“Forging Unity Out of Our Diversity and Differences”
Breakout session immediately following the breakfast:
“Living Together” • William J. Carroll, Ph.D., President, Benedictine University • Kareem M. Irfan, President, Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago • Joseph E. Collins, Ph.D., Vice President, Academic and Student Affairs, College of DuPage Keynote Speaker Kareem M. Irfan President of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago
Kareem Irfan, the first Muslim to become President of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, has served in a leadership role in the American Muslim community for more than 25 years. He is past Chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, an organization that represents more than 400,000 Muslim-Americans.
A practicing intellectual property and information technology lawyer, Irfan is currently the General Counsel: IP/IT for a world-leading energy management company headquartered in Paris. He earned a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois and a juris doctorate from DePaul University.
Irfan is passionately devoted to inspiring fellow Americans to transcend religious, ethnic and cultural boundaries to collectively address emerging societal challenges. He is a frequent speaker on socially relevant topics like professionalism, ethics and integrity; inter-religious bridge-building; post 9-11 challenges of religious radicalism and extremism; and contemporary Muslim perspectives and relations with the Islamic world.
Irfan has lectured throughout the United States and abroad, including England, France, India, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, South Africa and Thailand. He has been featured on National Public Radio, CNN, ABC’s “Nightline” and the BBC, and in print media like Time Magazine, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He led the first-ever Islamic invocation for the Chicago City Council; has conducted sensitivity training and partnership projects for police, the FBI and CIA; and speaks often at inter-faith
events, churches, synagogues and commencements.
Irfan has received the Director's Community Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Distinguished Interfaith Leadership Award from Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, the Outstanding Religious Services Award from Imam W. D. Mohammed’s African-American Muslim Community, and the Community Service Award from the Chicago Muslim Bar Association.
He is privileged by service on the national boards of the Inter-Faith Youth Core, the Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry at Catholic Theological Union, the Islamic Society of North America, and the Illinois Research Advisory Council for Criminal Justice.
A portion of the proceeds benefits the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund.