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CONFERENCE PANELISTS / BIOS
Mukhtaran Mai
Mukhtaran (Mukhtiar) Bibi is a Pakistani woman from the village of Meerwala, Punjab. The world knows Mukhtaran Mai for her courage in speaking out about the grotesque gang rape she suffered at the hands of a tribal jirga. She became an icon of the bravery and courage of Pakistani women as she relentlessly pursued her case for justice in the Pakistan court system. A lower court convicted her rapists, the convictions were reversed by a High Court, finally the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled in her favor. During the court process the government was initially and eventually a strong supporter of her case but at one stage President Musharraf was upset by the negative international media attention it was drawing. He stated that her plight was being exploited by “westernized fringe elements” to “bad-mouth Pakistan” and the government restricted her international travel. This earned only more negative publicity and the travel restrictions were lifted. She received a court settlement which she used to build the first girls school in her village and a boys school. She has since received many awards for her courage and work including the Fatima Jinnah gold medal for bravery and courage awarded by the Government of Pakistan, Woman of the Year award by Glamour magazine, and others. She has funded a shelter for abused women and purchase of an ambulance for her village. She continues to speak out against rape and abuse of women and in support of education and other social services for them.
Shahla Haeri, Director of Women's Studies Program, Boston University
Author:“No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional Pakistani Women”
Shahla Haeri is the director of Women's Studies Program and an Assistant Professor of cultural Anthropology at Boston University. She has conducted research in Iran, Pakistan, and India, and has written extensively on religion, law and gender dynamics in the Muslim world. She is the author of Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage, Mut’a, in Iran (1989, 1993), and of No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional Pakistani Women (Syracuse University Press in the US, and Oxford University Press in Pakistan, 2002). She was involved in the University of Chicago’s multi-year program on global fundamentalism, Fundamentalism Project, which was funded by a John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur grant, and she contributed an article to the second volume: “Obedience versus Autonomy: Women & Fundamentalism in Iran & Pakistan” (1993). She has been awarded several postdoctoral fellowships, including one at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University (1985-86), Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, Brown University (1986-87), Social Science Research Council (1987-88), St. Anthony's College, Oxford University (1996), and a Fulbright (1999-2000, 2002-2003).
Dr. Haeri has also made a short video documentary (46 min.) titled Mrs. President: Women and Political Leadership in Iran, which focusses on six women presidential contenders in Iran in 2001. This documentary is distributed in the United States and Canada by the Films for the Humanities and Sciences (www.films.com, 2002).
Faryal Khan, UNESCO
After earning two masters degrees, Faryal Khan joined The World Bank, Washington, D.C., as a Consultant in the Advisory Group, Technical Department, LAC region (1994-95). Her research focused on institutional analysis and capacity building of the education system to enable inclusion. In May 1995, she was recruited to UNESCO Basic Education Division, Paris under the aegis of the Young Professional Program.
Currently, at UNESCO, she coordinates the Programme on Educational Governance at Local Levels, a program she created and implements, with international partners, as follow-up to the World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, 2000). She provides technical advice in Education Policy, drawing on emerging research on Education for All, Millennium Development Goals and the World Banks' Fast Track Initiative. She has worked in 15 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In 2002, she worked as technical advisor to the Minister of Education, Pakistan on educational decentralization reforms.
While working, Faryal Khan completed her doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy with a concentration in International Education from Harvard University's School of Education in 2005. Her thesis is a case study of school councils in Sargodha District, Punjab, Pakistan. The doctoral program honed her skills in management in international agencies, educational policy analysis, program design, implementation and evaluation.
Her research interests include educational decentralization reform and social and gender equality in community participation in educational decision-making. She is affiliated with various professional societies and has published on these issues in developing countries. An upcoming publication is: "Who participates in school councils in terms of socio-economic status and gender", Prospects, vol. XXXV, No. 1, March 2006. IBE: Geneva.
