TITLE: Build a Culture of Peace – A discussion of the concept of peace at all levels and the value of Rotary International in building a culture of peace.

BIO: Chic Dambach is President Emeritus, National Peace Corps Association. His career started as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Colombia, and decades later he became President and CEO of the National Peace Corps Association (currently President Emeritus). He and Congressman John Garamendi helped the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea reach an agreement to end their border war. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister credited them with “creating the momentum and the spirit which made this historic achievement possible.” Dambach and Garamendi played a similar role in the Democratic Republic of the Congo facilitating communication between President Kabila and the major rebel leaders leading to the formation of a coalition government to end a major civil war. Over the years, Dambach was CEO of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, CEO of Operation Respect (currently Director Emeritus), and Chief of Staff for Congressman Garamendi, and he was an “expert” advisor to the Director of the Peace Corps. He recently retired as an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins and American Universities. His memoir, Exhaust the Limits, the Life and Times of a Global Peacebuilder, features a lifetime of service and successful initiatives for peace. He was nominated by Members of Congress for the Nobel Peace Prize, and he was awarded the title “Knight of the National Order of Mali” by the president of Mali. He is a frequent speaker at Rotary clubs and on campuses and at conferences all over the world.