Penguin Speakers Bureau

Greg Mortenson is co-founder of the nonprofit organization Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org), founder of Pennies For Peace (www.penniesforpeace.org), and co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea (www.threecupsoftea.com). The book has sold over four million copies, has been published in 45 countries, and has been a New York Times bestseller for over 200 weeks since its release.

Three Cups of Tea is also mandatory reading for all U.S. military commanders and Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan.

Mortenson’s new book, Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Education in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was released by Viking in December 2009 and debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list.

As of the end of 2010, Mortenson has established over 100 schools that provide education to over tens of thousands of children, the majority of which are girls, in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan where few educational opportunities existed before.

In 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for his dedicated and humanitarian effort to promote education and literacy in rural areas for sixteen years.

He has been nominated three times, in 2009, 2010, and 2011, by bi-partisan U.S. Congressional representatives for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Both of Greg Mortenson’s parents and all his grandparents were educators or teachers. He was born in 1957 and grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (1958-1973). His father Dempsey founded the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) (kcmc.ac.tz) and his mother Jerene founded the International School Moshi (ismoshi.org).

He served in the U.S. Army in Germany (1977–1979), where he received the Army Commendation Medal, and he graduated from the University of South Dakota with a degree in Nursing and Chemistry in 1983.

In July 1992, Mortenson’s sister Christa died from a massive seizure after a lifelong struggle with epilepsy on the eve of a trip to visit Dysersville, Iowa, where the baseball movie Field of Dreams was filmed.

To honor his sister’s memory, in 1993 Mortenson embarked on an expedition to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located in the Karakoram range.

Later in an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson met a group of children sitting in the dirt writing with sticks in the sand and made a promise to help them build a school.

From that rash promise grew a humanitarian campaign in which Mortenson has dedicated his life to promote education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mortenson is a living hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military and militia commanders, government officials and tribal chiefs from his tireless effort to champion education, especially for girls.

He is one of few foreigners who has worked for seventeen years (over 80 months in the field) in rural villages where few foreigners go.

President Obama designated $100,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize award to be donated to Mortenson’s effort in Afghanistan in March 2010.

While not overseas, Mortenson, 52, lives in Montana with his wife, Dr. Tara Bishop, a clinical psychologist, and their two young children.

Awards
1975 US Army Commendation medal
1998 David Brower Conservation Award—American Alpine Club
2002 Peacemaker Award—Montana Community Mediation Center
2003 “Golden Piton Award” for humanitarian effort—Climbing Magazine
2003 Vincent Lombardi Champion Award for humanitarian service
2003 Peacemaker of the Year—Benedictine Monks, Santa Fe, NM
2003 Outdoor Person of the Year—Outdoors Magazine
2003 Salzburg Seminar fellow—sponsored by Microsoft
2004 Freedom Forum “Free Spirit Award”—National Press Club, Washington D.C.
2004 Jeanette Rankin Peace Award—Institute for Peace
2005 Men’s Journal “Anti-Terror” Award by Senator John McCain
2005 Red Cross “Humanitarian of The Year”—Montana
2006 Golden Fleur-de-lis Award—Comune di Firenze, Italy
2007 Medical Education Hall of Fame Award—Toledo, OH
2007 Rotary International Paul Harris Award for promoting friendly relations among people
2007 Mountain Institute Award for Excellence in Mountain Community Service
2008 National Award for Citizen Diplomacy—Citizen Center for Diplomacy
2008 Courage of Conscience Award—The Peace Abbey, Sherborn, MA
2008 Graven Award—Wartburg College, IA
2008 National Award for Citizen Diplomacy—Citizen Center for Diplomacy
2008 Academy of Achievement Award
2008 Sword of Loyola—St. Louis University
2009 Sitara-e-Pakistan, “Star of Pakistan”, (Pakistan’ highest civilian award)
2008 Mary Lockwood Founders Medal for Education—Daughters of the American Revolution
2009 Archon Award – Sigma Theta Tau International (Nursing Award)
2009 National Education Association NEA – Human Rights Award
2009 Austin College Leadership Award for promoting education issues for peace—Sherman, TX
2009 City College San Francisco Amicus Collegii Award for promoting peace through education
2009 Jefferson Award for Community Service—Harvard Kennedy School of Business
2009 U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Twenty Leaders
2010 Toronto School District Peace Award—Canada
2010 Doshi Bridgebuilder Peace Award: Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles

Honorary Doctorate Degrees
2007 Concordia College, Moorhead, MN
2007 University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD
2008 Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
2008 Villanova University, PA
2008 University of San Francisco, CA
2008 University of Washington, Bothell, WA
2008 Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
2008 Seattle University, WA
2009 Colby College, Waterville, ME
2009 Simmons College, Boston, MA
2009 St. Louis University, MO
2010 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Brookdale College, Lincroft, NJ
2010 University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO
2010 Stevenson University, MD
2010 Wittenberg University, IN

Three Cups of Tea—Awards and Mentions
2006 Time magazine Asia Book of the Year
2006 People magazine—Critic’s Choice
2006 Publishers Weekly—starred review
2006 Kirkus Reviews—starred review
2006 Borders Bookstore Original Voices Selection
2007 Banff Mountain Festival Book Award Finalist
2007 Kiriyama Prize Nonfiction Award
2007 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Nonfiction Award
2008 Montana Honor Book Award
2008 Dayton Literary Prize Nonfiction Award—runner-up
2009 Author of the Year—Mom’s Choice Awards
2009 Gambrinus Giuseppe Mazzotti Literary Prize (Italy)

Contact Info
C/O: Jennifer Sipes
Operations Director
Central Asia Institute
PO Box 7209
Bozeman, MT USA 59771
Phone: 406-585-7841
Fax: 406-585-5302