2021 Banquet Speakers

Khalid Latif is Executive Director and Chaplain (Imam) for the Islamic Center at New York University (NYU).

In 2005, Imam Latif was appointed the first Muslim chaplain at NYU. At NYU, Khalid initiated his vision for a pluralistic American Muslim community, rooted on campus and reaching out to the city. In 2006, Imam Latif was appointed the first Muslim chaplain at Princeton University. In 2007, Imam Latif's position was fully institutionalized at New York University, and so he committed himself to that institution and the building of a Muslim life institution. Today's Islamic Center is a leader among American Muslim organizations, uniquely shaped to contribute to the future of Muslim practice in the West.

Imam Latif's exceptional dedication and ability to cross faith and cultural boundaries on a daily basis brought him recognition throughout the city, so much so that in 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg nominated Imam Latif to become the youngest chaplain in history of the New York City Police Department. He was 24. Since then, Imam Latif has dedicated himself to America's largest Police Department, and has developed tremendously valuable skills as a spokesperson for co-existence, mutual understanding and productive relationships between cultures, communities and religions.

Dr. Dalia Fahmy is Associate Professor of Political Science at Long Island University where she teaches courses on US Foreign Policy, World Politics, International Relations, Military and Defense Policy, Causes of War, and Politics of the Middle East. Dr. Fahmy is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Policy in Washington DC, and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights and UNESCO Chair at Rutgers University for 2018.

Dr. Fahmy has published several articles in academic journals focusing on democratization and most recently on the effects of Islamophobia on US foreign policy. She has given several briefings on the future of democracy in the Middle East. She has been interviewed by and written editorials in various media outlets including ABC, CBS, CBC, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, the Huffington Post, the Immanent Frame, the Washington Post, and appears often on Aljazeera. She has presented her research in various venues including Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, UCLA, The Middle East Institute, The Asia Society, The World Bank, The Wilson Center and The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.

 Dr. Fahmy has won several academic awards and fellowships for her research. In 2014, Dr. Fahmy was one of the recipients of the prestigious Kleigman Prize in Political Science, was the 2016 recipient of the Newton Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2017 was named NPR’s "Source if the Week."

Sheikh Kifah Mustapha is the Imam and Director of The Prayer Center of Orland Park He is the appointed representative for the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Lebanon (Darul Fatwa) on behalf of the Lebanese Community in the USA

Sheikh Kifah Mustapha serves as the Chairman of the Illinois Council of Imams and Scholars and Chairman of the Quran Institute of Chicago MAS. He also served as a member on the Advisory Boards of The Mission and Spiritual Care for Advocate Health Group in Illinois, The Council for the Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation and The American Islamic College in Chicago.

He has received the CAIR-Chicago Mobilizer Award, the Arab American Business & Professional Association’s Outstanding Leadership Award and Lincoln Land Legends’ Scholars for Dollars Award. He is an experienced public speaker and an active participant in interfaith relations.

Sheikh Kifah Mustapha holds a bachelor’s in Sharia from American Islamic University in VA, USA, a diploma of Sharia (Master’s Program) from Beirut Islamic University (Azhar Beirut) in Beirut, Lebanon, and a diploma of Islamic Studies (Master’s Program) from Global Theological Foundation in IN, USA.

Governor JB Pritzker was sworn in as the 43rd governor of the state of Illinois on January 14, 2019 and won election with the largest margin of victory over a sitting governor in more than a century.

Before becoming governor, Pritzker founded 1871, the non-profit small business incubator in Chicago that has helped entrepreneurs create more than 11,000 jobs and more than 1,000 new companies. Since the creation of 1871, Chicago has been named one of the top ten technology startup hubs in the world, and 1871 was named the best incubator in the world. As governor, he has expanded support for new business incubators and cut taxes for hundreds of thousands of small businesses while incentivizing job creation and innovation. He also extended research and development tax credits to help manufacturing workers and businesses thrive, and he worked with the business community to create apprenticeship tax credits to promote job training.

The descendant of refugees, Governor Pritzker believes our state and our nation should welcome and protect its immigrant families and that we must fight against the wave of intolerance that has risen in recent years. Before becoming governor, he led the creation of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, a nationally recognized institution where hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, police officers and others learn to fight bigotry and hatred. As governor, he has built the most diverse cabinet and governor’s office in Illinois history.

Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton is excited to serve Illinois as the state’s 48th Lieutenant Governor.

As the first African American (PERIOD, man or woman) to hold this office, Stratton is passionate about equity and putting passion into government policy making.

