Community Conversation
with Farooq Mitha
NEHA DEWAN
Neha has long been active in both local and national politics. Most recently, she founded and served as the National Director for South Asians for Biden, an organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and mobilizing the South Asian community to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In 2016, Neha served as the National Co-Chair for South Asians for Hillary and was appointed by Hillary Clinton to the National AAPI Leadership Council.
Previously, in 2015, Neha was appointed as a guest of honor by the Consulate General of India in New York City where she was selected to speak about gender equality for International Women's Day. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Neha chaired the New York Chapter of South Asians for Obama and also served on the steering committee for Lawyers for Obama in New York. For several years, Neha served as an Officer of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, an organization affiliated with the National Lawyers Council of the Democratic National Committee and comprised of Democratic lawyers and voting rights activists. Similarly, for many years, Neha served as an advisory board member of New Leaders Council, a national organization focused on training and supporting progressive political entrepreneurs. She has also been active in her local community board and political clubs. Neha served as the President of the South Asian Bar Association of New York in 2012, and now sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Mobilizing the South Asian Community & Building Political Power
Shariq Ahmad
Chair
Shariq Ahmad is the Chairman of the Edison Democratic Organization, the fifth largest municipal Democratic party in NJ. He is the youngest party chair in the state and the first person of color to hold the position. In 2017, he was ranked as one of the 100 most influential people in NJ politics, and has also been recognized as one of Politicker NJ's 30 Under 30 and ROI-NJ 2019 Influencers.
Shariq is also a Chief of Staff in the NJ Legislature and has previously held positions on Capitol Hill in the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. He sits on the board of the NJ ACLU and the New Leaders Council NJ. He is a founder and board member of the NJ Democratic State Committee's South Asian American Caucus and its Muslim Caucus, as well as the NJ Muslim Voters Project.
In addition, Shariq has worked on many successful campaigns at the local, county, state, and federal level. These include successful campaigns for President Obama, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, U.S. Senator Cory Booker, NJ Governor Phil Murphy, as well as managing many other local and state-level campaigns. He is a graduate of Rutgers University, where he holds degrees in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies and is an alumnus of the Eagleton Institute of Politics.
