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American Humanist Association

Advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers

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      For over 80 years, the AHA has proudly served as the leading progressive voice in America on behalf of humanists, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers.

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Humanist Foundation | Board of Trustees

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John Hooper, Ph.D., is a retired scientist and industrial research director, having pursued a career in molecular imaging and spectroscopy. Hooper has held local and national leadership positions in organizations involving naturalism, Humanism, and Unitarian Universalist (UU) social action. He is treasurer of the American Humanist Association Board of Directors; chair of that board’s Finance and Strategic Planning Committees; and serves as the AHA Board Liaison on the Humanist Foundation Board of Trustees. Hooper also serves as chair of the steering committee of the Humanist Special Collection of the Archives at Meadville Lombard and as coordinator of the Humanism Initiative at the Chautauqua Institution. He previously served as a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Commission on Social Witness; Board Chair of the Unitarians in Westport, CT; president of the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association (HUUmanists.org); and president of the Secular Coalition for America Education Fund. Hooper is a founding member of both the Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County CT) and the Pittsburgh (PA) Freethought Community (PFC), where he is a board member and leader of the PFC Smart Recovery Initiative. Hooper and his wife, Dr. Gail Pesyna, a retired foundation executive, now live in Pittsburgh, PA.

Maha Kamal, Esq. founded the Colorado Family Law Project in 2016. She is one of the few family law attorneys in the Denver metro area who provides sliding scale and unbundled legal services to clients in divorce, custody, and mediation. She is fluent in Spanish, Hindi, and Urdu. Kamal co-chairs the Colorado Supreme Court committee for Paraprofessionals and Legal Services (“PALS”), is a CBA 2021-2022 Legislative Policy Committee member, and serves as a 2021-2022 member of the CBA Family Law Executive Council. In addition, she is a 2019 graduate of the Colorado Bar Association’s Leadership Training Program (COBALT). She serves on the Art Students League of Denver Board of Directors and the American Humanist Foundation’s Board of Trustees. She also served on the Denver International Airport’s Art Selection Panel in 2022. Aside from law, Kamal is writing a collection of South Asian ghost stories and is an avid artist.


Scott Seidewitz, vice president, is an MIT graduate, startup CEO and long-time Humanist. For the past 20 years he’s been advising pharmaceutical and technology companies on how to accelerate growth through a deeper understanding of their customers. His clients include Intel, Intuit, GoDaddy, Merck, Amgen and Invisalign. Seidewitz recently joined forces with two former clients to found the legal tech startup BlissDivorce. The company uses AI-based dispute resolution technology to help couples reach a full divorce agreement without attorneys involved. BlissDivorce is currently on the market in California with plans to expand nationally. Seidewitz is a longtime non-believer and has been actively involved with the AHA and affiliated organizations for more than a decade. His involvement includes serving on the Humanist Foundation Board, the advisory board of the Freethought Equality Fund and the Board of the Cincinnati Free Inquiry Group. Seidewitz lives with his amazing wife Beli in Las Vegas, where they enjoy fine wine whether out on the town or relaxing at home. He is also training to be the oldest person ever to have his first MMA cage fight. Hopefully he won’t get his brain too rattled!


July Simpson, secretary, served as a Trustee since 2018 and prior to that served on the American Humanist Association Board from 2015 to 2018. Born a humanist; she just did not know it at that moment. Her father, James Simpson, and her mentor, Lyle Simpson were President and Secretary of the Humanist Foundation and the American Humanist Association at that time. She had the benefit of living in a variety of places from the busy metropolises of Japan to rural Maine providing her an excellent perspective of the world and the vast array of people in it. Today, as a government attorney, Simpson enjoys using her analytical skills to further the ends of justice and serve the people of her home state. “My work is primarily defending the constitutionality of our state’s laws and going after companies for doing bad things.” Simpson is passionate about the environment, consumer protection, libraries, and Women’s rights. She strives to live her life as a “happy humanist.” Central to Simpson’s personal philosophy is the idea of creating your own luck, and finding the silver lining of any situation.


Lyle Simpson retired as an attorney after 58 years serving clients with whatever helps create their success in business, and their estate and trust planning to make the best statement of their lives. Five of his clients are now world leaders in their endeavors. He became General Counsel of the American Humanist Association in 1974, served as a member of its board, and five years as its President. He agreed to serve as its Board Chair if Isaac Asimov would succeed him as President to address the Rev Jerry Falwell’s defamation of humanism claiming we were the “Devil Incarnate.” Simpson created the Humanist Foundation in 1980 and turned the helm over to Roy Speckhardt as its president. He seeded the Humanist Archives in the Meadville-Lombard Unitarian Seminary library to preserve the history of humanism for future generations. Simpson has created two Humanist Chapters in Iowa Penitentiaries and the Humanist of Iowa Chapter of the AHA. He has published Why Was I Born? and more recently, Fully Human / Fully Alive that uses Abraham Maslow Humanistic psychology to show us the path for how to bridge our barriers for each of us to actualize our own life.


Roy Speckhardt, president, is a leader in nonprofit development and advocacy with 25 years of experience in management, fundraising, public relations, lobbying, field organizing, accounting and event planning. He is the development director at VoteRiders where he is supporting its efforts to ensure that no eligible voter is prevented from casting a ballot that counts due to voter ID laws. Speckhardt is past executive director of the American Humanist Association where he served for over 15 years, growing the organization’s membership from 5,000 to over 34,000, quadrupling the budget to over $3 million, and helping humanism become a more widely recognized and respected philosophy of life in American society. Speckhardt has presented at many local humanist organizations, national conferences, Unitarian Universalist churches, Ethical Culture Societies, Humanistic Jewish Congregations, and universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford. He previously served as deputy director of The Interfaith Alliance, worked on the World of Difference project at the Anti-Defamation League, and engaged in tele-fundraising for major organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, National Public Radio stations, PFLAG, and Planned Parenthood. Originally from Carmel, New York, Speckhardt lives in Washington, DC with his spouse, Maggie Ardiente, and is father of Johanna and Max.


David Tamayo, treasurer, is founder and president of Hispanic American Freethinkers (HAFree), a 501(c)(3) organization. He was a founding board director of Camp Quest Chesapeake as well as Vice President of the Reason Rally 2016. He is, also, currently a member of the Board of Directors for Freedom from Religion Foundation as well as Treasurer for the American Humanist Foundation. He is head organizer of HAFree High School Outreach Mentor Program to Hispanic and immigrant students teaching Critical Thinking Skills and career planning in Northern Virginia. Tamayo serves as CIO for a large aerospace engineering company in Washington, DC; he has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from George Washington University as well as a master’s degree in Management in Information Systems from the University of Virginia.

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March 14, 2023 Featured, Press Releases

AHA Launches Registration for First In-Person Annual Conference in Three Years

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March 6, 2023 Featured, Press Releases

American Humanist Association Statement on the Supreme Court Refusing to Hear Case of Ocala, Florida, Prayer Vigil

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