Jess Ghannam, President
Jess Ghannam is a clinical professor and the Chief of Medical Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco. He also practices at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. Ghannam earned his Master’s and Doctorate in Psychology at UC-Berkeley in 1981 and 1984, respectively, and a Masters in Medical Sciences at UC-Berkeley in 1983.
Ghannam is the former president of the San Francisco chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, as well as a member of the international executive committee of Al-Awda, the Right to Return Coalition. Ghannam was also associate producer of the documentary Until when…, which examines the plight of Palestinian refugees. He is currently President of the Arab Cultural and Community Center in San Francisco and Co-Hosts a weekly radio show called “Arab Talk” on KPOO.
Bassam Totah, Treasurer
Board Treasurer Bassam Totah has been involved in a variety of human and civil rights issues for the past 25 years, on the local, national and international levels. He has served on many boards and committees that have addressed fostering pluralism and egalitarianism, including the Mayor’s Taskforce to write a human rights code for San Francisco. He has been a prosecutor with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for the last 14 years. He is currently in charge of prosecuting felony Hate Crimes for San Francisco.
Jean-Paul Samaha
Board Member Jean-Paul Samaha specializes in the sale of residential property with Vanguard Properties in San Francisco. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, he came to the United States with his family in 1976 during the Lebanon civil war. He holds a Masters Degree in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute, and was a Fellow with the Coro Foundation. His public sector background includes policy positions in San Francisco government agencies such as the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Department, and volunteer positions with political organizations such as the Arab American Democratic Club, where he served as President, and on the Boards of community-based non-profit organizations, including the LGBT Community Center.
Emily Katz Kishawi
Board Member Emily Katz Kishawi has enjoyed fifteen years of senior non-profit management and volunteer activism in women’s rights and anti-hunger organizations. For the last year, Emily has provided communications and organizational development consulting to philanthropy, activist and grass-roots cultural organizations.
Prior to consulting, Emily headed communications for an international network of women’s foundations, the Women’s Funding Network. In her six years there, Emily thrived in an atmosphere of renewal and growth where she re-created the look, tone and content of all communications materials, re-built the organization’s membership department with a resultant fifty percent increase in membership, directly supported the organizational development of over a hundred member organizations, provided numerous trainings, presented regularly at philanthropy conferences and developed a year-long campaign on the World Wide Web that raised the voices of thousands of activists each month to such victories as asylum rights for sexually trafficked women, and a policy turn-around by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to support women’s rights in the Iraqi constitution.
Hassan Sassi
Board Member Hassan Sassi is a Senior Structural and Earthquake Engineer with URS Corporation in Los Angeles with 41 years of experience in structural dynamics, structural mechanics and earthquake engineering. He also is a member of the civil engineering faculty of Cal Poly Pomona and a retired professor of engineering of the University of Southern California.
Sassi’s love of music-dance and film mixed with his love of engineering and architecture has led him to become a board member of the Kan Zaman Community Ensample, where he served as the public relations director for 6 years and is a co-founder of the friends of MESTO music orchestra; his love of film led him to join the advisory board of the newly found Arab Film Festival (AFF) in Los Angeles, where he was instrumental in bringing the Arab film to the movie capitol of the world, Hollywood. He also is a promoter of a documentary film that one 8 golden awards, Occupation 101, directed by 2 Libyan-American brothers. He also contributed slides and music to the making of The Last Jews of Libya, a documentary about the history of Libyan Jews living in the Diaspora directed by Vivienne Roumani. Dr. Sassi has been recently approached to serve on the board of directors of the AFF.
Camille Alick
Board Member Camille Alick is Project Manager for MOST (Muslims On Screen and Television), a nonprofit organization that provides complimentary research, data, and expert consultations to Hollywood TV and film writers and producers for any of their characters or storylines pertaining to Muslims and Islam. Previously, Camille worked with the Writers Guild of America, West, where she planned events and coordinated activities within the Organizing Department, including Independent Film, Animation, Videogames, Reality and Public Policy. She also consulted with WGA’s Diversity Department on issues relating to the Middle East, Muslims and Islam. Camille currently serves as President of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – Los Angeles and is on the marketing committee for Reading to Kids. Camille is a graduate of Purdue University.
Jumana Muwafi
Born in Beirut to Palestinian parents, Jumana moved to the US after completing her BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering at the American University of Beirut. She received her Master in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and has held several positions at high-tech companies in the US. A senior manager at Synopsys, Inc, Jumana has extensive experience in managing cross-functional global teams in the US, Asia and Europe and leads product strategic planning and execution. Jumana was a founding member of the Arab Film Festival and directed the festival in its first year. She has also co-hosted a monthly Arabic music radio program for 3 years, broadcasting throughout the Bay Area. Jumana has been involved in a variety of cultural and political activities in the Bay Area, some of which involved media interviews and events surrounding Dheisheh Palestinian refugees for promoting their messages to a broader audience in the US. She also spent time working as a volunteer in refugee camps in Lebanon and Palestine coordinating children’s summer activities. Jumana currently resides in San Francisco, California.
Zeena Fakoury
Zeena Fakoury is a Sales Director with Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito. Born in the Bay Area, Zeena is the daughter of Lebanese emigrants who came to US in the 1950’s and 60’s. Zeena received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UC Davis in 1996 and was recognized as an Outstanding Graduating Senior Woman. After working for Swiss-based executive search firm in Montreal for two years, Zeena returned to the US and pursued a career in hotel management. Zeena spent 10 years with Hyatt Hotel Corporation and Marriott Hotels before being recruited to help open a new independently-owned hotel in Sausalito. She was the Vice President of the San Francisco chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and helped organize the group’s first large fundraising event. Zeena resides in San Francisco, California.

