Wojciech Zolnowski, Executive Director
Director Zolnowski immigrated to the United States in 1996 from Poland. He has been the Executive Director of IIMD since 2005. Mr. Zolnowski has demonstrated he has both the personal and professional experience needed to carry out IIMD’s mission.
Mr. Zolnowski became a naturalized citizen in 2014. He is well known and trusted throughout Detroit’s immigrant communities. He received his MBA in 2001 from University of Detroit Mercy [UDM] and has twenty years of experience providing organizational management, program development, evaluation and finance.
His work has been paramount to integration efforts in the City of Detroit. As a founding member of the city’s first immigration task force, Mr. Zolnowski helped to devise the initial strategic plan which led to outcomes such as creating the Mayoral Office of Immigrant Affairs, Municipal ID program, branding of Banglatown, and expansion of the city’s language access program. He also was instrumental in designing the city’s first refugee resettlement program, which was implemented in 2016.
Additionally, Mr. Zolnowski and his community partner, Sufian Nabhan at the Islamic Center of Detroit, implemented the first equitable and integrated community driven development plan in Warrendale, the Warrendale Community Integration Plan [WCIP].
Lastly, Mr. Zolonwski has expansive experience successfully administering multiple federal, state and private grant funded programs. His portfolio includes CDBG/NOF, USCIS Citizenship and Assimilation Grant Program, Center for Working Families [CWF], Food Assistance Employment and Training Plus Program [FAE&T Plus]; WIOA Title II AEFLA; and the Immigrant—Literacy and Employment Program [I-LEP] funded by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. He also manages a leadership team of fifteen individuals and is committed to hiring immigrants and native-born Detroiters as 50% of his staff are native Detroiters and 50% are immigrants.