EXECUTIVE AND ADVISORY BOARD
BERT TAKEN
Chair Of The Board (COB)
Bert Taken is a philosopher who lectures at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, an international university of sciences for Fine Arts and Design, and at the Academy of Architecture, both in Amsterdam. He has visited Iran three times, twice for study with students and professors of the Rietveld Academy. The travel resulted in a book of images and essays done by the group entitled Heartbeat Iran.
KAMRAN HASHEMI
Member of the Management Board
With over 30 years of experience in risk management in international banking and a long history of involvement in charitable organizations related to Iran and the Iranian community. Kamran was founding member and member of the Management Board of Iranian Community Centre (ICC) established in 1983 to provide legal advisory service to the growing population of asylum seekers in London, worked with charities devoted to education and technology in Iranian schools, and is a founding member of United4Iran-London.
STEVEN LOYST
Member of the Management Board
Steven Loyst is a specialist in leading international humanitarian responses and organizational transition in conflict, post-conflict and development contexts. He is currently the Head of Operations for North Africa with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies based in Tunis, Tunisia and serves as a Guest Lecturer at the American University in Kosovo. Building on a background in civil-military cooperation, Steven has provided consultancy services to non-governmental organizations, donors and directed the country offices and interventions of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kosovo, Pakistan, Indonesia, Madagascar, Niger, Haiti, Russia, Guinea, Serbia and Rwanda. He lived in Iran for three years, from 2004 to 2007, where work with United Nations and interaction among private citizens, civil society activists, journalists, government and diplomatic representatives reaffirmed a profound interest in the country that continues to the present day. Steven holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Guelph in Canada. His research interests include the technical-political dynamic of humanitarian action, globalization and the environment as well as the evolving architecture of the humanitarian system. He has conducted lectures at the University of Luxembourg, University of Groningen and the United Nations Association at Utrecht in The Netherlands. He is a frequent spokesperson and commentator on humanitarian affairs including the recent civil unrest in North Africa and the Middle East for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC World, Radio Canada, Vatican Radio and the Washington Post.
TAHIRIH DANESH
Advisiory Board
Tahirih T Danesh (PhD in law) focuses on increasing enjoyment of socioeconomic rights and development in private and third sector entities and is particularly passionate about young marginalised and minority communities. She is a civic entrepreneur, an advocate of the United Nations Global Compact Principles, and a member of the 30% Club. Tahirih serves as the Executive Director of a niche educational foundation for students of Iranian descent in the west, the Chief Executive Officer of the foremost South African Foundation in the UK, and an advisor to a number of charities and start- ups.
PARAND MEYSAMI
Advisiory Board
Parand Meysami (B.Sc.(Hons), MSc, LLB, Peng) works as an administrative judge at multiple tribunals, and has been a community organizer for two decades. She concurrently works or volunteers with multiple governance bodies of professional and regulatory organizations of various industries and professions in Canada. She has extensive involvement with the Canadian Council of Administrative Justice (CCAT), and serves the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) as a public member. Ms. Meysami is appointed to the Discipline Committee of the Board of Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), and the Hearing Office of the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB). Ms. Meysami has a passion for development of civil societies and community development and has devoted much of her free time to community projects and creating grassroots community organizations with the goal of achieving a positive social change.
PAST BOARD MEMBERS
HAJO FUNKE
Chair on Politics and Culture at the Otto-Suhr-Institute of Free University Berlin (since 1993). Main Research: - Authoritarianism and Democracy - Right wing Extremism - Studies on Mideast - Studies on Political Culture of Post-Holocaust-Germany Funke reconstructed and analyzed the ideology of the right-wing oriented German political party the `Republicans', particularly in reference to its hatred of foreigners, its anti-Semitism, and its ultra-nationalism. He also analyzed the ideas and roots of ethnocentricity within German nationalism. Funke has written widely on the neo-Nazi networks and the effect on them of radical revisionism and social prejudices, especially anti-Semitism and a hatred of foreigners. Funke gained his Ph. D. on the political sociology of work-conditions [summa cum laude].
SCOTT LUCAS
Professor of American Studies at the University of Birmingham since 1989. Lucas is a specialist in US and British foreign policy and has written and edited seven books, more than 30 major articles, and a radio documentary and co-directed the 2007 film Laban!. Formerly a journalist in the United States, Scott has written for newspapers including The Guardian and The Independent and was an essayist for The New Statesman. He appears regularly on British, American, and international radio and television as a specialist on current affairs, politics, and history. His blog began life as Watching America at Libertas: The Centre For US Foreign Policy. A native of Alabama in the United States, Scott is assisted by his wife and two children, one of whom has his own political blog, and is plagued by his loyalty to Leeds United Football Club. He is also a proud member of Red Sox Nation.
FRED ANDON PETROSSIANS
Iranian journalist, researcher and blogger. He is the online editor in chief of Radio Farda, Iran editor of Harvard Global Voices, and co-founder of the award wining March 18 Movement to protect bloggers. He has commented frequently on Iranian media and civil society in international media and delivered speeches on this topic in media and academic centers such as Yale University. He has also contributed to various digital projects such as Digiactive. Petrossians has MA in European Politics, Cultures and Organizations.
CO-FOUNDERS
KAMRAN ASHTARY
Executive Director
Artist, human rights defender, and researcher. He is director of the Netherlands-based civil society organization, Arseh Sevom and a founding member of United4Iran and their European coordinator for 2009-2010. After leaving Iran in the early 1980s, Kamran studied in New York and Amsterdam. In 2003, Kamran returned to Iran for four years, where he managed his own design and communication company. Kamran worked as director of communication and development at Radio Zamaneh. He is frequently interviewed in the press about Iran and has given lectures on media in closed societies in Budapest, Athens, Berlin, New York, and Amsterdam. For the last four years he has also been an invited speaker for Amnesty International’s Movies that Matter festival. Since 2010, Kamran has spoken on human rights in secondary schools in the Netherlands as part of an Amnesty International effort. Kamran is the designer and editor of the 2010 book, Hope, Votes & Bullets, a co-author of the blog View from Iran (viewfromiran.blogspot.com), and the book Iran: View from Here. His photographs of Iran were recently published in the book, Iran Ist Anders, published in Switzerland.
Sohrab Razaghi
PhD in Political Science from Tehran University. Razaghi is a human rights defender who worked in the administration of the former president of Iran Mohammad Khatami to encourage the development of civil society. Razaghi was a professor until he was fired in the first wave of academic expulsions following the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Since then, despite many invitations from student groups, he has been forbidden from stepping foot in any University in Iran. Razaghi was Executive Director of the non-profit Iran Civil Society Organization Training and Research Center (ICTRC), known as Koneshgaran Davtalab within Iran, which had a particular focus on the rights of women and youth. In 2007, intelligence officers arrested Razaghi without a warrant. After his arrest, the organization was forced to shut its doors, its accounts were frozen, and staff were harassed. Razaghi is widely published and was editor-in-chief of several online and print publications.
TORI EGHERMAN
Is a writer and communications consultant who has helped a number of organizations improve their communications and better understand their target audience. She has written about issues related to Iran for a number of publications including Prospect, The Guardian, Global Voices, and re-construction. Tori is co-author of the book Iran: View from Here and co-editor of Hope, Votes & Bullets.