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Welcome to 1st World Library!

1st World Library - Literary Society is an educational organization dedicated to promoting literacy by:

1) Creating a free Internet library accessible from any computer worldwide.
2) Hosting writing competitions and offering book publishing scholarships.

The company is currently being managed by its principals, who bring the diverse backgrounds needed for the success of this project. 1st World Library maintains offices in Austin, Texas, St. Augustine, Florida, Fairfield, Iowa and New Delhi, India

President & Founder - Rodney Charles
Rodney Charles is an innovative, self-motivated, entrepreneur and business leader who conceived the 1st World Library - Literary Society mission while acting as President and Managing Editor of his own self-built book publishing companies, Sunstar Publishing Ltd. (1992) and 1st World Library Limited (2000). His diverse experiences, ranging from media management, business-to-business aggregation and hands-on daily interaction with authors and publishers have resulted in the assembly of many of the resources required to implement the 1st World concept. He has authored four books: The Land of Love, Art & Genius; Lighter Than Air; The Secret Meaning of Names; (editor) and the best-selling Every Day a Miracle Happens. Prior to entering the publishing industry he CO-founded The American Institute of Vedic Art, which grew from a three man operation to affiliate galleries in 17 states and offices in 3 countries, Canada, USA and India. He holds a M.S. in Vedic Science and an honorary Doctorate in Comparative Religion.

CEO Timothy Mahaney is a creative business developer and entrepreneur who has focused the last 20 years on developing workable solutions for high tech companies. He has founded and built several companies including, TechJobsOnline.com, a technical niche site for job seekers and employers, and TechNet, a technical staffing company with sales offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Atlanta. He is an acting consultant to various US based Corporations including Rockwell Avionics and Eastman Kodak Company. Tim's unique blend of practical business skills and Internet technology experience have lead to the creation of the 1st World Library online presence. He holds a Masters in the Science of Creative Intelligence and a BS in Computer Science.

General Counsel - Brandon Nelson brings the vision and knowledge of twenty years of legal experience in assembling, financing, overseeing, and closing transactions of various kinds. He currently practices in real estate, corporate, and contract law. Some current clients include many of the largest lenders in the United States. He is a 1981 graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law (Law Review and Moot Court).

Data & Communications - Shawna Baird is a 2003 graduate of Kirkwood College, Cedar Rapids, IA where she obtained her degree in Business Administration. She studied marketing, selling and communications in television and media broadcasting. She is extremely detail oriented and practices her organizational skills in every aspect of life. She has a passion for working directly with the public and being a team leader. She also enjoys demonstrating her creative, inquisitive skills and spending time with her family and boyfriend.

The Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board - Rodney Charles is an innovative, self-motivated, entrepreneur and business leader who conceived the 1st World Library - Literary Society mission while acting as President and Managing Editor of his own self-built book publishing companies, Sunstar Publishing Ltd. (1992) and 1st World Library Limited (2000). His diverse experiences, ranging from media management, business-to-business aggregation and hands-on daily interaction with authors and publishers have resulted in the assembly of many of the resources required to implement the 1st World concept. He has authored four books: The Land of Love, Art & Genius; Lighter Than Air; The Secret Meaning of Names; (editor) and the best-selling Every Day a Miracle Happens. Prior to entering the publishing industry he CO-founded The American Institute of Vedic Art which grew from a three man operation to affiliate galleries in 17 states and offices in 3 countries, Canada, USA and India. He holds a M.S. in Vedic Science and an honorary Doctorate in Comparative Religion.

Alan Balmer is a partner in the Certified Public Accounting firm of Balmer Nelson Van Mersbergen, with roots that go back to 1979. Prior to working with Balmer Nelson Van Mersbergen, Alan worked in Washington DC with the international accounting firm of Laventhol and Horwath in both their tax and audit departments. Alan has an undergraduate accounting degree from the University of New Orleans and is a Certified Public Accountant, member of the Iowa Society of CPA’s and the American Institute of CPA’s. Alan has been a director and officer of with several non-profit tax-exempt organizations.

Nandini Charles - From the inception of 1st World Library Literary Society, Nandini Charles has exercised her talent and expertise in Public Relations to bring dignity and harmony into the 1st World corporate structures. She has spent 10 years (hands-on experience) working with Public Relations for major hotel chains through out India and Asia managing celebrity affairs, corporate image security and balancing the many diverse elements in face-to-face, multicultural PR communications. Her foremost life-achievement: her inexhaustible love of children. Her highest honor: the love and appreciation of her immediate and extended family. She was educated in Whelems, a private boarding academy in Dehra Dun, India, a valley at the foothills of the Himalayas. She has intimate knowledge and experience of all aspects of 1st World Library's vision, mission and goal.

