Since 1997, Jamil S. Zainaldin has been the executive director and president of Georgia Humanities, the state nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Zainaldin is known for his speeches on the humanities, history and law around the country.
“He is an amazing speaker,” said Arden Williams, a colleague of Zainaldin for the past 10 years. “I have literally seen people brought to tears during his speeches. It is really remarkable how people connect with him. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Latonda Milner has worked with Zainaldin for 18 years at Georgia Humanities.“Jamil is a rock star in the humanities world,” Milner said. “I remember going to a conference with him and everyone just started bombarding him to say hello. It was overwhelming even for me.”
After serving as the president of the Federation of State Humanities Councils for almost a decade and serving as their executive director three years prior, a frenzied Zainaldin decided to settle down in Georgia.
“Georgia was a ‘real place’ unlike Washington D.C.,” Zainaldin said. “And the opportunity to put down roots with my wife and children was a draw for me.”
Settling down in Georgia and creating stability was the opposite of what Zainaldin experienced as a child. Born in Charlottesville, VA, he recalls moving around frequently due to his father joining the U.S. Air Force when he was a toddler.
“I had three kindergarten and elementary schools from VA, SC, and Germany,” Zainaldin said. “One middle school in England, and attended four high schools from England, Idaho, Georgia, and Germany.”
Moving to Atlanta was extremely personal and important to Zainaldin and his wife, Ingrid Kelly.
“It was the opposite of my experience as a child, and because I once lived there [in high school in Warner Robins], and because Ingrid's mother and father retired to Atlanta, it felt like a real home – finally,” Zainaldin said.
Zainaldin learned independence very early. With a father in the air force and a mother who was a registered nurse working full time, he learned to figure things out for himself. This independence contributed to his love for critical thinking and turned into a fascination for history.
“By the time I was 20, history became part of a search for context and meaning, locating myself in things,” Zainaldin said. “The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement heavily shaped my thinking at this time, and pushed me into action on both fronts…I protested, was a part of several marches in Washington, D.C. and worked actively for social change in Charlottesville. I wanted to know more about how and why things were as they were. Something inside pushed me there - powerful and even unconscious.”
This unconscious drive has lead Zainaldin on a very successful career path. He earned a master’s degree in history from the University of Virginia and a PhD in history from the University of Chicago. With dozens of recognitions, commendations, and board appointments, Zainaldin has appreciated the people the most in his tenure as president of Georgia Humanities.
“Good people, and stories of history and life in the state that tug at the heart also inspire me,” Zainaldin said. “Plenty of things in the state's history are regretful…but also so many examples of dignity, human beauty in the choices people make, in the empathy and human solidarity that the greatest hearts all around us reveal.”
Zainaldin’s retirement will be effective on Feb. 1, 2018, a week after his 70th birthday. Although work is all he seems to know, he is hopeful about that day and what it will look like.
“There will be prayer, contemplation, and conversation on what my next journey will be, should I be so lucky as to have one,” Zainaldin said. “Spiritual practice is very, very important to me. May I recognize and walk the path, wherever I am. That is my hope. My wife is my great partner whose love, support and wisdom enable me at every term. My next path will open up before me, if I get out of the way!”
Laura McCarty, executive vice president of Georgia Humanities, will be the incoming president for the organization and Zainaldin has some words of advice for her.
“Find your voice, bring your heart with you to work, listen, and check one's first-reactions to people and events, leaving plenty of room for a second and third reaction without being judgmental,” Zainaldin said. “Staff members are family members, with all the complexity, beauty, pain, and little triumphs that come in family life. We all rise together.”
Georgia Humanities will host a retirement reception for Zainaldin on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018 at a private location in downtown Atlanta.