Hussein Berry was born in Lebanon in 1963.  He immigrated to the United States in 1972.  Mr. Hussein attended Dearborn Public Schools, Henry Ford Community College and Wayne State University.  He is bilingual, speaking both English and Arabic.

Community Service affiliates include: Dearborn Area Board of Realtors President 2008,  Henry Ford Community College  Business Management Advisory Committee,  Fordson High School PTSA President,  Salina School Community Advisory Committee,  Dearborn Youth Football Association Board Trustee, Founding Member 2001, President 2001-2005, Promote Dearborn Campaign-  (Mayor’s Office, Dearborn Area Board of Realtors, Dearborn Public School District and Dearborn Chamber of Commerce)

Wadad Abed is the Vice President of the ACCESS Board of Directors.  Ms. Abed, Director of Marketing at CIMdata consulting firm, has over 25 years experience in strategic and operational marketing for companies in the computer industry in hardware, software, and consulting services. 

In addition to her professional work, Ms. Abed has been involved in issues dealing with peace and social justice both within the US and around the world with special focus on the Middle East.

  Ms. Abed currently serves on the board of directors of the University Musical Society (UMS), ACCESS, and the Arab American Organization (AAO) of Ann Arbor. She is a cofounder of Bustan al-Funun Foundation for Arab Arts in America whose mission is to promote understanding and appreciation between the peoples of America and the Arab world through supporting the creation, development, and presentation of Arab and Arab American arts.

Edward Bagale is the English Secretary of the ACCESS Board of Directors.  He is also Vice Chancellor for Government Relations at The University of Michigan-Dearborn, has served as the University’s chief government relations officer since 1985.  He represents the University to public agencies and elected officials in Lansing, Washington, D.C., and local governmental units and agencies throughout Southeastern Michigan.   

With approximately forty years of advocacy work in higher education, Mr. Bagale has served as Director of Admissions at The University of Michigan-Dearborn and as Associate Director of Admissions & Scholarships at Oakland University. 

From 1983-84, Mr. Bagale served as district administrator for Congressman Sander Levin.  Mr. Bagale currently serves on the boards of directors of The Dearborn Community Fund, ACCESS, American Arab Chamber of Commerce, MotorCities/Automobile National Heritage Area Partnership, SEMCOG - Ann Arbor to Downtown Detroit Rapid Transit Steering Committee, and The Michigan Humanities Council.  He is Vice Chair of the Henry Ford Hospital and Health Network Board of Trustees, and co-chair of the Rouge River Gateway Partnership. 

Mr. Bagale holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics and management from Oakland University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Detroit.

Amal Berry-Brown is a vice president and the National Arab & Chaldean Business Affairs Manager for Comerica Bank.  She serves as a liaison for Comerica Bank, Inc. with the Arab and Chaldean American community on a national level.  Ms. Berry-Brown is responsible for developing and implementing Comerica Bank’s commitment to diversity in the Arab & Chaldean American market as well as maintaining and developing banking relationships within the community.

Ms. Berry-Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Michigan.

Ms. Berry-Brown was named the Arab American of Year in Finance in 2007 from the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and the Arab American Professionals Network for her success in serving as a mentor and role model for young Arab Americans.

Among her professional and community activities, Ms. Berry-Brown is a board member and former vice president of the Executive Board of ACCESS, serves as a board member of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce and serves as the Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Child’s Hope, a child abuse prevention non-profit, 2007 2008 term.  She is also a member of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, the Arab American Institute and a Patron member of the Arab American National Museum. 

David Allen is the Vice President of the ACCESS Board of Directors. Judge Allen of Wayne County Circuit Court has served in the felony criminal trial court since his appointment to the position by Governor Granholm in December of 2003. He is also an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Judge Allen obtained Bachelor and Masters degrees from the University of Michigan before graduating first in his class from the Detroit College of Law in 1993. Judge Allen practiced law for ten years, most recently with Allen Brothers, PLLC, which he formed with two of his brothers, before being appointed to the Court by Governor Jennifer Granholm.