Her portfolio includes leading the Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative, and chairing the Illinois Council on Women and Girls, the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council, the Military Economic Development Council and the Illinois Rivers Coordinating Council.

She is the chair of the R3 Board (Restore, Reinvest, Renew) and she co-chairs the Opioid Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee.

Previously, Stratton represented the 5th District in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul was sworn in as the 42nd Attorney General of Illinois in January 2019. Raoul was born in Chicago to Haitian immigrants and brings a lifetime of legal and policy experience, advocacy, and public service to the Office of the Attorney General.

Attorney General Raoul earned his undergraduate degree from DePaul University and his juris doctorate from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He began his legal career as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, handling matters at the trial and appellate level in the criminal, civil and juvenile divisions of the office. He subsequently served as a Senior Staff Attorney for the City Colleges of Chicago, handling primarily labor and employment matters. Raoul has also been a partner at two national law firms, serving in the health care and labor and employment practice groups.

In 2004, Attorney General Raoul was appointed to serve as the state senator representing the 13th Legislative District, where he was subsequently re-elected on multiple occasions to represent the district over the last 14 years. In the Senate, Raoul served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice-chair of the Senate Criminal Law Committee and vice-chair of the Sentencing Policy Advisory Commission. As a senator, Raoul led negotiations and sponsored some of the most significant pieces of legislation that have become law over the past decade, including eliminating the death penalty, requiring background checks on private transfers of guns, law enforcement and criminal justice reform, workers’ compensation reform, and some of the strongest voting rights protections in the nation.

As a legislator and an attorney, Attorney General Raoul has been dedicated to working towards criminal justice reform in Illinois. In addition to spearheading the abolition of the death penalty, he sponsored numerous diversion and second-chance programs for non-violent offenders and expedited the process of record expungement for juveniles. He pushed through landmark law enforcement reform, including standards for police officer-worn body cameras and a statewide database of officers under investigation. Raoul also passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform package aimed at reducing gun violence by cracking down on repeat offenders while helping first-time violators find their way back into law-abiding society. Raoul has been recognized for his work on behalf of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, which includes passage of the Safe Homes Act and the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights.

Among Attorney General Raoul’s many other achievements in the Senate were expanded opportunities for minority and women-owned financial services firms, legislation protecting student athletes from brain injury due to concussions, the Illinois Voting Rights Act and the addition of a voting rights protection amendment to the Illinois Constitution. He was a leader in expanding Illinois Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act and is known for his work in support of health care access.

Raoul is the father of two college students, Che and Mizan.

Since assuming office following her historic election, Mayor Lightfoot has undertaken an ambitious agenda of expanding opportunity and inclusive economic growth across Chicago’s neighborhoods and communities, with early accomplishments including landmark ethics and good governance reforms, worker protection legislation, and closing a record $838 million budget gap, as well as key investments in education, public safety and financial stability. Mayor Lightfoot also placed Chicago on the path to a $15 minimum wage by 2021. 

In response to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, Mayor Lightfoot has led a coordinated, citywide response across government, business, and community organizations to effectively address its spread and broader public impact, including the creation of the Racial Equity Rapid Response Team, the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, among other actions.  

Prior to her election, Mayor Lightfoot most recently served as a senior equity partner in the Litigation and Conflict Resolution Group at Mayer Brown. Previously, she served as President of the Chicago Police Board, as well as the Chair of the Police Accountability Task Force.  

Mayor Lightfoot also served as Chief of Staff and General Counsel of the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, interim First Deputy of the Chicago Department of Procurement Services, Chief Administrator of the Office of Professional Standards, and as Assistant United States Attorney. 

A native of Massillon, Ohio, Mayor Lightfoot has been a resident of Chicago since 1986 and lives on the Near Northwest Side with her wife Amy Eshleman and their daughter.

Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Springfield, is the 47th U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, the state’s senior senator, and the convener of Illinois’ bipartisan congressional delegation.

Durbin also serves as the Democratic Whip, the second highest ranking position among the Senate Democrats. Senator Durbin has been elected to this leadership post by his Democratic colleagues every two years since 2005.

Elected to the U.S. Senate on November 5, 1996, and re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014, Durbin fills the seat left vacant by the retirement of his long-time friend and mentor, U.S. Senator Paul Simon.

Durbin sits on the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations, Agriculture, and Rules Committees. He is the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and the Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee.

Senator Durbin makes approximately 50 round trips a year between Washington and Illinois. He is married to Loretta Schaefer Durbin. Their family consists of three children--Christine (deceased), Paul and Jennifer--as well as six grandchildren. They reside in Springfield.

