Hamdi Ulukaya

Hamdi Ulukaya

Hamdi Ulukaya was raised in a dairy-farming family in a small village in eastern Turkey. After moving to the United States, he launched Chobani in 2005 with the mission and vision of making high-quality food more accessible. Five years after selling the first cup of yogurt, Chobani was a billion-dollar brand, and today is the #1 selling yogurt brand in the U.S. The company has since expanded to an innovative modern food portfolio, adding dairy and plant-based creamers, oat milk, and coffee.   

 As a leader in the food manufacturing industry, Ulukaya built Chobani on the foundation that it would do well by doing good. In 2020-2021 alone, the company donated 10.5 million products to fight food insecurity across America and advocated for policies that work toward ending hunger for 17 million American children.     

Ulukaya is well-known for his employee-first policies, including instituting innovative profit-sharing and paid parental leave programs for Chobani’s 2,000-plus employees and implementing competitive hourly wage increases well above the federal rate. He has also become a leading voice in the movement to hire refugees, having discovered through his own experience hiring them that “the minute a refugee gets a job is the minute they stop being a refugee.”   

 That inspired him to start the Tent Partnership for Refugees in 2016, a foundation that mobilizes the business community to connect refugees to work. Tent’s 300 corporate members include Amazon, H&M, adidas, Hilton, L'Oréal, and Pfizer. Ulukaya also signed the Giving Pledge, committing the majority of his personal wealth to help bring an end to the refugee crisis.     

For those efforts, Ulukaya was named an Eminent Advocate by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and received the United Nations Foundation Global Leadership Award, among other recognitions. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also named him as a Sustainable Development Goals Advocate. Ulukaya has received the Oslo Business for Peace Award and George H.W Bush Points of Light Award, is a Global Citizen Prize winner, and was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work on the refugee crisis and his innovative approach to business.   

THE AURORA PRIZE SELECTION COMMITTEE

Read more

Elie Wiesel (1928 – 2016)

First Co-Chair

President of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity; Nobel Laureate

Read more

Lord Ara Darzi

Chair

Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London

Read more

George Clooney

Honorary Co-Chair

Co-founder, The Sentry; Humanitarian, performer and film maker

Read more

Chelsea Clinton

Member

Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation; Vice Chair, Clinton Health Access Initiative

Read more

Leymah Gbowee

Member

Liberian peace activist and women’s rights advocate; Nobel Laureate

Read more

Dele Olojede

Member

Journalist, Writer, Pulitzer Prize Winner

Read more

Paul Polman

Member

Business leader, climate and equalities campaigner

Read more

John Prendergast

Member

Human Rights Activist and Co-founder, The Sentry

Read more

Dame Louise Richardson

Member

President, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Read more

Mary Robinson

Member

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Former President of Ireland

Read more

Hamdi Ulukaya

Member

Founder, Tent Partnership for Refugees; Founder and CEO, Chobani

Read more

Ernesto Zedillo

Member

Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization; Former President of Mexico

Read more

Vartan Gregorian (1934 - 2021)

Member

Co-founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative; President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Read more

Benjamin Ferencz (1920–2023)

Honorary Co-Chair

Lawyer, Human Rights Activist

Read more

Elie Wiesel (1928 – 2016)

First Co-Chair

President of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity; Nobel Laureate

Read more

Lord Ara Darzi

Chair

Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London