Judge Allen is a lifelong resident of the City of Detroit and volunteers his time as Board Chair of the Boll Family Downtown Detroit Family YMCA, as well as an advisory board member of ADC and Our Brothers/Sister’s Keeper, Inc; a youth mentoring service for probationers he helped co-found. Judge Allen volunteers as a board member of ACCESS and is a member of The Association of Black Judge’s of Michigan.

Aoun Jaber 

Aoun Jaber was educated at the Arabic University of Beirut in Geography and Education.  In 1978, he immigrated to the United States, shortly thereafter he became active in the community by joining ACCESS. The goals and mission ACCESS represented held closely with Aoun's personal beliefs.

Currently, Aoun works as a small business owner in Detroit. He is also an Arabic language instructor at Wayne State University where he graduated with a master’s degree in bilingual education in 1983 and a master’s degree in Near-Eastern Studies in 2009. To this day he remains an active member in the community, with his involvement in not only ACCESS but various other organizations.

Board of Directors

Dr. David achieved her bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D.--extraordinary accomplishments considering language, cultural, and financial hurdles. Her strength in the face of adversity and her ability to overcome obstacles are all familiar to those who have known her for years.

As an early activist with the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Dr. David orchestrated a membership recruitment campaign in 1984 and 1991.  For her efforts, she was recognized by ADC founder and former Senator James Abourezk.  In 1991 she was presented with the Educator of the Year Award at ADC’s annual banquet.  In 2001, she and her husband Warren David were selected as the recipients of the Alex Odeh Memorial Award at the ADC National Convention.  Recently, Dr. David founded and assisted in the development of the Dr. Martin Luther King scholarship program which has become an annual event of ADC Michigan.

As the Bilingual Program Supervisor for the Detroit Public Schools, Dr. David initiates strategies and implements various programs that impact the educational progress of all bilingual students in the Detroit Public Schools system. In addition, she is a part time faculty member at Wayne County Community College District.

Rasha attended Wayne State University’s School of Pharmacy and Allied Health and graduated with a Bachelor in Science in pharmacy in1979. She currently works in a community pharmacy.

Rasha’s primary focus continues to be the improvement of education in all its forms.

She was elected trustee of the Port Huron Area School District in 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 and currently serves as Vice President of the Board. Rasha has served on numerous committees including the Instructional Development Committee, the Finance Committee and the Technology committee. She was also the St. Clair County Medical Allicance treasurer for multiple years. 

Dennis Denno is the Chief of Staff for Michigan Senate Democratic Floor Leader Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit).  He worked for Senator Thomas for the past seven years and also spent one year as the Communications Director for the Michigan House of Representatives while Buzz Thomas was the Michigan House Democratic Leader. 

As a private practitioner she specialized in consumer protection law, commercial transactions, and general litigation.  In 2003, Elder was unanimously confirmed by the Dearborn City Council to serve as a judicial magistrate in the 19th District Court.

After graduating from Fordson High School, Elder attended the University of Michigan Dearborn where she earned her Bachelor’s degrees in both English and Psychology.  Later, Elder attended the Detroit College of Law, where during her first year, she married long-time schoolmate, Azzam E. Elder.

Despite her busy schedule, Elder finds time to stay active in the community, especially when it comes to her children.  Elder is a volunteer parent for the Girl Scouts of America, a board member for ACCESS, an Advisory Board Member for the ADC, and more.

For the past nine years, he has served as the Executive Director of the Lebanese American Heritage Club and continues to be committed. He takes pride in helping to preserve, unite, and advance the future generations of the community. Wassim is currently serving as an Assistant for Wayne County Executive Robert A. Ficano. He joined the CEO team on January 3, 2005. The areas under his jurisdiction include Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Westland and part of Detroit.

A graduate of Wayne State University and the Detroit Police Academy of Criminal Justice, Hassan has had an illustrious career which includes teaching mentally challenged children and various positions in law enforcement.

Hassan is certified by the Michigan Law Enforcement Training Council and began his career as an Airport Police Officer where he enforced Federal, State, and Local laws. After graduating from the Detroit Policy Academy of Criminal Justice, he was promoted to dispatching where he developed policy and procedures for the department

Later, he became the Airport Operations Supervisor where he was in charge of day-to-day operations and enforced airport and federal aviation rules and regulations. He also did Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) checks on the runways for Presidential visits and escorted the President’s limousine on and off the airport.

