. : farooq kathwari.com : .

Farooq Kathwari is the chairman, president, and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. He has been president of the company since 1985, and chairman and CEO since 1988.

Among his recognitions, Mr. Kathwari is a recipient of the 2018 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, has been inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame, and has been recognized as an Outstanding American by Choice by the U.S. government. He has received the Yale School of Management’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute Lifetime of Leadership Award; the New American Dream Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants Legacy Award; the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal; the National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee; the National Retail Federation Gold Medal; the International First Freedom Award from the Council for America’s First Freedom; Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award; the Anti-Defamation League’s Humanitarian Award; City of Hope’s International Home Furnishings Industry Spirit of Life® Award; the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from the National Association of Asian MBAs; and has been recognized by Worth magazine as one of the 50 Best CEOs in the United States.

Mr. Kathwari is an advisory member of the New York Stock Exchange; and on the board of the Western Connecticut State University Foundation. He also serves several nonprofit organizations, including the advisory board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; a director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is chairman emeritus of Refugees International, former chairman of the National Retail Federation, the American Home Furnishings Alliance, and former member of the Board of Advisors of the International Rescue Committee.

The founder of the Kashmir Study Group, Mr. Kathwari served as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from 2010 to 2014. He also joined the congressionally mandated United States Institute of Peace Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States, co-chaired by Governor Tom Kean and Representative Lee Hamilton, who formerly led the 9/11 Commission.

Mr. Kathwari is the author of Trailblazer: from the Mountains of Kashmir to the Summit of Global Business and Beyond, a memoir published in September 2019.

Mr. Kathwari holds BA degrees in English Literature and Political Science from Kashmir University, Srinagar, and an MBA in International Marketing from New York University, New York. He is also the recipient of three honorary doctorate degrees.