Faramarz Ettehadieh - Austria

The 2003 Austria's "Business World Magazine" Entrepreneur of the Year, Faramarz Ettehadieh has been since 1972 the Founder and President of the Imperial Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Linz. The company has grown permanently through application of principles and ethical values into an international group of companies - IMPERIAL FINANCE GROUP - which offers financial services and develops real estate projects including business centres, hotels and housing in various European Countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary and others). The IMPERIAL FINANCE GROUP has about 400 employees and 50.000, founded the Partner Bank and was co-founder of the only daily economic newspaper in Austria (WirtschaftsBlatt).

He enjoys a 1972 Mag.rer.soc.oec. and a 1974 Doktor rer.soc.oec, both from the Kepler Universität Linz.

His international experience spans journeys in more than 70 countries, support of sustainable educational projects in developing countries, Lectures in Business & Ethics.

His other activities include being a member of the Bahá’i Business Forum (EBBF) and Chairman of the Board of the Two Wings Network for social economic development through entrepreneurship. Whilst EBBF is concentrating on promoting ethics in business. Two Wings Network is focused on coherent development in the Third World.

You can read an article on Faramarz titled Focusing on service, one man builds a financial empire on spiritual principle.

Ruediger Fox - Germany

Ruediger is currently Chief Executive Officer at PFW Aerospace AG, a leading tier 1 supplier in the Aviation & Aerospace industry with some 2.000 employees. He joined the company in January of 2007 and quickly implemented a full scale restructuring program including values-driven strategies that drove its staff towards meaningful motivation and responsible behaviours.

Before that he was the Managing Director at Elcoteq Communications Technology GmbH, a Public Company working in the Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing industry. There he had transformed the company to reach the enviable and quite unique situation of not only saving two plants from closing but actually getting those German production plants to sell to Chinese customers. Reversing the usual outsourcing to China production trend.

Between the end of 2003 and the end of December 2006 he was ALSO Managing Director of Elcoteq Elektronik GmbH.

Previously he was Director at SCM & IT (CNE & IE Europe) Elcoteq SE.

Dorothy Marcic - USA

Dr. Marcic is a former professor at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management and former Director of Graduate Programs in Human Resource Development. She is the author of 12 published books on women, values-based organizations, and management. Previously, she was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Economics-Prague, teaching MBA students and practicing managers. During the past 25 years, Dorothy has conducted over 2000 keynote addresses and seminars on topics such as leadership, women and leadership, business ethics, and high-performing organizations, including topics on her book, Managing with the Wisdom of Love: Uncovering Virtue in People and Organizations. As a consultant, she has worked with executives at Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola Corp, AT&T Bell Labs; the Governor and Cabinet of North Dakota; the US Department of State; and Hallmark Corporation. She has worked with health care organizations in the US and Latin America and served as a faculty member in Health Administration. While in Europe, she served as advisor to the US Ambassador of the Czech Republic and was a delegate to the UN Economic and Social Develop Summit in Copenhagen. In 2008 she will be delegate to the UN Commission on the Status on Women.

Dorothy began her career in the arts as a production assistant on the TV program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and had her own weekly radio shows, the most recent being Mind Your Business at WLSU-FM. Several years ago, Dorothy started experimenting with the arts, integrating them into her leadership training programs. This led her to using music as a learning tool and became the catalyst for studying the depiction of women in Top-40 music, demonstrated in her book and the subsequent musical theater production, both named RESPECT (see the Respect Musical Website). Both the book and the theatrical production have been very successful around the world with over 2000 performances and 500,000 audience members in such locations as Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Atlanta, and Sydney, Australia. In addition, Dorothy just workshopped a new musical, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, and she is working on two more, one of which is farce. Her current team includes Tony-nominated producer Bill Franzblau and the three-time Tony winnng choreographer/director Hinton Battle.

Other books she has written include Understanding Management (a textbook with Southwestern that has sold over 150,000), Bottom Line: A Tale of Greed, Arrogance and Murder in Corporate America (a business novel), Management International, and four Golden Books (Look at Me, Look at My Farm, Look at My Town, and Look at My House).

You can view an interview with Dorothy Marcic in this edition of EBBF's e-magazine INSPIRE.

Jyoti Munsiff - UK/India

Advisory Trustee, Honorary Counsel of the International Business Leaders Forum. She was Shell's highest ranking female employee worldwide. Born in Mumbai, Jyoti joined Shell in 1969 in the legal department. Since then she has worked in almost every Shell business and function all over the world. In the mid eighties Jyoti was invited to be secretary to the then committee of managing directors, which was the top leadership team that managed Shell business and functions worlwide. She was voted Business Woman of the year in 2005 at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards.

She is the former Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at Royal Dutch Shell. She was also General Counsel-Corporate with Shell International Limited and Legal Adviser and Company Secretary of the Shell Transport and Trading Company plc. She is a Director of and Honorary Counsel to HRH The Prince of Wales Business Leaders' Forum and Governor of the College of Law. Jyoti Munsiff is a trustee of the Imperial War Museum Development Trust and Chairman of the IWM Trading Company.

Beppe Robiati - Italy

Co-founder of EBBF, Industrialist and CEO of SCAC Italia.

Mr. Robiati has spent his lifetime combining his business activities with a parallel educational and spiritual role which aims to bring the concepts of a new world order into business. A combination of publications and lectures delivered in a number of countries around the world has allowed him to share his ideas and expertise to business people, civil society, professors & academics, students.

Applying his principles of ethics, of the management of human resources as a mine rich in gems, of a business model that looks at the benefit of the stakeholders and some underlying spiritual principles have allowed his entrepreneurial career to prosper whilst setting a practical example of actions meeting words.

Working with a team of collaborators he has built an extensive curricula spanning a wide range of business issues, his pillar remaining the entire concept and definition of ethical behaviours both as a vision in a new world order and as practical instrument in the business and socio-political scenario. He Wrote a number of books including "Faith and the world Economy – a joint venture". He presents at over 50 conferences every year on subjects ranging from CSR to Economics and the new world order to Business Ethics. Enjoys a chair at the University of Bari. Currently running a master in Ethical Business at the IFOA management school in Italy.

Ezzat Zahrai - France

Eric (Ezzat) Zahrai is a retired business executive with extensive operational background in management in Western Europe. He was educated in Iran in Finance and Administration, studied Business Strategy in Insead Fontainebleau and combustion engineering in Ecole de Chauffe, Paris, France. He is a French citizen and has three children.

After five years in East Africa as Branch Manager of a British firm, he established his home in France and joined Gamlen Naintré & Co, a French company, manufacturing and marketing specialty chemicals for marine and industry, as assistant to the General Manager. In 1970 the French company was acquired by Sybron Corporation of Rochester New York, a Fortune 500 listed. Eric was appointed president of the French subsidiary. In 1974 Gamlen group of companies in France, UK, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain become one profit centre. Eric was appointed as CEO of the new group and continued developing the business until his retirement.

He then formed Tacor International, a family-owned consulting and publishing firm, and published several books of Club of Rome members and other prestigious authors.

In 1990 together with a long time friend he founded a professional association, the European Bahá'í Business Forum, to promote business ethics, CSR and emerging values for a global economy.

Eric is also a director of "Cercle d'Ethique des Affaires, Paris", a member of the "European Movement" and of several non-profit organisations.