Meet our Board Members
Dr. Manal Fakhoury
President and CEO of Fakhoury Leadership International. With over 35 years of non-profit and leadership experience, she serves on many community and national boards. She is past Chairwoman of Chamber of Commerce and has served in many top leadership positions. Currently: YMCA Executive Board, AHA Go Red for Women Chair , Rotary Assistant Governor, CAIR National Board Chair, Arab American Community Center (AACC) board, IFPB Board, TRUIST Bank board of directors, Toastmasters International, Founder and President of Ollin Women International, curator for TEDxOcala and Gavel Club Counselor for the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC). Graduate of Leadership Florida. Manal has brought innovative personal development programs to the FDOC. Manal is also a consultant pharmacist, inspirational speaker, coach, trainer, TEDx speaker, and mentor.
Manal earned her undergraduate, and doctorate from the University of Southern California, and MBA from Webster University. Manal has been recognized with many professional and community awards including Person of the Year, Business Women of the Year, Communicator or the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Webster’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and many others. Manal was honored to participate in the Climb of Hope and summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in January 2014. She enjoys traveling, exercising, advocating for peace, and lifting up people.
She is most proud of her husband, Dr. Riadh Fakhoury, a chiropractic physician, and their five wonderful children.
She is a strong advocate of personal development and social justice.Manal brings a very strong background in community service, leadership and fundraising.
John T. Fussell
For ten years before attending UConn Law School in 1992, John worked as a union organizer and vice president of the New England Health Care Employees Union, 1199, AFL-CIO. As an attorney, he represented unions in a labor law practice for 28 years until his retirement in 2023.
John’s international solidarity activism reaches back to 1978, when he co-founded the Connecticut Anti-Apartheid Committee (CAAC), which succeeded in passing divestment legislation through the Connecticut Legislature in 1981-82 in support of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.
Following a trip to Palestine in 2011, John became active in the Tree of Life Educational Fund (TOLEF), a nonprofit educational organization based at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, CT. TOLEF brought voices of conscience and Palestinian artists to the U.S. to expose Americans to the humanity and resilience of the Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation. As vice president of TOLEF until 2021, John helped organize trips to Palestine, including trade unionist delegations in 2015 and 2017, to witness the apartheid conditions imposed by Israel on the Palestinian people.
In 2021, he joined the Board of Watan, Inc., the fiscal sponsor of WeWillReturn.org (WWR), based in Connecticut, and became active in WWR’s educational and humanitarian work. In 2024, John was part of a WWR delegation that traveled to Cairo, Egypt, to provide prosthetics to Palestinian amputee refugees from the genocide in Gaza. The CTMirror.org has published several of John’s opinion pieces concerning Palestine.
Following retirement, John and Mina moved to New Hampshire to be closer to their daughter’s family. In addition to his work with PHoF and WWR, John works with local New Hampshire activists promoting peace, freedom, and democracy.
Niko Michalopoulos
Niko Michalopoulos is an educator, composer, writer, activist and pianist. The son of an Armenian mother from Turkey and a Greek father, his connection to his ancestral past is both fully alive and simultaneously fragmented. He has worked as an administrator in private, charter and public schools for over 20 years and is committed to progressive education with a focus on the Middle East. As a composer, his previous creative work includes writing music and lyrics for the Philadelphia-based band “Bebek”, performing with the DC based band “Sarmust” and more recently, he has composed solo piano and multi-instrumental works that are a fusion of rock and middle eastern music in support of the Palestinian fight for justice and dignity. This music has been central to his fundraising efforts for organizations such as UNRWA, ANERA and PCRF. He recently released an album - Songs for Gaza - and two videos for songs from the album that have been receiving awards at film festivals in Europe, the Middle East and USA. His debut novel, Six then Five - An Armenian Diaspora Story, is due to be published by Legacy Book Press in early 2027.
Fatimeh Asi
Fatimeh Asi currently lives in Washington DC with her 3 daughters. She received her B.S. in Nutritional Science at the University of Maryland in 2003. After taking a break to raise her family, she went back to school in 2019 at the California College of Ayurveda. She obtained a degree as a Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist in 2024 and has since opened up a small practice where she helps clients find balance in their body through diet, lifestyle and herbal remedies. Fatimeh has enjoyed working with local non-profits, ranging from educational institutions to organizations that address food insecurity in the DC area. Whether it’s through joining a board or volunteering, she is passionate about being involved in the non-profit space. Activism has always been integral to Fatimeh’s life and after the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2023, she spent a significant portion of her time attending die-ins, protests and encampments, including in front of the Israeli embassy, to call out the U.S. and Israeli governments’ roles in the Gaza genocide. Outside of her work and the world of activism, Fatimeh enjoys pottery, cooking, beautifying spaces and creating deep connections with people who are in alignment with their higher purpose.