Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, a California based humanitarian non-profit organization

Heidi Kühn is the Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, a California based humanitarian non-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of landmines by transforming landmines into bountiful agricultural fields world-wide. In 1997, deeply inspired by the late Princess Diana and her work to bring the landmine issue to the forefront of the international agenda, Heidi gave a simple toast in the living room of her home that the world may go from Mines To Vines®, and launched what would become a global initiative and humanitarian effort to transform war-torn regions around the world.
Heidi is a 12th generation American and a fifth generation descendent of Marin County, born in San Rafael and remains true to her roots by respecting the value of the land. Her pioneer spirit inspires her to heal the wounds of war from the ground up. Kühn’s grounded vision has been recognized by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, and many international leaders and stakeholders, including the former U.S. Secretaries of State Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, President Stepan Mesic of Croatia, The First Lady of Angola Ana Paula dos Santos, U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, President Benjamin Netanyuha of Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine. Most recently, Heidi Kühn has personally led the historical charge for Roots of Peace to demine the “Holy Lands” through the newest initiative in Israel/West Bank, gaining the confidence and support of both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority for the first-ever humanitarian mine clearance in the Middle East. Through Heid’s leadership, Roots of Peace has developed the unique and most successful model of Demine-Replant-Rebuild® war-torn regions, turning mine-affected lands into productive, thriving fields of agriculture. Heidi has coined the phrase, “The Economics of Peace,” as the direct result of the Roots of Peace model in action which has gained international acclaim and funding from the U.S., World Bank, European Union, Asian Development Bank and public/private partnerships both in the U.S.
A distinguished graduate of the University of California at Berkeley in Political Economics of Industrial Societies, Heidi is the recipient of the prestigious Cal Berkeley Alumni Award for Excellence and Achievement 2002. In June 2007, at the Washington, D.C. Ceremonies,
Heidi received the esteemed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award/ National Jefferson Award for Public Service. Heidi has served as an Advisory Board Member for the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Pacific since 2007. In 2011, Heidi was named a “Global Hero” by the University, and became the inaugural member of the University of Pacific Women’s Hall of Fame.
She has been recognized with the Chancellor’s Award from the University of Merced for her achievements in turning dreams into reality.

Prior to her work on the landmine issue, Heidi was Founder/CEO of her own television news organization, NewsLink International, reporting for CNN and other news organizations on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and the Melting of the Ice Curtain between US/Soviet relations. Raising her young children in Juneau, Alaska, she earned a reputation for bridging borders for peace—reporting for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Nippon Television and other major media organizations. Upon returning to California with her family, Heidi’s focus on humanitarian issues garnered her a Gubernatorial Appointment to the California Council of the Humanities in 1996. As a cancer survivor, she envisions the issue of landmines as a curable dis-ease—removal. Kühn is married to her husband Gary, and they have four children.