MEI leadership and the Fares family were honored to celebrate MEI’s 2022 Issam M. Fares Award for Excellence awardee, Gen. John P. Abizaid, for his long and illustrious career in service to the United States and commitment to the security and well-being of the Middle East.
The Issam M. Fares Award for Excellence, endowed by the former deputy prime minister of Lebanon, was created to honor inspirational, innovative Arab and Arab-American individuals who are making a difference in their communities and internationally.
John P. Abizaid is a retired US Army four-star General, who most recently served as the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. General Abizaid retired from the United States Army in May 2007 as Commander of US Central Command, after thirty-four years of active service, having commanded units at every level and serving in Grenada, Lebanon, Kurdistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In addition to his long career in service of the United States, General Abizaid served as the Distinguished Chair (Emeritus) of the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy at West Point, as the first Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and on the CIA’s External Advisory Board. He has also worked with the Preventative Defense Project at Stanford University and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. General Abizaid is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a board member for the Middle East Institute, as well as the principal partner of JPA Partners, LLC.
Photo by D. Jones Photography