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EMLD

Chair

Meral Ece (Chair)

Meral has been a councillor since 1994. Serving 8 years on Hackney Council, and an Islington councillor since 2002. Meral served as Islington Council's Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care, 2002-6 Currently Chair of Islington Council's Overview & Scrutiny Committee. Meral is also Vice-Chair, of the London-wide Health Overview & Scrutiny Committe. Meral is the councillor rep. member of the Liberal Democrats Federal Executive. In May 2008, Meral was appointed by Harriet Harman MP, Minister for Women & Equalties, to the Government's All Party Ethnic Minority Womens Councillor's Task Force- which will be looking at increasing the numbers of BME women councillor's in the UK, and making local councils more representative. Born in Islington North London, Meral's family are Turkish - Cypriot immigrants, and she has an extended family right across London. She is a member of the All Party Group - Friends of Cyprus Meral has had a long career in local government and the NHS, which includes working as a librarian, community development officer, race equaility officer, and a chief officer in the NHS. Currently works as a public sector consultant, specialising in equalities & healthy communities. Meral is a well known figure in the UKs Turkish speaking communities, and was one of the first women from the community to be elected as councillor. Elected Chair of Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats in 2006, a national body of the Liberal Democrats, committed to the engaging and the further participation of black and ethnic minority communities, within the Party and in public life. Meral has 3 children, and is interested in the the Arts, writing, social history, and cinema.
07949 678 597
meralhece@yahoo.co.uk
http://meralece.blogspot.com

Vice Chair

Nader Fekri J.P.

I was born in Iran, but moved to Britain when I was eight. I grew up on the south coast, but moved up to Manchester to go to University. After graduation, I worked for the co-operative movement, and later became a researcher, and eventually went into teaching at universities. In the 1990s, I worked for the British Council, and taught in universities in East and Central Europe. I eventually moved back to Britain to settle in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, where I now live with my wife, Helen, and my sons. I am a History lecturer at Bradford University. I fought Keighley in 2005, beating the national leader of the BNP comfortably into fourth place. I am a candidate for the 2009 Euro Elections for Yorkshire. I am a local councillor on Calderdale MBC where I am Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Young people, as well as group spokesperson for Green and Environmental issues. I am a town councillor on Hebden Royd where I have the honour of being Mayor this year. I am Vice-President of Yorkshire and the Humber Lib Dems. I am a school governor at Riverside Junior School, and a magistrate on the Calderdale Bench in Halifax. I am a pacifist and atheist, and I support of Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, the National Secular Society, and the NSPCC. In my spare time, Ilove spending time with my family, cooking, listening to Van Morrison, reading Modern European Detective Fiction, and following the trials and tribulations of Tranmere Rovers.
naderfekri@hotmail.com

Vice Chair

Gerry Jerome

gerry.jerome@blueyonder.co.uk

Vice Chair

Mohammed Shafiq, Vice -Chair

Born in January 1979 in Littleborough, Rochdale, Lancashire. I went to Deeplish Primary School, Derby Street from 1983 to 1989. I then went to Kingsway Middle School for one year till the local education authority merged schools and I joined the new school called Springhill High School, I attended this school from 1990 - 1995. I then went to Bury College, in Bury UK to study GNVQ Leisure and Tourism. In 1998 I discovering that academic education was not for me at that stage of my life I decided to do a variety of jobs before I left for London where I joined Simon Hughes MP the senior Liberal Democrat spokesman for a few years. He is one of the most genuine and sincere politicians I have ever met and I am touched that he is a personal friend. I then joined the Cabinet Office for some time and also worked extensively on the Stephen Lawrence inquiry into institutional racism in the Metropolitan police Service and the Public Sector. At this stage I left London and joined the Civil Service in the Employment Service as an FJR Officer in Eastgate Jobcentre in Leeds. During my 18 months there I worked in a variety of positions and took a lead role in Diversity and Equality in the Employment Service. In April 2002 the Employment Service and the Benefit Agency merged to become the new Jobcentre Plus network. Due to family circumstances I moved back home in October 2003 and was transferred to the Salford Social Security Office as Admin Support Officer for the National Insurance Allocation Team. I was then promoted in December 2003 as an Executive Officer and was posted to Prestwich Jobcentre as a Restart Adviser. I left this posting in August 2004 to become the Regional Equality and Diversity Officer in the North West Region. I left this post in February 2005 to become an Outreach Advisor in Bolton, working with hard to reach customers from BME communities then moved to Oldham to work as a Specialist Outreach Adviser. I now work in the Child Support Agency as a Complex Caseworker. In my community roles I have been a member of the Liberal Democrats for many years. I have fought the 1997, 2001 and 2005 General Election campaigns, the local election campaigns in Leeds, Southwark, Islington, Oldham, Bradford, Edinburgh and Wembley. I have campaigned in successive By Election campaigns in Romsey, Brent East, Littleborough and Saddleworth, Leeds Central, Leicester South, Winchester, Hartlepool, Livingston, Cheadle and many others. In my various community involvements, I was part of Nick Clegg's campaign to be leader of the party and have worked closely with him on the government's Anti terror laws Married to Saima and with two daughters.
mohammed.shafiq@ramadhanfoundation.com

