Naheed Huq serves as Manager of Economic and Community Vitality at SEMCOG. She also serves as Vice President of the Metropolitan Affairs Coalition (MAC), a partnership of business, labor, government and education.

She manages SEMCOG and MAC economic development and talent programs. Current areas of focus include the regional Economic Development Strategy, downtown revitalization, economic development policy, education and workforce development. She also coordinates relationships with education members including intermediate school districts and community colleges, and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. She has contributed to all four of SEMCOG’s Economic Development Strategies since 2010, and coordinated the SEMCOG initiative on broadband. In addition, she has lead several SEMCOG/MAC multi-sector workforce development project including Soft Skills, Infrastructure Jobs, STEM and Skilled Trade Careers, Education Reform, Future Skills and upskilling.

Huq has developed reports, articles and blogs, on education and talent development, economic development, and community development. She has spoken at various education and workforce conferences. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from London University and a Master’s degree in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics.

She serves on the SEMCA Michigan Works! Workforce Development board, Oakland 80 Career and Education Advisory Committee, and the MiWealth Board.

Jenna Zineddin, MSN-FNP, BSN, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners with four years of NP experience and prior nursing experience at Hurley Medical Center. She earned her Master of Science in Nursing with focus on Family Medicine from the University of Michigan and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan-Flint.

Her background includes working as an NP in an inpatient surgical hospital, an inner-city emergency department in Chicago, and managing an urgent care clinic in rural Kentucky. She is passionate about clinical work and utilizes team-based approaches to provide optimal patient care.

She finds that the foundational building blocks that kickstarted her career was the hands-on patient care approach and bedside rapport that she built as a registered nurse prior to becoming an NP, and she is excited to share her journey with you.

Yasmeen is a sports industry professional with four years of experience working across some of Detroit’s most prominent professional sports organizations, including the Detroit Pistons, Detroit Lions, Detroit Tigers, and Detroit Red Wings, as well as the Dallas Mavericks. Throughout college, she gained hands-on experience across multiple departments, developing a well-rounded understanding of the sports business industry.

Her most notable experiences include serving as a Basketball Operations Intern with both the Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks. In these roles, Yasmeen supported NBA Draft preparation, daily team operations, scouting administration, and various basketball operations initiatives. Her diverse experiences across professional sports have given her valuable insight into building a career in the industry and navigating opportunities both on and off the court.