OUR TEAM

Emily Hein

she/her
Operations Manager

Michelle MOFFIT

she/her
Director of Partnerships & Data

Navdeep Singh

he/him
Executive Director

Nico Climaco

they/any
Director of Leadership Development

Vishal Chauhan

he/him
Communications Manager

OUR BOARD

Denise Harrington

League of Women Voters of Virginia

Breanna Diaz

ACLU

Freddy Mejia

Secretary
The Commonwealth Institute

Harrison Wallace

Treasurer
The Climate & Clean Energy Equity Fund

Jess Unger

Southern Poverty Law Center

Kate West

Chair
Sierra Club

Lakeisha Cook

Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Shonta Mills

SEIU VA 512

Sheba Williams

NoLef Turns

Emily Hein

Navdeep Singh

Navdeep Singh is the Executive Director of the Virginia Civic Engagement Table (VCET). 

 

He is dedicated to building community power using a cross-functional approach that combines advocacy, organizing, program strategy, and narrative design. His background organizing in and advocating for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Arab, Muslim, South Asian, Sikh American communities in the aftermath of acts of hate, violence, and discrimination profoundly shapes his approach to working with immigrant and marginalized communities at both the federal and state level, in the courts and in the halls of Congress.

 

He has over fifteen years of leadership in policy, campaign strategy, and organization building in national civil rights and non-profit organizations. He ran a social impact consulting firm, focused on designing programs and building community infrastructure to address emergent and systemic problems across diverse communities. He previously served as the Policy Director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and as the Policy Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF). He was the co-chair of the Civil Rights Committee of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA).

 

He is a member of and held leadership roles in several community organizations and bar associations. He is co-chair of the NAPABA Civil Rights Committee and serves on the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Committee. He served on the board of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania. He is a co-founder of the Sikh American History Project.

 

He was recognized as one of the Pennsylvania Legal Intelligencer’s Lawyers on the Fast Track,  the National Association of Asian Pacifics in Politics and Public Affairs (NAAPPPA) Best Under 40, and NAPABA’s Best Under 40. He graduated from the George Washington University Law School and the University of Virginia.

Nico Climaco

Nico currently resides on occupied Piscataway land (Washington, DC), and joined VCET in January of 2022. As the Director of Leadership Development, they primarily support the Virginia Progressive Leadership Program. Passionate about social justice, collective liberation, and community solutions, Nico finds home in collective and visionary spaces woven together by queer and trans people. Nico is a proud JMU alum (go dukes~) and holds a Next Economy MBA with LIFT Economy. 

Nico learned some of their most important political lessons outside the classroom and was first politicized by the genocide in Darfur in the mid-2000s and their own Filipino and Puerto Rican diaspora. As a facilitator, Nico draws on the teachings of Paulo Freire and bell hooks with a lens of popular education and experiential learning. They are invested in co-creating loving spaces and considers relationships & community to be the basis of their work. Nico’s pop culture icons are Gizmo the gremlin, HIM from Powerpuff Girls, and the nerds from nerds candy.

VISHAL CHAUHAN

Vishal Chauhan serves as the Communications Manager at Virginia Civic Engagement Table (VCET), where he leads strategic messaging and outreach efforts to advance civic engagement across the Commonwealth. With over 14 years of experience in branding, marketing and communications, Vishal brings a deep commitment to social impact and a proven track record in building campaigns that foster inclusivity and empowerment. Passionate about strengthening community voices, Vishal leverages his expertise to ensure that VCET’s mission resonates with and mobilizes voters, advocates, and allies alike.

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