2023 World Culture Festival: List of Confirmed Dignitaries
As of September 23, 2023

Reception Committee Members

1. H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations, Chair, Reception Committee of World Culture Festival, South Korea (speaking)

2. H.E. Rosalía Arteaga Serrano, Former President, Ecuador (speaking)

3. The Honorable Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister, Norway (speaking)

4. H.E. Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Former President, Mongolia (speaking)

5. H.E. Federico Franco, Former President, Paraguay (speaking)

6. H.E. Dr. Moncef Marzouki, Former President of Tunisia (speaking)

7. H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President, Nigeria (speaking)

8. The Honorable Alojz Peterle, Former Prime Minister, Slovenia (speaking)

9. H.E. Akie Abe, Former First Lady of Japan (speaking)

10. The Honorable Erik Solheim, Former UN Deputy Secretary-General and Executive Director, UNEP; Former Minister of International Development, Norway (speaking)

11. The Honorable Ms. Sumitra Mahajan, Former Speaker of the Lok Sabha (speaking)

12. The Honorable Hildebrando Tapia, Former Congressman, Government of Peru (speaking)

13. The Honorable Binod Chaudhary, Member of Parliament, Nepal

14. The Honorable Hakubun Shimomura, Member of the House of Representatives, Japan (speaking)

Current Heads of State

15. H.E. Prithvirajsing Roopun, President, Mauritius (speaking)

16. H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President, Ghana – likely

Former Heads of State

17. H.E. Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Former President of India (speaking)

U.S. Government Officials 

18. The Honorable Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General (speaking)

19. The Honorable Rick Scott, US Senator (R-FL) (speaking)

20. The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Former Speaker of the House of Representatives – likely

21. The Honorable Danny Davis, US Representative (D-IL) (speaking)

22. The Honorable Bill Foster, US Representative (D-IL) – likely

23. The Honorable Mike Quigley, US Representatives (D-IL)

24. The Honorable Raja Krishnamoorthi, US Representative (D-IL) (speaking)

25. The Honorable Neal Dunn, US Representative (R-FL) (speaking)

26. The Honorable Kat Cammack, US Representative (R-FL) (speaking)

27. The Honorable Kevin Kiley, US Representative (R-CA) (speaking)

28. The Honorable Shri Thanedar, US Representative (D-MI) (speaking)

29. The Honorable Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Asst. Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

30. Montserrat Garibay, Assistant Deputy Secretary & Director in the Office of English Language Acquisition, US Department of Education

