Greg Mortenson is the director of the Central Asia Institute www.ikat.org and founder of Pennies For Peace www.penniesforpeace.org. He is the co-author and protagonist of Three Cups of Tea www.threecupsoftea.com, which has been a New York Times nonfiction bestseller for three years, and published in over three dozen countries.

Since a 1993 climb of Pakistan's K2, Mortenson has worked in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan to promote education and literacy, to establish 131 schools, especially for girls, which provide education to over 58,000 students, including 44,000 females.

Three Cups of Tea is mandatory reading for all senior U.S. military commanders, and U.S. Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan. The book has been a freshman or common book read in over 100 universities and colleges, and a 'One Book' read in over 240 communities. His second book, Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books Not Bombs in Pakistan and Afghanistan www.stonesintoschools.com will be released by Viking on December 1st, 2009

In 2009, Mortenson received the Sitara-e-Pakistan, which is Pakistan's highest civil award for his humanitarian efforts, While not overseas, Mortenson lives with his wife and two children in Montana.