Secretary

Heather Johnson

heather.johnson53@ntlworld.com

Membership Secretary

Mirka Anderson , membership secretary

mirkieran@hotmail.com

Treasurer

Pete Perren

4 Cowley Street, London, SW1P 3NB
07005 964 045
07050 697 058
pete@pjperren.com

Media

Merlene Toh Emerson

Merlene Toh Emerson, b Oct 11 1960 Singapore m 3 s education Singapore Chinese Girls School, Kings College, Univ of London (LL.B), Clare Hall, Univ of Cambridge (LL.M.) career former Solicitor at firm in City of London and Partner at law firm in Singapore, C.E.D.R. accredited mediator, Director of Richmond Housing Partnership, party Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats, Secretary of Lib Dem Council Group, co-founder of Chinese Liberal Democrats, Candidate for London Assembly 2008 (West Central Constituency) and PPC for Hammermith other memberships/interests: volunteer speaker for Save the Children, community mediator of CALM Mediation, Trustee of Chinese Welfare Trust, qualified British Wheel of Yoga teacher.
merle@markemerson.net

Education Coordinator

Malik Nazir Ahmad

malik_nazir@hotmail.com

Policy Coordinator

Godfried Gyechie

Godfried Gyechie is a Lewisham Borough Councillor representing Blackheath Ward. He is of Ghanain and Guyanese parentage Godfried attended Queens College Taunton Somerset He stood as one of the three Liberal Democrat candidates at the 2006 local elections and unseated the Labour Deputy Mayor . He is proud to not only be one of the first Liberal Democrat councillors, but first councillors of African decent to represent Blackheath Ward. Godfried Gyechie is on the following committees, - Blackheath Safer Neighbourhood Panel (Chair) - Blackheath & Greenwich joint working party (Vice Chair) - Overview & Scrutiny - Licensing - Children & Young People - S.A.C.R.A In is professional life he works for one of the countries largest Developers. Godfried Gyechie is a committed Christian, married, and blessed with two daughters. His hobbies include, Choral Music, Opera ,History, and spending time with his children.
godfriedgyechie@yahoo.co.uk
http://godfriedgyechie.mycouncillor.org.uk/about-me/

Youth Secretary

Joseph Lee

Born in South West London in July 1983, Joseph took an interest in politics at a young age and joined the Liberal Democrats last year. Since then he has been an active member of the party, helping with the London Mayoral campaign and his local London regional campaign. Despite being a relatively new addition to the party, Joseph was asked to appear at the last London regional conference as a guest on a panel of speakers discussing BME issues. Joseph is of Jamaican descent and as such, is a proud member of the EMLD, striving to represent the ethnic minority members of the party and to use his own background and experience to engage young BME people. Joseph has shown this ambition and motivation in the professional arena too. Turning down the offer to read Sociology at Manchester University, Joseph instead chose to pursue the family business of Property developing, knowing that his skills would be better utilised in the commercial world rather than in academia. As a result, at the age of only 24, Joseph and his brother opened up their first branch of Hunters Estate Agents. Despite the current housing market, the business is continuing to grow and they now have two branches and are looking to expand further still, to open a third branch early next year. In his role as Director of an estate agency, Joseph has been asked by various media organisations to comment on the housing market, which has culminated in an aired report on BBC London and more recently, an interview for "Escape to the country" which will be aired on BBC One later his year Joseph leads on youth affairs for EMLD.
J.Lee@huntersonline.co.uk

London Regional Rep

Farid Ahmed

Born in Pakistan, I came to Walthamstow as a very young child. I have been educated here before going to Kings College, University of London. My career path started in the Energy Sector as a Business Analyst for Schulumberger, a multi-national oil services conglomerate. Whilst studying for my Master in Business Administration, I worked in the media sector as a corporate treasurer for Granada Group PLC and Carlton Communications PLC before becoming an Investment Banker specialising in Biotechnology and Telecommunications. Outside of my financial career in the City, I have worked for: * a small lithographic company in Walthamstow implimenting a MIS system * local youth groups as an Activities Coordinator * a local Childrens Activities Play Group teaching painting with water colours * a local charity for the elderly organising social events * started a UK based online Relay business in the late 1990s * helped establish a Arts and Crafts studio I now work with start-up companies in the software development, biotechnology and real estate sectors mentoring them on business development and financial issues. After my career in the City, and after being selected in Walthamstow as a Parliamentary candidate in 2004, I have worked practically full time with the local party to develop the Walthamstow Parliamentary Constituency from a poor third position in the polls (with the local Labour Party having nearly 18,000 majority over the Liberal Democrats) to strong second position behind Labour leaving them with less than 8,000 majority.
farid.ahmed@actant.com

