Who: Chief Executive Director of Free the Children and Co-Founder of Leadership Today

Current Residence: Ontario, Canada

Spotlight: What have you done for the world lately? Given a dollar to the Salvation Army? Donated those old clothes to Goodwill? Helped AIDS victims in Africa? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you’re a much better person than the author. You may even be someone like Marc Kielburger, who became involved in social change at age 13 and “went on to serve as a parliamentary page in the Canadian House of Commons, work with AIDS patients in the slums of Bangkok, and volunteer in Kenya, where he helped local women to establish a fair trade cooperative,” according to the Free the Children website. With his brother, he now runs the non-profit, which is dedicated to “children helping children,” and Leaders Today, an organization that delivers leadership training experiences to young adults. He and his brother also co-write a column for the Toronto Star dealing with various issues concerning the developing world and children’s rights. In his spare time, Kielburger enjoys graduating magna cum laude from prestigious universities, receiving Rhodes scholarships, and giving inspirational speeches, ’cause the ladies like it.

Friends: His brother Craig, with whom Kielburger collaborates on almost everything. Not only did they co-found Leaders Today, but they also co-wrote a series of books that tackle issues of social change and meaning in a material world. Craig started Free the Children in 1996 at the age of twelve, and since then has been thrice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But you know you’ve really made it when someone makes you a Myspace hero next to the likes of Gandhi and Che Guevara.

And more friends: Oprah Winfrey, whose Angel Network gave monetary support to help Free the Children build 48 schools in 12 countries and provide relief to tsunami survivors in Southeast Asia.

And still more friends: Queen Noor of Jordan, Richard Gere and others count themselves Honorary Advisers to Free the Children. Kielburger has also been on the speech circuit with former President Bill Clinton and is on a first-name basis with Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with whom he had the following conversation…

Quotable: “I was complaining about how I didn’t enjoy reading the newspaper in the morning because it was full of bad news. Desmond looked at me and said he loved reading the paper, he called the bad news ‘God’s Prayer List’. These are all the things we have to fix.”

Aspirations: Helping children through education and training the leaders of tomorrow. That, and world peace.

*Marc Kielburger [Free the Children]
*Marc Kielburger/Media Attention, 8/4/05 [Moment to Moment]
*Me to We [Amazon.com]
*Pigs for Kids [Myspace.com]
*From Me To We - How Everyone Profits from Corporate Social Responsibility [HR Voice]
*Hope, Peace and the Power of Young People [Free the Children]