Dear Community and Leaders,

I hope and pray that this email finds you in the best of health and Iman.

On behalf of NAIT's Board of Trustees, I am excited to announce some of the important enhancements to the structure of NAIT that took place very recently.

Our new NAIT head office is in Hometown, Illinois. It is a large facility that will serve as a new community center. The facility will include a masjid which will soon become operational, and a preschool in due course allowing us more possibilities to serve our community.

We have a new Executive Director

We are pleased to announce that Br. Maqsood Quadri has joined our team as NAIT's new Executive Director assuming office this month. This position was opened after the move of Brother Salah Obeidallah as the full-time President of the wholly-owned subsidiary of NAIT, Allied Asset Advisor (AAA). I have formally introduced Br Quadri in the following section so please read on.

As the President of AAA, Br. Salah Obeidallah will lead efforts of introducing additional investment vehicles for the benefit of American Muslim community. He will continue to be your point person for Islamic centers' investments through Islamic Center Cooperative Fund (ICCF).

We are grateful to Br. Obeidallah for his seven years of valuable contributions and excellent service managing different service divisions of NAIT as Executive Director. May Allah reward him for his services to NAIT and dedication to the American Muslim community.

To achieve our vision of expansion and growth, we have augmented our team in other service divisions as well to help meet the new challenges more effectively.

To that end, we now have Br. Qadri Abdullah to lead the American Halal Institute (AHI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NAIT, as Director of Operations.

Abdullah has spent 26 years in the food industry as a food scientist, quality manager, and manufacturing plant manager. He also held a VP of Operations position at a Lubricants/Oils company previously. Well known among the North American Muslims, Abdullah is deeply connected to the community. Over the last 36 years, he has been an active member of several local, national and international Islamic organizations serving in leadership roles and board membership. His addition to our team would help AHI grow in the direction that we have envisioned. InshaAllah. Welcome aboard, Br. Qadri!

With a vision to promote the benefits of halal production, help standardize halal certification, and expand halal lifestyle options for the American Muslim community, AHI offers transparent and authentic halal certification, training, research and advocacy of halal goods and services. 

Br. Azam, who served as NAIT's Chief Compliance Officer of AAA, Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel has left the organization to concentrate on his political campaign in Illinois. We are grateful for his service and expertise, and wish him the best in his future endeavors. We hope he wins his race for office in the upcoming elections.

We will keep you posted once we have a good replacement for his position, InshaAllah.

Brothers Masood Quadri and Salah Obeidallah are assisting NAIT's Board to add second level staff to NAIT and AAA, respectively. 

Our BOT members and I express sincere gratitude for the selflessness and facilitation that the whole NAIT team exhibited during these positive enhancements at NAIT, AAA and AHI. We thank them their commitment to serving the American Muslim community, and their dedication to NAIT.

May Allah Bless you all.

Gaddoor Saidi

Chair, NAIT Board of Trustees

I am pleased and privileged to welcome Maqsood Quadri as NAIT's new Executive Director assuming office this month.

Known for his hard work, strong work ethic and dedication, Maqsood Quadri, is a familiar name in the American Muslim community especially across Chicagoland area and Illinois for his valuable contributions as a community leader.

A hydrogeologist by training with a Masters degree from Aligarh Muslim University, India, Quadri brings his multi-faceted professional and management experience to NAIT. He successfully managed multi-million-dollar portfolios and held high responsibility, solution-focused and senior management positions for 30+ years. In those positions, he earned a reputation for delivering results, and demonstrated proven ability to help achieve organizational objectives by catalyzing new approaches, transforming culture and bringing the best out of team members.

Right before joining NAIT, he served as the Chief Operating Officer at the Council of Islamic Centers of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) for four years. He also heads and sits on the boards of various prominent Islamic centers and community organizations both in USA and India.

In exploring new approaches for growth, cultivating new relationships and strengthening the existing ones as NAIT continues to serve the American Muslim community, we look forward to benefitting from his vast experience of Muslim community leadership both in USA and abroad.

We wish him the best of luck along with the rest of the team. InshaAllah Khair.