The Nominating Committee is pleased to announce that Nahed Artoul Zehr has been slated to serve as President-Elect-Elect of the Junior League of Nashville.

Nahed joined the Junior League of Nashville in 2012 as a transfer from the Junior League of Rhode Island, where she chaired the provisional fundraiser. In Nashville, Nahed quickly showed her willingness to serve when, in her second year, she stepped into the role of public relations chair after an unexpected resignation. Nahed served in that role for two years, during which time she created many needed PR systems and processes and reimagined the way the JLN engages with the media. Nahed has also served as transfer chair-elect and chair and is currently serving on the Governing Board as secretary. In each of these leadership roles Nahed has showed a propensity for strategic and critical thinking, a spirit of collaboration and hard work, and a proclivity to serve in whatever capacity to which she is called. She will undoubtedly continue to use these and many other talents and abilities to the benefit of the JLN when she assumes the role of President in 2019–2020.

In January Nahed began a new career as the executive director of the Faith & Culture Center in Nashville, TN, whose mission is to bridge communities across lines of religion, race, ethnicity, and culture, through the development of meaningful relationships. A Palestinian Christian who was born in Israel, Nahed moved to the United States with her family when she was 6 years old. Her family immigrated to New York City and spent two years there before moving to Fort Dodge, Iowa, for her father’s job.

Nahed attended the University of Iowa, where she received a BA in Political Science and Religious Studies, and an MA in Religious Studies. She received her PhD in Religious Studies from The Florida State University, specializing in the religious ethics of war in both the Western and Islamic traditions. She spent one year as a Minerva Research Chair at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Nahed and her husband, Joel, moved to Nashville in 2012. She spent five years as a professor of religious studies at Western Kentucky University, where she taught graduate and undergraduate courses on comparative ethics and Islam. Nahed’s first book, The War against al-Qaeda: Religion, Policy, and Counter-Narratives, was released this summer with Georgetown University Press.

Nahed and her husband Joel are active members of their church, where Nahed chairs a committee and teaches Sunday School, and in other community organizations. As the mother of two young daughters, Nurah (4) and Nadeen (19 months), Nahed is especially excited about the JLN’s mission to train and equip women to be active agents of change in their communities through programs that have clear and lasting impact, and in partnership with community organizations.

Please join the Nominating Committee in congratulating Nahed!