Safia Haleem, BBC Pashto Service, Author, journalist covering women’s issues in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Born into a traditional Pushtoon family, Safia Haleem began her career in Radio Broadcasting after arriving in Scotland to obtain her Post Graduate training in Linguistics and Language Teaching. She began her Radio Career by adapting folk tales from other countries for Pashto speakers, and soon realised the power of as a medium for her own society. Consequently, she introduced new programmes with more thought and imagination. She started a weekly programme for Women and later extended it to a number of special series of programmes. Her series on girls' rights was a part of the BBC World Service Education programmes in 1995.
Her first publication in Pashto was the adaptation of the "Seven Voyages of Sindbad" for children. Safia produced a number of radio programmes on the BBC. In her career as a BBC Journalist, she has travelled in Afghanistan and Pakistan, several Arab countries, as well as across Europe and North America. Her work in Pashto has been published in the Afghan magazines, and she has written many stories about the women in Pushtoon society in English.
Ambereen Mirza
Ambereen Mirza is a management consultant and strategic advisor to entrepreneurs with operations in North America, Asia, and the Middle East. She has coordinated findings for business plans, marketing initiatives, and development of fundraising agendas for executives in the hi-tech, real estate, and financial services industries. Her current project includes the analysis of market conditions for investors of multifamily real estate in Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Georgia.
Outside of work, Ambereen is involved with several nonprofits in the area, including the Indus Women Leaders, a professional networking group for South Asian women. She was also the Session Chair for " Borderless Entrepreneurship: Leveraging the International Value Chain," a forum that served to explore international strategies for start-ups, defined business process at the annual TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Conference entitled "Spring to Innovation."
Justice (retd) Fakhrunissa Khokher
Khoker(Retd) became the first woman lawyer in Multan Bar in 1967. She won the Punjab Bar Council elections in 1973, 1986 and 2005 and ultimately became the
first woman president of the Lahore High court Bar Association. In 1976 she founded a self-financed WROP (Women Rights Organization Pakistan) that provided free legal and financial assistance to the destitute women of southern Punjab. She
became the first women High Court judge in 1994. During the 10 years in judiciary, she worked towards improving the living conditions of women prisoners. More
than 250 of her judgments were reported in the law journals. Most of the judgments were about defining and protecting women’s rights in the view of
Islam and Sharia. After retirement in 2004, she compiled and published some of her law defining judgments about women rights in the form of a book “MY JUDGEMENTS.” At present working towards forming the Women Bar Association of
Pakistan to encourage and promote law profession among women in Pakistan.
Beena Sarwar, The News Int’l, journalist, artist, filmmaker
Dr. Nuzhat Ahmad, physician/activis, Co-founder: Ibtida & Chowrangi
Nuzhat A. Ahmad is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia . Born in Peshawar , raised all over Pakistan, and working in Philadelphia, Nuzhat considers her self multi-rooted. Nuzhat is a graduate of DOW Medical College , Karachi. She received her medical training at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , where she is currently on faculty. Besides her full time academic career in medicine, Nuzhat is one of the founders of ibtida, a US-based non-profit organization that provides quality education to underprivileged children in rural areas of Pakistan. Through ibtida, Nuzhat has been involved in conceptualizing and executing various education projects in rural areas of Pakistan. Nuzhat is also one of the founders of Chowrangi, a magazine that investigates the intersection of the Pakistani-American community with both the United States and Pakistan in matters social, political, cultural, and spiritual.
Hasan Usmani
Hasan Usmani is President of Axim Systems Inc., a US software company
whose operations include a software development center in Lahore,
Pakistan. Hasan’s professional career has spanned 30 years in the US high
tech industry in marketing and product management positions at
Hewlett-Packard, GTE, Tandem Computers/Ungermann-Bass. He has been a
pioneer in “off-shoring” over the last 13 years. He also worked in NYC
Mayor’s Office OMB and was a visiting professor at LUMS. He is heavily
involved in development activities related to Pakistan and in community
activism locally. He has helped organize Pak-Millennium Conferences for a
number of years, worked on Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
events, served as a member of the Kerry for President MA Steering
Committee, and on South Asia earthquake relief initiatives. He studied
development studies, public policy and business administration at
University of California Berkeley, Harvard University Kennedy School of
Government, and Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Dr. Shehla Javed Akram, President, Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. CEO, Don Valley Pharmaceuticals.
