Abder Rahman Ghouleh was born in Chicago, Illinois, has a Master of Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois-Chicago, both in Electrical Engineering. Mr. Ghouleh is a registered Professional Engineer and currently an independent engineering consultant specializing in the fields of energy, power, distribution, automation and controls. Previously, he worked 29 years at government agency, where he was Project Manager of multi-million dollar engineering projects. He also has been active in many professional engineering organizations.
A founding member, of the AAAEA, he has held many other board positions within the organization (see above list), including President and Trustees Board Chairman.
Abder has served as a past Chicago Chapter President of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where he worked to end to discrimination and profiling. Abder is married with four children.

Hussam is a practicing lead Structural Bridge Engineer at GRAEF Chicago O’Hare office. Hussam earned his bachelor and Master degree in Civil and Structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He has over 14 years of experience and is involved all aspects of Phase I, II and III highway design projects.  Since 2008, Hussam has been elected to serve on AAAEA-IL board. He served as secretary, Vice-President and President of the AAAEA-IL Chapter.  Currently he is the chairman of the Board Of trustee of the AAAEA-IL chapter and serve as the Past President on the Chapter’s Executive Board.  He served beyond his office capacity in several AAAEA-IL and National AAAEA Ad-hoc committees throughout the years and volunteered to lead several AAAEA programs and events.  On National AAAEA, Hussam served as AAAEA-IL delegate and was appointed as the National AAAEA Election/Nomination Committee chair for several years.  Also, Hussam serves with the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) as the PE Review course teacher for ASCE Younger Members Group.”

My education includes a BS in Chemical Engineering and a MS in Mechanical Engineering. I currently work for DunAn, a manufacturer of HVAC/R components. My career has been focused on Application Engineering and Heat Transfer products.

I have been part of the AAAEA-Houston chapter since 2019. Originally, my purpose for joining was to get support in the Texas PE licensing process. There was support but it was limited to Civil Engineering PEs and it had been a long time since they went through the process. Throughout the years that purpose has changed from wanting support to wanting to create a strong, supportive community of Arab-American professionals to help navigate career decisions effectively. I have held the position of Secretary and am currently the President of the AAAEA-Houston chapter. I hope to be more active in National AAAEA board activities.

Mr. Khatib graduated from the University of Colorado with degrees in Civil and Structural Engineering. He is an Affiliate Professor at Metropolitan State University, Colorado and teaches courses in analytical mechanics and engineering at the University of Colorado in Denver. An experienced bridge engineer with a strong background in analysis and design. He is currently the president of the Colorado chapter. Nabeal is a firm believer in inspiring students, friends, and others to overcome their personal learning challenges. He is a motivational speaker in the Denver metro area where his speeches focus mainly on how to be a better version of yourself, time management, and strategies and techniques to study/ work more efficiently. Mr. Khatib also serves as the career chair in the young ASCE in the state of Colorado. Mr. Khatib is the CEO & Founder of a tutoring company that is ranked number one in the state of Colorado (legendfortutoringdenver.com). Outside of work,
you can find Nabeal hiking, playing sport, spending great times with his beautiful wife, Manal.

Rami Asfahani is the founder and CEO of Cercle Designs, LLC which is a Technology Consulting firm creating businesses online through developing mobile applications and designing websites. Rami was born in Kokomo, IN but lived his life in Beirut, Lebanon where he studied Civil Engineering at AUB. Upon graduating, he moved to Chicago, IL to finish up his Masters in Structural Engineering at IIT. However, just like his background, he still didn’t feel at home. His passion for entrepreneurship and giving back to society guided him to teach underprivileged people Math for the GED in Southside Chicago, join “Chicago Summer Mentors” who help kids from Westside and Southside Chicago, join the boards of 3 different Non-Government Organizations (AAAEA-IIT, AAAEA-IL and SEAOI) while managing his own firm and plenty other NGO committees. Rami’s commitment to AAAEA started from his Master’s degree at IIT where he helps revive the forgotten IIT-Chapter.

Omar Abu Zeineh is a Senior Civil Engineer and Deputy Project Manager for WSP, a leading global
engineering design firm, with a specialization in water/wastewater/stormwater. He has served various
public, private, and federal clients, including the City of San Diego, the San Diego Association of
Governments, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, the California Department of Transportation,
the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, the University of California-San Diego, and multiple
Forbes 500 companies. Omar’s alma mater is San Diego State University, where he graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2018. Palestinian in heritage, Omar was born in Amman, Jordan and raised in Athens, Greece before being based in San Diego, CA.