The new CIOGC Board, which took office on January 1, have transitioned smoothly and continued to build on the momentum of the previous CIOGC board led by former Chair and current Ex-Officio Board Member Dr. Mohammed Kaiseruddin. The new board also recently appointed two new members Gregory Abdullah Mitchell and Deanna Othman.
Gregory Abdullah Mitchell, a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois, is the Chair of the Leadership Development Institute and a board member of Masjid Al-Taqwa of Chicago, Illinois. Having served on the board of, and provided legal assistance to, many Muslim organizations over the past 25 years, Mitchell brings a wealth of knowledge and experience concerning not for profit organizations to CIOGC.
Deanna Othman is a journalist and educator who has a religion column on the Huffington Post. She’s also been published in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Daily Herald and on Salon.com, Patheos, AlterNet, The New Arab and the blog Mondoweiss. She also served as the assistant editor of Islamic Horizons magazine. Othman currently teaches literature and journalism at Universal High School in Bridgeview, Illinois. She is also an AMP-Chicago board member and the chapter’s media coordinator. She holds a Bachelor’s in English and International Studies, and a Master’s in Journalism, both from Northwestern University.