A Chat in 2023 with Stephen Hecht: co-founder, Chief Executive Peacemaker at Million Peacemakers; Chair of the YPO Impact Networks Council including Peace, Planet, Sustainable Business and People Action Networks; past Chair of the YPO Peace Action Network; Co-Author - Nonflict: The Art of Everyday Peacemaking

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Stephen Hecht.

Stephen is the co-founder and Chief Executive Peacemaker at Million Peacemakers. His professional journey, spanning over 35 years, has taken him through a broad spectrum of industries, culminating in a devotion to conflict transformation. His experiences include managing growth and recessions, familial discord, and business-related disputes in family-run and public businesses. His efforts were recognized when he was presented the Canada Award for Business Excellence by the Prime Minister of Canada.

Stephen joined the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) in 1989, where he contributed as the Chapter Chair of YPO Gold- Quebec and YPO Gold Canada's Regional Education Chair, among other national and international roles.

In 2016, Stephen co-authored the #1 Best Seller "Nonflict: The Art of Everyday Peacemaking". He co-founded Million Peacemakers in 2014, a non-profit committed to sharing constructive conflict resolution tools with diverse communities. Over nine years, the organization has trained more than 235,000 persons, impacting 7.8 million lives. Its current focus lies in the global Peacemakers Youth initiative. For their impactful work, Million Peacemakers was awarded the YMCA Peace Medal.

Stephen is chair of the YPO Impact Networks Council including Peace, Planet, Sustainable Business and People Action Networks and is a member of the International Networks Committee. He recently completed his term as chair of the YPO Peace Action Network and just stepped down after 10 years as the chair of PLEDJ, an NGO supporting immigrants and refugees in Canada and its predecessor ICAN McGill. A career highlight was speaking at a Vatican conference on Religions and SDGs in 2019 and being invited back a month later to speak to the working group advising the Pope on peace and non-violence.

Embracing technology, Stephen's organization, Million Peacemakers, launched a free virtual Nonflict coach skill on Amazon Alexa in 2020. He holds an MBA from Ivey Business School and a B.Comm from McGill University, where he taught organizational behaviour. Stephen cherishes the time spent with his wife, Naomi, their blended family of seven children, and their two grandchildren.

Chief Executive Peacemaker & Co-Founder - Million Peacemakers
Co-Author - Nonflict;The Art of Everyday Peacemaking
Chair - YPO Impact Networks Council
Co-Chair - YPO Global Impact Summit Rwanda '24

Amazon
"Alexa, enable the Nonflict coach skill"
IOS/Android
Enable the Nonflict skill on the Alexa app on your phone
Intro Video - Video Link

Vatican Speech for Religions and SDG's Conference - Video LINK

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