MAPS Board & Leadership

MAPS’ LEADERSHIP TEAM

Muslim Americans in Public Service is managed by a Board of Directors, which is supported by specialized Board Committees and a standing, non-decision-making Advisory Council.

To facilitate its mission effectively, MAPS also organizes State Committees for sub-national coordination; engages partner organizations to create synergies and reduce redundancies; and convenes both Federal and State Leadership Coordination Councils to provide fora for sustained cooperation and collaboration across similarly focused Muslim public service associations and organizations.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MAPS objectives and activities are developed and executed by an experienced Board of Directors. 

The Board is comprised of a dedicated Executive Committee that serves alongside senior public servants and community organizers that help guide decisions as At-Large Members.

Together, participating in their personal capacities, they represent a diversity of professional backgrounds, ethnic and Muslim faith communities, levels and branches of government experience and civil society engagement.

Ahmad Maaty

Chair
Read Bio

Ameer Abdulrahman

General Secretary
Read Bio

Hassan Sheikh

Outreach Director
Read Bio

Mariam Siddiqui

Policy Director
Read Bio

Shahid Khan

Acting Professional Development Director
Read Bio

Jalal Maqableh

Program Director
Read Bio

Mariam Ali

Communications Director
Read Bio

Tamim Chowdhury

Finance Director
Read Bio

Dr. Leila Hanafi

Board Member At Large
Read Bio

Nasra Ismail

Board Member At Large
Read Bio

Dr. Nader Metwalli

Board Member At Large
Read Bio

Maryum Saifee

Board Member At Large
Read Bio

BOARD DEPUTY DIRECTORS & BOARD COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Committees and Task Forces may be formed by the MAPS Board as needed to achieve MAPS’ mission and organizational priorities. These include the Programs Committee, Professional Development Committee, Communications Committee, Policy Committee, Outreach Committee, and Finance Committee, as well as the Standing Youth Engagement and Public Private Partnership Committees.

Natasha Shah Syed

Deputy Outreach Director
Read Bio

Sidrah Mirza

Deputy Professional Development Director
Read Bio

Shafaq Khan

Deputy Policy Director
Read Bio

Ruhan Syed

Deputy Communications Director
Read Bio

Mariya Ilyas

Deputy Finance Director
Read Bio

Shawn Syed

Chair, Public Private Partnership Committee
Read Bio

MAPS STATE COMMITTEE PRESIDENTS

State Committee Presidents help organize MAPS National members and local public servants, and represent MAPS among government officials within the State. 

These local leaders are key to strengthening MAPS National community while ensuring community and professional development are brought directly to local public servants where they live and work. 

Presidents of all MAPS State Committees are also connected to one another on a State Leadership Coordination Council.

Janna Ramadan

President, MAPS Massachusetts
Read Bio

Ramain Gohar

President, MAPS Virginia
Read Bio

Aisha Irshad

President, MAPS Pennsylvania
Read Bio

FEDERAL LEADERSHIP COORDINATION COUNCIL

MAPS convenes two Leadership Coordination Councils (Federal and State) to provide fora for sustained cooperation and collaboration across similarly focused organizations, and to allow input into the programs and services of MAPS National. 

While the State Leadership Coordination Council connects the Presidents of all MAPS State Committees above, the MAPS Federal Leadership Coordination Council is comprised of representatives of established Muslim staff associations across the Federal government. Represented organizations include MAPS Chapters and other Muslim employee resource groups, employee networking/ affinity groups, and volunteer employee associations across the Federal Inter-agency. 

Leadership Coordination Council members participate in MAPS in their official capacities representing their respective organizations. Participation in MAPS does not reflect or imply endorsement by the listed U.S. Government agencies and departments.

Omar Elkassed

President, MAPS DOT, ERG at the US Department of Transportation
Read Bio

Bilal Perry

President, MAPS SBA, ERG at the US Small Business Administration
Read Bio

Hassan Sheikh

President, MAPS LOC, ERG at the US Library of Congress
Read Bio

Katie Qutb

President, UMERG, ERG at the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Read Bio

All Board members participate in MAPS in their personal capacities, while Leadership Coordination Council members serve in their official organizational capacities. Participation in MAPS does not reflect or imply endorsement by the U.S. Government or any of its agencies and departments.

 

Ahmad Maaty co-founded the Muslim Americans in Public Service (MAPS) employee resource group at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he served as a Senior Economist with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). He worked in a similar regulatory capacity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including as Acting Chief Economist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He also deployed as an Inter-Governmental Affairs Specialist during FEMA emergency responses to disaster declarations in Texas and Puerto Rico.

Previously, Ahmad served as a Franklin Fellow with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources, helping craft State and USAID’s economic growth budget and strategy. He also helped introduce data tools to guide assistance as a founding member of the Country Data Analytics team, liaising with the White House National Security Council on bi-lateral investment opportunities. Ahmad first joined State ten years earlier, helping cover the Middle East portfolio before the United Nations Security Council for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. 

During the interval in Federal service, Ahmad held roles with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Islamic Development Bank, developing economic growth, poverty reduction, and evaluation programs with fieldwork in over a dozen countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. 

A Certified Knowledge Manager, Ahmad holds a BBA from George Washington University and an MPA from Cornell University, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the public policy journal of the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. Ahmad can be reached at chair@mapsnational.org.

Ameer Abdulrahman is a policy advisor who has dedicated his career to advocating for marginalized communities concerning policy change. Ameer leads successful advocacy campaigns that center young people to create real solutions for a better future and advises legislators across the country. 

As a son of immigrants and refugees, Ameer believes in the importance of seeing people for their full humanity and in doing the work to provide them that opportunity.

Ameer currently serves as the National Campaign Manager at PERIOD. Previously, he was the Director of Operations on a United States Senate Campaign in Ohio. He can be reached at youthengagement@mapsnational.org.

Hassan Sheikh is an Analyst in Public Health Emergency Management in the Congressional Research Service for the Library of Congress, where he serves as an authoritative, non-partisan expert for Members of Congress on issues related public health crises.

