Rebecca Hale, a resident of Colorado Springs, CO, was elected president of the American Humanist Association in January of this year. Hale has been an advocate for secularism and humanism for many years as co-owner of EvolveFISH.com, the largest online store of freethought merchandise. She is also the co-founder of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, a local affiliate of the American Humanist Association, and serves on its board of directors. She is a Humanist Celebrant certified by the Humanist Society of the American Humanist Association. As AHA president, Hale hopes to help raise public awareness and acceptance of humanism, advancing the AHA’s agenda of supporting public policy based on reason and science. Hale is the 20th president, and the 4th woman, to serve in the organization’s history. She presides over the current AHA board of directors, which is comprised of six women and six men.

Namazie was born in Tehran but left with her family in 1980 after the 1979 Iranian Revolution was suppressed by the Islamic movement. She has worked as the executive director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees, and is spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws and promotes citizenship rights and one secular law for all. She is also Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain which aims to break the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam and to oppose apostasy laws and political Islam.

Moreover, she is a National Secular Society Honorary Associate and the NSS’ 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner; Spokesperson of Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran; and Central Committee member of the Worker-communist Party of Iran. She is involved with Iran Solidarity, which she founded, and the International Committee against Stoning among other activities. She was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007 by Elle Quebec.

She has spoken at numerous conferences and written many articles on women’s rights issues, violence against women, political Islam, and secularism – some of which have been translated into various languages.

Presently, she lives in the United Kingdom.

An evolutionary psychologist, Elisabeth has been involved with the Richard Dawkins Foundation since its inception. Her innovative ideas include the OUT Campaign, Non-Believers Giving Aid, the science vignettes, the Four Horsemen and other DVDs, and bringing childcare to national conferences. She has worked to create an atmosphere of cooperation within the secular movement, bringing Richard and other speakers to conferences and university campuses across the US and Canada. Elisabeth has published in the popular press on matters ranging from science to women’s issues. USA Today listed her as one of the prominent women in the Freethought community. Through her leadership, RDF-US will continue to influence and expand the ideas and values of secularism on a global level.. She obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of St Andrews.