Woodstock School to honour distinguished alumnus and TED curator Chris Anderson

Woodstock School, India's longest established international school, will be honouring Chris Anderson (Class of 1974) as a distinguished alumnus during a special presentation ceremony at the school's new Win Mumby Gymnasium on Monday, October 26th.

Woodstock is delighted to honour Chris Anderson, who is a world-renowned media entrepreneur and curator of the TED Conferences (Technology Entertainment and Design). Mr. Anderson is a dedicated promoter of global citizenship, whose work helps spread innovative ideas around the world.

Click here for a more detailed biography of Chris Anderson.

Official TED website

Anderson, who is British, was born in Pakistan and spent most of his childhood in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. In 2001 Anderson acquired TED through his private non-profit foundation, The Sapling Foundation. He re-defined TED's mission as "ideas worth spreading" and encouraged the release of its content online to a broader, global audience. He also introduced the TED Prize, which grants three individuals annually $100,000 plus "one wish to change the world". TED will be holding a major conference in Mysore from November 4-7 which will feature speakers from varying fields including management, water-harvesting, art, biology, social activism, cricket, education, spirituality, film, economy, and others.

In the past, speakers in the TED Talks have included former US President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former US Vice-President Al Gore, Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates, and pop-star/social activist Bono.

Immediately following the Distinguished Alumni Award Presentation there will be a vertical dance performance by the celebrated dance company Project Bandaloop, which was founded by Woodstock alumnus, Amelia Rudolph (Class of 1982). More information on Project Bandaloop can be found on their website www.projectbandaloop.org Ms. Rudolph and her dancers perform on mountain faces, high rise buildings and other vertical surfaces using rock climbing equipment. Project Bandaloop will also be holding a special workshop for interested students.

In 2003, the school's Board of Directors established the Woodstock School Distinguished Alumni Roll as a means of enabling the school to publicly celebrate meritorious alumni for exemplary and recognized lifelong achievement in their given fields or in voluntary philanthropic activities or service, in ways which represent the values that Woodstock School strives to engender in its students.

Up to three alumni are presented with this award every year. The past recipients of this award are listed here.