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Membership
Khurrum Wahid is a founding member and current National Chairperson of Emgage Action and Emgage Political Action Committee (PAC). He was the National Chairperson of Emgage Foundation from its inception. Khurrum is a partner at Wahid Vizcaino LLP. He has over one hundred jury trials in various federal and state matters in civil, administrative, and criminal fields. He was recognized by New Times Magazine as Lawyer of the Year in 2007, and by Florida Trend Magazine’s Legal Elite in criminal law since 2011. His practice focuses on white-collar crime, complex fraud, homicides, and national security cases. Before entering private practice, Khurrum served several years as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS) of Harlem. Before working at NDS, Khurrum gained extensive trial experience as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami, Florida. Khurrum received his B.A. from the University of Toronto and his J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. Khurrum is admitted to practice law in Florida, New York, and various federal Courts. Khurrum has been appointed by the Florida Supreme Court to their Standing Committee on Fairness and Diversity since 2015. He was also a founding member of the Florida Bar’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, which was formed in 2010. In 2017, he was awarded the Henry Latimer Award by the Florida Bar for his work towards diversity and inclusion.
Farah Ahmed is an Emgage Action national c4 board member and serves on the Emgage Texas Chapter Advisory Committee. In her professional life, Farah is a practicing attorney, litigator, and mediator. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center. As a proud Muslim Indian American, she is a strong advocate for marginalized and underrepresented communities and is devoted to serving the greater good. In addition to her involvement with Emgage, Farah has served on several local non-profit and professional boards, including that of Austin’s oldest mosque, her local bar association, and as a commissioner on the City of Austin Firefighters, Police Officers, and Emergency Medical Services Personnel Civil Service Commission. Farah is a lifelong Texan and native Houstonian and lives in Austin with her husband, two children, and cat.
Ahmed completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He completed his residency training in urological surgery at the University of Michigan Hospitals. He is the Chief of the Medical Staff at Corewell Wayne and the former Chief of Surgery. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Urology at Wayne State University.
Dr. Ahmed is a co-founder of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a non-profit research think tank studying American Muslims. He is the former Chairman of the Michigan Muslim Community Council and serves on the board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Michigan Chapter. He has been married for over 30 years and has 4 interesting children.
Nazar Khan is a Principal Investor in the energy and real estate markets. Over the past 20 years, Nazar has led investments in developing and acquiring over $2 billion of energy and real estate assets in North America, Europe, and Asia. Nazar is on the boards of Emgage Action, the Islamic Learning Center of NYC, and the Zakat Fund of NYC. Nazar graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in International Relations.
Awais Khaleel is an attorney and career prosecutor. He is currently an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the Dane County Corporation Counsel’s Office. Awais also serves as a Judge Advocate and officer with the Wisconsin Army National Guard. He previously served as an Assistant District Attorney with the Dane County District Attorney’s Office and associate with the Wisconsin law firm Pines Bach. From 2021-2022, Awais was the Chairman of the Wisconsin State Ethics Commission. He began his legal career as a civil rights lawyer for a boutique Washington, DC law firm.
Awais is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Howard University School of Law. He formerly served as a Democratic National Committeeman, the Vice President of the College Democrats of America, and a member of the Administrative Committee for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. He was a founding board member for the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance. A native Wisconsinite, Awais lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife Wajiha, their two children, and a dog named Axel Foley.
Sameer Ladha is an attorney by profession and has worked at the United Nations and in corporate law. He subsequently pursued an MS in Bioethics. He is currently the Deputy Director of the graduate program in Bioethics at Columbia University, teaches in the program, and is particularly interested in Islam’s evolving discourse in the field.
Riaz Merchant is an entrepreneur and seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience driving innovation in software and cloud technologies. As the Founder and CEO of Mertech Data Systems, he helped develop tools and technologies that enable companies to modernize their databases and applications quickly and at a fraction of the cost. His expertise extends to fostering a culture of innovation and customer-centric Solutions. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Riaz is deeply committed to community service. He serves on the Small Business Administration’s Regulatory Fairness Board, in the Office of the National Ombudsman, advocating for small businesses in resolving regulatory challenges. He also serves on the Industry Advisory Board of his Alma mater, Florida International University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Additionally, he has served on the board of UHI Community Care Clinic and is currently serving as the Chair of Emgage FL CAC. Riaz’s educational background includes a Master’s in Computer Engineering from Florida International University and a BS in Computer Systems Engineering. He also participated in Stanford University’s Executive Program for Growing Companies. In his spare time, Riaz likes to read, play tennis, travel with his family, cook, and take walks with his dogs.
Kanwal Naiyar is an Emgage Action c4 board member, and she lives in North Carolina. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Education and has worked as a substitute teacher in Wake County. She also served as a Field Organizer for the North Carolina Democratic Party.
Currently, she serves as the First Vice Chair of the NCDP-AAPI Caucus and has been a board member of the caucus for over five years. She is a strong advocate for women’s empowerment and social and racial justice.
As a Muslim woman and activist, she has used her voice to speak out against gun violence and has committed to representing her community and promoting social justice in North Carolina. She served as a Campaign Fellow and Campaign Manager for a House Representative, worked at polling stations to support voter rights, organized volunteers, and managed field plans to ensure fair and successful midterm elections.
Additionally, she is a member of the ART Advisory Board for the Cary Town Council and served for two years as the Head of the Public Relations Committee in MAPAC ( Muslim American Public Affairs Council).
Afsheen Shamsi, President of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, Co-Chair of the South Asian American Caucus, and Mercer County Director of the Muslim Caucus for the NJ Democratic State Committee, is a proud Pakistani American who migrated to the United States in the late 1990s. She is elected as Committeewoman to the Princeton Municipal Democratic Committee and Mercer County Democratic Committee. During the 2020 election cycle, Afsheen co-chaired NJ Muslims for Biden (NJM4B) and formed a diverse leadership team. NJM4B hosted roundtables and town halls, fundraised, and led phone banking efforts for the Biden campaign. Afsheen was also involved with Muslims for Biden, Muslim Women for Biden, and the Pakistani American Initiative at the AAPI Victory Fund, and worked to engage Muslim and Pakistani communities in support of the Biden campaign.
She was elected to the Board of Education for Princeton Public Schools, where she was an advocate for equity and worked to address bullying issues in the district. She was also appointed to the Princeton Human Services Commission and later to the Princeton Civil Rights Commission (CRC) where she worked to empower community members and create a more inclusive Princeton. She also recently served on an ad hoc committee of the Princeton Civil Rights Commission to develop a Racial Equity Impact Assessment Toolkit to address institutional and structural racism at the municipal level in Princeton. Afsheen has advocated for the rights of minority communities, including on issues around bias-based bullying and for stronger protections for children in schools with the NJ State Legislature. She currently serves on the board of the ACLU-NJ and during the Trump era, Afsheen drafted a resolution with help from the ACLU-NJ and Make the Road NJ calling on our elected officials at every level to reunify immigrant families and to build a more compassionate and humane immigration system – several NJ towns and cities passed the resolution. Afsheen holds an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Columbia University and a B.A. in International Studies from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
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