Before entering public service at CRS, Hassan served at the local jurisdictional level with the City of Baltimore, where he served as a Medical Countermeasure Coordinator for Baltimore’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. In that position, he was responsible for coordinating Baltimore’s response to major health crises. Most notably, Hassan served as a key architect in Baltimore’s COVID-19 response where he oversaw a number of response operations such as ensuring that healthcare systems had the equipment they needed to keep their facilities operational during the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 and the mass vaccination of tens of thousands of Baltimore City residents against COVID-19.  

Prior to his time in Baltimore City, Hassan had served as a community pharmacist in the Northeastern United States area. His prior experiential experiences had afforded him the opportunity to practice pharmacy in a myriad of settings including the Indian Health Service, United States Air Force, and a Caribbean Rural Healthcare Clinic. These experiences led Hassan to the development of coordinated health care strategies to better serve his community. While working as a community pharmacist, Hassan would serve as a mentor for pharmacy student interns and would travel to the Caribbean to serve as preceptor for student pharmacists.  

Hassan’s career has spanned the cross section of health and law, and at every juncture, he has chosen to apply his experiences in the way that best has taken any opportunity that best allows him to serve his community.

Hassan graduated with his Doctor of Pharmacy in 2012 from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. After three years as a practicing pharmacist for medically underserved populations in Vermont and New Hampshire, he decided to pursue a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Maryland School of Law, from which he graduated in 2018 with a specialization in health law and policy. Hassan can be reached at outreach@mapsnational.org.

Mariam is currently working as a Strategist with a digital and data political media consulting firm working with high-profile clients including the DNC, Biden for President, and Planned Parenthood. She previously worked for the House Judiciary Committee aiding in the impeachment trials of former President Trump and as a staffer for Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
 
Alongside her congressional experience, she has also worked on state and national campaigns serving as a fellow for Warren for President and media strategist for Beto for Texas. She started her career helping to build the capacity of Muslim American civil society with the El-Hibri Foundation in D.C. and strives to foster diverse dialogues through these leadership positions. 
 
In her free time, she volunteers at Canopy Northwest Arkansas (NWA), a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization, where she tutors and mentors children recently resettled in Northwest Arkansas. She graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Political Science. Mariam can be reached at policy@mapsnational.org.
Shahid Khan is currently a civil servant with the US Department of Commerce. In 2016 he left his native Texas, where he supported the local racoon population that was eating garbage, to move to Washington DC and work for the federal government, where he now assists the hungry yet invasive squirrel population that primarily also eats garbage.
 
He’s worked as an economist and now has shifted to working as a trade and data analyst focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean region of the world. He holds a masters in Applied Economics and a bachelors in Economics from the University of Houston Main Campus where he also completed the South Asian American trial by fire for love of one’s parents by studying pre-medicine. He’s currently mid-way through his 2nd master’s degree in International Economic Policy concentrating on Economic Development in the Middle East at the George Washington University.
 
Shahid takes pride in being able to understand Sindhi as well as being able to read Urdu and speak Hindi-Urdu, albeit with a telltale American accent. He does regret losing the fluency he once held in Japanese but is using the same techniques to study Modern Standard Arabic. Shahid memorized the Quran at the age of 13, and has been a 1st dan in taekwondo which he trained for 10 years in addition to limited training in boxing and jiujutsu. His other volunteer efforts are primarily focused on suicide prevention with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and assisting at-risk homeless people obtain employment with The Village Connect. Shahid can be reached at professionaldevelopment@mapsnational.org.
Jalal is the Executive Director of the FairField Center. The first conflict resolution and mediation center in the state of Virginia. He is also an adjunct instructor in business management and organizational science at James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University. Jalal, as well, is a part-time business advisor for Virginia Small Business Development Network.

Before moving to the US in 2015, Jalal worked in the Middles East as a senior consultant with many international organizations such as the UN, USAID, European Union. Throughout his intensive career path, Jalal gained a strong foundation in different topics like data analytics, organizational change management, strategy development, political communication, strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation. Earlier in his career, he was an entrepreneur and started his own business which helped him later to win the highest award for young entrepreneurs in his country, Jordan.

Jalal has participated in many leadership programs such as the US Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and the Social Entrepreneurship Program at EMU. Jalal is a Ph.D. candidate (in the dissertation phase) at the School of Strategic Leadership Studies at James Madison University. His dissertation is on crisis leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. Jalal has a Master’s in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building and BS in Software Engineering. Jalal can be reached at programs@mapsnational.org.

Mariam Ali is a communications professional with nearly two decades of proven success in the development and implementation of public relations and media relations campaigns for organizations such as AAA, National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA), Florida Department of Transportation and the Seattle Department of Transportation, where she currently serves as the Deputy Press Secretary. 

Mariam excels at generating effective and positive organizational exposure and enabling the success of dynamic media campaigns. She has spearheaded communications operations – including press and marketing materials while developing and implementing strategic plans to drive the organization’s messaging, event coverage and positive media results. Mariam has managed press relationships and pitching stories to enhance organizational exposure and generate public interest and attention. She has secured media placement in national, local and online publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, CBS Morning News and Miami Herald.  

In addition to her communications and media relations experience, Mariam has knowledge in event management, public affairs and marketing public relations. 

Originally from Orlando, Mariam graduated with a public relations degree from the University of Florida, and can be reached at communications@mapsnational.org.

 

Tamim Chowdhury is a born-and-raised Chicagoan and a career public service professional with eighteen years of Federal experience. He has served in roles and specializations ranging from project management, and contracting, to policy, economic development and national program administration. He is currently a Senior Contracting Officer with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

Tamim is dedicated to the continuing development of the American Muslim community in civic life. In addition to serving on the MAPS National Board, he is also on the Board of the Muslim Caucus Education Collective. You can read his personal perspectives, thoughts and observations of our quickly changing world on his blog.

His passions stem from his M.A. in Education with a focus on transformational leadership and emotional and social intelligence. As Program Director, Tamim also Chairs MAPS’ Program Committee and can be reached at programs@mapsnational.org.

 

 

Dr. Leila Hanafi is a Moroccan-American international development lawyer with a record of service in international organizations and  multilateral institutions. She is currently a senior legal adviser with the World Bank Group and adjunct law professor at George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C.  Leila is Founder and Principal of ARPA international Law Group, an international development law firm, and has served in legal advisory roles to United Nations agencies, including UNOPS, UNDP and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), as well as foreign governments.

