Jayme Illien

Jayme Illien is the founder of the United Nations International Day of Happiness (UNIDOHappiness), a prominent United Nations advisor and Chairman and CEO of Illien Global Public Benefit Corporation.

Career

Prior to founding the United Nations International Day of Happiness (UNIDOHappiness), and serving as United Nations Adviser, Jayme Illien was the founder and Global Head of dbFX, an online global currency and commodities trading service of Deutsche Bank, which he launched in over 70 countries from 2006-2008. Jayme also served as CEO of Swissquote Bank’s Advanced Currency Markets USA from 2009-2011. Jayme was also managing director at Global Brokerage, Inc from 2002-2006. Global Brokerage Inc was formerly known as FXCM.

In 2014, the European Central Bank named FXCM, the world’s 3rd largest currency broker.

Deutsche Bank was voted #1 in Foreign Exchange by the Euromoney FX poll from 2005-2013.

Jayme is on the Board of Advisors of Huecore, Gross National Happiness emmissary program of the Kingdom of Bhutan, and BitWork Elite.

In his political, diplomatic, and philanthropic life, Jayme has worked as an adviser and representative at the United Nations on several international policy issues such as Sustainable Economic Development, Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, Poverty, Disarmament, Peacekeeping and International Security.

Illien conceptualized the idea for an international day of happiness. Illien drafted and lobbied for United Nations Resolution 66/281, which proclaimed March 20th the International Day of Happiness, and was adopted by consensus of all 193 member countries in 2012.

In 2011, Jayme Illien became Chairman and CEO of Illien Global Public Benefit Corporation, which was originally founded in 1980 by his mother Anna Belle Illien as Illien Adoptions International, Inc, a not for profit international adoption and child social welfare organization. The organization aimed to help abandoned or orphaned children by permanently allocating them families and homes.

UN meeting on happiness

On April 2012, the United Nations hosted its first High Level Meeting on Happiness and Wellbeing: Defining a New Economic Paradigm. The meeting was attended by Heads of State and High Level UN Delegates. At the meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated, "Gross National Product has long been the yardstick by which economies and politicians have been measured. Yet it fails to take into account the social and environmental costs of so-called progress. We need a new economic paradigm that recognizes the parity between the three pillars of sustainable development. Social, economic and environmental well-being are indivisible. Together they define Gross Global Happiness."

Jayme Illien recommended to then United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon to reserve March 20 as an entire day dedicated to happiness, therefore, creating a basis for the resolution.

Pharrell Williams's hit Happy was inspired from Illien's founding of the International Day of Happiness and was produced when the singer partnered with the UN. The song received controversial coverage when six Irani kids were arrested for making a video for the International Day of Happiness.

See also

  • Happiness
  • Gross National Happiness
  • Happiness economics
  • Annual ancient Nowruz celebrations, the beginning of Spring on 20th or 21 March.