Our Team
Our Team
staff
ERIK GUSTAFSON – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Erik K. Gustafson (@epicEKG) is the founder and executive director of Enabling Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), overseeing the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization. Erik is a U.S. Army veteran and social entrepreneur, focusing on peacebuilding, human rights, and humanitarian affairs. Following his military service, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue a degree in education. While there, he led the Madison and Midwest chapters of the East Timor Action Network, supporting East Timor’s right to self-determination. In 1997, after traveling to investigate deteriorating conditions in Ba’athist Iraq under comprehensive economic sanctions, Erik established EPIC to advocate for the human rights and humanitarian needs of ordinary Iraqis. Over the years, he has hosted dozens of policy forums, organized coalitions and working groups, and served as a leading advocate for Iraq’s peace and development. While residing in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2009 to 2010, he directed a countrywide training program for Iraqi human rights defenders, and in 2013, he authored a case study of human rights defenders in Sudan. From 2014 to 2017, Erik led Soccer Salam, an EPIC partnership with the Iraq Health Access Organization and other humanitarian groups that successfully delivered emergency assistance to more than 60,000 Iraqis displaced or under siege by ISIS. Since 2018, Erik has overseen an expansion of EPIC’s programming in Iraq through projects with USAID and IOM, and the opening of a field office in Erbil. He has written for the Middle East Institute, Fikra Forum, The Hill, and The Progressive, and has appeared on the PBS NewsHour, BBC World, AlHurra, and other media outlets.
OMAR AL-NIDAWI – DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
Omar Al-Nidawi (@omar_nidawi) is the director of programs at EPIC, developing and overseeing the organization’s research and monitoring programs. He is a guest lecturer on Iraq’s modern history and politics at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute, a Truman National Security Fellow, and a long-time Iraq analyst, focusing on energy, political, and security affairs. In his native Iraq, Omar was a pioneer of internet journalism and a strong advocate for freedom of expression, earning recognition by World PC Magazine in 2007 as one of the “50 most important people on the web.” His reports and articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, War on the Rocks, and various other publications. He earned his B.D.S. from Baghdad University and his M.I.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
ahmed ali – visiting senior fellow
Ahmed Ali is an expert of Iraq’s political and security affairs and is a policy practitioner of international democracy development. He has managed programs focused on accountability and good governance and has extensive field research experience in Iraq and the Middle East. Ahmed has taught and lectured in several American universities and institutions. He has lectured at the American University in Washington, Georgetown University, and Tufts University. Previously, Mr. Ali was Iraq Team Lead at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Ahmed Ali was an analyst at Georgetown University where he researched and wrote on Middle Eastern affairs. From 2008-2011, Mr. Ali was a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Ahmed has written for leading American publications including the New York Times and Foreign Policy Magazine. He has appeared on American and international media such as CNN, NPR, MSNBC, BBC, Channel 4 News, C-Span, al-Hurra television, Voice of America, al-Jazeera, Sky News Arabia, Radio Free Iraq, and al-Arabiya. He has also been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, AFP, Reuters, Foreign Policy, Time Magazine, McClatchy, and the Washington Times among others.
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board of directors
Zeena abdul-rahman - president
Zeena Abdul-Rahman is President of EPIC's Board of Directors. She is a Senior Counsel in the Division of Investment Management of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In this position, Zeena provides legal advice and guidance on a wide range of policy matters involving the regulation of investment advisers and investment funds, including private funds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Prior to joining the government, Zeena was an Associate at a law firm in Washington, DC, where she worked primarily on assisting mutual fund boards satisfy their fiduciary duties as well as their various compliance obligations. Zeena also co-chaired the firm’s immigration pro bono program and helped resettle several Iraqi immigrant families in the United States. Originally from Iraq, Zeena lived in Saudi Arabia and Iraq before moving to United States to complete her education. She earned a Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tennessee. Zeena is licensed to practice law in the State of New York and the District of Columbia.
kate phillips-barrasso - vice president
Kate Phillips-Barrasso is the Director of Humanitarian Policy at InterAction. In this capacity she helps lead the NGO community’s efforts to secure policies for improved humanitarian response and represents the experience and views of InterAction’s members in both U.S. and international humanitarian policy fora. Prior to joining InterAction, Kate served as the Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). At the IRC, she guided work to draw the attention of policy makers to global humanitarian needs, led advocacy efforts for policy change to better assist people forced to flee war and disaster and oversaw the organization’s relations with the U.S. Congress, Executive Branch and other NGOs. Kate also worked for several years as a Senior Policy Advisor with CARE, leading the organization’s policy and advocacy efforts on a number of humanitarian and development issues. Kate is a Truman National Security Project Fellow and served as a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member. She holds a Master's in International Development Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Berkeley in Conservation of Natural Resources in Developing Countries.