Previously, Leila oversaw the International Criminal Court’s Middle East and North Africa Coalition work and served as staff attorney and programs manager of the American Bar Association (ABA) World Justice Project. Amidst the Arab Spring reforms, she was selected by the Moroccan Government as Law Commissioner in the National Inter-Governmental Commission for Policy Dialogue and Constitutional Reforms.

Leila is a graduate of American University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C., and earned her doctorate in law in the United Kingdom under a fully funded merit doctoral scholarship. She can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

 

Nasra A. Ismail brings over 15 years of international development experience with specialized support to grassroots movements, proximate leaders, and equitable partnerships. Nasra is the recipient of the 2022 Global Leadership ICAP Aspen Fellowship and is currently advising global organizations to create transformational and systems level impact through shifting power and practices.

She previously served as Senior Director of Global Strategy at GivingTuesday and Associate Director, working across Programs and Operations at Co-Impact, focusing on organizational structure and team engagement efforts, as well as curating meaningful engagement with feminist leaders and global south advisors.

Nasra was also Director of the Somalia NGO Consortium, a network of 80 national and international NGOs working in Somalia engaged in humanitarian relief. Prior to that, she was the Somalia Country Director for Oxfam International and worked with the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation in managing public sector programs. 

Through both her personal and professional engagements, Nasra puts a premium on gender-inclusive program design and advancing women’s representation and leadership. She continues her pursuit to find core meaning in her work across development, humanitarian, and philanthropic sectors, utilizing her inclusive leadership style and bridge-building skills to arrive at a sustainable and long-lasting change in some of the world’s toughest places.

Nasra holds a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and has engaged in multiple professional programs at Harvard, Oxford, and the University of California, Berkeley. Nasra is fluent in Somali and English.

Dr. Nader Metwalli has been a staff scientist with the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Bethesda, MD campus since early 2020. Before joining the NIH, he served as a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office (USPTO) working in the Alexandria, VA main office. 

Prior to Federal service, Nader has held a number of research and development centric roles throughout his career in private industry and entrepreneurship. 

Nader received his doctorate degree in bioengineering/biomedical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

 

Maryum Saifee is Outreach Officer with Mosaic employee affinity group at the U.S. Department of State, where she is a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer. She recently took a sabbatical where she was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Truman Center for National Policy. Her overseas postings included Embassies Cairo and Baghdad, as well as U.S. Consulate Lahore. Maryum also served in domestic assignments in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, and the Secretary’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs.

Prior to the Foreign Service, Maryum was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan focused on girls’ education and an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Seattle working with South Asian and Muslim immigrant survivors of domestic violence. She also worked for the Ford Foundation, Women Deliver, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Acumen Fund.

Maryum is an alumna of the Presidential Leadership Scholars and the Council on Foreign Relations term membership programs, and is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the University of Texas at Austin. Maryum is participating in MAPS in her personal capacity, and can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

Natasha Shah Syed is a seasoned public servant with a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Virginia Tech and over 15 years of proven expertise in various domains including human resources (HR, program and operations management, and strategic communications and outreach.

Over the years, Natasha has excelled in providing management and advisory level support across various functional areas to government, nonprofit and private agencies in the U.S. and overseas. She is currently working as an HR Generalist for the Prince William County Service Authority and in the past has held key roles while working with organizations like the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), City of Roanoke, Virginia, United Nations Global Pulse (UNGP), Department for International Development (DFID), and Save the Children International. 

Natasha has a suite of professional expertise areas including recruitment and talent strategy, total rewards and compensation, pay modeling, benchmarking and classifications, learning and development, program risk and compliance, quality assurance, employee relations and engagement, business outreach and marketing, strategic communications, public diplomacy, and, international relations. More recently, Natasha served as the lead on pay and benefits for over 24 posts across the Western Hemisphere while working for the Americas Hub at the FCDO in Washington D.C. There she regularly advised senior management including British High Commissioners and country-level staff on complex HR issues and streamlined critical processes by devising and implementing robust solutions.

 As a dedicated public servant, Natasha strongly believes in ensuring that governments and organizations should represent those they serve in an equitable and just fashion. She is excited to leverage her many talents in supporting Muslim Americans in Public Service (MAPS) in its mission. Natasha can be reached at outreach@mapsnational.org.

Sidrah Mirza is a New York City native who loves science and exploration. After a short stint in private consulting focusing on disaster resilience and recovery, she rejoined the Federal government this year as an Operations Research Analyst in the Cost Engineering and Program Evaluation Office at the Department of Energy‘s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Sidrah first started her Federal career with the US Army Corps of Engineers as a project engineer. Her projects ranged from coastal restoration, dam and levee safety, and recovery from natural disasters (Hurricane Irene and Sandy). After developing work experience in post disaster recovery efforts and earning her masters degree, Sidrah joined a small civilian based unit within the Army Corps of Engineers called the Forward Engineering Support Team. Together with her 7 colleagues, she completed a 9-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2019. They worked on small engineering projects around bases in the country and helped both US Forces and NATO alliance forces. After returning from the deployment, she begrudgingly left NYC in 2020 to take a position with the HQ US Marine Corps as an Operations Research Analyst at the Pentagon where she helped the Marine Corps work towards reducing costs within the greater DoD budget. 
 
Sidrah attended the Bronx HS of Science, completed a BSc in Geology from the City College of New York, and earned her masters degree in Geophysical Hazards at University College London in the United Kingdom. She remains very passionate about helping people find the right career in the vast federal government and supporting their professional development. A great career can be just around the corner! Sidrah can be reached at professionaldevelopment@mapsnational.org.

 

Shafaq Khan is currently a Research Analyst at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) in New York City.

Shafaq maintains a strong interest in policy advocacy and a commitment to public interest work. She has previously worked at the Legal Aid Society, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Centre for Information Resilience.

Shafaq is a 2021 graduate of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. In her free time, she enjoys listening to Punjabi music and reading Sufi poetry. Shafaq can be reached at policy@mapsnational.org.

 

Ruhan is originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, and recently graduated with an honors degree in political science while also receiving an honors certificate in business management and a minor in Islamic studies from Indiana University, Bloomington. While at Indiana University Ruhan was rather involved on campus touting leadership and involvement in organizations such as IU Student Government, IU Funding Board, Muslim Student Association, Palestine Solidarity Committee, the Association of Big Ten Students, and many other organizations. Beyond serving as IU’s first Muslim Student Body Vice President, Ruhan also held a number of University committee appointments.

