Ismael Ahmed
{{Short description|American labor leader (born 1947)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image =
| office = Member of the National Council on the Arts
| status = Incumbent
| appointer = Joe Biden
| term_start = March 25, 2022
| office1 = Director of the Michigan Department of Human Services
| successor1 = Duane Berger
| governor1 = Jennifer Granholm
Rick Snyder
| term_start1 = September 10, 2007
| term_end1 = January 3, 2011
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1947}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = University of Michigan–Dearborn (BA)
| relations = Saladin Ahmed (son)
}}
Ismael N. Ahmed is an American government official and labor leader who is the designate to be a member of the National Endowment of the Arts in the Biden administration. Ahmed previously served as the director of the Michigan Department of Human Services from September 2007 to January 3, 2011. He was appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm in September 2007. As director of the state’s second-largest agency, Ahmed oversaw 10,000 employees and managed a $4 billion-plus budget serving 1.5 million medical assistance cases and 1.2 million cash and food assistance cases.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
Early life and education
Ismael Ahmed was born in Brooklyn in 1947. He is of Lebanese and Egyptian descent. He moved to Detroit with his family when he was six years old. After high school, he traveled to Vietnam and Korea. He later became active in the United Auto Workers union to put himself through the University of Michigan–Dearborn, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in secondary education and sociology in 1977.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
Career
After graduation, he began helping out his neighborhood and his community and in 1973, Ahmed co-founded the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS).{{Cite web|last=Lessenberry|first=Jack|title=Meet a real American|url=https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/meet-a-real-american/Content?oid=2175093|website=Detroit Metro Times}}"[http://www.freep.com/article/20130825/NEWS05/308250107/Ismael-Ahmed-neal-shine-award-for-exemplary-leadership-regional-ACCESS-university-of-Michigan-dearborn Shining Light awards: From assembly line to Lansing, Ismael Ahmed is a fighter for the voiceless]" by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, August 25, 2013. He was appointed executive director in 1983 and was responsible for overall operations of the organization as well as the executive administration of the Arab American National Museum. The largest Arab-American human services organization in the United States, ACCESS has affiliates in 11 states and offers more than 90 programs with more than 900,000 client contacts annually.{{Cite web|url=https://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192--174026--,00.html|title=SOM - Granholm Taps ACCESS Founder to Lead Department of Human Services|website=www.michigan.gov}}
For several years Ahmed has been hosting his own radio show, This Island Earth on WDET. He contributed a chapter on the Arab Worker’s Caucus in Detroit in Arabs in America: Myths and Realities, Abu-Laban and Zeadey eds. (AAUG Monograph Series #5: Medina University Press, 1975) and a chapter on Michigan Arab Americans in American Arabs and Political Participation, Strum, P. ed., (Woodrow Wilson International Center, 2006).
=Biden administration=
On June 23, 2021, Ahmed was nominated to serve as a member of the National Council on the Arts by President Joe Biden.{{Cite web|date=2021-06-23|title=President Biden Announces 17 Key Nominations|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/23/president-biden-announces-17-key-nominations/|access-date=2021-06-23|website=The White House|language=en-US}} He was confirmed by the entire Senate on December 18, 2021, by voice vote.{{cite web |title=PN751 — Ismael N. Ahmed — National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities 117th Congress (2021-2022) |url=https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/751?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22ahmed%22%2C%22ahmed%22%5D%7D&s=3&r=1 |website=US Congress |date = 18 December 2021|access-date=23 March 2022}}
Personal life
Awards
Ismael Ahmed has been honored with the Neal Shine Award for Exemplary Regional Leadership, which is given by the Detroit Free Press and Metropolitan Affairs Coalition. He has also received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the University of Michigan–Dearborn and the Diversity Business Leader award from the Arab American Chamber of Commerce."[http://umdearborn.edu/campus_awards Distinguished Leadership Award]," Office of the Chancellor, University of Michigan-Dearborn, accessed December 5, 2015.
Notes
External links
- [http://www.michigan.gov/dhs/ Michigan Department of Human Services]
- [http://www.accesscommunity.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Ismael}}
Category:Biden administration personnel
Category:National Endowment for the Arts