Message from the Chairman and the President

January 22, 2017

Dear Members

The second election of the Board of Trustees of SAF just finished. We thank you all for participating in the elections process and casting your votes.

It was a long process. Our colleagues on the Nominations and Elections Committee conducted a transparent and exhaustive process making sure all members were able to nominate and vote. On behalf of all of you, we congratulate them on their professional and transparent efforts. The voting process was outsourced and recorded without any interference. A new Board of Trustees has been elected. You have entrusted its elected members as our leadership in the organization.

SAF was established in February 2012 with a clear mission: to serve our community and educate the general public about the events in Syria. We embarked on a very tough ride polluted with misrepresentation of the facts in Syria. The image was, and continues to be, very clear in our minds: the US policy towards Syria hurts the US national interest, security and otherwise, and contributes to none other than escalation in the killing and destruction of our mother country.

In order to influence the decision making in the US we need the unity of our community. We worked diligently on inclusivity, dialogue and harmony. We will ask the new Board of Trustees to make this their utmost priority. The burden is on us. We shall, and will, not hesitate from taking every step to include all those in our Syrian American community who share our principles in this process. We extend our congratulations to the following colleagues for receiving the highest numbers of your votes, becoming the new members of the Board:

·        Dr. Ghias Moussa, NJ

·        Mr. Salah Asfoura, MA

·        Dr. Yazan Khatib, FL

·        Ms. Wafa Rumman, FL

·        (And ourselves, Nasser Ani , NJ and. Eyad Salloum, MA)

We are looking forward to working with this group of dedicated individuals, within the Board and other members of the organization at large. We are counting on every single member to help our Board to a successful tenure. We all have a responsibility towards our community and both our adopted and mother country. We are confident we can all contribute to this mission and unite to achieve it. Our mother country Syria needs us. We are there for her in its time of need.

We would like also to thank the previous board who worked very hard for the past couple of years. We are looking forward for their continuous support and involvement with the organization.

Wishing you all the best, and thank you all again,

Nasser Ani, MD                                                           Eyad Salloum, DMD

Chairman                                                                      President