ABOUT THE GUESTS
Nihad
Awad
Executive Director and Co-Founder, The Council on American-Islamic Relations
Nihad Awad is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest non-profit Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. He has been frequently interviewed on national and international media such as CNN, BBC World Service, PBS, C-SPAN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Voice of America and Al-Jazeerah.
Raza
Bokhari
North American Point of Contact for former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf
Raza currently serves as the Managing Partner of RBx Capital, LP, a private equity fund in formation that is focused on investing in all segments of the US laboratory testing market, including pharmacogenomics enabled personalized medicine. Raza also volunteers his time as President Musharraf’s North American Point of Contact. He was elected as the National President for the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) for the years 2006-07. He currently serves on the Board of Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management, as Chairman of the Executive Advisory Committee. He is also Vice Chairman of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia and a Trustee of the esteemed Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Asra
Nomani
Former Wall Street Journal reporter & Co-Founder of the Muslim Reform Movement
Born in Bombay, India, in 1965 to a conservative Muslim family, Asra Q. Nomani grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia, becoming a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Nomani returned to her home in Morgantown, where she wrote Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam, a manifesto for reform and women’s rights, chronicling her journey to Mecca with her son, then three months old. She has written on issues related to Islam for the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine, American Prospect, Slate and Sojourners magazine on Islam.
Manal
Omar
Associate V.P., Center for Middle East and Africa, U.S. Institute of Peace
Currently with USIP as the Acting Vice-President for the Middle East and Africa Center, Manal continues to travel across the Middle East working with civil society. Previously, Manal was working as the Regional Program Manager for the Middle East for Oxfam – Great Britain. She worked to respond the emergency humanitarian crisis in Palestine and Lebanon, while supporting on going work in Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt. Previously, she worked with Women for Women International as Regional Coordinator for Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan. She was responsible for setting up operations in Iraq, and lived in Baghdad from 2003 to 2006.