ING Welcomes Maha Elgenaidi as CEO and Chair of Board of Trustees

ING is pleased to welcome back as its leader Maha Elgenaidi, the founder of ING. As many of you know, Maha left the Executive Director position in 2012 to pursue graduate studies in religion at Stanford University. She graduated in June and we are very pleased that she accepted our offer to return to the organization as CEO and Chair of the Board of Trustees. This change will be effective September 1, 2014.

Modest Beginnings:

Since the organization’s founding in 1993, when there were few Muslim nonprofit organizations outside of mosques, and certainly none that were nationally founded and run by Muslim women, Maha forged ahead with her personal savings to start the organization with the same mission that it has today – teaching Americans about Islam and developing relationships with our neighbors. This effort was born out of her personal interaction with Islam, which at the time went no further than media images of the religion and limited exposure to the organized Muslim American community.

Today:

Today the organization that was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area has grown to include nearly two dozen states across the country through affiliates that rely on ING content and tools for their work. Like ING, the affiliates focus on countering prejudice and discrimination against American Muslims by teaching about Muslim traditions and contributions in the context of America’s history and cultural diversity, while building relations between American Muslims and other groups. Our latest Community Impact Report speaks to the wide reach of all ING programs.

BBB Accreditation:

Meanwhile, ING itself has grown ever stronger, repeatedly winning Better Business Bureau accreditation since 2008, an accomplishment that reflects the organization’s accountability to its donors that ING achieved under Maha’s stewardship. Look at the 20 standards ING was required to pass for BBB Accreditation.

Looking Ahead:

Now we are eagerly looking forward to the next stage of the organization’s growth and development under Maha’s leadership. She will oversee the growth of our endowment, which we started last year to create a strong financial foundation for ING and all its affiliates, the majority of which were also founded and run by professional Muslim women. Among its many goals, the endowment is particularly committed to supporting and growing the capacity of Muslim female leadership. Other new directions at ING include the expansion of the INGYouth program that we launched last week, online dissemination of content, and greater interfaith engagement, in which we have a particular interest in order to stem the tide of hatred against Muslims. According to recent polls that hatred and mistrust appears to be growing. ING’s work is even more important today than when it was founded nearly 22 years ago.

Please join me in welcoming Maha back to the organization as its leader. Look for her email in the next few days where she will introduce new team members and reintroduce existing ones that will join her in this next stage of growth at ING. Thank you for your continued support.

Randy Pond,
Chairman, ING Board of Trustees