Ed Martin served six years as director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA, before leaving four years ago. Prior to that, he worked five years in Nepal and 18 years as the Central and Southern Asia Area Program Director for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). He also worked two years as Quaker International Affairs Representative for Iran for the American Friends Service Committee. It was during these years, as well as a year in seminary, that he developed an interest in Islam and in interfaith dialogue as well as a special interest in Iran.

Since 1991, he has made about 30 visits to Iran and has very much enjoyed learning to know the people of Iran and experiencing their generous hospitality. Engagements with Iran have included collaboration with the Iranian Red Crescent Society on disaster and refugee relief, a student exchange program, a series of interfaith dialogue conferences, assisting in arranging meetings of American religious leaders with the president of Iran, recruiting and hosting a visiting Muslim scholar from Iran at the Center for Interfaith Engagement, and organizing and co-leading learning tours to Iran. The most recent learning tour was in April 2018.

He has a B.S. in General Engineering from Stanford University and a Master’s in Public Administration and Ph.D. in International Agricultural Economic Development from Cornell University.