Board
Meet Our Board
Crescent Academy International benefits from the vision and guidance of an esteemed board of directors, composed of prominent, dedicated community leaders across multiple professions who share a passion for the Crescent community.
Our board includes a core group of Muslim academicians, doctors, engineers, attorneys, social scientists and others who conceived the vision and were actively involved in the founding of the Michigan Education Council (MEC), which established Crescent Academy International in 1991. Most of our trustees and directors proudly have children or grandchildren that attend Crescent. Our board members play a significant role in continuously expanding Crescent’s resources and sustaining the school’s reputation for excellence as an Islamic-focused school.
Founding Trustees
Abdul Hafeez, M.D.
Dr. Hafeez has been a practicing psychiatrist in metro Detroit for more than 40 years. He is one of the founding pioneers of the Muslim Community of Western Suburbs (MCWS) and a co-founder of Crescent Academy International and the Muslim Enrichment Project (MEP). He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the MEP, an organization dedicated to serving the religious educational needs of new Muslims. Dr. Hafeez has dedicated most of his life to serving the community through many organizations and community-driven projects focused on preserving Muslim identity and supporting Islamic education for future generations.
Mahmood Hai, M.D.
Dr. Hai is a prominent urologist and a founding member of the Michigan Education Council (MEC), which started Crescent Academy International. He is also a founder of Affiliates in Urology and the Surgical Institute of Michigan. As a visiting professor, he has trained more than 1,000 urologists at universities around the world. Dr. Hai has earned many honors for his philanthropic and professional contributions, and his work has been widely published in medical journals and books. He attended Prince of Wales Medical College and has a master’s degree in surgery from Patna University. He completed his residency at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Trustees
Mesut Duran, Ph.D,
Secretary
Dr. Duran is a university professor whose teaching and research focus on technology and teacher education. He has been actively involved with Crescent Academy International since moving to Canton in 2000; his three children attended Crescent and his wife, Nurcan, is the daycare teacher and director at the school. Before becoming a trustee in 2011, he served on the school’s board of directors for seven years. A frequently published author of technology/teacher education articles, he formerly chaired the school’s technology committee. Dr. Duran is a professor at the College of Education, Health, and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. He has a B.A. from Hacettepe University in Turkey, and two degrees from Ohio University: a master’s in microcomputer applications in education, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction.
Yusuf Hai
Mr. Hai is managing director at CIG Capital Advisors in Canton, Michigan. His nearly 20 years of experience in management consulting and investment banking include serving as chief operating officer of PCSI and as a consultant with Accenture. He is a longtime advisor to the Michigan Education Council (MEC) and Crescent Academy International. An MEC board member since 2007, he has been actively involved in several key Crescent projects, including overseeing the operating budget, advising on a $7 million facility expansion, and coordinating fundraising. He also serves on the boards of the Canton Community Foundation and the Whitestone Foundation, which he co-founded. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of Michigan, where he was a board member/treasurer of the Muslim Students’ Association. He earned an MBA from U of M’s Ross School of Business.
Iltefat Hamzavi, M.D.
Dr. Hamzavi is a physician and founding board member emeritus of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). He is also on the Michigan and national boards of Emgage, which works to increase American Muslim civic engagement in the American voting process. He also serves on the Michigan Muslim Community Council board. He is a managing partner at Hamzavi Dermatology and an active researcher at Henry Ford Hospital with nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications and multiple national awards. Dr. Hamzavi has served on the Crescent International Academy board since 2004; his three children attended Crescent. He and his wife Jabeen supported the initial building of Crescent as college students and the subsequent expansion as board members. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Michigan and a medical degree from the U of M Medical School.
