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Our Team

Khurram Hassan, MPH – President

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Khurram Hassan started Advantage Consulting in 2008 and his former business partner, Dr. Chris Allers, joined him in 2010.  Mr. Hassan began his public health career in 1992 where he coordinated adolescent HIV/STI prevention activities for the Grady Health System’s Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinic.  In 2000 he joined the United Way of Greater Atlanta where initially he led the Outcome Measurement and Training Department.  He coordinated the outcome measurement and evaluation training for over 400 nonprofit programs and assisted United Way volunteers in assessing proposals submitted by nonprofits.  In 2004, the United Way asked him to lead their Health and Disabilities strategies to address substance use, mental health, disabilities, and older adults’ service needs.  While at the United Way, he also assisted in the launch of the Regional Commission on Homelessness for metro Atlanta (a collective impact initiative).  Since 2016, Khurram has been coordinating a statewide collective impact initiative, CS4GA, to expand quality computer science education for all Georgia K-12 students.  

Khurram has a BA in Sociology/Minor in African-American and African studies from Emory University.  He has a Masters in Public Health, also from Emory University.  He is a member of the American Evaluation Association.  He is a board member of the Geneva Learning Foundation.  He is based out of Atlanta, Georgia. 

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Meet Our Team

We have talented collaborators who support the firm by assisting us with logistics, data collection/management, professional writing, facilitation, and digital marketing. We are lucky to have such capable and dedicated team members assisting us with our projects as needed.

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Matthew George

Senior Associate

Mathew George (he, him, his) has more than 25 years of experience working within and alongside a variety of nonprofit organizations — from programs, direct service, and operations, to organizational and network leadership. He partners with nonprofits (specializing in small and mid-size organizations), communities, state and local government, and multi-agency collaboratives for strategic and operational planning, community engagement, project management, training, and research. Prior to his consultant work, Mathew spent most of his career with community-based organizations focused on organizing and leadership development, particularly youth. He has worked in state- and federal-level advocacy, as well, mobilizing local and national networks around issues like immigration and inclusion, volunteerism and national service, and K–12 education. He serves on the board and several committees of the Kirkwood Neighbors Organization (Atlanta) and is a proud volunteer for Girl Scout Troop 21000 of the Phoenix Rising Service Unit (Atlanta).

Mathew has a BA degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program for Nonprofit Organizations at the University of Georgia and the Community Development Academy (Clarkston, Georgia) from the University of Missouri, Extension.

He is based out of Atlanta, Georgia, serving projects across Georgia and in several communities nationwide.

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Safia Shafiq

Associate

Safia Shafiq is an experienced environmental and social sustainability professional with international experience of working with multilateral development institutions, government agencies, NGOs and the private sector. Safia has over 20 years of environmental management experience and has provided services to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the JS Private Equity Fund.  At Advantage Consulting, Safia assists with supporting client needs and provides project management as needed.

Safia holds a MSc. degree in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, UK and a second masters degree in Applied Environmental Sciences from the University of Punjab, Pakistan.  Safia is based out of Toronto, Canada. 

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Salena Araya

Associate

As an associate evaluator at Advantage Consulting, LLC, Salena Araya supports the implementation of various SAMHSA projects and prepares relevant reports for client funders. Salena’s background focuses on analyzing current trends in public health using data, evidence-based decision-making, and program implementation strategies. She has held various roles working with the Empowerment Resource Center HIV clinic, the CDC’s Office of Minority Health (OMH), Global Health Action, and Georgia Global Health Alliance.

Prior to joining Advantage Consulting LLC, she supported city-wide initiatives through the Metro Atlanta Chamber, worked on capacity-building projects both globally and domestically with Global Health Action, provided evaluation support to CDC’s OMH cultural humility training and scholars program, and conducted data collection and analysis throughout her projects. She is equipped with a unique set of skills to support clients in their programmatic and evaluation needs, and advocates for equitable access to data sharing and data inclusivity

Salena works to improve coordination, communication, and resource visibility within organizations and with community partners. By providing market research and facilitating dialogue, Salena meaningfully engages with collaborators to address community impacts and health disparities. 

She holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of Georgia.  She is based out of Atlanta, Georgia. 

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