Hassan then became Department Manager V where he assumed control of the day-to-day activities of Airfield Operations. During this time he was also elected to the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Center of America where he served as second vice-chairman and comptroller. He has since become the Deputy Director of Operations and Director of Airfield Operations.

Hassan has received special recognition from Airline Pilots Association, Secret Service, F.B.I. and White House Communications.  He also received the Airport Partnership Award from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mike Makki is the Director of Nationwide Recruitment and Staffing Services for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA).  His organization conducts nationwide recruitment and staffing efforts for over the VHA. 

Prior to working for the VHA, Mr. Makki was the Acting Service Center Director and Human Resource Consultant for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Mr. Makki has over eighteen years of experience in all aspects of Human Resources that include staffing, organizational design, classification, training, IRM program management, HR automated systems development and HR consulting.  Mr. Makki graduated with honors from Ferris State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

In addition to his public life, Mr. Makki has been actively involved in community service.  He currently serves on the Executive Committee for ACCESS. 

Lastly, in addition to his public and community service life, Mr. Makki is a small business owner.  He owns and operates service stations in the City of Detroit.

She presently serves on the Arab American Institute’s (AAI) National Policy Council (NPC),National American-Arab-Anti-Discrimination Committee’s (ADC) Board of Directors and served as Board Secretary. She chaired the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), Middle East Committee. In the aftermath of the Sabra-Shatila massacres and the Al Aqsa Intifada she led fact-finding delegations to Palestine, Lebanon Jordan and Israel, representing the Palestinian Human Rights Campaign and the National Lawyers Guild.

Mansour is actively involved in community matters and has served on various civic, cultural, institutional and professional boards. She is a member of the Northwest Ohio China Task Force, Vice President of Lake Erie West Arts Council and Vice President of Toledo’s Sister Cities International.  She is an arbitrator and Board member of the Toledo Labor Management Citizens Committee and has been appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court task force on interpreters. She presently has an active law practice in Toledo,Ohio focusing on immigration, civil rights, employment as well as domestic and International  transactional matters.

She is currently the President of the ADC-Detroit Chapter, a longtime Board Member of ACCESS and Chair of the Arab American National Museum Friends Committee.  In one year, she helped to form an effective committee, which made a significant mark in  philanthropic practices among Arab Americans by raising outstanding funds in support of the newly formed Arab American National Museum.

Recently, she was widely praised and recognized for her talents as “A Distinguished Volunteer” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals- Detroit Chapter on National Philanthropy Day.  She was also highly recognized by the

 Mr. Swor graduated from Oakland University in April 1969 with a B.A. in Political Science.  He graduated from Wayne State University Law School and has been engaged in the private practice of law for 35 years.

Ali Baleed Almaklani is former president and co-founder of the Yemen American Benevolent Association (YABA), an organization that provides educational and social services for the ethnic Yemeni community.  He was also a founding member of the Arab American Congress in the 1970’s and is a key organizer of the Arab and Chaldean Festival.  During the 1970’s, Mr. Almaklani was nominated to represent Arab Americans at the UAQ convention and was also selected to attend the 2^nd General Conference of Yemeni Immigrants in Yemen.

More recently, Mr. Almaklani helped to found the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC).  In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board of ADC, and the Advisory Board and Parent Committee of Salina Elementary School.

Mr. Almaklani is a well known poet in his local community and is often referred to as Abu-Dhafer.  He has written hundreds of poems and is planning to publish a book of his works.

She is a Past President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, the major professional organization for professors who teach on the Middle East. In her teaching career she received numerous honors. She is a Fulbright Scholar; she received the Graduate Mentor Award, Women of Wayne and Alumni Service awards from Wayne State University

Mr. Khoury was instrumental in establishing many Arab American organizations in the metro Detroit.  He is former president and co founder of Arab American University Graduates and co-founder of the Organization of Arab Students at Wayne State University.  Mr. Khoury has been active with the ADC Michigan Chapter, the Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation, and The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation.