The annual award is presented to Americans, both naturalized and native-born, who have shown outstanding achievement in their personal and professional lives in addition to contributing to the preservation of their culture and heritage in the United States.
The award is named after Ellis Island in New York harbor, which for many decades was the receiving ground for new immigrants landing by boat in New York.
This year’s Iranian-American award recipients are: Hamid Ansari, the president and co-Founder of Prodea Systems Inc; F. Francis Najafi, the founder and CEO of Pivotal Group; Vali Nasr, the senior advisor to the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and professor of international politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School; Younes Nazarian, an entrepreneur and philanthropist; and Ali C Razi, the CEO and president of the Stratham Group.
They are among 106 people receiving the award this year.
Established in 1986 by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), the Ellis Island Medals of Honor are awarded annually to Americans who exhibit such criteria as preserving the history, traditions, and values of their ancestry group, building bridges between ethnic, racial, and religious groups, and nurturing the life of a particular ethnic or heritage group.
To date, 40 Iranian-Americans have received the Ellis Island Medals of honor: Kaveh Alizadeh; Goli Ameri; Cyrus Amir-Mokri; Anousheh Ansari; Michael S. Ansari; Hushang Ansary; Farhad Azima; Hamid Biglari; Ali Ebrahimi; Homa-youn Firouztash; Vartan Gregorian; Noosheen Hashemi; Forough B. Hosseini; Mori Hosseini; Nasser J. Kazeminy; Laya Khadjavi; Darioush Khaledi; Parisa Khosravi; Bijan R. Kian; Akbar A. Lari; Vahid Majidi; Farah B. Majidzadeh; Nooshin Malakzad; Fariborz Maseeh; Mohsen Moazami; Avid Modjtabai; Hamid Moghadam; Reza Momeni; Sharmin Mos-savar-Rahmani; Yasmin Mota-medi; Firouz M. Naderi; Ferey-doun Nazem; Fred Pezeshkan; Ali A. Saberioon; Faryar Shirzad; Hosein Shokouh-Amiri; Morris M Shirazipour; Taraneh Sohrab; Mohammad Yahyavi and Mahvash Yazdi.
