Ahmereen Reza

Her academic and professional interests have centred on revitalisation of low income and ethnic minority rich neighbourhoods through a combination of enhanced community participation, imparting skills training to create employment opportunities, informing policy on low-income housing, and the empowerment of local women.

Reza spent her early life in Chittagong, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), relocating in 1971 to Karachi, where she attended St. Joseph's Convent School and then went on to complete her A-Levels.

Reza's father, Kamal, was a grand nephew to Sir Abdur Rahim, a Judge of the Madras High Court and a longstanding President of the Central Legislative Assembly.

Reza's burgeoning interest in low income housing and community development led her to enrol in 1987 in the SMArchS Program at the Massachusetts Institute to Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA.

In 2000, Reza relocated to London, where she was involved in research led by Geoffrey Payne & Associates Archived 16 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine for a report "Innovative Approaches to Secure Tenure" that was commissioned by the UK Department for International Development and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy in Cambridge, MA.

The report reviewed innovative approaches for increasing security of tenure for the urban poor and involved working with NGOs in fifteen Commonwealth countries and was part of the run-up to the United Nations Istanbul + 5 Conference in New York.

[10] As chairperson, Reza was credited with building the charity's donor base, expanding its focus to include the provision of education and job opportunities for Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in the UK, and soliciting the patronage of leading women professionals, including Dr Maleeha Lodhi, Princess Badiya bint Hassan of Jordan, Baroness Greenfield of Ot Moor, Baroness Verma of Leicester, and Pinky Lilani CBE.

[14] In 2014, Reza received the Eurasian Philanthropy Award from the Sanch Foundation for her work on enabling social mobility for BAME women in England by providing English language classes to mothers of underperforming students in the London Borough of Brent.

[18] Reza was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for public and political service and interfaith work.