From Newsroom to City Hall: Detroit's Ken Haddad Named to Arab America Foundation's 40 Under 40

A Detroit civic communicator who spent more than a decade building one of the city's most-read local news operations is being recognized nationally for his contributions to the Arab American community. Ken Haddad, digital and creative director for Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield's office, was named this year to the Arab America Foundation's 40 Under 40 Class of 2026, a list honoring accomplished Arab Americans across business, public service, medicine, the arts and media. The Arab America Foundation announced the 40-person class in June, describing the honorees as representing "the talent, vision, and leadership shaping the future of Arab America." Warren David, the foundation's co-founder and president of Arab America, said the class reflects "the strength, resilience, and promise of the next generation of Arab American leaders." The foundation's bio for Haddad credits him with "building digital experiences that strengthen trust, participation, and connection across Detroit communities" during his years in local journalism, and calls him "a lifelong Metro Detroiter" passionate about civic storytelling. Honorees, drawn from a competitive nationwide, self-nominated applicant pool reviewed by a judging panel, will be formally celebrated at the foundation's Connect Empowerment Summit in the Washington, D.C., area this November. Haddad's path to the honor runs through nearly 13 years at WDIV Local 4 and its ClickOnDetroit digital operation, where he started as the station's first social media producer in 2013 and rose to digital managing editor and, ultimately, manager of content and coverage — overseeing a team of more than 20 reporters and anchors across broadcast, digital and streaming platforms. Along the way he helped lead audience-first digital projects, including WDIV's "Vaccine Hunter" initiative that helped metro Detroiters track down COVID-19 vaccine appointments during the pandemic. In March, Mayor Sheffield's office announced it had hired Haddad away from the newsroom to lead digital storytelling, campaign development and web strategy for city government — a rare journalist-to-government-communicator jump that drew coverage from the Detroit Free Press, Crain's Detroit Business and Axios Detroit. "In journalism, you cover the city. In this role, you serve it," Haddad said at the time, describing the shift from reporting on Detroit to communicating on its behalf. Jamie Kaye Walters, senior director of the mayor's office of communications, called Haddad's combination of "editorial instinct and digital systems ability" an asset the office had been missing. The 40 Under 40 recognition places Haddad alongside honorees working in law, engineering, medicine, entrepreneurship and public service nationwide — part of an annual program the Arab America Foundation has run since 2020 to spotlight professionals between the ages of 30 and 40 who combine career achievement with engagement in Arab American community life. Candidates apply on their own behalf, submitting professional and community-service backgrounds that a panel of judges then weighs before finalizing the class. For Metro Detroit's Arab American community — anchored by the country's largest concentration of Arab Americans in Dearborn and the surrounding area — the honor adds a media and civic-communications voice to a 40 Under 40 roster that this year also includes professionals in medicine, philanthropy, architecture and nonprofit leadership. It's also a reminder that the community's public-facing influence increasingly runs not just through elected office and business, but through the digital infrastructure that determines how millions of residents get information about the city they live in. Haddad and the rest of the Class of 2026 are scheduled to be honored at the Arab America Foundation's Connect Empowerment Summit, November 6-7, in the Washington, D.C., area.