Sapreet Kaur Exe. Director of Sikh Coalition

Aman Singh · #1 (**permalink**) 27-Sep-2009, 22:06 PM

Sapreet Kaur has been named as the new Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition. Sapreet Kaur was most recently the managing director of human assets strategy for Teach for America (Teach For America - Help Ensure Educational Opportunity for All), a national non-profit which focuses on eliminating educational inequity.
Sapreet Kaur served on the Sikh Coalition’s Board of Trustees for the last one and a half years and will now lead the organization in a staff role. She will continue the work shepherded by Amardeep Singh, co-founder and outgoing Executive Director of the Coalition. Singh will be assuming the role of Director of Programs and Advocacy.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-coalition/26837-sapreet-kaur-exe-director-sikh-coalition.html

“We are thrilled to have a senior executive like Ms. Kaur on the Coalition’s staff team,” said Amardeep Singh. ”I look forward to partnering with her to take the Sikh Coalition to a higher level of impact and growth.”

Over the past three years, the Coalition has grown over 500% in its budget and staff. The Coalition opened an office in the San Francisco Bay Area last year, giving it coast to coast coverage for its services. The Coalition has long attracted a dedicated core of professionals and the expertise that Ms. Kaur brings to the team will further institutionalize the organization in the coming years.

“Sapreet will guide the next phase of the Coalition’s growth,” said Prabhjot Singh, the Coalition’s Board Chair. “Our goal is for her to bring her vast management experience and keen insight to bear on expanding programmatic efforts and shoring up the infrastructure to continue the Coalition’s work. I want to thank Amardeep for leading the Coalition during an unprecedented era of growth. I am excited about this opportunity for him to focus his energies on our overall programming strategy.”

Kaur plans to advance the Sikh Coalition’s legal, advocacy, community organizing, and public education programs to focus on further serving the community, while creating a deeper grassroots presence. She also plans on leveraging her experience from Teach for America to provide stewardship of the Coalition’s public education work, which seeks to inform the broader community about Sikhs and the Sikh way of life.

“Only after we successfully educate our neighbors, will we be able to stem the tide of employment discrimination, school bullying, and the myriad of other bias incidents our community suffers everyday,” said Ms. Kaur. “At the same time, we will bring the full force of all our program areas, partner organizations and volunteers across the country to defend the rights of Sikhs to fearlessly practice our faith.”

Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=26837

Born and raised in central New Jersey, Ms. Kaur attended Camp Chardi Kala in New York as well as the Khalsa School at Bridgewater Gurdwara while growing up and has been active in different Panthic community activities for the last two decades. She has a passion for working with the Sikh community and especially enjoys working to empower the next generation of youth and children. Ms. Kaur is a graduate of the Stern School of Business at New York University with a dual degree in marketing and international business.

Ms. Kaur’s appointment marks the first time that a female and someone steeped in nonprofit management has led a Sikh civil rights organization in the U.S. Prior to joining Teach for America, she held management positions at Coach Inc. and Williams-Sonoma Inc. She also served in the United States Peace Corps in Kenya and Uganda, where she designed and executed local community programs around income generation related to conservation, conflict resolution, lobbying & advocacy, as well as organizational development & capacity building. Ms. Kaur also serves as a board member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (wagggsworld.org), a 10 million member worldwide movement across 135 countries providing non-formal education where girls and young women develop leadership and life skills.

Founded after September 11, 2001, the Sikh Coalition is a community-based organization that works towards the realization of civil and human rights for all people. The Coalition has offices in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area and 10 full time staff members. The Coalition serves as a resource on Sikhs and Sikh concerns for governments, organizations and individuals.