Request Additional Information

Founder of the Halal Expo & Summit since 2018. Halal advocate and relationship builder within the halal industry. Working on establishing a strong halal business network. Served as the former President of the Arab American Business Council in Washington DC. Also served as media consultant to US State Department.

Adjunct Associate Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law. A lawyer with a background in business and journalism, Elisabeth Myers is an expert in advocacy and communication and has extensive knowledge of the politics and culture of the Middle East and North Africa.  She has advised U.S. and Middle East-based organizations on doing business in the region, women’s entrepreneurship, and investment opportunities.

Mr. Quintin Gray, President and CEO, Q. Gray and Associates, has more than 30 years’ experience helping U.S. companies market their food products in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe while serving as Agriculture Counselor at U.S. Embassies.

He serves on advisory committees at Virginia International University, N.C. Agriculture and Technical State University.

Dr. Mostafa Eldakdoky joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August (USDA) 1980 and FSIS in August 1986. Dr. Eldakdoky was among the first food technologist group hired by FSIS to work in the field at both large and small processing plants as Technologist in charge, in 1990 worked as a labels reviewer and currently as international issues analyst. During the time working with FSIS he has been detailed to Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) for six years, as International Marketing Specialist.

Shaykh Didmar Faja is currently the imām of the United Islamic Center of Arizona (UICA) in Glendale, Arizona. He is the founder and director of the Greenway Academy, an Islamic school co-located with UICA, and founder and director of two Islamic centers in Mexico, La Comunidad Musalmana de Sonora (in the State of Sonora) and La Comunidad Musulmana de Durango (in the State of Durango). He is a religious and spiritual advisor for Naqshbandiyya Foundation for Islamic Education (NFIE)

Yvonne is a chef, food & travel writer, cookbook author, e-commerce entrepreneur, public speaker, food industry consultant, niche consumer marketing expert.

She consults food brands, schools, and hospitals on how to understand and source for halal ingredients and methods in cooking for food and cosmetic products. ​

Mr. Unger has been involved with accreditation since 1978. He served President since 1996, Vice President of A2LA since 1986 and Associate Manager of Laboratory Accreditation at the National Institute of Standards and Technology) since 1978.

Mr. Unger served as Chair of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) for 2010-2016. He is an author of many papers on accreditation, active participant in the establishment of ISO/IEC standards for accreditation and author of a book on Achieving Accreditation for Your Laboratory, 1992.

Executive Chef Aguenaou has more than 23 years’ experience working in large hotels such as the Phoenician resort in Phoenix, the Marriott River Center in Sant Antonio, the Mayflower hotel in Washington, the biggest Marriott Hotel and conference center Maryland and the Historical Marriott Wardman Park hotel Chef Aguenaou is a high honor graduate of the culinary institute of America and a recipient of many awards such as the Marriott Chef of the year
Chef enjoys creating special restricted dietary menus with clients or nutritionists and admire their reaction when they see and taste their food.  He is now giving back to society by helping other rising Chefs via the American Chefs federation, virtually teaching students and helping schools and organizations with the culinary arts and provide financial advises to those that struggle making a food and beverage profit.

Dr. Attiya Ahmad is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington University.  Broadly conceived, her research focuses on the interrelation between contemporary Islamic reform movements and political economic processes from a gendered perspective.  She is currently working on a multi-year ethnographically-focused research project on the development of halal tourism networks in the Mediterranean and Middle East.  She has conducted research throughout the Muslim world, most notably in the Arab Gulf states and Persian Gulf region, South Asia and Turkey.  She is the author of the multi-award winning book “Everyday Conversions: Islam, Domestic Work and South Asian Migrant Women in Kuwait,” and she has held fellowships and been awarded numerous grants, including at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies; Stanford University; the ACLS-Luce Religion, Journalism and International Affairs award; and the National Science Foundation. 

Mamadou Samba serves as Chief of Staff to the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining, appointed by Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. 

Prior to that, Mamadou served as Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of African Affairs between 2015-2019. 

In 2016, Mamadou was named one of 20 Young African Influencers in the Diaspora by Shoppe Black Magazine and is recipient of a Congressional Recognition from Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton of District of Columbia. Mamadou received the 2017 Nelson Mandela Award for Social Justice from the UNESCO Center for Peace and the Visionary Leadership Award from the African Studies Association.