Maya Berry
2021
Executive Director, Arab American Institute
Maya Berry is executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI). In 1996, she established AAI’s first government relations department, which she led for five years before becoming a legislative director for U.S. House of Representatives Minority Whip David Bonior, where she managed the congressman’s legislative strategy and developed policies on international relations, human rights, immigration, civil rights and liberties, and trade. With a deep knowledge of public policymaking, Maya has helped expand AAI’s work on combatting hate crime, protecting the rights of securitized communities, and strengthening our democracy. In her personal capacity, Maya is a long-time Democratic Party activist who served as a member of the 2016 Democratic National Convention’s Platform Standing Committee and has attended all but one Democratic National Convention as a Delegate, Alternate or Standing Committee Member since 1992.
The Eradicating Hate Global Summit was both eye-opening and empowering. To have so many experts in the field of countering hate, all there sharing their expertise, working towards practical and real world solutions, was incredibly unique. It is this focus on meaningful conversations, answers, and solutions that makes Eradicating Hate so incredibly important. The spread of hate is a wicked problem, and the way Eradicating Hate approaches it is how we are going to solve it.