Professionally, Ruhan has spent time interning for OBAT Helpers inc., the Blue Lab political incubator, and in Congressman Andre Carson’s office as a Congressional Leadership Development Program fellow. Throughout his academic, extracurricular, and professional experiences Ruhan has managed policy, advocacy, and communications portfolios, as well as large staffs with a broad range of directives.
 
Currently, Ruhan is a digital associate at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee where he works on email and SMS production/drafting. In his free time Ruhan is a big fan of keeping up with the new Lord of the Rings show and rereading the Tolkien books. Ruhan can be reached at communications@mapsnational.org.

 

Mariya is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State currently serving as Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy Amman. Previously, Mariya taught English as a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey (2015-2016) and worked as a product analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance, a fortune-100 company in Boston.

Mariya is a recipient of numerous national and international fellowships, among them the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship, The White House Internship, Public Policy & International Affairs Fellowship, Mosaic Taiwan Fellowship, and Davis Projects for Peace Award. Previously, she has served with the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) in Washington D.C., the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy Bangkok, Population Reference Bureau, and the Al-Imtiaz Academy, a school serving underprivileged students in her native Pakistan where she taught English and journalism for two consecutive summers accompanied by grants. 

Mariya is an avid volunteer with the Bowdoin Alumni Office and the Fletcher Giving Office, and serves on the Executive Board of the Fletcher Alumni of Color Association (FACA), and is the Managing Editor of Charged Affairs, a foreign policy journal of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. 

Mariya holds an MA in security studies, international business relations, and global maritime affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a BA in mathematics and sociology from Bowdoin College. She speaks Urdu, Arabic, Turkish, and Spanish. She can be reached at finance@mapsnational.org.

Founder & CEO of Syed and Associates Management Consulting LLC, Shawn Syed is a seasoned leader and management consultant with over 17 years of professional services experience, including over 6 years in the Big 4 (PwC). His extensive clientele includes Fortune 500 and Public Sector entities. He specializes in: Business Process Optimization, Finance & Accounting Transformation, Human Capital Management / HR Technology and Project Management.

Shawn is passionate about continuing his service to the public sector and being an ambassador to his authentic identity by mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs, management consultants and / or technologists. His public sector experience includes overseas deployment to Iraq, with the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). He has also supported the public sector abroad including the UKs Department for International Development by serving as the chief executive of an interim management company responsible for operationalizing a $100M primary education program.

Shawn is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), credentialed Change Management Professional, Certified Human Capital Strategist. Mr. Syed completed three undergraduate degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at Georgetown University. He can be reached at publicprivate@mapsnational.org.

 

Janna Ramadan is a senior at Harvard College studying Government and Modern Middle Eastern Studies. Her passion for public service is rooted in her lived experiences as the oldest daughter in a single-mother household and a first-generation Arab and Muslim American. She is interested in issues relating to the diaspora, discrimination, international relations, and human rights.

Her professional experience includes time at the Moakley U.S. District Court under Judge Saris, Senator Warren’s District Office, Representative Ayanna Pressley’s D.C. Office, Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, and Amnesty International’s Government Relations and Advocacy team, exposing her to the breadth of opportunity that a career of service can entail and the importance of local government and representation.

 

At Harvard, she serves as the President of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, home to 16 programs centered on public service and politics, and sits on the Harvard FAS Standing Committee on Public Service. She also is a former member of the International Relations Council Board of Directors, overseeing a $700k budget and staffing five Model UN conferences. Janna can be reached at massachusetts@mapsnational.org.

Ramain Gohar is a Business Services Manager with the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity. He manages the Central West part of the State where he works with small, women, minority, and veteran-owned businesses to support economic growth and make the supply chain diverse for state procurement purposes. Before this role, he was a Business Consultant with American Small Business Development Center where he consulted small businesses on access to capital and strategic planning.

Prior to coming to the United States, Ramain was a faculty member at the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences. During his tenure, he engaged local businesses with business students to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem in rural Balochistan. Ramain has MBA from Western Carolina University and BBA from IQRA University Pakistan. Ramain can be reached at virginia@mapsnational.org.

 

Aisha Irshad is a senior pursuing a dual degree at the University of Pennsylvania, studying Business Economics and Public Policy at the Wharton School and Political Science within the College. 

Aisha had the opportunity to enhance her advocacy work through an internship with the Office of Majority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, in order to gain the tools she will need to fight for social justice and equity and effect real change in her community.
 
During her time in Congress, Aisha had the incredible opportunity to spearhead the 2022 “Hijab on the Hill” event for her cohort of Muslim American Congressional Staffers. She worked with the Office of the Senate Majority Leader to secure a room in the Capitol, invited trailblazers and experts in their fields as speakers, and connected them with future leaders in the hopes of providing her fellow Muslims on Capitol Hill with glimpse of an inspirational/technical pathway to success. 
 
As Vice President of the UPenn Muslim Students Association (MSA), Aisha presents at monthly University Council meetings with the Penn administration’s highest members to advocate for the academic and wellness concerns of underrepresented groups on campus. During her work as secretary of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, Aisha assisted in drafting a White Paper to the University about the access and equity issues surrounding the narrative of Muslim students, students with disabilities, and other minority groups. Aisha can be reached at pennsylvania@mapsnational.org.

 

Omar Elkassed is a Transportation Specialist with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) where he manages several Federal-Aid programs. Omar has been with FHWA for about 15-years where he has served as a Transportation Engineer, Grants Program Manager, Special Assistant, and Research Engineer.
 
Omar holds an M.S. in Transportation Engineering and B.S. in Civil Engineering. Omar can be reached at omar.elkassed@dot.gov.

Jermaine Perry is a business operations professional specializing in operations management, systems thinking, and project management. He currently works at the U.S. Small Business Administration developing and executing program-level policies and procedures.

Jermaine is a graduate of Central State University (OH) and received his MBA from Ohio Dominican University. Additionally, he is an Excellence in Government Fellow and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

 

Saima Khalil serves the Office of the Macomb County Executive as a Community Systems and Policy specialist.  Saima is passionate about criminal justice reform and mental health. As an attorney, Saima has worked in private practice and for legal aid, including at Lakeshore Legal Aid, where she served survivors of domestic violence, seniors, and individuals who suffered from mental health issues.  Through this work, Saima gained exposure to systemic issues such as access to resources, access to justice, and lack of equity and inclusion.

