2008 Clinton Global Citizen Award Winners announced

Former President Clinton recognized four remarkable individuals for their leadership and impact in improving the lives of millions around the globe at the second annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards. The Clinton Global Citizen Awards ceremony concluded day two of the Clinton Global Initiative’s fourth Annual Meeting, which convenes world leaders from government, the private sector, and NGOs to create lasting, positive change across the world.

“The Global Citizen Awards are about honoring and inspiring service to humanity” President Clinton said. “Our award recipients were chosen from a pool of remarkable candidates. Their innovation, dedication and determination have changed lives, and their actions serve as models of what each of us can do to make a difference in the world.”

Award winners were nominated by a collection of global leaders and selected for their visionary leadership and sustainable, scalable work in solving pressing global challenges. Honorees were chosen from civil society, the private sector, the philanthropic community and public service.

The 2008 Clinton Global Award Winners are:

Jennifer and Peter Buffett
Co-chairs, NoVo Foundation

The Buffetts have led an inspirational campaign to improve the status of women and girls across the globe. Their innovative approach to philanthropy has leveraged the capacity of existing organizations to affect real, positive change. Among various targeted investments, the NoVo Foundation has pledged US$30 million over five years to help rebuild the education systems and address violence against women and girls in post-conflict West Africa. Their fresh approach to fostering sustainable change has catalyzed action in the donor community world wide.

Xiaoyi (Sheri) Liao
Founder and President, Global Village of Beijing

Sheri Liao has become one of China’s best-known environmental activists for her pioneering work over the last decade, including the establishment of an environmental program on Chinese public television, cooperating with the Xuan Wu municipal government to found the first Green Community in China and, most recently, was an environmental adviser to the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.

Julio Frenk
Senior Fellow, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
President, Carso Health Institute

Julio Frenk has changed the way practitioners and policy makers across the world think about health. As result of Frenk’s work as minister of health of Mexico, Mexican health insurance is expanding access to quality care for almost 50 million Mexicans. Frenk will assume the position as the new dean of the Harvard School of Public Heath in 2009. His ongoing work continues to deliver a greater focus on evidence-based decision making with life-saving results.

Neville Isdell
Chairman of the Board, the Coca-Cola Company

Neville Isdell is one of the most articulate advocates for social action in the business community. Under his leadership, Coco-Cola has built partnerships that support more than 120 community water projects in over 50 countries and his advocacy of the private sector’s leadership role in combating HIV/AIDS in Africa, has further verified the capacity of the business sector to strengthen and improve the communities it serves.

Part of the fourth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, this special ceremony was hosted by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Youssou Ndour and his band Le Super Etoile de Dakar performed at the ceremony, as well as singer/songwriter James Taylor. Clinton Global Citizen Award statues were designed and sculpted by Mozambican artist Gonçalo Mabunda.

To date, Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) members have made nearly 1,000 commitments valued at upwards of $30 billion to improve the lives of more than 200 million people in over 150 countries. CGI University (CGI U) and MyCommitment.org have also inspired action on a large scale.

The CGI community is helping to:

• Avoid or reduce more than 40 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions
• Supply more than 4 million people with access to clean-energy services in the developing world
• Fund more than 270 microfinance institutions, permitting access to finance for close to 3 million microentrepreneurs
• Provide more than 8 million children with access to schooling
• Increase access to health services or improve quality of care for over 11 million people
• Target 34 million people for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases
• Provide interventions addressing malnutrition or under-nutrition for over 42 million children

Further information about the Clinton Global Initiative is available at www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.