamic Law at the prestigious Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN), Yogyakarta. At the Muhammadiyah University, Yogyakarta, Dr. Lukito was responsible for developing a doctoral program in Islamic Studies, and serves as the secretary of this program. At the Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Dr. Lukito is a member of the teaching staff in the American Studies postgraduate school where he lectures Masters students in religion and state in America and the American legal system. He has held positions of national trainer and central committee secretary on basic education projects sponsored by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Asian Development Bank. He serves as an assessor for the Indonesian National Board of University Accreditation and is a member of the International Commission on Folk Law and Legal Pluralism.

Dr. Lukito is the author of 9 books and over 30 articles on Islamic Law, especially as it relates to the Indonesian context. His 2008 book on the conflict between religious and secular law, and their resolution in the Indonesian context, will be distributed by the Supreme Court of Indonesia to judges throughout the country.

Born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Dr. Lukito holds a BA from the State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and both an MA in Islamic Studies and a PhD in Civil Law (DCL) from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He is fluent in English, Arabic, French, Indonesian and Javanese.

 

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