Leadership Conference Speakers

We are very excited to have secured an impressive array of speakers for NIAC's 2012 Leadership Conference. The individuals below are top experts, world-renowned opinion leaders and high-level officials. They have amassed years of experience and insider knowledge, which they are willing to impart to our conference participants.

Stay tuned as additional speakers will be added as we approach the conference date.

			Negin Almassi Consultant Workshop Leader Almassi is a naturalist for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County in Illinois. Additionally, Almassi is a trainer and consultant based out of Chicago, IL, where she helps organizations translate social justice and racial equity into their everyday work and structure. Previously, Almassi lived in Seattle for seven years, where she worked with a variety of nonprofit and government organizations. She also co-founded Seattle’s Iranian American Community Alliance, which just celebrated its sixth annual Iranian Cultural Festival. She earned her Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs, and her B.S. in Biology and B.A. in French Language and Literature from Purdue University.

			Maziar Bahari Journalist and Filmmaker Conference Keynote Bahari is a prominent Iranian journalist and documentary filmmaker who currently resides in London. He was a reporter for Newsweek from 1998 to 2011. During the 2009 Iranian Election Protests he was arrested without charge, and detained for 118 days. Bahari’s family memoir, Then They Came for Me, was published by Random House in June 2011. Bahari has produced a number of documentaries and news reports for broadcasters around the world including, BBC, Channel4, HBO, Discovery, Canal+ and NHK. Bahari’s films include Paint! No Matter What (1999), Football, Iranian Style (2001), And Along Came a Spider (2002), Mohammad and the Matchmaker (1994), Targets: Reporters in Iraq (2005), Greetings from Sadr City (2007), Online Ayatollah (2008), The Fall of a Shah (2009) and An Iranian Odyssey (2010).

			Noam Chomsky American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist Conference Keynote Chomsky is internationally recognized as one of the most critically acclaimed public intellectuals alive today. He is a U.S. political theorist and activist, and institute professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chomsky is an outspoken supporter of democracy, a critic of the current regime in Iran and is staunchly opposed to war. He has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and a major figure of analytic philosophy. His work has influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and psychology.

			David Crist Author and Senior Historian for the U.S. Goverment Conference Panalist Crist is a senior historian for the U.S. government and a special advisor to senior officals in the U.S. government. He frequent advises senior government officials on the Middle East. Crist recently authored, "The Twilight War: The Secret Histor of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran". As an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Crist served two tours with special operations forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. His prior publications include Gulf of Conflict: A History of U.S.-Iranian Confrontation at Sea (Washington Institute, 2009). He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and a master's and doctorate in Middle Eastern history from Florida State University.

			Tom Dine Former Executive Director of AIPAC Conference Panelist Dine was the executive director of American Israeli Public Affairs Commitee (AIPAC) from 1980-1993 and is single-handedly credited with turning AIPAC into the lobbying powerhouse that it is today. Previously, he worked for the Senate Budget Committee, was an advisor to Senator Edmund Muskie on nuclear weapons policy and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, and advised Senator Edward M. Kennedy on defense and foreign policy advisor. Dine served as chief executive officer of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, as president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague, and as Assistant Administrator for Europe and the New Independent States of Eurasia at USAID. He currently serves on the Israel Policy Forum U.S. Advisory Council, an organization that works for a negotiated two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict though advocacy, education and policy research.

			Farideh Farhi Independent Scholar and Affiliate Graduate Faculty at the University of Hawai'i Conference Panelist Farhi is an Independent Scholar and Affiliate Graduate Faculty at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. She has taught comparative politics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Hawai'i, University of Tehran, and Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran. Her publications include States and Urban-Based Revolutions in Iran and Nicaragua (University of Illinois Press) and numerous articles and book chapters on comparative analyses of revolutions and Iranian politics. She has been a recipient of grants from the United States Institute of Peace and the Rockefeller Foundation and was most recently a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank and the International Crisis Group.

