About IDU

For more than thirty years, Reza Pahlavi has been a leader and advocate of the principles of freedom, democracy and human rights for his countrymen. He has maintained constant contact with his compatriots both inside and outside the Iran. Reza Pahlavi has traveled the world meeting with heads of state, legislators, policy-makers, interest groups and student groups speaking about the plight of Iranians under the Islamic regime in Iran.

Shahriar Etminani is the principal and founder of RCP Companies.  RCP is an entrepreneurial real estate investment, development and advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Since its inception in 2004, RCP has been instrumental in conceiving and implementing various institutional grade projects in partnership with large institutional investors such as the Carlyle Group and Citigroup Property Investors.

James Hewitt is currently Global Head of Sales & Distribution for Citigroup’s International Cards business, the largest bank card issuer in the world with business in 50 countries.  In that capacity he has responsibility for driving sales volumes in each of the 50 countries and optimization of the multi-channel sales process.  He sits on a number of Citigroup’s leadership committees.

Nazie earned national recognition in 1982 for founding the nation’s first Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). In fact, the term PPO was coined to describe her innovation. As the chief architect of HealthEZ, she used her own frustrations with the traditional healthcare billing system to create a suite of services designed to streamline the healthcare billing and payment process and eliminate its complexities.

Renee is dedicated to maintaining international attention on the ongoing human and civil rights violations in Iran. With a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a Masters in Mental Health Counseling, she sympathizes with the depth of the Iranian people's struggle as she provides pro bono psychological evaluations and clinical affidavits for political asylum applicants who are survivors of torture and other human rights abuses.