Our Team
Dharmesh Patel
Board Member, Branding, Strategy, and Compliance Manager
Dharmesh is a communicator, marketer, writer and videographer/photographer who has previously worked with Yazda, United Nations and ERAMUS Plus. His involvement with Sinjar Academy is serendipitous, and by utilizing his skills, he has found a passion in elevating voices of underrepresented peoples. He holds bachelors degrees in human biology with a concentration in medicine in the third world from the University of Texas and mass communications with a concentration in film production from Sam Houston State University. Dharmesh currently works as creative director at a startup called FreeFuse.
Hazim Avdal
Board Member, Treasurer, Manager of Technology
Hazim is a Yazidi from Sinjar, Iraq. Prior to moving to the U.S. he worked with Yazda assisting with technology and providing aid to survivors of the Yazidi Genocide. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Chicago. Hazim currently works as a Software Engineer focusing on cyber security and data analytics and supports Sinjar Academy in his capacity as secretary and manager of technology.
Kim Polo
Board Member, Vice President
Kim is a photographer, filmmaker, and the owner of Castlemore Productions. She graduated from the University of San Diego with a B.A. in International Relations and traveled abroad to many countries like Spain, Greece, and Mexico. She spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan teaching English, worked in Peru with special needs children, and was a Youth Counselor for after-school programs like Headstart and AmeriCorps. Kim produced the curriculum for the Digital Media course for Sinjar Academy.
Dr. Marwan Omar
Board Member, Director of IT Program
Dr. Marwan is a Yazidi from Sinjar who holds Doctorate degree from Colorado Technical University in the United States and currently holds position of Assistant Professor at Saint Leo University in Florida. Dr. Marwan’s Academic career has consistently focused on applied, industry-relevant cyber security and digital forensics research and education that delivers real-world results. He brings a unique combination of industry experience as well as teaching experience gained from teaching across different cultures and parts of the world. He has an established self-supporting program in cyber security which is evident in the two books that he co-authored. he also has established a respectable research record in cyber security exemplified in the dozens of published papers and book chapters that have gained recognition among cyber security researchers and practitioners (more than 130 Google scholar citations thus far). His 2012 dissertation about Smartphone security was ground-breaking research of high technical complexity. Moreover, he is actively involved in graduate as well as undergraduate cyber security education including curriculum development and assessment, in addition to teaching information security, network security, database security, cloud computing security, penetration testing, and digital forensics classes for graduate as well undergraduate programs in the online as well as the on-ground modality. Finally, Dr. Marwan has been featured on local news talking about cyber security education.
Murad Ismael
Board Member, President
Murad is a Yazidi from Sinjar, he finished his school in Iraqi Kurdistan and holds two masters in Environmental engineering and Geophysics from the Norwich University and University of Houston, respectively. Murad was part of a group of Yazidi delegation to held high-level meetings with representatives at the White House when ISIS carried out a genocidal attack against the Yazidi minority in 2014 and co-founded Sinjar Crisis Management Team. This resulted in the US intervention to authorize airstrikes targeted at ISIS locations and humanitarian airdrops to the thousands of Yazidis that were trapped on Mount Sinjar. Murad has been traveling around the world to create awareness of the Yazidi case. He Co-founded Yazda organization and served as its executive director for four years. Murad also co-founded Nadia Murad`s Initiative with his friends at Yazda in December of 2015 and managed Nadia’s campaign for two years which laid the foundation for her receiving of Nobel Peace Prize.
Nadine Maenza
Board Member, Manager of Advocacy and Relations
Nadine is a noted speaker, writer, and policy expert with more than two decades of experience as an advocate for working families and a champion for international religious freedom. Nadine is the President of Patriot Voices, where she provides her expertise to shape the organization’s special emphasis on public policies that support working families. Drawing on her extensive network and coalition-building experiences, she has helped build unique coalitions on issues such as paid family leave, health care, tax reform, and international religious freedom. In May of 2020, she was re-appointed by the White House to a second two-year term on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, serving as its Vice Chair in 2019. She has represented USCIRF in delegations to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Uzbekistan. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Global Engagement as well as Freedom Research Foundation. Nadine has advised several major organizations on faith engagement, policy development, and strategic partnerships through The Clapham Group including The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The College Board, and The Anne E. Casey Foundation. She has served as a senior advisor to presidential and Senate campaigns. She has decades of experience in fundraising and coalition building, having worked with presidential and Senate super PACs, served as the finance director for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, and as a consultant to the Republican National Committee. She worked on Capitol Hill in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. She is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University. She is married with three children from Philadelphia.
Shahla Alhamy
Board Member, Secretary
Shahla is a Yazidi from Sinjar, Iraq. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Management Information Systems from National Louis University. She currently works at Cintronics as a Computer Technician Lead/Failure Analyst. Shahla aspires to aid the Yazidi community and is eager to assist Yazidi women in joining the IT field.
Veronica Harford
Board Member, Director of English Department
Veronica is a humanitarian activist from the United Kingdom, and currently retired. Her working career has included Orphanage Manager in post-war Bangladesh, Primary School Teaching, Executive Director of both a Theatre company (whose focus was re-living cultural traditions), and a Non-Profit (providing computers to Primary School children who lacked this technology) and, finally, taking responsibility for outreach and marketing at a Technology Company. Her volunteer experiences have included acting as a Child Advocate (CASA) in the Texas Court system and volunteering as a Fire Fighter.
Zeyad Ayoob Sulaiman
Board Member
Zeyad has born and raised in Sinjar District, Iraq. During the last few years, he has voluntarily worked with different NGOs to support the local displaced people in Sinjar and Nineveh Plain. Zeyad holds M.Sc and Ph.D degree from University of Mosul/ Iraq and University of South Carolina/ Columbia/ USA respectively with over 12 years of experience in the fields of teaching, consulting and scientific research in the both universities. As a former director of undergraduate students at the department of dams and water resources engineering and capacity building program member with UNIDO and USAID and other NGOs, he has managed many international workshops, training courses and partnership programs between University of Mosul and other international universities.