as vice president and chief of staff in the office of
the president. Robert Dean Blackwell (’ 81 BSMT)
of Haw River has been promoted to vice president for
managed care and payer contracting for the UNC
Health Care System. Frank Russell Callison (’ 81
AB) of Spartanburg, S.C., has been promoted to chief
credit officer at First South Bank. James Edwin
Clement Jr. (’ 81, ’ 83 BSBA) of Greenville has been
named to the inaugural Greenville advisory board for
TrustAtlantic Bank. Clement is president of The
Clement Cos., an independent insurance agency.
John Henry Coffman (’ 81 BSBA) of Greenville has
been named to the inaugural Greenville advisory
board for TrustAtlantic Bank. Coffman is co-president
of Coffman’s Men’s Wear. Betsy Lynn Jordan (’ 81
BSBA) of Wilmington has published her first book,
Seven Absolute Keys to Create Anything, a guide to
organizing creativity. Jordan is a real estate broker,
motivational coach, actor and video producer.
Richard Edwin Morgan Jr. (’ 81 BSIR) of Raleigh has
been promoted to manager of credit administration
at First Citizens Bank. Louise Marian Perkins
(’ 81 BSZOO) of Trumball, Conn., has been promoted
to chief scientific officer at the Multiple Myeloma
Research Foundation. Kenny Ray Jr. (’ 81 AB) of
Hillsborough has been named veterans representative in the office of the N.C. Employment Security
Commission. Dr. Barry Ferguson Saunders (’ 81
BSZOO, ’ 90 MA, ’01 PhD) of Chapel Hill has published CT Suite: The Work of Diagnosis in the Age of
80s
Noninvasive Cutting, an ethnographic account of
how the computed tomographic (CT) scanner shapes
social relations and intellectual activities in and
beyond the CT suite, the unit where CT images are
made and interpreted. Kimberly Susan Taylor (’ 81
JD) of Statesville has retired from the bench to
resume private practice in the new Statesville office
of Lewis & Daggett. Taylor, the first female judge
elected in District 22, Alexander County, was named
Judge of the Year by the N.C. Association of Women
Attorneys in October 2008 and recently was honored
with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Taylor also has
been named to the board of directors for The Autism
Society of America for 2008-09. Jay Myers Temple (’ 81 BSST) of Lexington has been named to a
Meditations on Moderate Islam
C. Holland Taylor ’ 78 took up meditation as see the world endangered by the threat of radi- After graduating, Taylor
a freshman at UNC, and its practice is still a cal Islam.” went to Princeton University
fundamental part of his life and closely tied to Taylor’s work for USA Global Link ultimately to get a doctorate in Ger- profile
his own spiritual beliefs. It has also played a led to the creation of LibForAll following 9/11. man languages and litera-
part in his fervent interest in bringing peace to He was in Indonesia selling the company when ture, but he left to embark
the Islamic world. his interest in meditation led him to explore on a business career. He has written two books
Taylor, former CEO of telecommunications Javanese culture and beliefs, largely rooted in on economics and finance, and he dabbled in
company USA Global Link, is director and mysticism and the spiritual use of meditation. real estate investing before becoming CEO of
founder of a Winston-Salem-based nonprofit In the process, Taylor became a student of a USA Global Link, which enabled foreign callers
called LibForAll, which combats Islamic to bypass expensive long-distance
extremism by providing support to mod- rates.
erate and liberal Muslim leaders around Taylor said he chose to leave the
the world. “Our goal,” he says, “is to help business world and form LibForAll
ensure the global triumph of a pluralistic “because the need to develop … an
and tolerant understanding of Islam, at effective strategy to defeat religious
peace with itself and the modern world.” extremism is far more pressing in
Taylor relies on what he calls a today’s world than the need for one
“counter-extremism” network of powerful more business.” But the telecom
Muslim leaders “who have theological industry gave him many of the tools
legitimacy, credibility … and the courage he now uses to run LibForAll. Already
to confront radical Islam.” LibForAll in place is a vast network of Muslim
helps these leaders find a platform for leaders. Taylor says he helps them
their message in the media, popular “flip the switch.” He and a staff of
culture, education, business, govern- 14, who work from homes and
ment and large religious organizations. offices in North Carolina, California,
A LibForAll co-founder is former the Netherlands and Indonesia,
Indonesian president Kyai Haji Abdur- assist these leaders in their efforts
rahman Wahid. Wahid also has served “to depoliticize Islam and return it to
COURTESY LIBFORALL FOUNDATION
as chairman of one of the world’s a fundamental understanding of
As CEO of the LibForAll Foundation, C. Holland Taylor ’ 78, far right, works with
largest Muslim organizations, the Nahd- their faith.”
religious, cultural and goverment leaders from around the globe, such as at this
latul Ulama; he is the founder of Indone- They do this in myriad ways, one
2007 International Religious Summit on the Indonesian island of Bali, the target of
sia’s major political party, the National terrorist bombings. of which is the International Institute
Awakening Party. Wahid made head- for Qur’anic Studies, or IIQS, run by
lines two years ago when he denounced Iranian renowned Islamic scholar Nasr Hamid Abu-
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying Zayd, declared a heretic by fundamentalists
that the Holocaust took place. and forced to leave his native Egypt because of
LibForAll also works closely with Ahmad his progressive beliefs. As director of the IIQS,
Dhani, often referred to as the Bono of Indone- Abu-Zayd is charged with teaching others how
sia. As lead singer for Dewa, one of his coun- to interpret the Qur’an with objectivity, toler-
try’s most popular bands, he caters to a differ- ance and critical thinking skills.
ent audience. Dewa has several hit singles, To help with these efforts, LibForAll receives
including Laskar Cinta, or “Warriors of Love.” funding from organizations and individuals
The song is intended to counter Laskar Jihad, or around the globe. Major contributors include
Holy War Warriors. The song is pervasive in the Organization of Security and Cooperation in
ways that go beyond record sales and radio pro- Europe, the Swedish government, the U.S. State
grams. Every time Dhani makes a television Department, and North Carolinians Redge and
appearance, for example, its message of love, F. Borden Hanes Jr. Noting that one of the
not war, plays in the background. Hanes brothers is a Republican and the other a
“We work with powerful individuals,” Taylor Democrat, Taylor says: “We are completely apo-says, “who are true spiritual leaders, and as litical.”
such, cannot sit back and do nothing when they
conflict that took place for much of the 16th
century, when indigenous Javanese mobilized to
oppose extremist forms of Islam. A network of
powerful leaders used a variety of tactics,
including musical poetry, to impart their vision
of a just and tolerant society. Taylor is trying to
replicate that approach today.
Taylor, who divides his time between Winston-Salem and his adopted home of Indonesia,
traces his vagabond ways to his youth. His
father was an Army lawyer, and as a child, Taylor lived in Iran and Germany. All the while, his
parents considered North Carolina home, and
they told him he could attend any college he
wanted as long as it was in the Tar Heel state.
He chose UNC, he says, because of the diversity
of people in Chapel Hill and the school’s egalitarian nature.
— Lucy Hood ’ 83
