Charter Network 20/20 Member Dr. Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions and contributing editor for The Daily Beast.  Aslan is a best-selling author, whose first book, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, was an international bestseller and named one of the hundred most important books of the last century.  He has made regular appearances on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", CBS News, and Tavis Smiley among many others. 

Dr. Aslan is also CEO of Aslan Media Inc., whose holdings include BoomGen Studios, the first ever motion picture studio entirely focused on entertainment content about the greater Middle East and its globally dispersed communities.  His non-profit organization, Aslan Media Initiatives, uses social-media technology to provide news and information about the Middle East to young people all over the world.

Dr. Aslan has degrees in religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He serves on the board of directors of the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues; Abraham's Vision, an educational, conflict transformation organization for Israeli and Palestinian youths; PEN USA, which champions the rights of writers under siege around the world; and the Levantine Cultural Center, which builds bridges between Americans and the Arab/Muslim world through the arts.