Joshua DuBois
Joshua DuBois with President Obama
Photograph by Mike Theiler/epa/Corbis
Joshua DuBois, the head of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, became an ordained Pentecostal pastor while still an undergraduate. He assumed his current office in February 2009 at the age of 26.
DuBois works at the intersection of faith and public policy in Washington. Recognizing that people of faith respond actively to the country's and the world's problems -- from soup kitchens to climate change -- he opens the doors for faith voices in the nation's public policy processes. He and his office coordinate face-to-face meetings between representatives of a wide range of faith-based organizations and officials and policy-makers throughout the government, to hear the experience and aspirations of the faith groups, and to convey information about the administration's plans and programs.
Having worked as the director of religious affairs in Obama's presidential campaign, DuBois is no stranger to organizing people and communities to affect change. He holds a degree in political science from Boston University and a master's in public affairs from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He will speak at FCNL's Annual Meeting on Thursday, November 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Sayyid M. Syeed
Sayyid M. Syeed is the National Director for the Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which has a new office on Capitol Hill. He served from 1994-2006 as Secretary General of the Plainfield, Indiana-based national umbrella organization which has more than 300 affiliates all over the U.S. and Canada.
As president of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) of USA & Canada (1980-1983), Sayyid Syeed pioneered its transformation into the modern day Islamic Society of North America. From 1984-1988 he was Secretary General of the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations (IIFSO), in which capacity he traveled widely through the former Soviet Union, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. He has been General Secretary of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), a national professional organization founded in 1972.
Sayyid Syeed is also one of the founders of the quarterly American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (AJISS), and has served as its Editor and Editor-in-Chief (1984-1994). During his tenure, AJISS grew to be simultaneously published from Washington, DC; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Islamabad, Pakistan; and from Istanbul, Turkey. Today AJISS has acquired a respectable niche in academia and is quoted with recognition in professional and scholarly research. It is recognized globally as the foremost journal in its field.
Sayyid Syeed has been involved in fostering understanding among world religions and has participated in interfaith dialogues at all different levels in the U.S. and Canada. A frequent speaker at interfaith dialogues, he has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. In his new position in Washington, DC, he heads the ISNA Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances. He will speak at FCNL's Annual Meeting on Friday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m.
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