Kosovo: Safeguarding the Most Inclusive Constitution in the World

Salem, Massachusetts, born 19 September 1947, founder of the residential and hospitality textile company that bears his name, Christopher Hyland is also CEO and design director of WCLI and Hylandtown, a Colorado Omni-Urbanist project.

A 1970 graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, he was one of 14 founding members of the Clinton for President Campaign, Deputy National Political Director of the Clinton for President Campaign in Charge of Ethnic Constituencies,  and Chairperson/Moderator, and or, originator of eleven Clinton Presidential Transition Conferences: The Politics of Inclusion; Neighborhoods; Ireland; Eastern Europe; Veterans; Indian Country; Small Business; Housing and Homelessness; Design and Manufacturing Towards an Inclusive America; Non Profits and People with Disabilities.

President Clinton writes in his autobiography ‘My Life’ of Hyland, “…making an important contribution to victory in the general election, and laying the foundation for our unprecedented connection with ethnic communities once we got to the White House.”

To foster peace, he encouraged change in American UK, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Indian and other policies, subsequently receiving a St. Patrick Award for Peace in Ireland. The Irish Voice newspaper describes Hyland as “the unsung hero of the Irish Peace Process.”

His textile company is influenced by what he learned of Salem’s aesthetic and trading history at the Salem Athenaeum, Salem and Marblehead Libraries, and The Peabody Essex Museum. The Salem Athenaeum, of which he is a member, describes him as “the last Salem Merchant;.

He recalls attending Salem Willows African American picnics with his parents Patricia and Samuel Hyland, she a sculptor, and he a lawyer and past President of the Salem City Council.

A lifelong interest in Malta was inspired by the voyages of the USS Constitution and Salem’s Cleopatra’s Barge. He previously served as an Honorary Consul of the Republic of Malta.

Maestro Joseph Vella’s Hyland Peace Mass in Concert, dedicated to Peace and acceptance of diversity, was commissioned by Hyland, and first performed in the USA at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC. Most recently it was performed in Pristina, Kosovo to celebrate that Moslem majority country’s 15th anniversary of independence, and, organized by a Vatican related foundation, on 21 June 2023 at the Pantheon, Rome. Hyland has commissioned Christopher Vu to compose a large work in celebration of Salem400 and USA250.

When Hyland, as a school boy, asked how he could help, Dr. Martin Luther King, looking Hyland directly in the eye, replied in a heartbeat, “Look evil in the eye and give it no succor”.

A recipient of the VATRA Gold Medal, in 2023 Hyland gave speeches at LUMSA, Rome and at the Sorbonne, Paris in defense of the Kosovo Constitution to good result, the latter in tandem with Prime Minister Albin Kurti of Kosovo.

Hyland’s efforts to achieve Peace and understanding in the Balkans have been recognized with national honors from the governments of Kosovo and Albania, and honorary doctorates from UBT and Prizren University, the former establishing The Hyland Center for Global Studies. Hyland also has been awarded honorary doctorates from SCAD, NYSID, Kiev Economic University, Ukraine, and Notre Dame University, Lebanon.

He began sailing at Pleon, Marblehead and skiing at Mount Cranmore, New Hampshire. He collects photography, Hudson River Art, and African art.