Dr. Haifa Fakhouri is the president and CEO of the Arab American and Chaldean Council (ACC). Her experience as a sociologist, educator and administrator enabled her to lead a number of supporters to establish ACC in 1979, a non-profit human service organization providing services to the Middle Eastern and mainstream communities in Southeast Michigan. Since then, ACC has grown from a single office in downtown Detroit with a $20,000 budget to 39 Outreach Offices with a multi-million dollar operating budget in the tri-county area.
Fakhouri was appointed to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Executive Committee in 2004.
Prior to establishing the Arab American and Chaldean Council, Fakhouri served as an International Advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Population (UNDP) on the role and status of women and population policies in the Middle East Region.Fakhouri is a graduate of Wayne State University. She came to the United States from her homeland of Jordan in 1968 to pursue her academic goals.
Fakhouri currently serves on the Board of Directors for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, Detroit Institute of Arts, International Women's Leadership Forum, and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government Women's Leadership Board, among others.
She is a recipient of many tributes, awards and appointments, including the Detroit News 1999 Michiganian of the Year Award, National Association of Women Business Owners "2005 Diversity Champion", National ADC Distinguished Service Award, 2005 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and Michigan Women's Foundation Woman of Achievement and Courage Award. Fakhouri has been inducted into the International Institute's Hall of Fame as well as Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, and was named one of Crain's Most Influential Women in 2007.