31. The Honorable Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington DC (speaking)

Ministers / Parliament Members / Ambassadors

32. The Honorable Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India (speaking)

33. The Honorable Luis Almagro, Secretary General, Organization of American States (speaking)

34. The Honorable Krishnakoemarie Mathoera, Minister of Defense, Suriname (speaking)

35. The Honorable Sergiu Prodan, Minister of Culture, Moldova (speaking)

36. The Honorable Charles Ramson, MP, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Guyana (speaking)

37. The Honorable Ananda Bose C.V., Governor of West Bengal, Republic of India

38. Right Honorable Sir Robert James Buckland KBE KC MP, Former Lord Chancellor and Wales Secretary (speaking)

39. The Honorable Ryszard Czarnecki, Member of European Parliament, Poland (speaking)

40. The Honorable Dr. André Hahn, Member of Parliament, Germany (speaking)

41. The Honorable Juan Carlos Losada Vargas, Member of House of Representatives, Colombia

42. The Honorable Himanshu Gulati, Member of Parliament, Norway (speaking)

43. The Honorable Nirj Deva, Former Vice President and Member of European Parliament, European Parliament

44. Dr. Pasqualine Gallacchi, Member of the State Parliament, Basel, Switzerland

45. The Honorable Lilit Makunts, Ambassador of Armenia to the United States

46. The Honorable Muhammad Imran, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States

47. The Honorable Henri Etoundi Essomba, Ambassador of Cameroon to the United States

48. The Honorable Ivonne Baki, Ambassador of Ecuador to the United States

49. The Honorable Samuel Hinds, Ambassador of Guyana to the United States

50. The Honorable Szabolcs Ferenc Takacs, Ambassador of Hungary to the United States

51. The Honorable Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Ambassador of India to the United States

52. Ambassador Maris Selga, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the United States of America

53. The Honorable Tumisang Mosotho, Ambassador of Lesotho to the United States

54. The Honorable Esme Chombo, Ambassador of Malawi to the United States

55. The Honorable Batbayar Ulziidelger, Ambassador of Mongolia to the United States

56. The Honorable Sridhar Khatri, Ambassador of Nepal to the United States

57. The Honorable Elizabeth Darius-Clarke, Ambassador of Saint Lucia to the United States

58. The Honorable Sidique Wai, Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the United States

59. The Honorable Mahinda Samarsinghe, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States

60. The Honorable Hanène Tajouri Bessassi, Ambassador of Tunisia to the United States

61. Shireen Ibrahim Fattah, Women leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party

Other Notable Dignitaries

62. The Honorable Inkosi Langa Mavuso, Deputy Chairperson National House, Traditional and Khoisan Leaders

Organizing Committee Members 

63. Mrs. Vida Ali, Board of Directors, DC Chamber of Commerce

64. Mr. Nirvana Chaudhary, Managing Director, The Chaudhary Group

65. Mr. Tim Draper, Founder, Draper Associates/DFJ/Draper University

66. Mr. Louis Gagnon, Founder and CEO, Regenerative Group

67. Mr. Satish Gupta, Founder, President and CEO, SB International, Inc.

68. Mr. Anurag Jain, Chairman and CEO, Access Healthcare, Inc.

69. Dr. Manoj Jain, President, Mid-South Infectious Disease Associates (MIDA)

70. Mrs. Tonya Kinlow, Chair, Board of Directors, DC Chamber of Commerce

71. Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, Former Chef-de-Cabinet, Special Ambassador to Myanmar, United Nations

72. Mr. Chirag Patel, President and CEO, Amneal Pharmaceuticals

73. Mr. Vivek Paul, Adjunct Professor, Stanford University, Former CEO, Wipro Limited

74. Mr. Mike Perlis, Vice Chairman of Forbes Media

75. Mr. Sanjay Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer, Open Government Partnership

76. Mr. M.R. Rangaswami, Founder, Indiaspora Forum and CorporateEco Forum, Managing Director, Sand Hill Group

77. Mr. Madhu Rao, Former CEO, Shangri-La Group

78. Mr. Anupam Satyasheel, Founder & CEO, Occams Advisory, Inc.

79. Mr. Rob Trombold, President, Art of Living

80. Mr. Reginald Van Lee, Partner and Chief Transformation Officer, Carlyle Group

Business and Education Leaders 

81. Dean Phylicia Rashad, Dean, Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts, Howard University

82. Mr. Inge Andersen, Senior Business Consultant, Former Secretary General of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Norway

83. Mr. Hermie Bacus, Field Chairman and Founding Executive, FinFit Life

84. Ms. Elva Susana Balbo, Chair, Women 20

85. Mr. Jaka Bizilj, Founder and Chairman, Cinema for Peace Foundation

86. Ms. Milagros Brito, President, Vizaro

87. Ms. Carolina Bugaian, General Manager, Moldcell

88. Mr. Luis Gallardo, Founder and President of World Happiness Foundation & World Happiness Fest

89. Ms. Jenn Graham, Founder and CEO, Inclusivv

90. Ms. Inma Grass, Founder and Partner, Altafonte

91. Ms. Alexcia Harrison, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development, CVS / Aetna

92. Ms. Stasshani Jayawardena, Executive Director Aitken Spence Member, Clinton Global Foundation, Sri Lanka

93. Mr. Jay Kelly, Entrepreneur & Founder, Return on Good

94. Mr. Chris Larsen, Executive Director and Founder, Ripple Labs

95. Dr. Lei Lewis, Founder & CEO, Global Women Empowerment

96. Johane Ligonde, CEO, Joyous Leader

97. Mr. Simon Littlewood, CEO, SDG Global Group

98. Mr. Vinay Mahajan, President, IT Serve Alliance

99. Mr. Ashok Mago, Founding Chairman, USICOC

100. Mr. Mack (Praful) Makode, VP and Treasurer, Under Armor

101. Ms. Tracy McWill, CEO Inspire Global Ventures

102. Ms. Moradeun Ogunlana, CEO Innovative Global Consulting

103. Me. Natalia Ocampo Pagano,  Co-Founder and CEO Mujeres Latinas Unidas Plus, President, Women Economic Forum, San Antonio TX

104. Ms. Ann C. Oleson, President, Return on Good

105. Dr. Srilekha Palle, Board Member, Virginia Asian Advisory Board

106. Ms. Andi Poch, Partner, Wingman 63 LLC

107. Mr. Peter Marti, CEO, Marti Online Solutions, Switzerland

108. Dr. Venkat Rayapati, Founder & CEO, Cyber Forza

109. Mr. Debdas Sen, CEO, TCG Digital

110. Mr. Justin B. Smith, Founder, SEMAFOR

111. Ms. Andreina Tamayo, Owner, President, Tamayo & Cía, Industrial Servibottle

112. Dr. P. D. Vaghela, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

113. Ms. Julia Valentine, COO, CTO, Alphamille

114. Ms. Phoebe Van Tran, CEO Capital Advisory

115. Ms. Melina Yanulis, Leader of Strategic Alliances for Commercial Banks, Macro Bank, Argentina

Spiritual & Religious Leaders 

116. The Reverend Bishop Emeritus Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Chancellor emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; Chancellor emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Holy See, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Holy See

117. The Honorable Dr. Shri Yogi Hari, Master of Yoga and Founder, Sampoorna Yoga

118. Acharya Shri Lokesh Muni, Jain

119. The Reverend Dr. Gerald R. Durley, Pastor Emeritus, Providence Missionary Baptist Church

120. Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter, Dean, Martin Luther King Jr International Chapel, Morehouse College

121. Rev. Michael Beckwith, Founder and Director of Agape International Church

122. Bhai Sahib Satpal Singh Khalsa, Ambassador of Sikh Dharma- USA & Chief Religious and Spiritual Authority of Sikh Religion- Western Hemisphere