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Al Jubitz

About the Rotarian Action Group For Peace: The Rotarian Action Group for Peace is committed to providing the tools for our members to pursue their passion for peace. We offer resources that provide knowledge, ideas, networks and support for advancing world peace and understanding. Rotary is the perfect vehicle for making a positive impact toward world peace. There are few other non-religious groups the size of Rotary that are so globally united in their actions and interests. The Rotarian Action Group for Peace provides an official entity that empowers and supports Rotarians by offering structure, guidance and resources to further our collective peace efforts.

Global Business & Interfaith Peace Bronze Medalist

Mr. Al Jubitz, Founder & former President of DAT Services, co-founded and currently funds the Rotarian Action Group For Peace with members in 71 countries. The Action Group works with Rotary International to develop and support peace projects around the world to enhance and enrich lives of people from all walks of life, races, cultures and religions. Rotary International has raised over $142 million for peacebuilding missions.

Al Jubitz’s Comments on the Occasion of Receiving the Award

Bombs are bad for Business. Unless, of course, you manufacture and sell them to people with little moral imagination.  For those, I suggest, spending more time studying any of the great religions.  Thou shalt not kill comes to mind.

For the rest of us not involved in making or selling weapons, I suggest we apply what we do best to advance world understanding and peace; namely, apply simple logic and return on investment thinking to issues of war and peace.  In the United States we continue to spend over $1 trillion dollars per year on national security with no appreciable improvement in peoples’ sense of personal security.  Why do we think a bigger club makes for better friends when a smile can break down barriers?

Fortunately, we now have a scholarly, yet profoundly simple, guidebook for peace.  Dr. Scilla Elworthy’s The Business Plan for Peace, published last year, speaks to business persons.  As an advisor to the Institute of Economics and Peace, Dr. Elworthy puts a price on violence and the war system and a value on peace and the emerging, yet robust, global peace system.  The cost;benefit of these two approaches to law and order is striking…. not even close.  Imagine a cost:benefit ratio of 1:16,000.  For every dollar invested in peaceful activities, $16,000 could be saved.  So, what keeps us from investing in peace?

The answer is bad habits, greed, lack of moral imagination and lack of courage to speak up to power.  Yes, the global war system is powerful; politicians don’t have much time to try something new and to change entrenched thinking requires a moral compass and a stronger commitment.  Nevertheless, when business people see a better, more effective approach they generally head in that direction.  When the more effective approach is in harmony with their religious beliefs and spiritual center there occurs an alignment or centeredness that makes a good leader great.

During my lifetime untold efforts by others have conspired to create what we now call the global peace system.  Institutions of global collaboration, both governmental and non-governmental, thrive as persons convene from around the globe on a regular basis to share knowledge and create solutions to common problems.  Peace education, sometimes called peace science, now gives us confidence through research that our human inclinations to cooperate and trust others work and are solid investments.  Our young are tied to social media which means their information stream about others is the most current and unfiltered in the history of mankind.  They do not fear others as we did growing up.  The planet is their oyster and they are longing to contribute to a healthier climate, economic system and overall peace.

As for religion playing its proper role, I would love to see more guidance from the pulpit more often.  The message of peace never gets stale and the global possibility is never greater than it is today.  Businesspersons, please question old habits and outrageous costs to what we all know doesn’t work well in the short or long term.  Invest in the global peace system instead.

In peace,

  • Al Jubitz
  • Career businessman in Portland Oregon, USA
  • Founder, War Prevention Initiative
  • Co-founder, Rotarian Action Group for Peace

Bio

A native Oregonian, Al received his BS degree from Yale University in 1966 and earned his MBA from the University of Oregon School of Business in 1968. Al retired from the family business (Jubitz Corporation) after a career spanning 34 years. He also served as a director of two private start-up companies. Al is President and founder of the Jubitz Family Foundation which directs funding to organizations that foster peacebuilding, environmental stewardship and early childhood education. In 2010, Al and his wife Nancy were recognized nationally by United Way USA with the Tocqueville Society Award for their ongoing commitment and support. He is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Oregon, Class 20, and also serves on the Leadership Councils of Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Portland Children’s Museum and the National Advisory Board of Environmental Defense Fund. He is Director Emeritus of Morrison Child and Family Services and an emeritus trustee of Outward Bound Wilderness School. Al and his wife Nancy have been married 49 years. They have three grown daughters. Al believes that Rotary is uniquely capable of turning the world toward nonviolent conflict resolution, ultimately leading to a world beyond war.

More Detail

Al Jubitz co-founded, and currently funds, the Rotarian Action Group For Peace. This organization works with Rotary International to develop and support peace projects around the world. These Rotarian peace projects are all based upon Rotary’s four-way test to enhance and enrich lives of people from all walks of life, races, cultures, and religions. The four-way test asks only these simple questions: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? This four-way test insures that all lives share equal value. Al Jubitz elevates these principles in all of the on-going activities of Rotarian Action Group For Peace.

Three examples of how Rotarian Action Group For Peace supports the peace projects of Rotary International include, The Winnipeg Peace Gathering in September 2016, the planting of “Peace Poles” planted throughout the Northwest (as an on-going project), and the peace “Hub Tour” in 2017. As well, Rotarian Action Group For Peace offers constant support and publicity for Rotarian peace initiatives around the world. These activities foster understanding and bring an essential focus to peace. RAGFP currently has members in 71 countries.

In addition, Al Jubitz is the leader of the Jubitz Family Foundation. This foundation supports peace education, peacebuilding activities, and peace programs. He is also a supporter of Portland State University’s Conflict Resolution Program. This world-class university studies program teaches students to “analyze conflict, develop perspectives, and gain skills to defuse and deescalate destructive conflicts that arise among individuals, groups and countries.”

Nominated by:

  • Reem Ghunaim
  • Executive Director
  • Rotarian Action Group For Peace