Fayrouz Saad is an American public official and politician. She is the Executive Director of the Office of Global Michigan, and was the first Director of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

's Office of Immigrant affairs under Mayor

Mike Duggan Michael Edward Duggan (born July 15, 1958) is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician serving as the 75th mayor of Detroit, Michigan since 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, Duggan previously served as the Wayne County Prosecutor ...

. Before serving in that position, Saad was an

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

appointee to the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

(DHS), where she worked on immigration reform, security issues and economic development programs in the Middle East. Before her appointment at DHS, Saad worked as a Civic Engagement Coordinator for

Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) is a human services organization committed to the development of the Arab American community. ACCESS helps low-income families, as well as newly arrived immigrants adapt to life i ...

' National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC). She worked for both the Kerry and Clinton campaigns in the 11th congressional district, as well as that of state representative Gino Polidori. Saad ran as a Democratic candidate for Michigan's 11th congressional district in the 2018 midterm elections, where she came in fourth place with 19.4 per cent of the votes, losing to former Obama administration chief of staff for the Auto Task Force of the U.S. Treasury Department,

Haley Stevens Haley Maria Stevens (born June 24, 1983) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Stevens is the member–elect for the redrawn 11th district in the 2022 election, having de ...

, who obtained 27 per cent of the votes.

Personal life

Saad was born and brought up in the Arab-majority community of Dearborn, Michigan, as the daughter of Lebanese immigrants who still run a small meat wholesale business in Detroit. In his first Eid-al-Fitr celebration in 2016, US President Barack Obama singled out Saad's parents Aref and Aida Saad for praise citing their successful retail business in Michigan "for paying it forward" by having their daughter Fayrouz Saad work as director for the Office of Immigrant Affairs of Detroit. She graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

with a double major in Political Science and Psychology, and in 2014 received a master's from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where she studied urban policy and economic development. Saad is currently married to Chris DeRusha who serves as the Federal Chief Information Security Officer of the United States at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Career

Saad's career spans campaign staffing, community organizing and immigration issues at the local, state and national levels. Between 2004-2008, Saad worked as a field organizer for

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

's and Gino Polidori's campaigns. Her organizing work targeted Arab American community relations, voter registration, civic engagement and advocacy strategies through the National Network for Arab American Communities and the

. Saad was Vice President of Chicago-based political advocacy firm Cambridge Global Advisors where she worked with the federal government on the implementation of CVE in the Dearborn community. During her tenure at DHS, in addition to serving as a liaison between governors, mayors and other local elected officials in the office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA), she assisted the department in coordinating community relations between Arab, Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Somali communities and their law enforcement partners on CVE initiatives.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saad, Fayrouz Michigan Democrats University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Women in Michigan politics American people of Lebanese descent