About Us
IAAB Board of Advisors
The purpose of the Iranian Alliances Across Borders Board of Advisors (BoA) is to support the staff, to provide institutional memory, and to ensure continuity in regards to IAAB's mission. The Board does not play an active role in day-to-day operations of IAAB, but acts as a guiding entity. Board members must be nominated and every seat on the board is occupied by someone who has already served in a high leadership capacity within the organization. The BoA's declaration of principles is reflective of IAAB's values as an organization in fostering a community of young leaders.
Ramin Bajoghli, President, Board Member
Mr. Ramin Bajoghli graduated from Boston University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and in Political Science. Mr. Bajoghli has worked with IAAB since its inception in 2003, holding numerous positions including New England Area Coordinator, Operations Coordinator, Development Coordinator, and most recently, Co-Executive Director. Prior to his work with IAAB, Mr. Bajoghli was an active member of Global Learning (GL), a non-profit/non-governmental organization dedicated to the advancement of public education in Latin America. While working with GL, he served as a Country Coordinator in San Jorge, Nicaragua, leading a group of 25 volunteers from 4 different countries to teach over 400 children in 5 public schools. Mr. Bajoghli is a freelance photographer and TV Producer working mainly in Washington D.C. and New York City. Mr. Bajoghli's interest in film, photography, travel , and social issues led him to direct, write, and produce numerous projects in Nicaragua and Iran including Only In Iran!, a short documentary/narrative exploring the dual identities of Iranian-Americans. Currently, Mr. Bajoghli is completing his Post Baccalaurate studies in Pre-Medicine at New York University.
Shirin Hakimzadeh, Former Co-Executive Director and Board Member
Ms. Shirin Hakimzadeh is a recent graduate from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as an Executive Notes Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. Ms. Hakimzadeh holds a bachelor degree with honors from Rice University in her hometown of Houston, and a master's degree from Oxford University, where she studied Social and Cultural Anthropology as the recipient of the Wagoner Scholarship. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Mexico, Chile, and London, where she wrote her master's thesis on the integration of second-generation Iranians. Since then, she has written several articles on the Iranian foreign-born in the US and on migration issues relevant to Iran for the Migration Policy Institute. Ms. Hakimzadeh is particularly interested in immigration, asylum, national security, and criminal law. In 2009, she successfully co-represented a Cameroonian asylum seeker in removal proceedings before an immigration court. Currently, Ms. Hakimzadeh is completing a federal clerkship in the District of Arizona.
Amy Malek, Board Member and Director of IAAB's Conference on the Iranian Diaspora
Ms. Amy Malek is a PhD student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Sociocultural Anthropology. Her primary interests are in visual anthroplogy, diaspora studies, ethnic studies, cultural production, and immigration. She is currently conducting a multi-sited ethnographic study of cultural production in the Iranian diaspora. Ms. Malek has worked with IAAB since its inception in 2003, serving in multiple roles. She graduated summa cum laude from Emory University with a B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and International Studies, and holds an M.A. in Anthroplogy from UCLA and an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from NYU, where she was a MacCracken Fellow. Alongside her graduate studies, Ms. Malek curated an exhibition of Iranian-American documentary photography held at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles in the summer of 2010.
