Fellow Highlights

Akbar Hossain Named Executive Director of Pennsylvania Governor-Elect Transition

November 17, 2022

2016 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Akbar Hossain has been named the executive director of the transition for Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor elect. Akbar served as the policy director for the governor elect’s gubernatorial campaign.

The announcement was made on the 16th of November, just over a week after the state’s election.

Akbar was born in Bangladesh and lived in Saudi Arabia before immigrating to the US through the Diversity Visa Lottery. As a first generation college graduate, Akbar credits his accomplishments to the sacrifices of his parents and the encouragement of his community.

A Truman Scholar and an Aspen Civil Society Fellow, Akbar interned for the White House, the US Department of Homeland Security, and served as a Truman-Albright Fellow at the US Department of Health and Human Services. Akbar’s work has been featured on CNN, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS News, and many other media outlets.

Prior to joining Josh Shapiro’s campaign for governor, Akbar was a white collar government investigations attorney at a national law firm and served as a law clerk to Judge Harvey Bartle, III of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In his pro bono practice, Akbar represented immigrants seeking asylum in the US and low-income tenants in eviction proceedings.

Akbar earned a Bachelor of Arts from Franklin and Marshall College and a Juris Doctor from University of Pennsylvania Law School. ∎