Featuring leading thinkers, media professionals, and community leaders, the Convention's theme "A New Era, A New Role", will explore the historic possibilities facing our nation.
Dr. Laila Al-Marayati
Chairperson of KinderUSA, an American non-profit organization
Dr. Laila Al-Marayati is the spokesperson of the Muslim Women's League, a Los Angeles based organization dedicated to strengthening the role of Muslim women in society. Dr. Al-Marayati has been a long-time activist in the American Muslim community focusing extensively on issues of concern to Muslim women such as women's rights in Islam, reproductive health and sexuality, stereotyping, and violence against women. She spearheaded the League's efforts on behalf of rape survivors from the war in Bosnia and was a member of the official US Delegation to the UN Conference on Women in Beijing. In addition, she has served on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as a presidential appointee. As the chairperson of KinderUSA, an American non-profit organization, Dr. Al-Marayati is involved in humanitarian efforts on behalf of Palestinians and other children in need. She is a Board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist working in Southern California and is a Clinical Professor at the USC School of Medicine.
Reza Aslan
Author of No god but God
Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions, is a fellow at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy and Middle East Analyst for CBS News. He is also a featured blogger for Anderson Cooper 360. Reza Aslan has degrees in Religions from Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, where he was named the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the board of directors for the Ploughshares Fund, which gives grants for peace and security issues, Abraham's Vision, an interfaith peace organization, and PEN USA. Aslan's first book is the New York Times Bestselling, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, which has been translated into thirteen languages, short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award in the UK, and nominated for a PEN USA award for research Non-Fiction. His next book, How to Win a Cosmic War will be published by Random House in April of 2009, followed by an edited anthology, Words Without Borders: Contemporary Literature from the Muslim World, published by Norton 2010. Aslan is cofounder and creative director of BoomGen Studios, a hub for creative content from and about the Middle East, as well as the Editorial Executive of Mecca.com, an on-line community for Muslim youth. Born in Iran, he now lives in Los Angeles where he is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of California, Riverside.
Juan Cole
Author of Engaging the Muslim World and Professor of History at the University of Michigan
Juan R. I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. For three decades, he has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on television, and testified before the United States Senate. His most recent book is Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, March, 2009) and he also recently authored Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He has been a regular guest on PBS's Lehrer News Hour, and has also appeared on ABC Nightly News, Nightline, the Today Show, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper 360, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Democracy Now! and many others. He has also given many radio and press interviews. He has written extensively about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. He has commented extensively on the Iraq War, the politics of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the increasing conflict with Iran. He has a regular column at Salon.com. He continues to study and write about contemporary Islamic movements, whether mainstream or radical, whether Sunni and Salafi or Shi'ite. Cole commands Arabic, Persian and Urdu and reads some Turkish, knows both Middle Eastern and South Asian Islam. He lived in various parts of the Muslim world for nearly 10 years, and continues to travel widely there.
A.J. Durrani
Vice President of Asian American Democrats of Texas
A.J. Durrani is a grassroots political activist in the greater Houston area, and was recently elected to the Texas State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) as the male representative of the Asian American Democrats of Texas (AADT). He is presently Vice President of AADT and the Primary Coordinator/Spokesperson for the Coalition of New American Communities (CONAC), which is a non-profit political action group, established to improve and increase political awareness in "new Americans". CONAC efforts have led to thousands of new registered voters, over 70 Precincts Chairs in the Houston area, and recently culminated in a historic first -- the election of three Muslims to the Texas SDEC. A.J. has been active in local Islamic Community organizations for over 25 years having held Shura (Board of Director) positions with the Islamic Society of Greater Houston and in Denver and New Orleans. One of his primary areas of focus has been full-time Islamic Education, and he has been instrumental in the creation and establishment of five Islamic schools. He has also led the efforts to establish Islamic Boy Scouts troops in the local communities. Besides Islamic-related community activities, A.J. has held leadership positions in mainstream civic and local community organizations like charitable institutions, school district committees, and homeowner associations. He has a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Milan, Italy and an MS from Penn State Univ.
Dr. Maher Hathout
MPAC Senior Advisor, Author of In Pursuit of Justice
Dr. Maher Hathout is a leading spokesperson for the American Muslim community, is a retired physician best known for his tireless commitment to public service. He is an international figure who is highly regarded as a positive voice of Islam offering a unique and valuable perspective on national and international issues involving Muslims. He is the author of In Pursuit of Justice: The Jurisprudence of Human Rights in Islam (2005) and Jihad vs. Terrorism (2002). Among the numerous offices he holds, Dr. Hathout is MPAC's Senior Advisor. He is also a Charter Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, the western partner of the Council on Foreign Relations, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Alliance. Dr. Hathout has been invited to Capitol Hill and the State Department several times to address a variety of topics such as "Islam and U.S. Policy," "Islamic Democracy," "Emerging Trends in Islamic Movements," and "the Future of the Middle East." He has traveled to Australia, Egypt, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, and South Africa to lecture on Islam and Muslims. Dr. Hathout has written extensively on Islam, human rights, democracy, Middle East politics, and Bosnia. His articles and interviews have appeared in such prominent newspapers as The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Christian Science Monitor. He appears frequently on national television and radio talk shows.
