Our Team

MEET OUR EXECUTIVES

Ali Khan

Director of Growth

Naiel Iqbal

President

Vacant

Director of Member Engagement

Zara Merchant

Director of Corporate Partnerships

Saima Akhter

Director of Community Partnerships

Ismail Ali

Director of Programming and Local Engagement

Vacant

Director of Corporate Partnership

Vacant

Director of Local Engagement

Vacant

Director of DEI

MEET OUR CONSULTANTS

Carmille Lim

Senior Consultant

Ayesha Kalsoom

Community Engagement & Marketing Consultant

Ahmad Razi

City Committee President

Rayshad Talukder

City Committee President

Coming Soon

Farrukh Saleem

City Committee President

Samone Khalil

Marketing director

Yousuf Kadir

Vice President

Ilham Hussaini

Committee Director

Ashraf Ali

Committee Director

Sarah Khan

Committee Director

Waleed Gabr

Committee Member

Intisaar Haq

Committee Member

Laraib Ilyas

Committee Member

Moiz Siddiqi

Committee Member

Hani Almadhoun

Development Advisor

Tamkeen Rasool

Committee Member

Ushna Nasir

Committee Member

Sami Ahmad

City Committee President

Imah Aslam

Committee Member

Syed Qureshi

City Committee President

Farhan Mohammad

City Committee President

Wajid Mansuri

Committee member

Noor Karim

Committee member

Emad Piracha

Committee member

Syed Abidi

Committee member

Saadia Iqbal

Committee Member

Mahnoor Amir

Committee member

Coming Soon

Zain Khan

Committee Member

Adeel Pervez

Committee Member

Summaiya Shaikh

Committee Member

Khoolood Khan

City Committee President

Ali Alhadithi

Committee Member

Kiran Ali

City Committee Vice President

Asim Hussain

Committee Member

Ali Khan

Director of Growth

Ali Khan currently works as a Sr.Program Manager at Microsoft and is working within Azure Customer Experience.

Ali joined Muppies in 2016 as the Co-President of the Seattle Committee and considers it an honor to be part of a community of Muslim leaders, innovators and professionals. Ali is very passionate about promoting the Muppies vision and mission by serving the members and stakeholders, and also expanding the Muppies community, nationally and globally.

Education
BE, Mechanical Engineering, Stony Brook University, MBA

Naiel Iqbal

President

Naiel is an investment professional at Tiger Global Management, a New York based investment firm. He was previously an Analyst at Caxton Associates, a macro hedge fund. Prior to this, he worked as a Portfolio Manager in Proprietary Trading at J.P. Morgan in New York. He started his career in the Special Situations group at Deutsche Bank.

He has been involved with Muppies since its inception. He serves on the Board of Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy and educational organization that works on the front-lines of civil rights to guarantee freedom and justice for Americans of all faiths. He also serves on the board of Penny Appeal USA, an organization committed to breaking the cycles of need and poverty for good. Finally, he is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Education
BS, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Zara Merchant

Zara Merchant Director of Corporate Partnerships

Zara Merchant is an Australian lawyer and has spent the last 7 years working for leading global investment banks including Wall Street in Risk Management, Compliance. She moved to New York in 2018 and also served the Muppies NY Board for 2 years. She is currently a Manager at Macquarie Group. Zara’s passion lies in creating and supporting a platform for Muslim professionals, providing them an avenue for networking, ideas and thought leadership.

Education
Bachelors of Commerce (major in finance)/Bachelor of Laws at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia)

Saima Akhter

Director of Community Partnerships

Saima is a data analyst at Facebook where she combines her data skills with her passion for community building. Previously, she has worked for Shutterstock, Intuit, and United Airlines in data analytics across a variety of areas including cybersecurity, marketing, and operations.

Saima is passionate about community building and community service. Before her recent move to NYC, she was serving on the board of her mosque and the board of Interfaith Community Services in San Diego. She co-leads the NYC chapter of Muslim Women in Tech and continues to be an active volunteer with several community organizations. She loves traveling (35 countries and counting), exploring the city, and bringing people together.

Education
BS, North Carolina University; MS North Carolina State University, Institute For Advanced Analytics

Ismail Ali

Director of Programming and Local Engagement

Ismail Ali is a product manager in the payments industry. Before this, he worked in analytics and project management in healthcare technology. Outside of work, Ismail enjoys rowing, vegetarian cooking, and sharing Midwest trivia while giving friends tours of Chicago.

Education
BS Economics, University of Michigan

Carmille Lim

Senior Consultant

Carmille Lim is a managing director and communications professional in the social impact space. Based in California, she most recently served as the Vice President / Managing Director of Pacific Council on International Policy– the West Coast’s largest international affairs membership organization– where she oversaw the organization’s thought leadership departments and built up its Public Diplomacy programs. Before this, Carmille served as Executive Director of Common Cause Hawaii, overseeing the state chapter’s lobbying, fundraising, and community outreach activities, and leading advocacy efforts to pass Election Day Registration and Vote-by-Mail in Hawaii.

Carmille offers management and communication services to nonprofits and mission-driven businesses through Brooks Pacific Consulting. She previously called Honolulu and Seattle home.

Education
Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan

Ayesha Kalsoom

Marketing Consultant

Ayesha is a Marketing Strategist enabling brands to enhance their value. Experienced in establishing firms through brand awareness, community building, and implementing digital marketing strategies. Capable of evaluating the needs of consumer market, providing valuable content, and drive prospects to conversions. Ayesha also has experience in business management and helps organization accomplishing goals by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests and exploring opportunities to add value to the organization.

Education
Bachelors of Computer Science