Mr. Walid Maalouf was born in Beirut, Lebanon, migrated in 1979 to the United States and graduated from Belmont Abbey-Sacred Heart College in Belmont, North Carolina. Mr. Maalouf has been working tirelessly for freedom, democracy and true independence for Lebanon on cultural, educational and political levels since 1979.

He served as the Director of Public Diplomacy for the Near East & the Middle East Peace Initiative at the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2004 to 2008. He was responsible for enhancing communications between the agency and the broader Middle Eastern community in America and abroad. He also served as the Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2003. While at the US Mission in New York, he was the first United States representative to deliver a speech at the United Nations in Arabic.

He ran in the 2009 Parliamentary Elections and was able to place his candidacy on the map of the Shouf District with a notable record for an independent candidate running within the complex election law that is currently implemented in Lebanon. Mr. Maalouf is the author of How Many Times... I Told You - Reflections, Memories and Hope for Lebanon published in 2007 by the Walid Maalouf Foundation. He has spoken widely at universities, civil society and international private & governmental organizations.

To learn more about Walid Maalouf visit his website at www.walidmaalouf.com