Amardeep Singh is the co-founder of the Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the United States. He currently serves as its Director of Programs where he oversees the Coalition’s use of litigation, advocacy, community organizing, and strategic communications to advance social justice goals.

Amar has represented dozens of Sikh victims of airport profiling, employment discrimination, and hate crimes since the organization’s inception after 9/11. Along with Department of Homeland Security officials, he helped to formulate guidelines governing the searches of Sikh passengers in U.S. airports. His work also led to the formulation of a regulation protecting 1.1 million New York City public school students from bias-based harassment in schools.

Over the past year, Amar was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He was also named a “Best Lawyer Under 40” this year by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He sits on the Board of Trustees of the Hoboken Public Library.

Rajdeep Singh, Trainer

Rajdeep joined The Sikh Coalition in December 2009. As Director of Law and Policy, he focuses on developing and promoting policy solutions for civil rights issues through an interdisciplinary combination of government affairs, media relations, and interfaith coalition building.

Rajdeep has a background in bank regulation and is the author of The Application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to Appearance Regulations that Presumptively Prohibit Observant Sikh Lawyers from Joining the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps, which was published by the Chapman Law Review in 2007. He received his law degree in 2006 from William & Mary Law School and his undergraduate degree in philosophy in 2003 from the University of Miami (FL).

Saba Ahmed, Speaker

Saba Ahmed is an American businesswoman running her political consulting / lobbying firm, Saba Ahmed LLC. She serves as the President of Pakistan Defense of Human Rights, an organization dedicated to providing relief to families affected by the U.S. war on terror. Saba holds her Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Portland State University and is completing her joint JD-MBA degrees at Lewis & Clark Law School and University of Portland. She previously worked at Intel Corporation for about seven years in various engineering, management and legal positions. She has also worked at Digimarc Corporation, Oregon Supreme Court, Stoel Rives, Oregon Governor Kulongoski and Congressman Earl Blumenauer. She serves on the board for Oregon League of Conservation Voters, Oregon League of Minority Voters, Oregon Muslim Citizens Alliance and various other organizations in the United States. She is an active member of the Washington County Democrats and the Democratic Party of Oregon’s Presidents Council.

Jasmeet Ahuja, Speaker

Jasmeet Kaur Ahuja is a JD candidate at Stanford Law School.  Previously, she served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as the professional staff member responsible for South Asia.  Ms. Ahuja was integral in the drafting of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 and the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act of 2008.  Prior to joining the House, she worked in the Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, as the Director of South Asia.  Ms. Ahuja joined the federal government as a Presidential Management Fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense, where she worked in Programs, Analysis & Evaluation as well as for the Undersecretary of Policy.  Ms. Ahuja holds a BS and MS in engineering from Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with honors.

Shawn Gaylord, Speaker

Shawn Gaylord is the Director of Public Policy for GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and has been with the organization for six years.  GLSEN’s policy work is focused on legislative and policy change at the federal, state and local level to make schools safer for all youth, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.  Shawn has a law degree from Georgetown University and prior to coming to GLSEN, he worked for several years at Amnesty International USA and as an associate at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg and Eisenberg, LLP.

Gene Kim, Speaker

Gene Kim is the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), a group of thirty Members of Congress dedicated to addressing the needs and concerns of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Prior to working with the caucus, Gene served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), as the Director of Communications and Program Development for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), as the Research and Policy Director of the Dan Seals for Congress campaign, and as a Legislative staffer handling education and science policy for Congressman Al Green (D-TX). Gene graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with dual degrees in Rhetoric and Sociology with High Honors.

Michael Lieberman, Speaker

Michael Lieberman has been the Washington Counsel for the Anti-Defamation League since January, 1989 and also serves as Director of the League’s Civil Rights Policy Planning Center.

Before coming to work for ADL in September of 1982, Mr. Lieberman served as Legislative Assistant and Counsel in Washington to former Representative Dan Glickman, who served as the Secretary of Agriculture in the Clinton Administration.  He also worked for former Representative Tony Hall (D-OH).

Mr. Lieberman received his B.A. from the University of Michigan where he majored in Judaic Studies and International Relations.  He received his law degree from Duke University where he served as a member of the Duke Law Journal, and Editor-in-Chief of the Duke International and Comparative Law Institute.

Mr. Lieberman is the League’s point person on Federal response to bias-motivated crimes and chairs the coalition of religious, civil rights, law enforcement, education, and civic organizations in Washington promoting improved federal response to hate violence.  He has testified on hate crime issues before Congress and before a number of state legislative bodies.   He has participated in a number of academic and law enforcement training seminars on hate violence – including training at the FBI Academy at Quantico – and has written on the issue for a number of criminal justice and civil rights publications.  He also writes frequently on religious freedom issues and the importance of church-state separation.

Priya Murthy, Speaker

Priya Murthy is the Policy Director at SAALT. As Policy Director, she monitors and analyzes legislative and administrative policies affecting the South Asian community; conducts advocacy on various policy issues; and develops educational materials for the South Asian community members and organizations. She also represents the organization as a member of immigrant and civil rights coalitions as well as before lawmakers and governmental agencies. She previously worked for various Immigration Courts, the Amnesty International Refugee Office and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in New Delhi. Priya received her J.D. from Tulane University and her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in Peace and Conflict Studies

Eric Treene, Speaker

Eric Treene is Special Counsel for Religious Discrimination for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. In this newly created position, Mr. Treene coordinates the Civil Rights Division’s cases involving religious discrimination in employment, public accommodations, public facilities, education, and housing; the protection of houses of worship from discrimination in zoning law; the religious rights of inmates; and the prosecution of crimes based on religious bias. He also coordinates the Justice Department’s efforts to protect Muslims, Sikhs, Arab-Americans, and Asian-Americans from discrimination and bias crimes resulting from 9/11 and the war on terror.

Prior to joining the Justice Department, Mr. Treene was Litigation Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an interfaith and nonpartisan public interest law firm in Washington, D.C.

He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School, and a former law clerk to Chief Judge John M. Walker, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is the author of a number of articles about the First Amendment.

Stay tuned for additional guest speakers