List of Famous people born on January 1st

Ali H. Soufan is a Lebanese-American former FBI agent who was involved in a number of high-profile anti-terrorism cases both in the United States and around the world. A 2006 New Yorker article described Soufan as coming closer than anyone to preventing the September 11 attacks and implied that he would have succeeded had the CIA been willing to share information with him. He resigned from the FBI in 2005 after publicly chastising the CIA for not sharing intelligence with him which could have prevented the attacks.

Chris Dercon is a Belgian art historian, curator, and museum director born in Lier in Belgium in 1958. He studied at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden in History of Art, Theatre Research and Film Theory at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He began his career as a teaching assistant at Rijksuniversiteit Leiden in the Department of Theatre Research where he initiated the Theatre Tape Festival. In 1980 he worked as an assistant curator at the Gemeentemuseum The Hague on a project about the history of world exhibitions and textiles. Starting in 1981 till 1983 he was a collaborator at the Galerie Baronian-Lambert in Ghent. As of 1982, he worked as a free-lance art critic for the Standaard newspaper, and as a free-lance collaborator for Belgian Radio and Television both in Brussels. From 1983 onwards, he also began teaching video and cinema at the Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, and at the Hoger Instituut voor Beeldende Kunsten, St Lukas Brussels. In 1988 he was appointed program director at the institute for contemporary Art PS1 New York where he worked until 1990. He was then appointed to his first directorship at the Witte de With center for contemporary art in Rotterdam recently renamed as the Melly Kunstinstitut, where he worked until 1995. From 1996 to 2003 he served as director of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. From 2003 to 2011 he is the director of the Haus der Kunst in Munchen. He is appointed director of the Tate Modern in 2011 where he stays till 2016. He is then appointed general director of the Volksbuhne Berlin from 2017 until 2018. Since 2019 he has been the president of the Association of French National Museums-Grand Palais where he is overseeing the renovation of the Grand Palais. As a museum director he has worked and published extensively on the future of museums, working with renowned architects Rem Koolhaas, Robbrecht en Daem, Herzog and De Meuron, Gunther Vogt and Francis Kéré. In Paris, he is working with Francois Chatillon on the renovation of the Grand Palais set to be completed in 2024. Chris Dercon currently serves as a board member for: the MACBA Barcelona, the WIELS Centre for Contemporary Art Brussels, the Fondation d’Entreprise Galleries Lafayette Paris, the Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf, the Visual Arts and Museums Commissions of the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Mehmet Görmez is the former President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs and as such legally the highest level Islamic scholar in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Jorge Mas Santos is a business leader, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He currently serves as Chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation and Managing Owner of Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF.

Anis al-Naqqash, also known as Naccache, is a political activist based in Lebanon. He is also known for being a Lebanese guerrilla fighter.

Sadick Adams is a Ghanaian professional footballer who recently joimed as a striker for Bangladesh Football Premier League club Arambagh KS. Adams was considered by World Soccer magazine one of the 50 Most Exciting Teenagers on the Planet in their November 2007 issue.

Arda Akbulut is a Turkish professional footballer who plays at Trabzonspor as a goalkeeper.

Mehmet Ozan Dolunay is a Turkish actor. He is known for his role as Mert in Star TV series Yüksek Sosyete opposite Meriç Aral and Cenk Karaçay in Kanal D series Zalim istanbul.

Rutkay Aziz is a Turkish actor. He has appeared in more than twenty films since 1987.

Casey Wasserman is an entertainment executive, and sports agent executive who owned the now defunct Arena League football team, the Los Angeles Avengers. Born Casey Myers, he is the son of the Los Angeles socialite and philanthropist Lynne Wasserman and Jack Myers. His parents were divorced and he took his mother's maiden name, which is also the last name of his famous grandfather Lew Wasserman. His sister's name is Carol Ann Leif. He is married to movie music supervisor Laura Ziffren. He headed the successful Los Angeles bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics and became president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.