Amid the many announcements made over the past few weeks since Josh Shapiro became Pennsylvania Governor-Elect, one was that Akbar Hossain has been named the executive director of Shapiro’s transition team.

The news comes after Hossain had previously served as policy director for the new Governor-Elect’s gubernatorial campaign. 

Hossain was born in Bangladesh and spent some time living in Saudi Arabia before immigrating to the United States through the Diversity Visa Lottery.

A first-generation college graduate, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Franklin & Marshall College. He then went on to earn a juris doctor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Hossain was named into the inaugural class of the AL DÍA 40 Under Forty in 2020.

When asked what was his proudest achievement up to that point, he noted that it was founding the Penn Law First Generation Professional Group (FGP). The group is designed to stress a common experience among professionals based on a shared educational experience and economic status. 

“FGP is extremely important when it comes to the development of any professional career… [it] seeks to foster community and assist its members in navigating the legal field and various professional development opportunities designed to access social capital,” he said at the time. 

Prior to joining the Shapiro campaign, Hossain worked as a white-collar government investigations attorney, and served as a law clerk to Judge Harvey Battle III of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

During his pro bono practice, Hossain represented various immigrants seeking asylum in the US and low-income tenants in eviction proceedings. 

Hossain was previously a Truman Scholar, which afforded him the opportunity to work as a communications and development officer, and an Aspen Civil Society Fellow. In addition, he has interned at the White House, served as a litigation assistant at the US Department of Homeland Security, and also served as a Truman-Albright Fellow as a policy analyst at the US Department of Health and Human Services.