Fayrouz Saad
Born and raised in Michigan to Lebanese immigrant parents, Fayrouz's political formation began in community organizing. She served on John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and has worked or advised on nearly every presidential cycle since, including leading Arab and Muslim American outreach strategy in 2016 and 2020. That same year, she founded the Michigan chapter of Emgage and built one of the most intensive Muslim voter engagement programs the state had ever seen. In 2018, she ran for Michigan's 11th Congressional District in one of the most competitive Democratic primaries in the country — a campaign rooted in first-time voter mobilization and Arab and Muslim American political representation.
Her government record is equally formidable. Under Mayor Mike Duggan, she served as Detroit's first Director of Immigrant Affairs, launching the Detroit-ID program and leading the city's refugee resettlement and workforce integration efforts. As Executive Director of the Office of Global Michigan under Governor Gretchen Whitmer, she worked at the intersection of public policy and economic opportunity — expanding access to public services for Michigan's diverse communities through translation services, small business outreach, and workforce development programming.
At the federal level, she served in senior roles under both President Obama and President Biden at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — most recently as Assistant Secretary for Partnership and Engagement, where she was the department's principal liaison to state and local governments, tribal nations, and civil society. Prior to that appointment, she drove stakeholder strategy for the CHIPS Program at the U.S. Department of Commerce, one of the most consequential industrial policy investments in a generation.
Throughout it all, what has remained constant is a commitment to the communities she comes from — and a conviction that better data, better infrastructure, and better coordination can transform what's possible for our communities and our country.
Fayrouz Saad is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of New Arc Collective. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and also holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. She is a loyal Michigan fan and spends most weekends watching games. Go Blue!