SÖREN SÜDHOF
Sören Südhof is a technology investor at Maverick Capital. Previously, Sören was an investment professional at Parthenon Capital Partners, a director for Vianar Affordable Housing, and a strategy consultant for Oliver Wyman. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University and his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and the winner of the Robichek Award. At Yale, as a Richard U. Light Fellow, Georg Walter Leitner Fellow, and Fox International Fellow, he explored religious political conflict across Asia and the Middle East, focusing in particular on India and Iraq. Sören joined EPIC's Board of Directors in June 2012 and served as Board President from 2012 to 2019.
david slater - secretary
David Slater has been interested in the Middle East since 2005, when he joined the U.S. Army. During his time of service, David studied Arabic at the Defense Language Institute and deployed to Iraq twice, in 2008 and in 2011. While deployed, he worked closely with Iraqi civilians, witnessing first-hand the utter devastation which surrounded them, and decided that he was going to do something to help improve their situation. To that end, after returning to the U.S., he finished junior college then studied International Relations at U.C. Davis. In the summer of 2013, David participated in the University of California Washington D.C program, during which he interned at EPIC and was instrumental in creating the “Iraq Matters” podcast. Currently, David is working as a Caseworker for the International Rescue Committee in Sacramento, where he helps resettle many Iraqi refugees and SIVs.
ZAIN ALABWEH
Zain Alabweh is a climate resilience researcher and project leader at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, where she leads the Cactus Adaptation and Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) project. This international initiative fosters cross-regional collaboration to advance sustainable solutions for food security, carbon sequestration, and land restoration. Her work expertly bridges indigenous knowledge, environmental science, and policy, making her a perfect fit for EPIC’s data-driven and community-engaged approach. Zain’s extensive experience spans climate-smart agriculture, disaster preparedness, and sustainable development across the globe. She is deeply committed to ensuring technical expertise translates into tangible community benefits, a core principle of EPIC’s mission. Fluent in Arabic, English, and Spanish, she brings invaluable regional insight and a passion for advancing EPIC’s climate and environmental work in Iraq and beyond.
PETER SCHWARTZSTEIN
Peter Schwartzstein is an award-winning British-American journalist and researcher, who has reported on water, food security, and particularly the conflict-climate nexus across more than thirty countries in the Middle East, Africa, and occasionally further afield. He mostly writes for National Geographic, but he also contributed regular articles to the New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg Businessweek, and many other outlets. He is a Global Fellow with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program, a TED fellow and a fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. Based in Athens, Greece, he consults for UN agencies and iNGOs, and frequently speaks at climate security and other environmental conferences. In 2024, he published his first book, The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence, available via Island Press, which is the first from-the-ground exploration of climate’s contribution to global violence.
SHIVAN FAZIL
Shivan Fazil is a doctoral researcher and graduate teaching fellow in Political Science at Boston University, specializing in governance, state-society relations, and conflict dynamics in Iraq. With over a decade of experience, he has conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the country, including the Kurdistan Region, documenting perspectives on governance from displaced communities, religious minorities, and youth. This deep, on-the-ground experience provides invaluable context for EPIC’s mission to drive change through evidence-based advocacy. Shivan has spearheaded research initiatives supported by donors including Robert Bosch Stiftung, Pax for Peace, and USAID, collaborating with organizations such as the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and the United States Institute of Peace.
GHEED SAEED
Gheed Saeed is an Iraqi American digital marketing strategist. Gheed's work on behalf of the Middle East started at the University of California, Davis. There, she was a founding sister of the Empowered Arab Sisterhood (Epsilon Alpha Sigma, Inc), the first and only Arab sorority in the nation. As Vice President of the organization, Gheed has overseen the growth of the organization and the sorority's annual fundraising efforts on behalf of the Kayany Foundation to build classrooms for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. After earning her undergraduate degree in Communication at the University of California, Davis, Gheed launched her career at Apple. At Apple's App Store, she was instrumental in the launch of the new Mac App Store and multiple iOS launches. Gheed pivoted from the technology sector to beauty, and is now based in New York City working in Strategy and Operations on behalf of cosmetic pharmaceutical giant Allergan Aesthetics, the maker of BOTOX Cosmetic. Gheed is founder of Single Arab Female, a content hub aimed at helping Arab American women bridge the gap between their dual identities and make sense of growing up Arab in America. Gheed brings her communication prowess and innovative digital strategies to the EPIC board to help build a better Iraq.