Marie Newman earned a B.A. in journalism and business from the University of Wisconsin.

In 2018, the progressive Democrat Newman sought to challenge incumbent Dan Lipinski for his seat in the US House of Representatives, supporting universal healthcare, funding birth control, abortion rights, and fewer incarcerations. However, she lost the primary with 48.87% of the vote to his 51.13%. In 2020, however, she defeated Lipinski in an upset primary victory, winning with 47.3% of the vote to Lipinski's 44.7%. She went on to win the general election in November.

As of her 2020 campaign, she had worked in advertising, consulting, and nonprofit advocacy. Newman founded a nonprofit organization, Team Up to Stop Bullying, which sought to address bullying among school children.
2020.

Jesús “Chuy” García is the Congressman of Illinois’ 4th Congressional District and one of the first Mexican immigrants to be sworn into the US Congress. Since taking office in 2019, Chuy has become a member of the Financial Services Committee, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Natural Resources Committee. 

As a progressive community leader and public servant for almost 40 years, Chuy has been recognized for his extensive work fighting for immigration rights, universal health care, criminal justice reform, and workers’ rights. 

Chuy was born in Los Pinos in Durango, Mexico. At 10 years old, Chuy and his family moved to Chicago and settled in the Pilsen neighborhood and later moved to Little Village.

Growing up in Chicago during the 1960’s and 1970’s, Chuy was influenced by the diversity of Chicago’s neighborhoods and contemporary civil rights movements, finding inspiration in leaders such as Reverend Martin Luther King Jr and Cesar Chavez. During this time Chuy joined local organizing movements for workers’ rights and community empowerment.

Keith Ellison was sworn in as Minnesota’s 30th attorney general on January 7, 2019. As the People’s Lawyer, Attorney General Ellison’s job is to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect. His guiding values are generosity and inclusion.

From 2007 to 2019, Keith Ellison represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he championed consumer, worker, environmental, and civil- and human-rights protections for Minnesotans. He served for 12 years on the House Financial Services Committee, where he helped oversee the financial services industry, the housing industry, and Wall Street, among others. Among his legislative accomplishments are passing provisions to protect credit-card holders from abusive practices and protect the rights of renters and tenants. While in Congress, he founded the Congressional Antitrust Caucus and the Congressional Consumer Justice Caucus. He also served as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which he helped build to more than 100 members.

Before being elected to Congress, Attorney General Ellison served four years in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Prior to entering elective office, he spent 16 years as an attorney specializing in civil-rights and defense law, including five years as executive director of the Legal Rights Center. As the leader of this public-interest law firm, he oversaw a team of attorneys focused on delivering justice for Minnesotans who had nowhere else to turn. He was also a noted community activist.

Attorney General Ellison received his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1990. He is the proud father of four adult children: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Amirah. He is the first African American and the first Muslim American to be elected to statewide office in Minnesota.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib represents the 13th District of Michigan. Tlaib is a well-known progressive warrior and, in her own words, “a mother working for justice for all.” Her two young sons are at the root of her unwavering passion to help change lives for the better. She is the oldest of 14 children, born and raised in Detroit, the proud daughter of Palestinian immigrant parents.

Rashida made history in 2008 by becoming the first Muslim woman to ever serve in the Michigan Legislature. She is beloved by residents for the transformative constituent services she provided, and for successfully fighting the billionaires and corporations that tried to pollute her district. When families get to know Rashida, they have no doubt that she will work tirelessly to knock down barriers for real change, and whether by policy or action, she will roll up her sleeves to make sure her residents are cared for, no matter how big the challenge.

As an attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Rashida took the movement to the courts, fighting racist emergency managers, abusive state agencies, and leading the fight for community benefits agreements that promote equitable development. Rashida knows that effective advocacy requires an all-out approach, fighting in the community, in the legislature, and in the courts every day against injustice and inequality, so that every single person in this country has a chance to thrive.

Rep. Ilhan Omar represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs.

An experienced Twin Cities policy analyst, organizer, public speaker and advocate, Rep. Omar was sworn into office in January 2019, making her the first Somali-American Member of Congress, the first woman of color to represent Minnesota, and one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress.

As a legislator, Rep. Omar is committed to fighting for the shared values of the 5th District,  values that put people at the center of our democracy. She plans to focus on tackling many of the issues that she hears about most from her constituents, like investing in education and freeing students from the shackles of debt; ensuring a fair wage for a hard day’s work; creating a just immigration system and tackling the existential threat of climate change.