Ordinary Member

Godfried Gyechie

Godfried Gyechie is a Lewisham Borough Councillor representing Blackheath Ward. He is of Ghanain and Guyanese parentage Godfried attended Queens College Taunton Somerset He stood as one of the three Liberal Democrat candidates at the 2006 local elections and unseated the Labour Deputy Mayor . He is proud to not only be one of the first Liberal Democrat councillors, but first councillors of African decent to represent Blackheath Ward. Godfried Gyechie is on the following committees, - Blackheath Safer Neighbourhood Panel (Chair) - Blackheath & Greenwich joint working party (Vice Chair) - Overview & Scrutiny - Licensing - Children & Young People - S.A.C.R.A In is professional life he works for one of the countries largest Developers. Godfried Gyechie is a committed Christian, married, and blessed with two daughters. His hobbies include, Choral Music, Opera ,History, and spending time with his children.
godfriedgyechie@yahoo.co.uk
http://godfriedgyechie.mycouncillor.org.uk/about-me/

Ordinary Member

Earnshaw Palmer

Earnshaw Palmer was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone on 7th January 1958. He is married to Junerose a teacher. He has two children - Earnette 23 and Fabienne 15. Education He attended Bethel Municipal, St George's Cathedral Boys, Tower Hill, Prince of Wales and Sierra Leone Grammar Schools. In 1986 he came to the UK and studied at Emile Woolfe College of Accountancy and City Banking College. He is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Career Earnshaw worked for the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank 1978-1986. He helped set up the Inspections Department in 1981, where he worked for 5 years as an Inspector. He worked for the African Development Agencies, Waterden Reproductions and as Assistant Finance Officer at the Association of County Councils (ACC) since March 1988 until it was wound up in 1997 to form the Local Government Association (LGA). He transferred his service to the LGA and was employed as Financial Accountant until April 2003 when he was promoted to Client Services and Accounts Manager. Campaigner Earnshaw is a well known campaigner in Thurrock. He led successful campaigns against a monster mobile phone mast and for the preservation of allotments, mores places in local schools, pillar boxes, Saturday skip service, traffic calming and road safety in Chafford Hundred. He is campaigning for a general hospital to be built in Thurrock. He is currently leading a borough-wide petition signing exercise, which is gaining widespread support. He intends to obtain 100,000 signatures before the petition is presented to the Prime Minister. Earnshaw is an enthusiastic activist. In 1992, he started campaigning to raise public awareness in the UK about the civil war in Sierra Leone. In response to further deteriorating situation in Sierra Leone, he set up the Movement for Peace in Sierra Leone (a UK based lobbying organisation) in October 1997. He led a campaign for British intervention in the fratricidal war which saw countless and needless loss of lives (estimated at over 50,000) and wanton destruction of property and infrastructure. He lobbied British politicians, world and religious leaders, and the press. Community Work Earnshaw is renowned for hard work for his community. He was the Chair of the Streets Forum which evolved to form the Chafford Hundred Community Forum which he chaired for two years. He was instrumental in showcasing the various community organisations in a Youth Fayre event. This became an annual event and has now been converted into a community day with a wider theme. Earnshaw is also the Chairman of the Drake Community Centre Management Committee. He is a parent governor for a local secondary school. Humanitarian work Earnshaw has made a personal contribution to the post civil war reconstruction in Sierra Leone. He went round schools in the UK collecting furniture and equipment. He has shipped a container load to Freetown to help rehabilitate schools destroyed in Sierra Leone. The consignment was duly distributed to existing as well as destroyed schools in the country. Nine schools were recipients of this donation. Earnshaw has also donated a huge consignment of lab technician gowns (over 700) as well as 80 linen bed sheets to the College of Medicine and Allied Sciences in Sierra Leone. As a consequence, all the students now benefit from having the gowns free of charge during the tenure of their course of study, saving them additional expenses. Earnshaw is currently working to establish a Computer School in Freetown. He is not in receipt of any funding and has borne these costs himself. Political Career Councillor for Chafford Hundred Ward 2002-2004 European Parliamentary Candidate on the East of England list 2004 Interests Politics, international affairs, education, travelling, singing, music, sports and writing.
palmer@earnshawp.demon.co.uk