Sunil Panikkath Elected as American Humanist Association President
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sarah Henry, (202) 238-9088, shenry@americanhumanist.org
(Washington, D.C., January 17, 2019) – The American Humanist Association (AHA) is pleased to announce the recent election of Sunil Panikkath as president of the organization. In addition to Panikkath’s new role, he will also serve on the AHA board of directors.
“I am excited and honored to take on the leadership of the largest organization for nonreligious Americans at a time when the nontheistic population is growing at such an unprecedented rate,” said Panikkath.
Panikkath is the twenty-first president of the American Humanist Association since its inception in 1941. He will preside over the AHA board of directors, comprised of twelve prominent humanists from across the country.
A nonbeliever his entire adult life, Panikkath has been a member and supporter of the AHA for almost twenty years. He has been active in the humanist movement and a regular attendee at AHA annual conferences for more than ten years. He was a member of the board of trustees of the Humanist Foundation until 2018.
“Nonreligious Americans are a diverse community, as is our organization,” noted Panikkath. “My efforts will focus on making the American Humanist Association even more inclusive in both its goals and its actions, as we embrace all segments of the growing humanist community.”
Other elected AHA officers include Vice President Jennifer Kalmanson of Green Cove Springs, Florida, Secretary Christine Shellska, of Calgary, Canada, and Treasurer John Hooper, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Newly elected members of the board of directors include Ellen Sutliff of New Bern, North Carolina, Dr. Sharon Welch of Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera of Washington, D.C., and Dr. Monica R. Miller of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Each year since 1953 the AHA has presented its Humanist of the Year Award to an important humanist activist or intellectual. Past recipients include Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Steven Pinker, Margaret Sanger, Ted Turner, Margaret Atwood, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem.
Elections of the officers were effective January 1, 2019.
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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.