Participants' Bios
UMCOR Representatives:
Bishop Edward PaupThe Rev. Sam W. Dixon
Muslim AID Representative:
Saif Ahamad MBA MCIHFarooq MuradAmjad Mohamed Saleem
Bishop Edward W. Paup has led The United Methodist Church's Seattle Area since 2004. Previously, he was the bishop of the Portland (Ore.) Area for eight years.
Born Dec. 21, 1945, Paup is a native of Oil City, Pa. He earned his bachelor of arts degree from Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., in 1967, followed by his master of divinity degree from Iliff School of Theology in Denver in 1970. He received a doctor of divinity degree from Lycoming in 1999.
During college, he preached at two-point charges in Pennsylvania, and in 1968, he was ordained a deacon in the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference. The following year, he transferred to the Rocky Mountain Conference, where he was ordained an elder in 1970. He served churches in Colorado as an associate pastor or pastor from 1970 to 1989.
From 1989 to 1993, he was superintendent of the Utah/Western District, then served for four years as assistant to the bishop and liaison for ministerial services. He was elected bishop in 1996 and assigned to the Portland Area. During both his Portland and Seattle assignments, he has also overseen the denomination's Alaska Missionary Conference.
Active at every level of the church, Paup served as a delegate to General and jurisdictional conferences in 1988, 1992 and 1996, and he has held leadership posts on Western Jurisdiction committees and in the jurisdictional college of bishops.
He has also served on the governing commissions or boards of United Methodist Communications (1992-96), the General Council on Ministries (1996-2004), and the General Board of Global Ministries (2004-present). He was president of GCOM during the council's final quadrennium, 2001-2004, and is currently president of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
Paup was a member of the World Methodist Council Executive Committee from 1996 to 2001 and a team leader for The Advance for Christ and His Church from 1996 to 2000. He is on the board of trustees at the University of Puget Sound, and is a former board member of Alaska Pacific University and Northwest House of Theological Studies.
His awards have included being named Honorary Lifetime Citizen of Pueblo, Colo., in 1989; Iliff's Alumnus of the Year, 1995; a recipient of the Barrier Breaker Award, Rocky
Mountain Annual Conference, 1996; and a recipient of Iliff's Excellence in Ministry Award, 1996.
He and his wife, Carol, were married in 1965. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Deputy General Secretary, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church.
United Methodists know the Rev. Sam W. Dixon as a person who encourages the development of warmer hearts and more willing hands in reaching out to others. Rev. Dixon has returned to United Methodist Committee on Relief after nine years in other national church assignments. "UMCOR represents one of the primary ways through which United Methodist people live out their faith as caring, generous members of the human family," he said.
In his new role as interim deputy general secretary, he oversees programs that range in scope from international development and peacebuilding to long-term disaster recovery and special ministries to marginalized people. UMCOR is the relief and development unit of the General Board of Global Ministries, a United Methodist agency. Rev. Dixon is also serving as interim deputy for Mission Volunteers.
Rev. Dixon's 24 years in pastoral ministry and special assignments in the North Carolina Annual Conference led him to Global Ministries in 1998. In his first turn with UMCOR he led the field operations unit (nongovernmental organization), overseeing community based health care, refugee resettlement, agricultural and small business development, micro-credit, opportunities fostering peace and reconciliation, and a youth house ministry for children and youth recovering from the traumatic experiences of war.
He also served as head of the United Methodist Development Fund and most recently was deputy general secretary assigned to the Evangelization and Church Growth unit. He continues in that assignment concurrently with his new post.
Rev. Dixon was educated at the University of North Carolina and Chicago Theological Seminary, "The church has a mission to reach out to all people-our sisters and brothers-no matter how near or far," he said. "UMCOR is a path for transformation because it provides tools and techniques for living in difficult circumstances and for anticipating a better future."
vision for each congregation and works to help individuals develop the tools and techniques for living God's vision in a changing world through the Church.
Sam is married to Cindy Leapley of Wilson, North Carolina and they have four adult children and two grandchildren.
Saif Ahamad MBA MCIHPrior to joining Muslim Aid, Saif served as Chief Executive of Faith Regen Foundation from 2002 to 2006. He was also the Chief Executive at the North London Muslim Housing Association from 1998 to 2002. Before that, he spent 9 years leading the financial divisions of Housing and Technical Directorate in two inner London boroughs and 11 years in the private sector as Sales Executive and Finance Director.
He has been a member of the following boards and committees:
- Policy Action Team of the Social Exclusion Unit of the Cabinet Office
- National Young People's Learning Committee of the Learning & Skills Council
- Federation of Black Housing Organisations
- Regeneration Practitioners' Group of the Home Office
- Federation of Students Islamic Societies of UK and Eire (FOSIS)
- Housing Advisory Group, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
I have worked for over 25 years in Britain in the private and voluntary sectors as well as with local and central government. However my desire to be at the frontline of helping humanity has not been satisfied. Coming to Muslim Aid has opened the door for me to directly help disadvantaged and marginalised people. Throughout my career I have tried to portray the compassionate, caring and inclusive nature of my faith as I feel that the Muslim tradition is often misunderstood in the West. Through Muslim Aid, I want to demonstrate to the world at large that Islam is a tradition of giving, caring and standing by those who are excluded and exploited."
Farooq Murad was invited to join the Board of Trustees of Muslim Aid in 1998. He was General Secretary from 2002 to 2004, and has been Chairman since 2004. He has been active in the youth and community development work in the UK for over two decades. Farooq says that his primary reason for becoming part of Muslim Aid lay in the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of so many people suffering unnecessarily in our world.
For well over a decade, Farooq has been working as a consultant in the field of community development, training and research. Currently he is heading his own consultancy, providing cross-cultural training and IT solutions to public service and voluntary organisations. He is a board member of the University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, and a member of the Muslim Chaplaincy Training Board at Markfield Institute of Higher Education, Leicester. Farooq is also a founding member of Muslim Council of Britain and has been a member of the Central Working Committee.
Farooq takes as his inspiration the saying of the Prophet, Muhammad, that the "humanity is the family of God."
Amjad Saleem was born in Nigeria, educated in Ethiopia and is currently working in Sri Lanka. A UK resident, Amjad studied at Sandford English Community School in Ethiopia and Sevenoaks School in the UK. In 2000, he graduated from Imperial College with a Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
After the Tsunami of 2004 and having lost several family members to it in Sri Lanka, Amjad joined the development field as a volunteer. He officially joined Muslim Aid in April 2005 as a Tsunami Liaison Officer, where his primary role was overseeing tsunami reconstruction work in Sri Lanka. Prior to this, Amjad had experience working in various sectors including engineering, event management, media and public relations.
Since joining the relief agency, Amjad has been appointed Country Director of the Muslim Aid Sri Lanka Field Office. Furthermore, he recently oversaw the Bangladesh operations and coordinated global disaster responses.
When not travelling between Dhaka, Colombo or London, Amjad is working on completing his MBA. He also dedicates his spare time to supporting and mentoring youth and students in Sri Lanka.