			Nazila Fathi Journalist, Translator, and Commentator on Iran Conference Panelist Fathi reported out of Iran for nearly two decades until 2009 when she was forced to leave the country because of government threats against her. She was based in Tehran from 2001 for The New York Times until she left, during a time when she penned over 2,000 articles for the Times. Prior to that, she wrote for the Time Magazine, Agence France Press and the Times. She translated a book, History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran, by the Noble Peace Prize Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, into English in 2001. She has written for the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy and Harvard Nieman Report and has been a guest speaker on CNN, BBC, CBC and NPR. She received her Masters of Arts from University of Toronto in Political Science in 2001. In 2003, she was awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship at Lund University and a Nieman Fellowship for journalism at Harvard in 2010-11. She was Shorenstein Fellow at the Kennedy School in 2012 is currently a fellow at Harvard Belfer Center.

			Noosheen Hashemi *President and Co-Founder of The HAND Foundation* Conference Moderator Since 2003, Hashemi has led The HAND Foundation's efforts to prevent child sexual abuse, strengthen the global middle class and advance the philanthropic sector. In 2006, Hashemi and HAND founded PARSA Community Foundation, the first and only Persian community foundation in the United States, as part of their strategy to further philanthropy among diasporas. Over the course of five years, PARSA raised almost $10 million, and awarded nearly 250 grants totaling $7.75 million, an unprecedented achievement for the community. As a founding strategic partner of the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA), HAND also supports diaspora-centered initiatives in countries and regions of diaspora origin. Hashemi is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the board of the New America Foundation and is a Trustee of the India Community Center. She was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2008 and the CEDAW Human Rights Award for Philanthropy in 2011.

			Aram Suren Hamparian Executive Director at the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Conference Panelist Hamaparian serves as ANCA's national point-person with the Administration, Congress, the media, and the Washington, DC foreign policy community. In cooperation with regional offices, more than 50 local chapters, dozens of coalition partners, hundreds of community affiliates, and thousands of grassroots activists, Hamparian work daily on a broad range of legislative, policy, research, political, campaign, media, coalition, and community-related concerns. He have testified before Congress, lectured at the National Defense University, the Foreign Service Institute, and USAID, been quoted by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters, and appeared on CNN, BBC, RT, Al Jazeera, and many other media outlets.

			Ambassador Robert E. Hunter Former National Security Council Director of Middle East Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Conference Panelist Hunter is a Senior Advisor at the RAND Corporation. Previously, he was National Security Council Director of West European Affairs (1977–1979), Director of Middle East Affairs (1979–1981), and United States Ambassador to NATO (1993–1998). He served on the White House staff under President Lyndon Johnson (1964–1965) and was President of the Atlantic Treaty Association from 2003 to 2008. Ambassador Hunter is Chairman of the Council for a Community of Democracies and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the American Academy of Diplomacy as well as the Atlantic Council of the United States. Ambassdaor Hunter has authored more than 700 publications, written for Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Quarterly, and many other journals, as well as chapters in books and op-ed articles in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other newspapers. In 2010, his book Building Security in the Persian Gulf was published by RAND.

			Ramin Jahanbegloo Iranian-Canadian Philosopher Conference Panelist Jahanbegloo is the author of more than 24 books in Persian, English, and French on philosophy, comparative politics and nonviolence. Among his books are Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (Phoenix, 2000), Iran: Between Tradition and Modernity (Lexington Books, 2004), Gandhi: Aux Sources de la Nonviolence (Felin 1999), Penser la Nonviolence (UNESCO 1999), The Clash of Intolerances (Har-Anand 2007), India Revisited (Oxford University Press, 2007) and The Spirit of India (Penguin 2008) and lately Beyond Violence (Har-Anand 2009) and The Gandhian Moment (Harvard University Press 2013). Jahanbegloo was arrested in April 2006 at the Tehran airport as he was about to leave the country to attend an international conference. He was placed in solitary confinement in a security wing of Evin prison for 125 days. He is the recipient of the 2009 Peace Prize awarded by the Association for the United Nations in Spain for his extensive academic works in promoting dialogue between cultures and his advocacy for non-violence. Currently, Jahanbegloo is the Noor-York Chair in Islamic Studies at York University.