During the spring of 2020, Saima joined the Macomb County Prosecutor’s race.  This was also the summer of the George Floyd protest.  As protests occurred throughout the region, Saima provided direct representation to protesters who were arrested. Saima’s grassroots campaign rattled local politics. She landed in 3rd place in a race of 5 Democrats, securing 17% of the votes. Saima continues to run a part-time legal practice that focuses on criminal defense and family law.

A first generation Pakistani American, Saima was born and raised in Macomb County, Michigan.  She graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science and obtained a Master’s in Public Administration from University of Michigan – Dearborn.  She later obtained her juris doctorate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. In her spare time, Saima enjoys volunteering in the community, spending time with her family and her two sweet kitties, Lachi and Samosa. Saima can be reached at michigan@mapsnational.org

Katie Qutub currently serves as an Economics Program Manager in USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation (DDI), Center for Economics and Market Development. The projects she manages ensure that USAID missions around the world have timely access to expertise in economics analysis and research and program evaluation and design. 

Prior to entering that role, she spent three years serving as the Planning Manager for the design and implementation of the DDI Bureau, the most complex piece of USAID’s 2018-2020 Transformation. Katie has been recognized for her efforts to ensure that staff affected by the reorganization had opportunities to engage in planning for how the Bureau would operate. Katie has also worked on Health Teams for USAID’s Asia Bureau and Latin America and the Caribbean Bureau, and for USAID contractors, the World Bank, and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  Her career has taken her to more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America, Sub-saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. 

Katie has a BS in Public and Nonprofit Administration from Grand Valley State University and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Arizona. She also has a Certification in Public Health.

Learn more about UMERG at USAID here.

 

Leveraging her expertise in international development, foreign policy, diplomacy, & advocacy, Fatema Z. Sumar leads efforts to fight poverty by transforming global systems in reaching vulnerable populations. She is the author of the book, The Development Diplomat: Working Across Borders, Boardrooms, and Bureaucracies to End Poverty.

Fatema most recently served as the Vice President of Compact Operations at the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a role appointed by President Biden. She oversaw all the agency’s compacts – MCC’s signature grant investment vehicle to reduce poverty. She previously served as MCC’s Deputy Vice President for Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America.

Fatema has a distinguished career in the U.S. government in both executive & legislative branches. She previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia at the US Department of State where she led efforts to expand regional economic and energy connectivity & as a Presidential Management Fellow. In Congress, she was a Senior Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee focused on Afghanistan, Pakistan, & the broader region.

In civil society, Fatema was the Vice President of Global Programs at Oxfam America where she oversaw regional development & humanitarian response to fight the injustice of poverty. Early in her career, she also worked at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Fatema sits on Advisory Boards for Princeton, Cornell, & Indiana universities & on the Advisory Council for Muslim Americans in Public Service. She has been published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, The New Republic, The Hill, & other outlets. She is a frequent guest speaker & has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives & U.S. Senate.

Fatema has a MPA from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and a BA in Government from Cornell University. She studied abroad at the American University in Cairo and received an honorary doctorate from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey.

Amber Chaudhry is a co-founder and Vice Chair of Muslim American Public Servants (MAPS) employee resource group at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Amber is an intrapreneur, customer experience strategist and diversity advocate. Amber’s career was originally focused on domestic and international innovation programs but was engaged by the SBA Administrator’s team to lead the Agency’s rebranding. After establishing a customer centric brand, Amber’s goal was to solve how the Agency could deliver on its new brand promise through the use of Human Centered Design. Amber was elevated to the Customer Experience Lead in SBA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer where she worked on the Business Technology Solutions team which helped the Agency deliver 14 years’ worth of SBA loans in 14 days to support the nation’s economic recovery from COVID.

Amber’s Federal service started as a Presidential Management Fellow where she rotated within SBA and USAID’s Center for Development Innovation. Amber is currently detailed to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service to stand up the Agency’s Customer Experience program.

Amber also serves on the Government Advisory Board for Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC) where she chairs the Customer Experience working group. She is often featured as a speaker on her work towards improving customer experience to build trust in Federal government, including on this ATARC podcast.

Amber started her career advocating for lifting immigrant communities and participated in the AmeriCorps Public Allies program in Miami where she helped thousands of low- income earning immigrants and Dreamers apply for citizenship and DACA. Amber received her MPA from American University in 2015. She can be reached at vicechair@mapsnational.org.

Ahmad Maaty is a Senior Economist with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), where he conducts regulatory analyses and evaluations of the societal impacts of proposed safety and environmental regulations on the U.S. oil, gas and energy transportation industries. 

He worked in a similar regulatory capacity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including as Acting Chief Economist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and previously as an economic growth advisor with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources, among other international and multilateral institutions.

Ahmad holds a BBA from George Washington University and an MPA from Cornell University.

Learn more about MAPS at DOT here.

Asad Nawaz has formerly served successive terms as Vice President and President of the American Muslim and Arabic Cultural Association (AMACA) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Asad began his public service career in 2004 examining patent applications at the USPTO. Currently a Supervisory Patent Examiner, he leads a group of primary and junior patent examiners in the field of Multiplex Communications and VoIP. Asad has worked with European Patent Office (EPO) counterparts on the Cooperate Patent Classification System, and has served as an Advisor to the Commissioner for Patents. 

In furtherance of his strong belief in personal and professional development, Asad has served as lead Trainer in the Patent Training Academy and as a Resource Supervisor at the Office of Innovation Development. He is also in the process of obtaining his Associate Certified Coach (ICF) credential as part of USPTO’s Career Coach Program. 

Asad completed an Executive Education Certificate in Public Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was also part of the Senior Executive Fellows program. Asad received a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Information Security and Assurance from George Mason University. He can be reached at professionaldevelopment@mapsnational.org.

 

Muqaddas Ejaz is a community advocate and activist. She is currently serving her second term as a member of New Jersey’s Cherry Hill Democratic Committee, where she was the first Muslim elected in 2017. Her leadership skills have been applied on various boards, including the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission. The Commission works to strengthen the cultural framework of Camden County by educating the community and supporting local organizations with funding and technical assistance to deepen the interactions between cultural practitioners and residents. 

