Dalia Mogahed
Dalia Mogahed is an American researcher and consultant. She is the director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington, D.C. She is also President and CEO of Mogahed Consulting, a Washington, D.C.–based executive coaching and consulting firm specializing in Muslim societies and the Middle East. Mogahed is former executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a non-partisan research center that provided data and analysis to reflect the views of Muslims all over the world. She was selected as an advisor by U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Early life and education
Mogahed was born in Cairo, Egypt, and immigrated to the United States at the age of four. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering with a minor in Arabic from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Upon graduation, Mogahed joined the marketing department of Procter & Gamble. She subsequently received her MBA from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.Career and influence
She is the director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Washington, D.C. and Dearborn, Michigan–based Muslim research organization. Prior to ISPU, Dalia Mogahed chaired the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies from 2006 to 2012, which conducted research and gathered statistics on Muslims throughout the world. She was selected as an advisor by U.S. President Barack Obama on the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.Mogahed was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about U.S. engagement with Muslim communities and was a significant contributor to the Homeland Security Advisory Council's Countering Violent Extremism Working Group. She worked with Madeleine Albright and Dennis Ross on the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project to produce policy recommendations—many of which were adopted by the Obama administration.
She is a board member and a leader in the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Arab World. She is also a nonresident public policy analyst at Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.
Recognition and publications
Arabian Business magazine recognized Mogahed in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 as one of the most influential Arab women and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre included Mogahed in its 2009 and 2010 lists of the 500 most influential Muslims. Ashoka: Innovators for the Public named her the Arab World's Social Innovator of the Year in 2010, and the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association recognized her with its "Forward Under 40" award for outstanding contributions by a graduate of the university.She and John Esposito co-authored the book Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, based on six years of research and more than 50,000 interviews representing Muslims in more than 35 predominantly Muslim countries. Accounting for more than 90% of the world's Muslim community, this poll is the largest, most comprehensive study of its kind. Mogahed later appeared as a commentator in the PBS documentary Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, which was based on the book.
Mogahed's analysis has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy magazine, the Harvard International Review, the Middle East Policy Journal, and other publications.
In 2019, Mogahed was recognized in a list of "200 people who best embody the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass, one of the most influential figures in history" by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University in collaboration with The Guardian.