Our Team

Ian Benouis J.D. (Chairman) - Austin

Mohamed Elibiary (President) - Plano

Mohamed Elibiary

Plano (Dallas)

me@freeandjust.org

Mohamed Elibiary wears two hats, one as the Founder of Lone Star Intelligence LLC, a Security Crisis Consulting Firm, and the other as President of The Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J), a Texas Muslim interfaith community relations and state public policy educational nonprofit.

As a Dallas-based Texas Muslim community leader, Mohamed co-founded the Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J) in November 2002 to help Texas Muslims achieve multiple firsts such as Imam Prayers in both chambers of the State Legislature (House & Senate) and passage of the Halal Food Law as Texas’s first Muslim consumer protection statute.

Mohamed helped co-found in 2006 the North Texas Islamic Council (NTIC), a regional coordination (shura) body for dozens of area Mosques, Islamic schools and community groups serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex’s estimated 150,000+ Muslim citizens. In addition to the multiple federal and state government advisory roles Mohamed performs, he has maintained his grassroots practitioner role and currently voluntarily serves in a spokesman capacity for the largest Muslim congregation in Texas, the Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT), aka the Dallas Central Mosque.

Mr. Elibiary was a 2008–2009 Fellow at the University of Southern California (USC)-based American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI) focusing on the civic engagement of faith-based communities.  He is currently a member of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), a lifetime member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), and the Vice-President of the FBI-Dallas Citizens’ Academy Alumni Association. 

Mohamed’s received numerous awards in his career including the “Invisible Giants Award” from the National Voting Rights Institute in Selma, Alabama (2003) for following in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. Elibiary is a contributing expert to multiple media outlets including Foxnews.com and the Dallas Morning News; and has been on CNN, FOX News, NY Times, Washington Post, NPR, LA Times and many more national print and broadcast media outlets.

Ian Benouis J.D.

Austin

ian@freeandjust.org 

Ian Benouis grew up in Hawai'i to a Muslim father and Christian mother. He was confirmed in the United Methodist Church as a youth and converted to Islam as an adult.

He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in the US Army. As a combat veteran, he participated in Operation Just Cause in the Republic of Panama.

He is an Intellectual Property law attorney who has worked at a number of companies, holding the roles of General Counsel, Vice President of Sales and Vice President of Operations.

He is married with four children and resides in Austin, Texas where plays soccer. Next to serving as Chairman of F&J, he also serves on the board of Texas Interfaith Power and Light which is part of Texas Impact.

Paul "Iesa" Galloway

Houston

iesa.galloway@freeandjust.org

In these capacities Mr. Galloway has lead major re-branding efforts, complete website overhauls, the creation of public service announcements, as well as event planning and crisis communication efforts. He received his degree in History and Public Relations from the University of Houston and is a member of The Public Relations Society of America.

Mr. Galloway is a native born Texan who hails from a military family. He enjoyed numerous opportunities to travel oversees throughout his life. Next to attending Department of Defense schools in Germany, he has visited Kenya and Hungary during missionary trips, Poland and East Germany while they were under communism, as well as France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Holland and Austria.

Since becoming a practicing Muslim he has performed the Hajj pilgrimage and completed a study abroad program with the University of Houston on the History of Islamic Spain and Andalusian Philosophy featuring an imperial tour of Islamic capital cities in Southern Spain (Andalusia) and Morocco.

He is currently the Interfaith Relations Coordinator for Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston (IMGH) and a Sr. Advisor to multiple community-based groups.