Devoted to serving others, Muqaddas remains involved in several grassroots organizations that work towards the development of local communities and the betterment of New Jersey’s diverse citizens. She serves as the Director of Community Engagement for The Muslim Network, co-led the First Annual Camden County S.U.R.E. (Students United for Respect & Equity) Summit for the youth, and co-founder of Know Your Muslim Neighbor, South Jersey. Previously, she has also served as the lead for the English as a Second Language and Computer Literacy program at the Muslim American Community Association and has designed, planned, and led other seminars, community and cultural events for the diverse community. 

Muqaddas has been recently recognized by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) chapter of South Jersey as Community Advocate of the Year. She was also awarded the Camden County Freedom Medal in 2018 for her community service, and U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-1) recognized her as a Woman of Honor in Education. She can be reached at outreach@mapsnational.org.

Hichem Hadjeres is currently the project coordinator for water management R&D at the Office of Fossil Energy’s Advanced Energy and Hydrogen Systems Division of the Department of Energy.

Before moving to D.C., Hichem was active in the water innovation space in the Boston area, both as a clean tech entrepreneur and research scientist, and was a founder of the New England Water Environment Association’s Innovation Committee.

He is equally passionate about youth development, and served in various capacities as a youth mentor and program developer throughout the east coast and overseas.

Hichem holds a master’s degree in hydrology from the University of Rhode Island and a bachelor’s in geosciences and a minor in economics from Wesleyan University. He can be reached at youthengagement@mapsnational.org.

 

David Hunsicker is one of the founding members of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Muslims Employee Resource Group (UMERG) and a current member of their board. He is a Senior Conflict and Peacebuilding Advisor and the Middle East Team Leader in USAID’s Center for Conflict and Violence Prevention where he specializes in issues of religion, identity and conflict. 

David spent eight years living and working in the Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union, including three years as the Religion, State and Society Specialist in USAID’s Central Asian regional mission. In this capacity, he was responsible for advising USAID and U.S. Embassies in the five Central Asian republics on integrating religious communities into U.S. Government-funded development programming. Previously, David also worked at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan where he provided support to local human rights groups and facilitated Embassy outreach to religious leaders. 

David holds a BA in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan and an MA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization from the University of Washington. He can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

Fozia Janjua sits on the Township Council in the Philadelphia suburb of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey and is the first Muslim and Pakistani-American councilwoman elected to office in South Jersey. An educator who has a passion for service and social justice, Fozia is a founding board member of a local nonprofit called CommunitySJP whose mission is to unite communities through service and promote civic engagement.

A longtime community organizer and public servant, Fozia has helped people navigate the housing, schooling, and justice system throughout the years. At an early age, Fozia started volunteering, working with, and advocating for the marginalized members of her local community.  

As a first-generation Pakistani American, and one of three girls, she considers herself fortunate to be born in one of the most inclusive cities in the world, San Francisco, California, and raised by two very progressive, socially conscious parents who instilled the values of hard work, education, and especially the concept of giving back.

Fozia graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Sociology. She can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

Rummi Khan is an experienced campaign manager, project manager, and strategist at the intersection of culture, faith communities, and politics. He has over a decade of experience in public affairs, political campaigns, community engagement, and event management.

Rummi currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a national public affairs nonprofit organization working to promote and strengthen American pluralism by increasing understanding and improving policies that impact American Muslims for the past 30 years.

Prior to MPAC, Rummi co-founded an international arts and culture initiative and served in leadership roles on Presidential, Congressional, and Federal Policy campaigns. Rummi can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

Fazal Mirza is a co-founder and Vice-President of the Muslim Americans in Public Service (MAPS) employee resource group at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), where he is a Senior Contracting Officer and Team Lead with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). With a $25 million warrant, and a FAC-C Level III certification, he has procured over $830 million in goods and services for the Federal government. His procurement expertise is with R&D contracts to strengthen the nations pipeline infrastructure, and complex IT services. Fazal leads a team of Contract Specialists on a day to day basis.

During his time at DOT, he was selected to be on a detail with the DOT Office of the Senior Procurement Executive, which involved implementing a Grants Management Certification Program within DOT and implementing policy for the Department’s 11,300 Acquisition Workforce employees. In addition, Fazal was selected to start a new IT Acquisition Center of Excellence (DOT IT ACE) Contracting Office, under which all IT commodities and services would be procured.

Fazal has also participated in the Partnership for Public Service’s Excellence in Government Fellowship program. He began Federal service procuring a variety of goods and services as a DOT Contract Specialist in 2009. Fazal is a graduate from the University of Florida’s Warrington’s School of Business, and serves his local community as a coach and a Girl Scout Troop Leader. Fazal can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

Rubina Halwani is a training, education, and inclusion consultant, and currently serves as an Instructional Designer for the State of Utah.

Her career spans over 20 years across multiple industries, including education, government, and public policy.

Rubina is recognized as an industry leader in Learning and Development. Her work has received acclaim and awards for high impact. Her strengths include leadership, public service, and empathy, and she has been recognized for her collaborative work towards building spaces of inclusion and religious plurality. 

Identifying as an American Muslim of South Asian heritage, Rubina has been active in her local and Muslim communities. Born and raised in Maryland, she has lived and worked in Washington DC, San Francisco, Iowa, and Utah. 

Rubina holds a B.A. degree in English Education and a Master’s degree in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies.

Ramy Osman is Co-founder and current Treasurer of the American Muslim and Arabic Cultural Association (AMACA) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where he also coordinates Friday jumuah congregational prayers and Ramadan community iftar dinners. Ramy is a Patent Examiner of network technology patents at the USPTO, and received their Bronze Medal Award for Outstanding work performance.

Ramy also volunteers for various community and charity projects, and edited the final report, “NYC Coalition for Muslim School Holidays,” submitted to the New York City Board of Education ahead of their landmark 2015 decision to observe the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Ramy holds a master’s degree in Telecommunications, and can be reached at board@mapsnational.org.

Raheemah Abdulaleem has pursued a combination of litigation, government and nonprofit experience to further civil rights and the elimination of discrimination in the workplace. Raheemah is currently the career Deputy General Counsel in the White House Executive Office of the President, Office of Administration. The Office of Administration provides the White House with a wide variety of legal advice on employment, fiscal and administrative law matters.

