Eboo Patel

Named by US News & World Report as one of America's Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith America, the largest organization positively and proactively engaging religious diversity in the United States. Author of five books, including "Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation" (Beacon Press, 2010) which won the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion, Eboo has contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, CNN and National Public Radio. He served on President Obama's inaugural Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. He is an Ashoka Fellow, part of a select network of social entrepreneurs changing the world, and has been awarded honorary degrees from over fifteen colleges. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz Mansuri, and their two sons.

For more on Eboo, check out https://www.interfaithamerica.org/people/eboo-patel/, follow him on Twitter @EbooPatel and "Like" him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EbooPatel.

Also, visit Interfaith America's website at www.interfaithamerica.org or follow us on twitter @InterfaithUSA.

Photo credit: Chris Popio, 2012.