Greg Mortenson (bio as of August 2008)
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder of nonprofit Central Asia Institute www.ikat.org, Pennies For
Peace www.penniesforpeace.org, and co-author of New York Times bestseller ‘Three Cups of
Tea’ www.threecupsoftea.com which has been a # 1 New York Times bestseller for 82 weeks
since its January 2007 release, and was Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year.
On August 14th, 2008, Pakistan’s government announced on its Independence Day, that Greg
Mortenson will receive Pakistan’ highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (“Star of Pakistan”) for
his courage and humanitarian effort to promote education, and literacy in rural areas for the last
fifteen years. Pakistan’s President will confer the award on March 23rd, 2009, in a official
ceremony in Islamabad.
Mortenson was born in Minnesota in 1957. He grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Tanzania (1958 to 1973). His father Dempsey, co-founded Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center
(KCMC) www.kcmc.ac.tz a teaching hospital, and his mother, Jerene, founded the International
School Moshi www.ismoshi.org
He served in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Cold War (1977-1979), where he received
the Army Commendation Medal, and later graduated from the University of South Dakota
(1983), and pursued graduate studies in neurophysiology.
On July 24th, 1992, Mortenson’s younger 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 in a cornfield.
In 1993, to honor his sister’s memory, Mortenson climbed Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second
highest mountain in the Karakoram range.
After K2, while recovering in a local village called Korphe, 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 remarkable humanitarian campaign, in which Mortenson has
dedicated his life to promote education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
As of 2008, Mortenson has established over 78 schools in rural and often volatile regions of
Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 28,000 children, including 18,000
girls, where few education opportunities existed before.
His work has not been without difficulty. In 1996, he survived an eight day armed kidnapping in
the Northwest Frontier Province NWFP tribal areas of Pakistan, escaped a 2003 firefight with
feuding Afghan warlords by hiding for eight hours under putrid animal hides in a truck going to
a leather-tanning factory. He has overcome two fatwehs from enraged Islamic mullahs, endured
CIA investigations, and also received hate mail and death threats from fellow Americans after
9/11, for helping Muslim children with education.
Mortenson is a living hero to rural communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he has
gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military 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 extensively for fifteen years (spending over 67
months) in the region now considered the front lines of the war on terror.
NBC newscaster, Tom Brokaw, calls Mortenson, “one ordinary person, with the right
combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world”.
Congresswoman Mary Bono (Rep – Cali.) says, "I've learned more from Greg Mortenson about
the causes of terrorism than I did during all our briefings on Capitol Hill. He is a true hero,
whose creativity, courage, and compassion exemplify the true ideals of the American spirit.”
Mortenson advocates girls’ education as the top priority to promote economic development,
peace and prosperity, and says, “you can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads, or put in
electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change”.
While not overseas half the year, Mortenson, 50, lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife, Dr.
Tara Bishop, a clinical psychologist, and two children.
Book tour, reviews and media on
www.threecupsoftea.comCentral Asia Institute website
www.ikat.orgPennies For Peace website
www.pennniesforpeace.orgAwards
1975 US Army Commendation medal
1998 American Alpine Club David Brower Conservation Award
2002 Peacemaker Award from Montana Community Mediation Center
2003 Climbing Magazine "Golden Piton Award" for humanitarian effort
2003 Vincent Lombardi Champion Award for humanitarian service
2003 Peacemaker of the Year" Benedictine Monks, Santa Fe, NM
2003 Outdoor Person of the Year - Outdoor Magazine
2003 Salzburg Seminar fellow, sponsored by Microsoft
2004 Freedom Forum "Free Spirit Award" - National Press Club, 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 from Comune 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
2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize – Book Award, Dayton, OH
2008 Citizen Center for Diplomacy - National Award for Citizen 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
2009 Sitara-e-Pakistan “Star of Pakistan” (Pakistan’ highest civilian award)
Three Cups of Tea - Book Awards and Mentions
Kiriyama Prize Nonfiction Award
Time Magazine Asia Book of The Year
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association - Nonfiction Award
Montana Honor Book Award
Borders Bookstore Original Voices Selection
Banff Mountain Festival Book Award Finalist
Dayton Literary Prize Nonfiction Award – Runner up
People Magazine – Critics Choice
Publisher’s Weekly – Starred Review
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
Email cai@ikat.org
Web www.ikat.org
