Advisory Council
The Advisory Council exists to keep the Nowruz Commission connected to the communities it serves. There are two seats on the Advisory Council for each participating community. Appointment to a seat on the Advisory Council takes place through nominations made by the embassy of a participating country/community. For the communities with no diplomatic relations with the United States, said nominations are made by community organizations operating in the United States. Nominations are received and placed on the roster by the Chairman of the Advisory Council. The selection process takes place under the direction of the Chairman of the Council, and in consultation with embassies and community organizations. Nowruz Commission Advisory Council members are confirmed by the Board of Directors of the Commission and serve a term as prescribed by the by-laws of the Commission.
Jim Clifton is Chairman of Nowruz Commission Advisory Council. He is Chairman and CEO of Gallup, the world’s leading polling and public opinion research organization. Under his leadership Gallup has grown from a U.S.-based company to a global enterprise with forty offices in twenty countries. He is the creator of the metric Gallup Path and the Gallup World Poll. Clifton chairs the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and holds several honorary doctorate degrees. “I am pleased to chair the Advisory Council of Nowruz Commission. Nowruz is an ancient symbol of renewal for the nature and bonds of friendship. Nowruz conveys the universal significance of the Vernal Equinox on the first day of Spring.” Jim Clifton said.
Sir Eldon Griffiths serves as a member of the Advisory Council of the Nowruz Commission. A former conservative Member of Parliament and former minister in the British government, He serves on the boards of multinational companies in engineering, finance, property, and trade; writes a twice-weekly opinion column on political/economic issues; lectures widely to business and academic groups; and is the former President of the World Affairs Council of America.
Educated at Cambridge and Yale, Sir Eldon was elected to Parliament at an early age and quickly named delegate to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. As Under-Secretary of State in the world’s first Department of the Environment, he helped set up the United Nation’s Environmental Agency; pioneered legislation on water engineering and transport; represented his government at international conferences in Brussels, Washington, and Moscow.
There are few countries which Sir Eldon Griffiths has not visited as a politician, business consultant, or editor. Before entering politics, he was a correspondent for Time magazine, foreign editor of Newsweek, and columnist for the Washington Post.
General Secretary Dussanbay Kasseinov of Turksoy serves as a member of the Advisory Council of the Nowruz Commission. Kasseinov has a long and distinguished record as a diplomat and scholar. Most recently, he served as Ambassador-at-Large of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan – Special Representative of Kazakhstan on issues of cultural and social CIS.
Educated at Kurmangazy State Conservatory, Kasseinov has worked extensively in the fields of culture and music. He served as Minister of Culture of Kazakhstan, chairman of the Committee of Culture, Ministry of Education, Culture and Health and as Rector of Almaty State Conservatory.
Kasseinov has achieved numerous honors including the Kazakh National “Tarlan” Award, and won numerous medals including the Astana Medal of 10th Year in 2008, Medal of the 100th Anniversary of Kazan in 2005 and the Medal of Astana in 1998.
Darkan Nurmagambet serves as a member of the Advisory Council of the Nowruz Commission. As project director to the Maryland-based consulting firm MSS Consulting, Nurmagambet helps coordinate activities between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency. Prior to that, he served as project coordinator on space agency activities for the Falcon Group in Alexandria, Va.
Nurmagambet has extensive experience in project development and management. He also served in senior positions at Mettler Toledo Instruments and Samsung Electronics in Kazakhstan.
Nurmagambet received his master’s degree in International Commerce and Policy at George Mason University, his MBA at the Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research in Almaty, Kazakhstan and his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Kazakh State University.