Rep. Omar also plans to resist attempts to divide us and push destructive policies that chip away at our rights and freedoms—and to build a more inclusive and compassionate culture, one that will allow our economy to flourish and encourage more Americans to participate in our democracy.

Born in Somalia, Rep. Omar and her family fled the country’s civil war when she was eight. The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in 1990s. In 1997, she moved to Minneapolis with her family. As a teenager, Rep. Omar’s grandfather inspired her to get involved in politics. Before running for office, she worked as a community educator at the University of Minnesota, was a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and served as a Senior Policy Aide for the Minneapolis City Council.

In 2016 she was elected as the Minnesota House Representative for District 60B, making her the highest-elected Somali-American public official in the United States and the first Somali-American State Legislator. Rep. Omar served as the Assistant Minority Leader, with assignments to three house committees; Civil Law & Data Practices Policy, Higher Education & Career Readiness Policy and Finance, and State Government Finance.

Aisha El-Amin holds a PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Masters of Education from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Science in Management Studies from the University of Maryland- European Division. Dr. El-Amin is passionate about issues of equity and justice in education. These passions have led her to become an Illinois State Board of Education Certified K-9th grade teacher, an adjunct professor at several colleges and universities, an elected school board member for Community Consolidated School District #168, appointed board member for Routledge journal, Religion and Education, board vice-chair for Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Chicago and board member with Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU).

Additionally, Dr. El-Amin has served in several roles at University of Illinois at Chicago as a multi-million dollar education grant manager, director of The Council on Teacher Education, Associate Dean of Student Affairs in the College of Education and currently Associate Provost and Chief of Staff for the Provost.

Dr. El-Amin’s education and experience have allowed her to be the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the Muslim Women’s Alliance 2016 Inspiring Women’s Award, Diversifying Faculty in Illinois Fellowship, Illinois Veterans Grant and DePaul/Glenview Clinical Model Scholar and Rainbow Push Excellence in Education Award. Dr. El-Amin’s activism is best captured in her historic leadership roles with various Chicago based organizations. Some of her roles included coordinating committee member of Teachers for Social Justice, co-founder of Bridging the Gap Inc., co-chair of Inner City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) Takin’ it to the Streets event logistics, and co-chair of the Public School Initiative for Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC).

Ahmed Rehab is Executive Director of the Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as CAIR's National Strategic Communications Director. CAIR is the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group. A prolific writer and lecturer on contemporary social issues including civil rights, media relations, and Islam-West relations, Rehab lectures at various University campuses in Chicago and around the nation. Rehab comments regularly as a guest on various local TV and cable news programs, as well as on radio stations. He has been interviewed by news publications such as the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Herald, the Washington Post, the Orlando Sentinel, the Economist, the Boston Globe, Crain's Business Magazine, Germany's Die Zeit, and many more. His Op-Ed's have been published in numerous newspapers around the country.

Rehab, an alumnus of the FBI Citizen's Academy, leads local efforts to foster positive relations with law enforcement officials, elected officials, political appointees, and representatives of various governmental agencies. Prior to joining CAIR in August of 2004, Rehab was a freelance speaker, writer, and activist in the fields of interfaith collaboration, education, and community outreach. Between 1999 and 2002, Rehab served as a consultant for Arthur Andersen LLP - a global consulting firm. In 2005, he served as a consultant for Chicago's Niagara Foundation, a cutting-edge interfaith organization that promotes interactive dialogue and as Saturday night host for a local Radio Program on Chicago's AM dial.

In the summer of 1999, Rehab co-founded Ibex Computers in Des Plaines, IL and served as its president until April of 2005. He holds a Masters degree in software engineering from DePaul University and a Bachelors in Psychology from UIC. Rehab serves as a board member of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) a co-founder of the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University. He served as a board member and secretary of the Egyptian American Society, a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' (CCGA) Muslim task force, and an Eisenhower fellow of the American Assembly.

Muhammad Mazen Kudaimi, MD, FACG, is a Board Certified physician in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology and currently practices gastroenterology in Northwest Indiana. He was born and raised in Syria and graduated form Damascus University Medical School in 1979. He moved to Chicago in 1980 and was trained at Cook County Hospital. Dr. Kudaimi served on the board of Universal School, the Mosque Foundation Board and the board of the Mosque Foundation Youth Center. In addition to being the board chair of CAIR-Chicago, he is currently the President of the Illiana Islamic Association in Highland, IN. He is married to Dr. Randa Loutfi and has six children.