Mr. Haaris Ahmad, Esq. is an attorney, entrepreneur, and social activist. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Illinois College of Law (Urbana-Champaign), Mr. Ahmad works with the Corporation Counsel for Wayne County where he is Counsel for Economic Development and Real Estate. Haaris is also a social entrepreneur and involved with a variety of startups such as CrowdFeed, NeighborFix, Patronicity, and LaunchGood as well as various healthcare ventures.
Mr. Ahmad is the former Executive Director of CAIR-Michigan and currently its President and Legal Advocacy Chair. Mr. Ahmad formulated and currently supervises the Safe Spaces project; a project that proactively implements legal policies and best practices with a variety of institutions to prevent incidents of bias and discrimination before they occur. He is the former President of the Michigan Muslim Bar Association and co-founder and past President of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM). Mr. Ahmad is also the founder and an executive committee member of the Post 9/11 civil rights fellowship at the Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School.
Involvement at the grassroots community level is important to Haaris, so he also serves as President of MCWS, one of the largest mosques and Muslim community centers in Michigan. As the Treasurer and co-founder of The Whitestone Foundation, he helps manage a foundation dedicated to leveraging the Muslim Community’s resources in a strategic manner through centralized national model programs and services that can be spread at the grassroots level.
Mr. Ahmad has made multiple media appearances in relation to civil rights and Islam and consulted on movies and other productions at all levels and most of the major networks. Mr. Ahmad has testified in front of the US Commission on Civil Rights as well as participated in many meetings with the White House and other political figures to present a Muslim American perspective. He regularly delivers speeches and seminars to a variety of audiences regarding leadership, entrepreneurship, activism, and civil rights in the Muslim American context.
Mr. Ahmad is married to Attorney Shirin Khan and has three beautiful daughters and a son by the grace of God.