Jim Garrison, Chairman and President, State of the World Forum

Jim Garrison founded and serves as President of the Gorbachev Foundation/USA, which set the stage for the establishment in 1995 of the State of the World Forum, a San Francisco based non-profit institution created to establish a global network of leaders dedicated to creating a more sustainable global civilization. With President Gorbachev as its Convening Chairman, the Forum convenes leaders from around the world and a spectrum of disciplines to its annual and regional conferences and has catalyzed the creation of several independent organizations. Garrison was born in China and grew up in Taiwan. After returning to the US, he began college at Pepperdine University (1969-70), attended the University of Tel Aviv in 1972, and received a B.A. magna cum laude in World History from the Santa Clara University (1973). He then received a double M.T.S. in Christology and History of Religion from Harvard Divinity School (1975); and a Ph.D. in Philosophical Theology from Cambridge University (1982). Garrison published his first book in 1980, The Plutonium Culture (SCM). This was followed by The Darkness of God: Theology After Hiroshima (SCM/1982); The Russian Threat: Myths and Realities (Gateway Books/ 1983); The New Diplomats (Resurgence Press/1984); Civilization and the Transformation of Power (Paraview Press/2000); and America As Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? (Barrett Koehler/2004). Jim Garrison also became President and Chairman of Wisdom University on February 2, 2005; remains President and Chairman of State of the World Forum; and is a Founding Partner in Mosaic Networks, a business development company.

James Hickman

Jim Hickman spent 30 years (1972-2002) developing economic, professional and cultural relations between the United States and the countries within the former Soviet bloc. Recently, he has been developing innovative projects in several countries in Latin America. Hickman has 15 years experience in the financial development of small businesses and start-up companies both in the US and overseas. He spent the 1990’s as a telecommunications executive, co-founding the Russian long-distance company, Rustel, in 1992 and serving as its President from 1992-1997. From 1989-1992, Hickman was CEO of AJ Ventures, Inc., a US company that established commercial enterprises in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. In 1993, as Vice President of the Gorbachev Foundation, he worked with President Gorbachev (and Jim Garrison) on the Foundation’s international programs. Hickman served as the Director of Programs and Business Affairs for State of the World Forum from 2000-2004 before joining the Forum’s Board of Directors. He co-founded, with Jim Garrison, Mosaic Networks in 2003 as a business consulting firm and oversees its telecommunications contract with Polarnet Project Holdings which is installing an undersea cable system beneath the Arctic Circle that will link Europe, Asia, and North America. Hickman serves on the Executive Committee of the Citizen Democracy Corps, promoting and developing enterprises and NGO’s in emerging and transitional economies. He has a special interest in socially responsible investments and is a member of the Social Venture Network. Hickman wrote the Harper-Collins book, Your Y2K Personal Protection Plan, a citizens’ guide to home and business preparedness for large-scale infrastructure and service breakdowns due to natural or human-made disasters. As a certified instructor from the Institute of HeartMath, he is skilled in teaching emotional preparedness tools for emergency and high-stress situations. Hickman has written numerous articles for such publications as the Wall Street Journal Europe, the Moscow Times, and Inc., Magazine. He is currently writing a book on the water crisis in the United States. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona and Cochabamba, Bolivia.n

Michel Saint-Sulpice

Born in Grenoble, France, from a family of artists and architects, Michel Saint-Sulpice chose architecture as his career after completing a degree at Columbia University. His first commission took him to Iran in the mid 70’s where he and his Iranian partner designed a university and a school of journalism. Later, most of his architectural work was built in California. Michel participated in the first Earth Day in 1970 when living in New York City. The awareness gained from this event caused such a strong impact in his mind and heart that he became an environmental activist on the spot. As part of his environmental activism, Michel was a Board Member of the Community Environmental Council in Santa Barbara for a number of years in the 1980’s. His activism evolved into a profound love for Gaia. This love inspired Michel to create Gaia Globes in 1987. Gaia Globes is a company manufacturing earth globes depicting the earth as seen from outer space. The combination of his skill as an architect and his devotion for the preservation of the environment led Michel to be a “Green Architect” using the principles of Sustainable Design such as Passive and Active Solar Design, Water Conservation, Feng Shui, Building Biology and when applicable, Sacred Geometry. In 2008, he joined the newly birthed “Transition Movement”. Because of his belief that the sun alone can abundantly provide for all the energy needs of the world, Michel passionately promotes the concept of “A 100% Solar Powered World”. Michel other design related interests are in Appropriate Technology (AT), Eco-villages, Eco-cities, Adobe Architecture and Curvilinear Architecture.

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