Abdi Soltani
Abdi Soltani is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), the country’s largest ACLU affiliate. Abdi joined the ACLU in 2009, taking the reins as the ACLU-NC prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary as one of the region’s most established leaders in historic and contemporary struggles to defend and advance the civil rights and civil liberties of all Californians. Previously, Abdi was the Executive Director of PARSA Community Foundation. Prior to that, Abdi served as the first Executive Director of the Campaign for College Opportunity, where he worked with business and community groups to develop policy solutions to ensure access to college for all young people in California.
Previously, Abdi served for nine years - including the last four as Executive Director - with Californians for Justice, a grassroots organization mobilizing communities for immigrant rights, civil rights and equal educational opportunity. There Abdi served as co-founder and treasurer of a coalition that defeated a ballot measure which would have banned the collection of vital data on race, ethnicity and national origin - the first time civil rights advocates in California won the support of a majority of voters at the ballot box.
While an undergraduate at Stanford University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Biology, Abdi helped found the James Irvine Foundation Fellowships for Sustainable Communities, as well as Youth United for Community Action.
Soltani has received a number of awards, including a John Gardner Public Service Fellowship and the Gerbode Foundation Fellowship. Soltani’s work has been cited in major newspapers and has received support from leading U.S. foundations. He was born in Los Angeles while his parents were living there on a fellowship, then lived in Iran until moving permanently to the United States when he was nine years old.