Samer Skooti, Founder, President and Secretary of the Board

Samer Skooti is President and Founder of the Jana Project. He founded the organization with a mission to use communication technology to help those globally who are normally difficult to reach—such as orphans and widows in conflict-riddled nations. Jana is also focused on helping the elderly here in the U.S. overcome the health risks associated with social isolation.

Mr. Skooti and his team have a history of past successful campaigns in Jordan and Iraq. Working in cooperation with the non-profit, Benevolent Hands, his team helped educate 762 refugee children in Jordan and feed 3,381 families in the poorest slums of Baghdad and Mosul Iraq.

Samer Skooti is also President and Founder of Markez Inc, a US-owned consultant and business development company. He founded Markez to focus on private sector development and reform strategy in Iraq. Markez functions as a bridge for US and Iraqi clients, helping create and implement business development strategies as well as management reform training programs.

Mr. Skooti has a deep understanding of the Iraqi authority’s decision-making processes and has strong relationships at the highest levels of the government of Iraq and of the private sector. He has held various advisory positions to senior Iraqi political leaders; providing capacity building strategies and working to strengthen the democratic institutions in the country.

Before that, Markez has acted as a local business partner to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, providing management and consultancy services, including strategic support in the construction and marketing management of the U.S. Pavilion at the Baghdad International Fair. Ambassador Beecroft asked Mr. Skooti to represent the US commercial interests through the formation of the strategic trade advisory council chaired by Ambassador Beecroft. The group is composed of senior executives drawn from private sector member companies operating or interested to operate in Iraq and the US government senior team in the country.

Mr. Skooti was also the former senior manager and acting governance team director at the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI), where the Iraqi government entrusted him to represent their interests as he advised the leadership of the Iraqi Council of Representatives. In this role, Mr. Skooti was instrumental in promoting structural reforms, strategizing for potential negotiations, and instituting capacity-building programs. He has also served as Program Manager, and worked as U.S. Embassy Liaison at the Research Triangle Institute International (RTI), providing research and technical services to Iraqi authorities and businesses. In addition to this extensive experience, Mr. Skooti has served as an advisor and interpreter to the 82nd Airborne Command in charge of Southern Baghdad.

Skooti holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Baghdad. He grew up and went to school in Cardiff, Wales.

Christian Reed, Secretary and Treasurer of the Board

Christian Reed has spent 32 years in international business development, including 26 years with the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, where he utilized tremendous energy and enthusiasm to promote American exports and help U.S. companies achieve commercial success in overseas markets.

He capstoned his career with the Commerce Department as Executive Director for Middle East/Africa, leading 150 trade professionals in Washington headquarters and in 27 offices throughout the region.

Working in and on the Middle East for 13 years, Mr. Reed always enjoyed the challenge of assisting U.S. companies succeed in this conflict-riddled part of the world.

He led his Embassy team to stage the second USA Pavilion at the 2012 Baghdad International Fair, which attracted 20 American exhibitors and generated over $2 million in off-the-floor vehicle sales, and to help facilitate over $295 million in U.S. exports to Iraq. In the United Arab Emirates, he actively managed his team of ten to assist over 445 American companies make export sales in the Gulf or sign contracts with agents or distributors for a total value of $2.6 billion.

Christian’s additional diplomatic assignments include Saudi Arabia, Canada, Denmark, and Germany. In Ottawa, he developed his fundraising abilities while soliciting support for the U.S. Embassy’s July 4 celebrations, collecting $120,000 per year from American companies doing business in Canada.

Mr. Reed came to the U.S. Government with ten years of professional experience, including three years teaching English at a German university and at a Saudi post-graduate institution. In addition, he worked in the travel sector, for KD German Rhine Line and for Austrian Airlines.

Originally from Los Angeles, Christian studied at the University of Texas at Austin and at Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet in Freiburg, Germany. He holds a BA in German, an MA in teaching English as a foreign language, and an MBA in international business. He and his wife, Elizabeth Eisenman Reed, a retired psychotherapist, have two sons, both gainfully employed.

