Bhawana Kamil, President was born in Oakland, California in 1979 while her parents were students at UC Berkeley. She was raised in the Bay Area, and received a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from UC Berkeley. Soon after graduating, she accepted Islam in September of 2000. Bhawana traveled overseas to Cairo, Egypt for a few years with her husband to study Arabic and Islamic Studies for which she received graduate diplomas. After her return, she completed a Masters degree in Philosophy from San Jose State University, where she subsequently taught Ethics. Her Masters thesis was entitled, "Toward a Single Consciousness: Challenging 'Un-American-ness' of People of Color."

She is the current president of the Bay Area chapter of the Muslim American Society, and formerly directed its Youth and Outreach departments. She is also a public speaker, and has spoken at a variety of settings, including schools, universities, churches, conferences, and camps on several topics including ‘An Introduction to Islam,’ ‘Women in Islam,’ ‘Challenges Facing Muslim Youth in the West,’ ‘Geography of the Muslim World,' 'Islam and the Environment,' 'Muslim-American Identity,' and 'Understanding Shariah.'

Bhawana serves on the Interfaith Council for Economics and Justice (ICEJ) for the County of Santa Clara and is a member of the Speakers Bureau for California Interfaith Power and Light (CIPL), an interfaith environmental advocacy group.

Her passions include social service and interfaith work. Bhawana also enjoys the outdoors, gardening, logic puzzles, and learning about cultures and languages. She currently resides in Santa Clara, California with her husband and young daughter.

Kamal Koraitem, Vice President was born in Beirut, Lebanon. After graduating from High School, he moved to the United States in 1985 to pursue higher education, where he received his Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC), in 1989 and 1991 respectively.

Soon after graduation, he got married to Nisrine Debbous where they moved together to Santa Clara. He started his professional career as an Applications Engineer at Actel Corporation. In 1996, he joined Xilinx Inc., the leader of Programmable Logic. Kamal is currently the senior director of the worldwide Technical Support organization at Xilinx.

Kamal’s passion is to work in the services field for non-profit organizations. He served twice on the board of the Muslim Community Association (MCA). Prior to that he established the MCA Youth Committee, where he developed educational programs and sport activities catered to the Muslim youths.

Kamal is a member of the Muslim American Society since 1995. He has served on the MAS Bay Area chapter council numerous times and in several capacities. He is currently the Vice President of the chapter council.

Kamal currently resides in Santa Clara with his wife and four children. Aside from serving the community, his passions include reading, skiing, camping, and hiking.
 

Najeeb Ashraf Kamil, Outreach Director was born in Oakland, California in December of 1977. His parents immigrated to the US for education and a better life. Najeeb was raised in the Bay Area and received a BA in Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Genetics from UC Berkeley. He subsequently worked in a biotech company in Fremont for a few years. Najeeb traveled to Cairo, Egypt with his wife in order to study Arabic and Islamic Studies. He received a graduate diploma in Islamic Studies before coming back to the US. After his return, Najeeb worked for MAS Bay Area as a project coordinator for nearly two years. He then went back to graduate school and obtained a Masters in Social Work from California State University, East Bay and was awarded the Title IV-E grant for those social workers entering child welfare. Najeeb currently works for Shasta County’s child welfare agency.

He is currently the Outreach Director of MAS Bay Area, which is the department that organizes and plans for social service projects in Santa Clara County. He has also been part of the Child Abuse Council’s annual symposium in Santa Clara County for the past 2 years.

Najeeb’s passions include social justice, community organizing, and policy. He also enjoys sports and the outdoors. Najeeb currently resides in the Bay Area with his wife and daughter.

Nihad Mourad, Tarbiyah Director was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1963 and migrated to the United States in 1982. She started her college education at the American University in Cairo and completed it at San Jose State University. Nihad has a Bachelors degree in Computer Science, and two Masters degrees in Math Education and School Leadership. She holds two California credentials as a Math teacher and a school administrator. Nihad also holds a Non-profit Management Certificate.

Nihad worked as a Mathematics and Islamic Studies teacher at Granada Islamic School and Notre Dame High School. She taught students of different grade levels, from first grade and to high school seniors. Since 1994, Nihad has been working at Granada Islamic School as a teacher, and then Vice Principal of Academic Affairs. For the last three years, she has been the Principal of the school.

In the past, Nihad was active in MCA's (Muslim Community Association) Women's Committee conducting weekly English halaqas (study circles) and organizing events for women and children. She participated in MCA youth camps and led a MAS youth usrah (study circle and peer support and development group). Nihad served one term on both the MCA Executive Committee in 1994 and on the MAS Chapter Council in 2003. She is a member of the current MAS Bay Area Chapter Council in charge of the Tarbiyah (Education and Development) Department.

Nihad is married to Tarek Mourad; they have one son, Abdullah, and two daughters, Asmaa and Menna. They all live in Santa Clara, California. Nihad enjoys reading, travelling and spending time with her family. She values community service and is a regular volunteer at the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Farhad Noorzay, Youth Director was born and raised in Marina del Rey, California and is the youngest in a family of four. He attended high school at Venice High School where he played on the basketball and volleyball teams. He was, and definitely still is, a committed Los Angeles Lakers fan while growing up in LA. Also, he had the experience to travel to Austin, Texas and participate in the USA Volleyball Junior Olympics as a high school senior.

In 2004 he graduated from high school and moved to San Diego in order to attend the University of California San Diego. While at UCSD, he was involved with the campus Muslim Student Association (MSA), the local MAS chapter, and the Islamic Center of San Diego. Additionally, he was involved with the San Diego MAS chapter since 2005 and became a regular member in 2007. During his years at UCSD he served as both Vice President and President of the campus MSA. He was also blessed to serve Muslim students on a larger scale as President of MSA-West, a coalition of Muslim Student organizations on the West coast. Farhad is extremely grateful for the opportunity he had to be around many wonderful role models and teachers who helped shape who he is.

Most importantly, while in San Diego he met his future spouse, Rabia Lari, who was a Biology student at UCSD and also involved with the campus MSA and MAS San Diego. With support from his wife, he graduated in 2008 with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Computer Science and in the summer of 2009 they moved to Sunnyvale, CA.

Farhad is currently attending San Jose State University pursuing his Masters in Computer Science while also working as a Software Developer. He served on the executive board for MAS Youth National as Resource Development Officer for a short while before resigning in order to commit more to local MAS work. He recently was appointed as Youth Director for MAS Bay Area.

Toufik Saada, Finance Director was born in Algiers, Algeria in 1972. He received his Bachelors in “Recherche Operationnelle” which is a mix of Mathematics and computer science in 1994 from the University of Houari Boumediene in Algiers. He moved to France to pursue higher education, where he received his Master in the same field from the University of Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, in 1995.

In 1998 he moved to Santa Clara to start his professional career as a Software Engineer at Actel Corporation where he is currently employed. He got married just afterward and has 3 daughters, Tasnim, Maram and Qatrun Nada.

Toufik’s passion is to work in the services field for non-profit organizations. He served on the board of the MSA when he was in France. He has served the MAS Bay Area numerous times and in several capacities. He is currently the Finance Director of the chapter council.

Toufik currently resides in Santa Clara and aside from serving the community; his passions include playing tennis, soccer and hiking.