Meet the Judges for the 2023 Templeton Prize

This year’s Templeton Prize laureate will be announced on May 16, 2023. Past winners have come from all major faiths and dozens of countries. The list of 52 Laureates includes Nobel Prize winners, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders. This year, nine distinguished individuals from around the world came together to select the 2023 Templeton Prize Laureate. 

The judges review a group of diverse Prize candidates, who were put forth by an expert group of anonymous, independent nominators selected from across the fields of science, faith, philosophy, and beyond. (More on the selection process here.) 

Past judges have included President George H.W. Bush, President Gerald Ford, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as well as eminent representatives from the sciences and various religious traditions around the world. This year, we’re incredibly honored to have nine Templeton Prize judges from diverse backgrounds who are well-positioned to make such a selection, having themselves reshaped the world with their innovative thinking: 

Anousheh Ansari

The CEO of XPrize, a groundbreaking organization that designs and operates “incentive competitions” to solve humanity’s grand challenges, Ansari personally sponsored the $10 million Ansari XPrize to ignite a new era for commercial space flight. She captured international headlines by becoming the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, and first Muslim space explorer. Ansari also co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020.

Dr. France A. Córdova

The Honorable France A. Córdova was the 14th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent federal agency. Córdova has been a leader in science, engineering and education for more than four decades. She has a distinguished career in both higher education and government; she has served in five presidential administrations, several universities, and in three federal agencies. 

Georgia M. Dunston, Ph.D.

Georgia M. Dunston, the first African American to receive the Ph.D. degree in Human Genetics, is founder, president, and CEO of Whole Genome Science Foundation (WGSF), Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation initiated at Howard University (HU) in 2014 to promote and advance knowledge on the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) of the human genome as a fundamental functional unit of biological life. 

Prasad Kaipa, Ph.D.

As the CEO of the Kaipa Group, Prasad Kaipa is a thought leader in innovation and leadership. He has coached and advised over 100 C-suite executives in global Fortune companies like Boeing, Cisco, Disney, Ford Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Maersk, State Bank of India and Tata Steel, and brought to them his integrated spiritual frameworks with neurological models and traditional management models. 

Tsitsi Masiyiwa

Tsitsi Masiyiwa is an African philanthropist and social entrepreneur. She is Executive Chair and Co-Founder of Higherlife Foundation, whose primary goal is to invest in human capital development to build thriving individuals, communities and sustainable livelihoods. As a result of her work and experience establishing and growing Higherlife Foundation over the last twenty-five years, Tsitsi has become an advisor and thought partner to universities, national leaders, and social entrepreneurs on issues of education, health, leadership development, and youth empowerment. 

Timothy P. Shriver, Ph.D.

Tim Shriver has served as the Chairman of Special Olympics International since 1996. He currently serves alongside more than six million Special Olympics athletes and their families in over 195 countries around the world. During his time as Chairman, Special Olympics has developed proven programming for all aspects of a Special Olympics athlete’s life: leadership, health, education, and family support.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Ph.D.

Meir Soloveichik is the Rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He serves as the Director of the Straus Center of Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. Rabbi Soloveichik was ordained by Yeshiva’s seminary and received his PhD in religion from Princeton University. In 2018, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty honored Rabbi Soloveichik with its Canterbury Medal for his advocacy of, and commitment to, the free exercise of religion.

Baroness Philippa Stroud

Philippa Stroud is a Member of the House of Lords, CEO of the Legatum Institute and Chair of the Social Metrics Commission. Previously, she was Chief Executive of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think tank that she co-founded in 2004. Philippa’s life and career to date have been strongly influenced by her passion to tackle poverty and social breakdown. 

Homa Sabet Tavangar

For over three decades, Homa Sabet Tavangar’s work has addressed themes of culture, innovation, leadership, global citizenship and global competence, and deep diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. Homa’s clients range from Fortune 50 corporations and major professional associations to public, international and independent K-12 schools and universities around the world.