Barbara Paul-Emile -Professor of English and Maurice E. Goldman Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences, holds a Ph.D. in English. Her work centers on 19th century English Literature, Myth and Caribbean literature. A member of the faculty at Bentley College, Waltham, MA, she was named Massachusetts Professor of the Year for 1995 by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She has published numerous articles on scholarly topics, but has remained true to her first love, creative writing. She is presently completing Mosaic, a Collection of Caribbean Short Stories and a manuscript on the Mystical Path of the Warrior Woman.

Ravi Badhwar - Commander Ravi L. Badhwar, Distinguished Wing Commander (Retired) Indian Air Force graduated Senior Cambridge from The Doon School, Dehra Dun, U P. Commissioned in the Indian Air Force following graduation from Air Force Flying College and served 24 years as a fighter-pilot being honored and privileged to command two Fighter Squadrons in three wars. Commander Badhwar held a Senior Staff Appointment as coordinator for government, military and business operations involving administration, planning at corporate levels, Work Study, Optimum Utilization, inventory controls as well as administration of highly qualified personnel and maintenance and equipment management.
Following retirement from the Indian Air Force, Commander Badhwar traveled extensively throughout Asia, Europe and North America, coordinating and directing members of the business community, attending discussions on subjects such as diverse as Politics, Business, Religion etc. and also served with Med-India Bangalore as the Indian representative for Kabi Sweden.

Board of Advisors

Michael S. Hart - Library Architecture. Founder and Executive Director and brainchild of the famed Project Gutenberg, involved in creating a world public domain library. Michael S. Hart is Professor of Electronic Text at Benedictine University in Illinois, Visiting Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, and a Fellow of the Internet Archive, for year 2000.

Nonprofit and Organizational Development
Barry Silverberg has over 28 years of diverse leadership; management, resource development and communications experience within the nonprofit arena as both a professional and volunteer leader.
A resident of Austin, TX since 1995, Barry hails from New York, where he served the Syracuse Jewish Federation for 20 years; 15 as its Executive Vice-President. Prior to becoming the founding Director of the ACC Center for Community- Based and Nonprofit Organizations, Barry is an adjunct faculty at the New College of St. Edward's University where he developed and teaches a course on Nonprofit Management. He also serves as President of the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations (TANO) and as Chair of the Service Learning Advisory Committee at Austin Community College.

Brad Fregger has been in the publishing business for over twenty years and brings with him a wealth of experience. In addition to one-hundred plus computer software products, Fregger produced and published a half dozen traditional books as well as twelve audio books, including the autobiographies of Burt Reynolds and John Denver, and the twenty-fifth anniversary editions of The Exorcist and Flowers for Algernon.
His background makes him ideally suited to this new age of publication where "books" can be found in a variety of media from the traditional, to e-books, to MP3 versions that can be downloaded from the Internet.
Brad is the author of three books, Get Things Done - Ten Secrets of Creating and Leading Exceptional Teams, One Shovel Full - Telling Stories to Change Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs, and Lucky That Way - Stories of Seizing the Moment While Creating the Games Millions Play (He's the inventor of Computer Card Solitaire).

Dean Draznin - Dean is President of Dean Draznin Communications, a self-built full-service PR firm with satellite offices across the U.S. and affiliates in Canada, the U.K. and Israel. Dean brings a consortium, which comprises a staff of highly skilled business development strategists and investment bankers, marketers, copywriters, editors, graphic and web designers, video producers and radio advertising professionals. At the core, Dean offers a team of seasoned PR executives with years of media relations experience for both corporate and nonprofit organizations.
DDC represent a number of cutting-edge high tech companies - Unger Software, OTM GouLite, Televend, CVF Technologies Corporation, Gemprint and Ecoval; marketing firms - 3Buddies.com, Information Centers, Inc., Chamber of Commerce.com, and Holsted Marketing; health/medical companies - David J. Goldberg, MD, Director, Laser Research and MOHS Surgery at Mt. Sinai Medical Center; Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, Director, Annapolis Research Center for Effective Fibromyalgia & CFIDS Therapies.

John Kremer - John is an acknowledged national expert in the publishing and marketing arena. He is the President/Owner of Open Horizons Press in Fairfield, Iowa and has been the Chief Editor of Book Marketing Update for over sixteen years.
John has authored several books on publishing and marketing, including the industry bible 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: For Authors and Publishers (5th Edition).Other books include: The Complete Direct Marketing Sourcebook, High Impact Marketing on a Low Impact Budget, and Celebrate Today. John is also credited with the Do-It-Yourself Book Publicity Kit and Book Publishing Reports on CD-ROM.
John has addressed book-publishing seminars in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Orlando, Miami, Denver, Boulder, Tucson, Portland, Seattle, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and many other cities, both nationally and internationally.

Visit our main site at 1stWorldPublishing.COM