Ahmed Dawood, Vice President and Member of the Board

Mr. Ahmed Dawood is the Founder and Managing Partner of the Law Offices of Bayt al-Hikmah for Legal Services and Consultancy, LLC, leading the firm’s Corporate, Commercial, and Investment practice. Ahmed’s experience combines practical and academic knowledge having worked in the public sector in Iraq. His practice focuses on commercial and financial affairs related to Iraq, particularly trade and foreign investment, public-private partnerships, public procurement, licensing, and contracting.

Mr. Dawood has notable experience and relationships with the government of Iraq serving as a trusted advisor. Before he served as Advisor and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmed also served as an Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Planning and International Development. He also worked as Executive Secretary of the High Economic & Procurement Committee at the Council of Minister. Mr. Dawood served as the Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of Iraq. In this role, he advises the President and the Presidency on fiscal, economic, investment, and trade matters and coordinates with the Prime Minister’s Office and government agencies, World Bank and embassies in Iraq, multilateral and national development financial institutions to plan and execute strategic initiatives to support the development and economic initiatives in Iraq.

Ahmed Dawood played a key role in drafting and implementing high impact legislations including but not limited to the Iraqi Investment Law and the Supreme Construction Commission. He acted as the international legal adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office on Iraq’s potential accession to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958.

Mr. Dawood is active in the publishing arena. He served as a contributing author for the U.S. Department of Commerce Commercial Law Development Program’s report titled Legal Guide to Investing in Power Generation in Iraq in 2018 in addition to authoring numerous legal and financial publications.

Mr. Dawood received a Bachelor of Arts in Law and a Master’s Degree in Commercial Law from Al-Nahrain University in Iraq. He also received a Master of Law in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC, in 2012.

Mr. Dawood is a member of the Iraqi Bar Association since 1998. He is also an Iraqi Special Legal Consultant licensed by the District of Columbia Bar and the Virginia State Bar, USA. Mr. Dawood is an accredited Iraqi law Expert Witness in courts in the UK and US courts. He speaks fluent Arabic and English.

Jessica Johnson, Treasurer and Chairman of the Board

Jessica Johnson wears many hats for the Jana Project. She has played a role as a writer, editor, and funding researcher. She has assisted in web development, the social media campaign and content development.

Mrs. Johnson is also a board member of the non-profit, Earth Future Action. She helps to coordinate a global communications strategy, organize and maintain their website, along with writing several key articles. She has 10 years of experience working in the non-profit world, with a focus on environmental policy.

As a fiction writer, she has won two awards from the Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest. She has also published content in Islamic Audio Bytes, 365 Tomorrows, Vanishing Point Magazine and Teleport Magazine. As an editor, she worked for Tannhauser Press on a variety of science fiction and fantasy novels.

Between 2006-2012, Mrs. Johnson worked as an educator for the school systems of Orange County Florida and Fairfax County Virginia. She served as a Substitute Teacher, Daycare Worker and Instructional Assistant for Special Education. In this capacity, she helped children in low-income neighborhoods. She also helped children with extreme intellectual, emotional and physical disabilities. In 2011, she worked as an ESL teacher for adults at the Washington Baptist University.

Jessica Johnson also has a wealth of volunteer experience. As a political volunteer, she did phone banking for the 2020 Biden Presidential Campaign, the 2016 Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign, and the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. As an environmental volunteer, she has participated in two cleanups at Occoquan Regional Park, a cleanup of Old Town Occoquan and a tree planting at Occoquan Regional Park. As a friend of the elderly, Jessica played piano for senior citizens at the Fairfax Virginia Sunrise Nursing Home. As a Muslim revert and friend of the American Muslim community, Jessica has helped clean up the AMAA Cemetery, organize the library at the Islamic Center of Northern Virginia and teach students about prayer. She also initiated a funding campaign for an Iraqi Refugee in Turkey who was in urgent need of medical care.

Mrs. Johnson received her Bachelor’s Degree in English Language and Literature at George Mason in 2012 with a minor in Technical Writing. She also holds a certificate in Grant Writing.