Paul von Zielbauer is Director of Global Programming at the Milken Institute. His background combines world-class journalism, physically challenging adventure travel and social entrepreneurship. He spent 11 years as an award-winning reporter for the New York Times and seven years as the founder of Roadmonkey Adventure Philanthropy, a for-profit social enterprise recognized by CNN International and O, the Oprah magazine, for its overseas volunteer work. The Times nominated his investigative reporting on the privatization of jail and prison health care for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. Von Zielbauer was a Times correspondent in Baghdad during the height of the war in Iraq, where he broke several stories on the in-theater operations of private military contractors, including Blackwater. Prior to joining the Institute, von Zielbauer spent two years at KCRW, an NPR affiliate in Los Angeles, producing a nationally syndicated current affairs program, "To the Point." He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and spent a postgraduate year as a Fulbright scholar based in Berlin. In 1994, he completed a solo cycling journey from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.