Previously, Raheemah worked as Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where she litigated employment discrimination cases. Raheemah advanced President Obama’s criminal justice reform efforts through her service on DOJ’s Clemency Initiative announced in 2014. She reviewed federal inmate petitions, the majority from inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses, and made recommendations to the President. Raheemah’s work contributed to President Obama granting a record number of commutations –more than the previous seven Presidents combined.

Prior to Federal service, Raheemah worked at two nationally-recognized law firms where she represented public and private sector employers in various labor and employment related matters.

Raheemah also has broad nonprofit experience. She serves on the Board of Directors for Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. Through its research and educational programs, Karamah promotes gender and racial equity, civil rights and leadership development. Raheemah joined a faculty of experienced lawyers and judges to teach the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop during Fall 2017, 2018, and 2019. In 2016, Raheemah was featured in a White House blog profiling Muslim Americans and she received a Nation’s Best Advocate: Top 40 Lawyers nationwide award from the National Bar Association.

Raheemah received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where she served on the editorial board of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and worked at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

Rumana Ahmed is a communications, strategic planning, organizational development and policy consultant. Most recently, she has done work for the National Democratic Institute on the potential impacts of 5G and advanced technology, democracy and human rights, and to develop a framework for monitoring internet openness and intervention around democratic elections and protests for global civil society partners. Rumana was a Biden-Harris Transition Team agency review member for the U.S. Agency for Global Media on their organizational, policy priority and COVID-19 response issues.

Rumana previously served as a Senior Advisor for Global Engagement and Strategic Communications in the National Security Council under the Obama Administration. From the NSC, she worked on efforts to advance diplomatic relations with Cuba and Laos, promote the Iran Nuclear Deal, expand global entrepreneurship for women and youth, develop Presidential engagements and messaging with Muslim Americans and protect persecuted minorities in Myanmar, Iraq and Syria.

Rumana first joined the White House with the Office of Presidential Correspondence in 2010, and during her six years in the West Wing, she also served as a liaison with the Office of Public Engagement on issues including health care reform, gun violence prevention, STEM access for girls of color, and diversity and inclusion.

Rumana is a public speaker and published author, including a book called West Wingers (highlighted by Oprah Magazine) and an article in The Atlantic named by Chartbeat as the 23rd most-engaged online article of 2017.

Rumana is also a Harvard Center for Public Leadership Fellow. As a Fellow, she worked on public-private partnerships for reconciliation and reintegration under Colombian Peace Treaty efforts in former-FARC military zones around Bogotá in 2019. Rumana holds a B.A. in International Affairs, with a concentration in economic development, from George Washington University, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

 

Judge Dania Ayoubi is an Administrative Law Judge in the Office of Administrative Hearings for the State of Maryland, where she presides over appeals from over thirty state agencies. 

Prior to her appointment, she served in Federal government for almost ten years, most recently as Senior Counsel in the Office of Regulations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where she crafted consumer finance regulations and developed an expertise in the areas of debt collection, mortgages, and fair lending. She was also an Attorney Advisor at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where she worked to develop policies to extend broadband internet access to underserved parts of America.  
 
Judge Ayoubi previously worked at Hughes Hubbard and Reed LLP and clerked for Chief Judge Eric T. Washington at the D.C. Court of Appeals. A graduate of Georgetown University (A.B.) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.), Judge Ayoubi is a member of the National Association of Women Judges. 

 

Judge Faruqui has been serving as a Federal magistrate judge for the District of Columbia since September 2020.  He is the first Muslim Judge in the D.C. Circuit. 

Prior to his appointment, he was a Federal prosecutor, first in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, and then in the District of Columbia. 

Over the span of over twelve years of Federal service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA), he prosecuted numerous criminal cases, most recently serving as the lead prosecutor for complex and novel crimes involving, for example, terrorists’ use of cryptocurrency, nuclear weapons proliferation, darknet sites dedicated to child exploitation, and antiquities theft. He also litigated over $700 million in money laundering and asset forfeiture proceedings. As a subject-matter expert, he has presented on cryptocurrency and anti-money laundering issues in conferences spanning from Europe to Asia and the Middle East.  

Prior to serving as a Federal prosecutor, Judge Faruqui worked at a corporate law firm where he focused on government investigations and general commercial litigation.

Judge Faruqui is a board member for Jobs for Homeless People, a non-profit that provides housing and vocational training to people in the D.C. metropolitan area. He also served as a Muslim-outreach coordinator for the U.S. Department of Justice and an as an adjunct professor at Harris-Stowe State University. He received his J.D. and undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.

A career civil servant with over 15 year in the Federal government, Noha Gaber has held leadership positions at the Architect of the Capitol, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Noha joined EDA as its first ever Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) in October 2020.  In this role, Noha supports strategy formulation and execution of enterprise-wide operational improvements and continual business model innovation.

Noha’s expertise spans all aspects of organizational excellence, including strategic and operational planning, performance measurement and management, data analytics, process analysis and improvement, organizational development and customer experience. Noha also founded and led EPA’s Emerging Leaders Network, a nationwide grassroots employee organization helping to develop and prepare EPA’s future leaders.

Noha is active in the inter-agency space, including currently serving as the Chair for a Task Force on assessing and improving management quality in federal agencies and Chair of the Federal Improvement Team. She previously founded and led the Federal Internal Communications Community of Practice, co-led GovConnect, a government-wide initiative under the President Obama’s Second Term Management Agenda, and served as a member of the White House Advisory Group on Reform of the Senior Executive Service.

Noha received her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southampton in England and holds a Certificate in Knowledge Management.

 

​​​​Dr. Sadaf Jaffer is an educator and activist. She recently completed two terms as mayor of Montgomery Township, New Jersey. In January of 2019, she became the first South Asian woman to serve as mayor of a municipality in New Jersey, and the first Muslim woman to serve as mayor of a municipality in the United States.
 
Her signature initiatives included: creating and implementing a crisis communications plan to help Montgomery Township maintain some of the lowest COVID-19 infection and fatality rates in New Jersey; facilitating a participatory design process for the municipal center and library project started by her predecessors while securing millions of dollars in state funding; responding to demands for racial justice by coordinating meetings for Black community members and youth activists with the Township’s police leadership to build trust and mutual understanding; and inaugurating a Youth Leadership Council to elevate the voices of young people who are energized to lead.
 