Directors
Pembe Yasarlar,
executive director
Ms. Yasarlar is a respected educational leader who has had a profound influence on Crescent Academy International as a teacher, principal and administrator for more than two decades. As executive director of Crescent since 2010, she has overseen the growth of Crescent’s curriculum, facilities and national reputation. Ms. Yasarlar also sits on the board of the Institute for Learning and Development, proprietor of The Tarbiyah Project ©. Her academic credentials include B.S. from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, teaching certification from the U of M School of Education, a master’s in Education from U of M’s Rackham Graduate School, and in progress is a doctorate in Education.
Tariq Hafeez,
president
Mr. Hafeez is an attorney and entrepreneur with 15 years of experience in legal services and technology. He is co-founder and president of Canton, Michigan-based LegalEase Solutions, which provides legal support services to in-house legal and compliance teams and law firms. He also leads The LawStore, an online marketplace providing various services for attorneys. He has practiced corporate, commercial real estate, health care and criminal law in the private sector and as an assistant attorney general for Michigan. Mr. Hafeez has served on the board of Crescent Academy International for the past 10 years. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, and has a B.A. in political science and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan.
Amna Kamal,
vice president
Ms. Kamal is director of internal communications and employer brand at KLA, an $8.2 billion Fortune 500 company that produces process-control and yield-management systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors. From the company’s second headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she oversees the strategy and execution of communications designed to inform, engage and inspire the company’s 12,400 global employees and potential employees. She has more than 20 years of design, marketing and communications experience at automotive and technology companies, and has been vice president of the Michigan Education Council (MEC) board since 2019. Her contributions to Crescent include support with marketing, fundraising and redesigning of the school website. She has a fine arts degree in graphic design and illustration from California State University, Fullerton.
Liaqat Ali, M.D.
Dr. Ali is a physician in Monroe, Michigan. He serves on the board of the American Society of Dermatopathology (ASDP) and on two committees of the American Academy of Dermatology. He has written more than 40 articles in prominent medical journals, contributed to textbooks, and speaks nationally on melanoma management. Active in the academic community, he serves on the clinical faculty at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He did his residency training at SUNY Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Center in New York. He studied and trained in hematology and cutaneous lymphoma at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, and did further training at Penn State University. He also obtained specialized training at Cornell University and New York’s Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Chris Abdur Rahman Blauvelt
Mr. Blauvelt is a passionate Muslim American entrepreneur committed to building up the global Muslim community to reach its full potential. He is the CEO and founder of LaunchGood.com, one of the world’s largest faith-inspired crowdfunding platforms, which has raised over $450 million from more than 1.4 million donors across 156 countries. Mr. Blauvelt has two degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor: a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration. He also holds Arabic language certificates from the Arabic Language Institute of Fez, Morocco, and the Qasid Institute in Amman, Jordan. He and his wife Amani live in Canton and are the parents of two Crescent Academy International students, and insha’Allah soon a third.
Ayaz Khan, OD,
Treasurer
Dr. Khan is an optometry specialist in Dearborn, Michigan, with more than 26 years of diverse experience. He has long supported the Crescent community and its desire to be a national leader in Islamic education. Two of his children attended Crescent starting in preschool. In his professional practice, Dr. Khan cooperates with many other doctors and specialists as part of a major medical group. He focuses primarily on specialty contact lenses, evaluating for eye disease such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, and performing diabetic eye health exams. He graduated from Illinois College Of Optometry at Chicago. His wife, Ghazala, also is an optometrist.
Eldin Foco
Eldin Foco is a dedicated and faith-driven financial planner based in Chesterfield, Michigan. He has more than 17 years of leadership and management experience in dynamic military and business environments. After serving in the U.S. Navy, his professional journey has been centered on the harmony between financial planning and Islamic principles. In his role as a senior wealth advisor with Sterling Advisory Group, Mr. Foco specializes in assisting individuals and organizations in aligning their financial objectives with their personal values. His mission is to help others achieve their financial goals while adhering to the ethical and moral principles of Islam. Mr. Foco has a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix and is a certified retirement counselor. He and his wife, Elvedina, have two children, whom he describes as his pillars of strength and inspiration.