Kiran Khalid
Broadcast Journalist
Kiran Khalid is a broadcast journalist with more than ten years of newsroom experience. Kiran has worked on-air for every network affiliate in markets including Austin, Mobile, San Francisco, Las Vegas and, most recently, New York City. After September 11, 2001, she was one of the first American journalists to gain access into a Pakistani madrassa (religious school) to see firsthand what many were calling "terrorist breeding grounds." In August of 2005 she traveled to Niger and Mali to cover the famine that gripped the West African countries for CNN International. Those stories were showcased at the United Nations Film Festival as finalists in the "Stories from the Field" category. She recently completed her second documentary, "We Are Not Free" about media censorship in Pakistan. Currently, she resides in Manhattan where she works as a producer for ABC's "Good Morning America" and teaches at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
Dr. Agha Saeed
National Chairman of the American Muslim Alliance, Chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections
Dr. Agha Saeed is a lecturer in the Communications and Political Science departments at University of California Berkeley and California State University Hayward. He is also the National Chairman of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), a civic education and leadership training organization. Saeed is also the current coordinator of the California Civil Rights Alliance (CCRA), a coalition of 23 statewide organizations of various political, social and religious backgrounds. The CCRA was instrumental in the introduction of this year's statewide resolution calling for the amending of the USA PATRIOT act. In 2000 and 2004, Saeed was involved in the creation of a first and second Muslim Bloc vote. He is the current chair of the national coalition of Muslim organizations known as the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), which was accountable for the 2004 Muslim Bloc vote. For his forthcoming book, entitled Pakistan in its Own Mirror: Elite Autobiographies and National Conciousness, Saeed interviewed more than 40 authors, thinkers and leaders in Pakistan, including the ex-president, General (ret.) Pervez Musharraf. Saeed received his Ph.D. from the University of California – Berkeley.
Richard J. Schmierer
State Department Foreign Service Officer and member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister-Counselor
Mr. Schmierer is a State Department Foreign Service Officer and member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister-Counselor. He began his diplomatic career in 1980. His first Foreign Service tour was in the Federal Republic of Germany, where he served in Bonn, Frankfurt and Hamburg, from 1980 through 1984. Following a year of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies in Washington, D.C., Mr. Schmierer then served a three-year assignment as the Public Affairs Officer at the American Consulate General in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1985-88). After undertaking additional Arabic and Middle Eastern studies, Mr. Schmierer returned to Saudi Arabia in August 1997, where he served as Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, until June 2000. From June 2000 through June 2004 he served as Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs at the American Embassy in Berlin, Germany. In June 2004, Mr. Schmierer transferred to Baghdad, Iraq, where – with the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on June 28 -- he assumed the position of Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs, a post he held through June 2005. In July 2005 he joined the staff of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. While at the Institute Mr. Schmierer lectured on Iraq and published a book on the topic, entitled Iraq: Policy and Perceptions. In July 2007 Mr. Schmierer assumed the position of Director, Office of Iraq Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the State Department. In June 2008 he assumed his current position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
Dan Sutherland
Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
On April 16, 2003, President Bush appointed Daniel W. Sutherland to be the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This unique position calls for Mr. Sutherland to provide legal and policy advice to the Secretary and the senior leadership of the Department on a full range of issues at the intersection of homeland security and civil rights and civil liberties. Mr. Sutherland and his office provide advice on issues such as: the use of race or ethnicity in law enforcement and intelligence activities; building strategic partnerships between the homeland security effort and American Arab and Muslim communities; and, the need to integrate people with disabilities into emergency planning and preparedness. Mr. Sutherland’s 2005 speech on the need for the government to engage with Muslim-Americans in the war on terror has been printed in the publication Vital Speeches of the Day. Mr. Sutherland has testified before Congress on issues such as: the use of satellite technology to benefit homeland security projects; enhancing emergency preparedness for senior citizens and people with disabilities; and, building a respect for civil rights and civil liberties into fusion centers across the country.
Dr. Rick Warren
Author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback Church
Dr. Richard D. "Rick" Warren is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, the fourth largest church in the United States. He is also the author of many Christian books and an influential Evangelical minister. During the summer of 2008, he hosted the Civil Forum on The Presidency featuring both John McCain and Barack Obama at his church.
Ahmed Younis
Senior Analyst for Gallup Center for Muslim Studies
Ahmed Younis is a Senior Consultant for the Gallup Organization and a Senior Analyst for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and the Muslim-West Facts Initiative. He is the author of American Muslims: Voir Dire [Speak the Truth], a post-Sept. 11 look at the reality of debate surrounding American Muslims and their country. Ahmed is a member of the Advisory Committee on U.S.-Muslim World Relations of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). He is a regular speaker at government conferences, briefings, and events covering topics such as terrorist financing, public diplomacy, identity/integration, and issues affecting Western Muslim communities. In 2006, Ahmed joined Ambassador Dennis Ross at an event sponsored by Search for Common Ground—USA to begin a national conversation on a long-term strategy to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim World. A graduate of Washington & Lee University School of Law, Ahmed has studied and lived in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and is fluent in Arabic.