​Sadaf is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in South Asian Studies at Princeton University where she teaches courses on South Asian, Islamic, and Asian American Studies. Jaffer currently serves as Chair of the Inclusion and Equity Committee of Montgomery Township and on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. She was one of the founding members of Inspiring South Asian American Women (ISAAW), a group dedicated to encouraging civic engagement among South Asian American women in New Jersey. She is on the Board of Directors for The New Agenda, an organization that promotes women’s economic empowerment and combats sexual harassment and sexual assault. 
 
​Sadaf earned her bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and obtained her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University with a secondary field in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

 

​​Madiha Latif is an innovative thinker with over 20 years of broad-based expertise in leadership, financial management and customer engagement.  She is very passionate about working to improve federal government operations for the greater good of her fellow Americans. 

Madiha is the Deputy Assistant Commissioner  within Revenue Collections Management (RCM) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. She has oversight responsibility for providing executive day-to-day leadership for the Compliance and Reporting Group (CRG), in support of the Government’s collection and settlement of over $4.2 trillion in federal revenue each year (e.g., taxes, fees, fines, loan repayments, customs duties, donations) and the processing of 500 million transactions annually.

Madiha has also held leadership positions in RCM as the Agency Relationship Outreach and engagement Director where she transformed the way RCM facilitated adoption of innovative solutions to its 225+ federal agency customer universe implementing a holistic approach of a one voice methodology.  

Prior to joining the Federal government, Madiha held several leadership positions within the private sector supporting U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  She is also a veteran, having served in war zones with the active duty Army. 

Madiha has an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard Kennedy School, an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from the University of Maryland and Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management from University of Phoenix.

 

​​​​Ahmed Mousa is a life sciences entrepreneur with a background in molecular biology and an attorney with significant IP and FDA experience. Ahmed currently serves as Senior Vice President, Corporate Operations and General Counsel of Pieris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PIRS), a U.S.-German biotechnology company developing cutting-edge therapies in immuno-oncology and for respiratory disease. Ahmed serves as site head for the company’s U.S. office, oversees project leadership and quality assurance, and leads Pieris’ intellectual property, corporate secretary, and legal activities, including licensing and corporate legal as well as the Company’s global patent portfolio.
 

Prior to joining Pieris, Ahmed was an Associate at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and an attorney with the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, where he represented pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in a range of matters, including significant experience in generic and biosimilar drug litigation.

A founding Advisor to MAPS, Ahmed’s experience in public service included a stint with the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and a judicial clerkship at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Ahmed obtained undergraduate degrees in Government and Molecular Biology from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, with research experience prior to his legal career focused on tumor biology and angiogenesis. Ahmed graduated from Georgetown Law with honors, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of International Law.

Arsalan Suleman is Counsel in Foley Hoag’s International Litigation & Arbitration Practice. His practice focuses on representing sovereign States in international disputes, including before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, UN treaty bodies, U.S. courts, and other tribunals and dispute resolution forums. 

Arsalan is the U.S. Department of State’s former Acting Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world’s second largest international organization after the United Nations. He engaged with the OIC and its member states on bilateral and multilateral foreign policy issues, including via remarks before and participation in Heads-of-State Summits and Ministerial Level Meetings.

At the State Department, Suleman also served as Counselor for Multilateral Affairs in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. He was the lead multilateral human rights policy adviser on freedom of expression and freedom of religion globally, as well as the lead multilateral human rights policy adviser for the Middle East, North Africa, and South and Central Asia.

Prior to joining the State Department, Suleman was a litigator in New York and clerked for the late Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He is also the President and co-founder of America Indivisible, a non-partisan, non-profit coalition effort to address rising bigotry against members of Muslim communities and those who appear to be Muslim from Black, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian American communities by reinforcing the American values of equality, pluralism, and strength through diversity. 

Dr. Asifa Quraishi-Landes is a full Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, specializing in comparative Islamic and U.S. Constitutional law, with a current focus on modern Islamic constitutional theory.  Her career includes federal clerkships in the Eastern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A past Carnegie Scholar and Guggenheim Fellow, her recent publications includes “Legislating Morality and Other Illusions about Islamic Government.”  She is currently working on a book tentatively titled “Islamic Re-constitutionalism,” which presents a non-theocratic and non-secular model of Islamic constitutionalism for today’s Muslim-majority countries.

A lifelong leader in the Muslim American nonprofit scene, Asifa currently serves as Interim Co-Executive Director of Muslim Advocates, and on the governing boards of the Muslim Public Service Network (MPSN), Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School, and the Muslim Youth Camp of California.  She has been a past President and Board Member of NAML (National Association of Muslim Lawyers) as well as Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. She is also an affiliate of the Muslim Women’s League, and a Fellow with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding  (ISPU).

She has served as a Public Delegate on the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Task Force on Religion and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and as advisor to the Pew Task Force on Religion & Public Life.  

Professor Quraishi-Landes holds a doctorate from Harvard Law School and other degrees from Columbia Law School, the University of California at Davis, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Alisha develops and coordinates U.S. policy engagement in Burma as a Desk Officer at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP), where she works with government agencies, international partners, and civil society to promote security, democratic governance, and humanitarian access.  She formerly advanced policies, public-private sector cooperation, and foreign assistance programming to counter global challenges and strengthen the rule of law in South Asia as a Program Advisor with in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Prior to her Department experience, Alisha engaged with domestic and foreign policy priorities through experiences at the U.S. Senate in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (SFRC) and Senator Cory Booker’s Office, leading global think tanks based in China and Belgium, international media companies, state and local government, and NGOs promoting equity, economic empowerment, and increased access to education for children in Pakistan.

Outside of her professional experiences, she is involved in organizations advancing greater representation in and accessibility to opportunities in public service, including as a Board Member for both MAPS (as Deputy Outreach Director) and the Department of State’s South Asian American Employee Association (SAAEA), as well as an Advisory Board Member for Leading Women of Tomorrow.

Alisha graduated with honors from American University with bachelor’s degrees in International Studies and Political Science, minor in Chinese, and certificate in Women, Policy, and Political Leadership. She can be reached at policy@mapsnational.org.