Kombiz Lavasany is currently a political consultant who helps manage strategic campaigns for progressive causes and issues. Over the past decade, he has worked extensively with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), initially as the director of the strategic campaign department, supporting organizing campaigns across the country and combating efforts to defund and privatize schools, and later as a consultant on communications and advocacy campaigns. Prior to his work with the AFT, Kombiz served as a consultant for New Partners, where he led the digital department. From 2007 to 2008, he worked at the Democratic National Committee under Governor Dean, coordinating the party’s online outreach efforts to help elect President Obama.
Kombiz immigrated to the United States at the age of eight from Tehran with his family, settling in Corona, CA. His early experiences in Iran after the revolution and during the Iran-Iraq war, as well as his time in the US as a young immigrant and the political climate following the Iraq war, shaped his commitment to challenging power and the politics of fear through movement politics.
He earned a degree in political science from the University of California at San Diego in 2001.