The Next Century Foundation relies on a dedicated network of volunteers. Here are brief biographies of some of them. They are listed in alphabetical order of their first names.

Lord Andrew Stone is a British-Jewish businessman and a Labour politician (a life peer since 1997). He worked with Marks and Spencer plc for over 30 years, retiring as joint managing director in 1999. He is an Advisory Board Member of the Next Century Foundation and is the host and convenor of the annual awards of the International Media Council based in London. (more on Wikipedia)

Ari Rath is an Austrian-Israeli journalist and writer. He grew up in Vienna but was moved to Israel in 1938, as part of the Kindertransport rescue mission. As a journalist he rose to become chief editor of the Jerusalem Post. In this capacity he belonged together with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin to the inner circle of friends of David Ben Gurion. After finishing work at the Jerusalem Post he worked as a freelance journalist and taught at the University of Potsdam. Ari is now news editor of the on-line journal "Partners for Peace". He is one of the Founder Members of the NCF and acts as our key anchorman in Jerusalem running an ad hoc Jerusalem office. In 2005 Ari was awarded the very first International Media Council "Peace through Media" award at the House of Lords in London. (more on Wikipedia)

Lord David Alliance is an Iranian-born Jewish-British businessman and a Liberal Democrat politician (a life peer since 2004). He was born in Kashan, Iran and moved to Manchester in 1950 to work in the textiles business. He is chairman of clothing retailer N Brown Group plc, and was also a founder of Coats plc. Lord Alliance serves on a number of committees including the Prince’s Youth Business Trust, Council for Industry and Higher Education, and the University of Manchester Foundation, and the Wiseman Institute. He is senior trustee of the Next Century Foundation. David Alliance was appointed a CBE in 1984 and promoted to GBE in 1989. Lord Alliance owns an imposing home in Didsbury, Manchester and a mock Georgian mansion in north west London. He also owns a collection of Lowry paintings. (more on Wikipedia)

David Sasson is the Senior Advisor for the Next Century Foundation and Founder of Israel's Forum for Peace with Syria. An Iraqi-Israeli businessman, Sasson was born in Baghdad. David participated in the activities of the student movement against the policies of the government and in 1948 he was arrested for taking part in an uprising (el-Wahba). After his family secured his freedom, he realised that the student movement had been successful in ensuring a changeover in government (as a result of the Portsmouth agreement between Iraq and Great Britain). The same year, Iraq declared war on Israel and a state of emergency and no demonstrations were allowed, but despite this he continued his anti-war activity. As a result of his Judaism, David was not allowed to go to university and not allowed to have a passport in line with Iraqi government policy towards the Jews at the time. He had to leave Iraq to study at University and he fled to Iran in 1950, staying for a few months before emigrating to Israel.

After the 67 war David Sasson went back to Tehran. In Tehran, David set up in Business with Kamal Adeen Bahbahani, son of Ayatollah Bahbahani. David Sasson ran his Import/Export business until forced to leave during the Khomeini revolution of 1979. He returned to Israel and asked Israel's Foreign Minister to be allowed to become a private emissary to the Arab world. The Foreign Minister agreed, and David went to Egypt to meet with a senior contact at Al-Ahram. He was asked to set up permanent residence in Cairo by his Egyptian interlocutors (one of the first Israelis to do so), staying in the city between 1979 and 1983. There he promoted trade between Israel and Egypt.
He now lives in both Tel Aviv and London. In Israel he recently established the Forum for Peace with Syria. In London he helps coordinate the Iraq division of the Next Century Foundation.

Mrs June Jacobs is a veteran of more than 30 years as a peace activist, and a former President of the International Council of Jewish Women. June Jacobs rose to prominence as a founder and first Chair of the National Council for Soviet Jews, regularly leading missions to visit refuseniks in the 1970s Soviet Bloc.

June has become best known since that time as a strong advocate of Jewish women’s issues. As President of the International Council of Jewish Women, June represented the organisation at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. She remains involved today through her membership of the European Women’s Lobby and Women’s International Commission. June is a member of the board of directors of the New Israel Fund. (more on Wikipedia)

Justin Alexander has been involved in Iraq for over a decade, initially focusing on the humanitarian impact of the sanctions, and has visited frequently since 2001, including a year spent working on constitutional issues and reconciliation with UNAMI. He founded Jubilee Iraq, which has successfully championed debt relief for Iraq, and worked with Iraqi refugees in Jordan with UNHCR. He has also worked on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the report "Conflict, Economic Closure and Human Security in Gaza". He is particularly committed to building strong relationships between Christians and Muslims in the UK and internationally and was involved in the Peacemakers.tv project.

Ambassador Mark Hambley has served in eleven postings in nine Middle Eastern countries during a 30 year diplomatic carear, including as U.S. Ambassador in Qatar and Lebanon and as Consul General in Alexandria and in Jeddah. He has also been Special Representative to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, U.S. Representative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, and Special Negotiator on Climate Change during the Clinton and early months of the current Bush administration. In March 2003 he was appointed director of the US Media Outreach Center in London, established by Congress to improve dialogue with the Arab media. He left full time service with the U.S. Government in 2005 but still undertakes ad hoc special commissions.

In 2005 Ambassador Hambley became a senior Trustee of the Next Century Foundation. In this capacity he has undertaken two missions to date, one to Red Zone Baghdad to facilitate negotiations with His Eminence Abdul Aziz al Hakim, and the other to Jerusalem during the 2006 Lebanon War to work on the Syrian peace track. (more on Wikipedia)

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad M. Al-Khalifa served as the Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Washington (and non-resident ambassador to Mexico) until 2007 when he left the diplomatic service. Previously, his lengthy diplomatic career included appointments as Ambassador to Korea, Italy and the United Kingdom respectively. He remains an Advisory Board Member of the NCF and he continues to administer the $100 million Huricane Katrina relief fund established by the State of Qatar.

Sheikh Nasser has also served as Qatar’s permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the International Maritime Organization. He holds a bachelor's degree from West Michigan University, a Masters from Johns Hopkins, and a law degree from City (UK). He is a fellow of Princeton (USA). (more on Wikipedia)

William Morris is Secretary General of NCF and son of NCF's founder, the late Claud Morris. Formerly a journalist and publisher, William Morris has been involved in the Middle East for more than 30 years. He was the Special Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Oman from 1991 to 1996, and become Secretary General of NCF on his return to the UK.

At NCF he produced an important report on Kashmir in consultation with the Mirpuri community in Britain, on the request of the late Derek Fatchett MP (then Minister at the Foreign Office). In October 2000 he helped set up a war avoidance team to carry messages back and forth between the then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter Hain and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. As Chairman of the International Media Council he has led press delegations to Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Egypt and Syria. (more on Wikipedia)