Ranya Ahmed is a passionate social justice advocate, with a decade of experience in the nonprofit and academic sectors. She is passionate about “Data for Good” – using data to improve workings and efficiencies within organizations, as well as using data for advocacy. Ranya currently serves at the Interim Head of Analytics at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). At the ACLU, she oversees strategic and technical projects on a series of issues areas, including education equity, immigration, and racial justice. As an immigrant, she finds immigration advocacy work especially rewarding. Previously, she worked at the Legal Services Corporation, the largest national funder for civil legal aid, where she ran a national eviction study.
Ranya earned a Master’s in International Studies, specializing in international humanitarian law, an MPA focused on nonprofit management, and a Doctorate in Political Science, specializing in International Relations & National Security from the University of Kansas. She also completed a research fellowship at Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. Ranya has published a series of professional and peer-reviewed publications, including authoring a book about counter-terrorism.