Behshad Hastibakhsh, 36, is an award winning political scientist, marketing & public relations executive, public speaker and published writer with the will to stand for the just cause. In December 2006, Behshad was named by Goonagoon Magazine into Success Iranian Hall of Fame.

Educational Achievements

Born in the Northern Iranian city of Sari , at the Caspian Sea , Behshad has lived in exile since his early youth. He completed his high school education in Köln, Germany, before immigrating to Vancouver, Canada, in 1990 to pursue his educational- and professional career. Influenced by his mentors, Behshad has always been interested in literature, philosophy, history, politics, and arts. Behshad has developed a strong character, as he has lived through the glory period prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution and challenging experiences of life in exile.

Behshad is best known for his vision, leadership and competence to identify personal, professional and group objectives and to execute project plans with mere determination and resolve. Fortitude and perseverance have been the driving force beyond many of his accomplishments. While Behshad has nurtured his knowledge of Persian language, literature and culture, he has gained full command of German and English in the process of social adaptation as an immigrant.

Upon his arrival in Canada , Behshad enrolled first at Capilano College and transferred later to the Faculty of Arts at University of British Columbia where in May 1996 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with specialization in Political Science and Germanic Studies. During his academic years, Behshad intensified his research in political philosophy, contemporary history, models of democracy, and comparative paradigms of governance. In 1996, Behshad was recognized by the Leadership Institute with the Youth Leadership Award for his contribution to shaping the public policy process.

Behshad has published several research papers on a myriad of subjects in social sciences, including but not limited to: the causes of the Iranian revolution, the origins of the Iran – Iran war (1980-88), Canadian politics, federalism, United Nations’ mandate, patriarchy and gender discrimination in various societies, etc. Behshad has continued his academic career with the successful completion of graduate level curriculums in Business Administration at Simon Fraser University and University of Phoenix. In November 2006. Behshad attended professional development workshops on Project Management at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).

Professional Accomplishments

Since September 2000, Behshad has been part of TIO Networks’ award winning team (www.TIOnetworks.com) that has been ranked as the 49th fastest growing company in British Columbia by Business in Vancouver (September 2006). Behshad is currently the Senior Director of Public Relations and Corporate Communications at TIO Networks, a Burnaby based software company, which is building the largest and most convenient national multi-retailer network of financial services kiosks for the “cash preferred” consumer marketplace in North America. Behshad has been credited with developing a systemized public relations and B2B strategy that has secured TIO Networks coverage in daily, business, industry publications and online news portals.

Prior to joining the business sector, Behshad was active in grassroots-based community initiatives at North Shore Multicultural Society, a non-profit agency serving the immigrant community. As a settlement worker and community liaison, Behshad established a strong reputation for his compassionate display towards daily concerns of new immigrants. By establishing the organization’s community liaison program, Behshad public raised public awareness on immigrant and settlement issues to a new level. In an exclusive interview with The Vancouver Sun, Behshad talked about positive contributions of The North Shore Multicultural Society, a non-profit organization that has been helping new immigrants integrate into mainstream Canadian society since 1991. During his tenure at the North Shore Multicultural Society, Behshad continued his advocacy work through TV appearances and frequent meetings with civil servants and elected officials from different levels of government.

Community Involvement

Behshad has been an outspoken community activist who has never shied away from addressing controversial issues in his regularly published articles (in Persian and English), TV and newspaper interviews, and open letter to public figures. Engraved in his memory remains images of dismal socio-economic and political conditions, imprisoned political dissidents and human rights violations against religious and ethnic minorities in his native country. Concerned about the future of current and future generations, Behshad speaks bluntly against the ruling theocratic regime in Iran that overshadows international peace efforts with the spread of terrorism.

While addressing existing challenges within the expatriate community, he highlights the common purpose and the ultimate goal of realizing change through cultural renaissance. At public gatherings in support of the pro-democracy movement in Iran. Behshad expresses his solidarity with political prisoners who “are often held captive without proper trial and reason. Among these prisoners, there are many teenagers, university students, renowned writers, journalists, scholars, and average men and women, who have been kidnapped, interrogated, and denied basic human rights. These political prisoners are the unknown soldiers of a non-violent civil disobedience campaign to replace theocracy with true popular democracy.”

With condemnation of such atrocities, Behshad calls for unity and “solidarity with freedom loving people of Iran in our common struggle against the ruling theocratic regime”. He speaks about immeasurable pains and sufferings of Iranian women, “who in years prior to 1979 had gained substantial freedoms and benefited from widespread socio-economic reforms of the time, [and] are now reduced to second class citizens”.

In October 2005, Steve Darling, anchor of Global Morning News interviewed Behshad about his articles dealing with the Iranian community. Responding to a question on the theme of his editorials, Behshad described his preoccupation with socio-economic challenges within the expatriate community and global issues that relate to the image of the Iranian nation. He established a clear distinction between the Iranian nation that shares universal values of tolerance, compassion and compromise and the ruling theocratic regime in Teheran which is responsible for nurturing the ideology of terror and hatemongering.

Behshad has called for international support of freedom-loving people of Iran to bring about regime change which he considers key to global stability and peace in the Middle East . Over the past sixteen years, Behshad has established direct contact with leading opposition figures in exile and elected officials in Canada in support of the pro-democracy movement. Behshad urges unity of all democratic and opposition forces to replace theocracy with democracy in Iran through the non-violence civil disobedience campaign. Behshad shares the aspiration of all expatriates for the future of Iran: freedom of all political prisoners, separation of religion and state, Western style secular parliamentary democracy, global peace and stability, free-fair democratic elections, and a national referendum on the style of governance.

Advocating cultural renewal through a holistic approach, Behshad has adopted the simple slogan ‘Vision – Leadership – Competence’ to reflect upon his mission in life, namely to lead by example in encouraging the application of science and reason to break the cycle of ignorance through tolerance, compassion and compromise.

Source: www.behshadh.com