Lecture: A Historical Perspective on the Kashmir Conflict

Date: Wednesday,  March 18, 2020
Time: 6:00 pm Light Refreshments; 6:30 pm Talk
Where: Conference Room, Main Bldg, American Islamic College

The Kashmir conflict has been on the world’s conscience for over 7 decades. The conflict, which started out as a political justice issue, devolved into a human rights morass, especially in the last 3 decades. At the same time, this issue has been one of the 2 major sources of what has been euphemistically labeled as the Muslim angst. There are national security implications for the US as well, as the road to peace in Afghanistan.

Rizwan’s family has been living in Kashmir for centuries. Like most Kashmiris, he is a strong proponent of racial harmony and achieving peace through education and commerce.

Rizwan Kadir is a former member of the MCC Board and a past Chairman of the MCC Academy. Currently, he is Director of Sabeel Center, an IFANCA initiative community center in Des Plaines.

Previously, he has been a senior management consultant to Fortune 100 companies in the areas of strategic planning, governance, and financial management. He has MBA (finance) from the University of Chicago. He started his career with an investment bank and later rose to Director and C-level positions, including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at an investment firm.

Rizwan has an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago, where he also completed PhD-level coursework in quantitative finance. He is a parent at Northwestern, where he received his undergraduate education also. He also designed an entrepreneurship course for high school students at Northwestern’s Center for Talent Development.

A firm proponent of servant leadership, he has served in leadership roles in Muslim, Pakistani, and Kashmiri communities, with a signature flair for passionate and analytical presentations, coupled with a dose of humor.

Kadir speaks on financial, international, and inter-faith topics at professional forums and has been interviewed by the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, CAIR, ISNA, Religion News Service, Voice of America, and the local media. Besides, inter-faith presentations, he routinely gives talks on topics such as Islamic Schools in the US , Endowments for Islamic Organizations, The Impact of 9/11 on American Muslims, and among others.

Since 9/11, he has been an invited speaker and presenter to inter-faith dialogs with Jewish, Christian, and Buddhist audiences. Rizwan also speaks on financial, geo-political, and inter-faith topics at professional forums, such as the International Press Club of Chicago, and has been interviewed by MSNBC, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Religion News Service, Voice of America, as well as the local media.