			Bijan Khajehpour Chairman and Co-Founder of the Atieh Group of Companies Conference Panelist Khajehpour is managing partner of Atieh International, a Vienna-based strategic consulting firm focusing on the Middle East. Bijan co-founded the Atieh Group in 1994 in Tehran and ever since he has worked as a strategy consultant for Iranian and international companies. In the past decade, he has focused on researching the Iranian economy and has commented on political and economic developments of Iran, especially through contributions to international conferences and reviews. Dr. Khajehpour completed his graduate studies in management and economy in Germany and the UK and his Doctorate of Business Administration at the International School of Management in Paris.

			The Honorable Thomas Pickering Former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Conference Panelist Pickering's four decade long career in Foreign Service included ambassadorships in Russia (1993–1996), India (1992–1993), United Nations (1989–1992), Israel (1985–1988), El Salvador (1983–1985), Nigeria (1981–1983), and Jordan (1974–1978). He served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1997 to 2000. Ambassador Pickering holds the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. Foreign Service. In 2006, he retired as senior vice president international relations for Boeing. Ambassador Pickering is currently the vice chairman of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm providing advice to U.S. businesses on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad, particularly in emerging market economies.

			Barbara Slavin Expert on U.S. Foreign Policy Conference Moderator Slavin is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor.com, a new website devoted to news from and about the Middle East. The author of a 2007 book, Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation, she is a regular commentator on U.S. foreign policy and Iran on NPR, PBS and C-SPAN. A career journalist, Slavin previously served as assistant managing editor for world and national security of The Washington Times, senior diplomatic reporter for USA TODAY, Cairo correspondent for The Economist and as an editor at The New York Times Week in Review. She has traveled to Iran seven times and was the first U.S. newspaper reporter to interview Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Slavin also served as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where she wrote Bitter Friends, and as a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she researched and wrote the report Mullahs, Money and Militias: How Iran Exerts Its Influence in the Middle East.

			Mana Tahaie Director of Racial Justice at YWCA Tulsa Workshop Leader Tahaie is the first Director of Racial Justice at the YWCA Tulsa, whose mission is to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Mana’s programs include training and consulting, racial caucus groups, and community collaborations. She also leads the agency's efforts to advocate for the rights of immigrants, women, and people of color. Previously, Mana served as Deputy Director of Oklahomans for Equality, convened the Say No to Hate Coalition, and served on the board of Crossroads Antiracism Organizing & Training. She currently serves on the boards of TU United Campus Ministry, TU Women’s & Gender Studies, and ACLU Oklahoma. She brings with her an analysis of power, organizational and institutional development, and identity-based oppression.

			Lieutenant Colonel T.G. Taylor Media Chief to U.S. Central Command Communication Integration Directorate at CENTCOM Keynote Speaker LTC Taylor has served 16 years in the Army of United States in the Infantry and Public Relations. LTC Taylor’s extensive experience in public relations began with his first assignment as Command Information Chief for Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan, where he started Armed Forces Network - Afghanistan. In 2008, LTC Taylor was assigned to the 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Mountain Warrior, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan responsible for the Afghan provinces of Nuristan, Nangarhar, Kunar, and Laghman. While in Afghanistan he arranged more than 250 media embeds, managed a team of seven military broadcast and print journalists, and provided public relations counsel to senior level decision makers.

			Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson *Former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell* Conference Keynote Wilkerson is currently a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy. His last positions in government were as Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff (2002-05), Associate Director of the State Department's Policy Planning staff under the directorship of Ambassador Richard N. Haass, and member of that staff responsible for East Asia and the Pacific, political-military and legislative affairs (2001-02). Wilkerson has criticized many aspects of the Iraq War, including his own preparation of Powell's presentation to the UN where his goal was to “prove" the urgency to engage a war with Iraq. He is currently working on a book about the first George W. Bush administration.

			James Zogby President of the Arab American Institute Conference Panelist Zogby is the author of Arab Voices and the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.based organization which serves as a political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. He is a senior analyst with JZ Analytics, a firm created by employees of his brother's polling firm Zogby International. Zogby is a lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues and a Global Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee.

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