Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans

According to their webpage, the The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (or PAAIA) "is a non-partisan, non-sectarian, national grassroots membership organization dedicated to bringing our community together to project an accurate and positive image of Iranian Americans that truly reflects our values and achievements, and to building a highly respected and influential voice for our community in the U.S. political process."

The PAAIA website describes the core purpose which has guided the organization since its inception in 2007 as the "formation of a national organization dedicated to promoting the goals of community building, image building, and influence building."

In outlining the governance structure of the organization, the PAAIA website states that "PAAIA's community building, image building and influence building activities are carried out and/or funded by two affiliated nonprofit organizations: PAAIA which is a 501(c)(4) organization, and PAAIA Fund which is a 501(c)(3) organization. As a social welfare organization, PAAIA engages in issue advocacy and lobbying activities, including advocacy on behalf of political candidates. Although not currently in existence, in the near future PAAIA will also create an affiliated Political Action Committee for the purpose of endorsing political candidates who are attuned to the interests and concerns of the Iranian American community, and making political contributions to them. PAAIA Fund is an educational non-profit organization that funds policy studies and a broad array of activities intended to educate Iranian Americans about the political process and issues of interest to them. PAAIA Fund also funds activities intended to educate U.S. policy makers and the American public at large about the Iranian American community.To maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations, PAAIA affiliated organizations are governed by overlapping boards of directors and share employees and staff."

Merger with IAPAC-Iranian American Political Action Committee
In July, 2008, it was announced the the PAAIA-The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans would merge with the IAPAC (Iranian American Political Action Committee).

In the statement released by the PAAIA regrading the merger, it was stated that "the merger will advance the best interests of the Iranian American community by greatly enhancing its effective participation in the American political process

The Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) and the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) jointly announce an agreement to merge the two organizations, making IAPAC the affiliated political action committee of PAAIA. The merger of IAPAC and PAAIA represents an unprecedented milestone for the Iranian American community, demonstrating that two existing organizations can and should come together for the greater good.

The agreement to merge is in recognition of the considerable synergies between PAAIA and IAPAC, and will create a unified organization to more effectively serve the Iranian American community’s common interests in the political arena."

In commenting on the merger, Hamid Biglari, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of PAAIA, stated that “joining forces will sharpen our vision and harness the collective energies of two outstanding organizations. IAPAC’s mission to support and promote the election of candidates who are attuned to the domestic issues of the Iranian American community complements PAAIA’s influence building mission.”

Accoring to the release, the IAPAC (established in 2002) "has been a registered non-connected bipartisan political action committee. IAPAC focuses exclusively on domestic policy issues such as civil rights and immigration, and encourages Americans of Iranian descent to actively participate in political and civic affairs. Since its inception, IAPAC has contributed to 34 candidates, including nine Iranian American candidates."

Founding Trustees

 * Hassan Nemazee

Executive Team

 * Babak Hoghooghi - Executive Director
 * Rudi Bakhtiar - Director of Public Relations
 * Morad Ghorban - Legislative Director
 * Shahriar Farkhan - Director of IT and Web Development
 * Houria Bouatba- Office Manager

Board of Directors

 * Jamsheed Ameri- Co-founder and President, Kinsel Ameri Properties, Inc.
 * Shahrzad Ardalan- Producer and Host, KIRN Radio Iran
 * Sharon Baradaran- President, Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation and Adjunct Professor, UCLA Department of Political Science
 * Hamid Biglari - Vice-Chairman, Citicorp (Chairman of the Board)
 * Ali Ebrahimi- Chairman and CEO, Ersa Grae
 * Hossein Fateh - Co-founder, President, and CEO, DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc.
 * Akbar Ghahary- CEO and Chairman of the Board, Safas Corporation
 * Tamilla Ghodsi- Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.
 * Babak Hoghooghi - Executive Director, PAAIA
 * Nahal Iravani-Sani - Deputy District Attorney, Santa Clara County, CA
 * Mariam Khosravani- Executive Director, Coastline Community College Foundation
 * Akbar A. Lari - President, Claremont Group
 * Farhood Malek - First Vice President – Investments; Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC
 * Mohsen Moazami - Vice President, Emerging Markets and Globalization Centre Internet Business Solutions Group.
 * Avid Modjtabai- Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Wells Fargo
 * Ali Mojdehi- Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP
 * Firouz Naderi - Associate Director, Project Formulation and Strategy, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Vice Chairman of the Board)
 * Nariman Teymourian- Chairman and CEO, Gale Technologies, Inc.

Contact Information
1350 Connecticut Av Suite 202, NW Washington D.C. 20036 Phone: 202.828.8370 Fax: 202.828.8371 Email General Inquiries: info AT paaia.org Email Membership/Community Relations: community AT paaia.org Email Media/Public Relations: media AT paaia.org Email Research: research AT paaia.org Website: http://www.paaia.org/

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * PAAIA Fund
 * Iranian American Political Action Committee

External resources

 * PAAIA Prospectus