President, CEO Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry. She is a doctor who has been an entrepreneur (together with her husband, Javed Akram, also a doctor, both graduates of King Edward Medical College) in the medical and pharmaceutical
field. She is a CEO of Don Valley Pharmaceuticals and actively involved with the management of Akram Medical Complex, Lahore; Park View (Pvt.) Limited, Lahore; Heart Care (Pvt.) Limited,Lahore; Akram Industries, Lahore; Kohat Cement Limited, Kohat.
Surayya Jabeen
Dr. Adil Najam, Associate Professor of International Negotiation and Diplomacy, Tuft University.
Professor Adil Najam teaches international negotiation and diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA. His research and teaching focuses on issues related to conflict resolution and international negotiations, global governance, human security, trade and development, South Asia, and the politics of the Muslim world. He has published widely, written nearly 100 scholarly papers and book chapters. His recent books include: Civic Entrepreneurship (2002, with Tariq Banuri), Development and Human Security: Perspectives from South Asia (2003), and Portrait of a Giving Community: Philanthropy by Pakistani-Americans (2006). Prof. Najam holds two Masters and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Specialization in Negotiation from the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School, and an engineering degree from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Pakistan. He is a past winner of MIT’s Goodwin Medal for Effective Teaching, the Fletcher School Paddock Teaching Award, and the Stein Rokan Award of the International Political Science Association, the ARNOVA Emerging Scholar Award, and the Pakistan Television Medal for Outstanding Achievement.
Dr. Fareena Sultan, Associate Professor of Marketing at the College of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Boston.
Dr. Fareena Sultan is an Prof. Sultan obtained her Doctoral degree in Marketing from Columbia University. She has a Masters degree in Operations Research from MIT and a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics from Karachi University. Prior to joining Northeastern, Dr. Sultan was an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School and a Visiting Associate Professor at UC Berkeley. She has been a Visiting Scholar at MIT and at Columbia.
Prof. Sultan research interests are in Marketing Innovations. Current projects include those on Global E-Business, Mobile Marketing and the Use of IT in New Product Development. Prof. Sultan has published numerous articles in prestigious academic publications such as the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Retailing and Journal of Business Research. She has written cases on companies such as IBM , Zenith, Adidas, PSO and Naseeb Networks. Currently she is a member of an E-Business research team at MIT.
Dr. Sultan has done research, consulting and executive education in the U.S., Japan, Argentina and Pakistan, working with companies such as Adidas, British Telecom, Intel, General Motors, IBM , Mitsubishi, SONY and Texas Instruments. She has presented her research in numerous academic and industry conferences in the U.S, Europe, Asia and Australia . Dr. Sultan has won several awards during her career. She received a Teaching Excellence Award at UC Berkeley and for her research Dr. Sultan received the prestigious O'Dell award from the American Marketing Association.
Ambreen Butt, miniature artist, focusing on women in the East and West
Ambreen Butt was born Lahore, Pakistan where she studied traditional Indian miniature painting before moving to the Boston area over ten years ago. Her drawings and paintings are a unique hybrid, representing her traditional background and her responses to contemporary culture. In a very personal sense, her multi-layered paintings depict her experiences as an Islamic woman living in the western world. While revealing a tension between the old and the new, her work remains respectful of the ancient tradition of miniature painting. The winner of numerous awards and fellowships, she has exhibited her work in the USA and abroad and has been invited to be artist-in-residence in many locations around the United States, Her work appears in private collections in Pakistan, USA, and Europe.
Saira Nazir, Publisher Woman International Magazine
Niveen Sayeed, Architecture for Humanity
Niveen Sayeed is currently working as an architect in the Boston area at the firm of FD Adams + Associates, and is also on the board of a non-profit organization called Architecture for Humanity, that seeks to provide design solutions to social problems and also in response to global and regional disasters. She has a bachelor of architecture from the university of Southern California in Los angeles and a minor in digital art and media.
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