Eboo Patel

Eboo Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith America, a nonprofit organization promoting cooperation across religious differences. Born in Mumbai and raised in the Chicago area, he is an Ismaili Muslim of Gujarati Indian heritage. Patel earned a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and served on President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Patel is the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America, Interfaith Leadership: A Primer, Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise, and We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy. Acts of Faith received the Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion.