The Alumnus of the Year Award is something Students For Liberty started at the 2012 ISFLC in order to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions both to current students as well as the greater liberty movement. These award winners are true testaments to student activism leading to future successes in life, whether it be in the non-profit or private sector.
2014 – George Ayittey
George Ayittey is a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC. He is a professor at American University, an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute. He has championed the argument that “Africa is poor because she is not free”, that the primary cause of African poverty is less a result of the oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers, but rather a result of modern oppressive native autocrats. He also goes beyond criticism to advocate for specific ways to address the abuses of the past and present; specifically he calls for democratic government, debt reexamination, modernized infrastructure, free market economics, and free trade to promote development. We’re excited and honored to bring him to ISFLC and highlight the work he’s done.
2013 – John Mackey
John P. Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods Market Inc., has served as Chief Executive Officer since 1980. Mr. Mackey also served as President from June 2001 to October 2004, and as Chairman of the Board from 1978 to December 2009. As the company’s visionary, he has led the development of many innovative programs such as the $10 million in low-interest loans to local farmers and food producers to help them expand their businesses, the Whole Planet Foundationwhose mission is to help end poverty in developing nations with micro credit, a welfare rating system that improves the welfare of food animals, and a labeling system that creates transparency of seafood sustainability. The Whole Foods Market workplace is based on the ideals of respect for the individual and self-empowerment. Mr. Mackey’s most recent focus is re-invigorating Whole Foods Market’s emphasis on healthy eating and lifestyle choices. An active promoter of a new business paradigm termed “Conscious Capitalism,” he is also co-founder of a non-profit organization of that name.
2012 – Peter Thiel
As a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, Peter has been involved with some of the most dynamic companies to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past decade. Peter’s first start-up was PayPal, which he co-founded in 1998, and led as Chairman and CEO. Peter’s tenure culminated in PayPal’s sale to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. After the eBay acquisition, Peter founded Clarium Capital Management, a global macro hedge fund. Peter also helped launch Palantir Technologies, an analytical software company, and serves as the chairman of that company’s board. Before launching Founders Fund with his PayPal partners Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, Peter was an active venture capitalist in his personal capacity, funding companies like Facebook, where Peter was that company’s first outside investor and director. Peter’s contributions to technology, entrepreneurship, and finance have been widely recognized, including by the World Economic Forum, which honored Peter as a Young Global Leader, and by BusinessWeek, which named him one of the 25 most influential people on the Web.