About NAR
Count Me Albanian is a voluntary, private registry of Albanians and their descendants in the United States.
Albanians from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Çamëria, the Arbëreshë, and the U.S.-born descendants of all of them — the whole Albanian diaspora. You sign up. We count you. You get a certificate. Built to last, so that ten years from now, when a foundation, a scholarship board, or a reporter wants to know how many of us are here, there's a number that came from us.
Bashkë jemi më të fortë.
A common question
The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) is the official federal count of Americans, and it stays essential. Please complete the ACS when it arrives. Federal funding formulas, voting-rights determinations, and most agency program decisions read from the ACS — opting out of it lowers the number of Albanian Americans the government sees.
NAR runs a community-led parallel count alongside the ACS. The Census records about 224,000 Albanian Americans through a single optional ancestry write-in once every ten years; community estimates put the real number closer to a million when you include ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Çamëria, the Arbëreshë, and English-first second and third generations. The ACS captures who it's designed to capture. NAR captures the rest — name by name, with consent, held by the community. Two records, both useful. Read the methodology →
Mission & Vision
Mission
Identify, register, and connect Albanians and their descendants in the United States through a voluntary, privacy-respecting registry. Verified data on population, geography, business ownership, profession, education, and civic engagement — collected with consent, held by the community, never sold. Yours to revoke any time.
Vision
A credible community-led record of Albanian Americans — built to last. When a foundation, a scholarship board, a city council, or a reporter wants a real number a decade from now, it's here.
That number is also how Albanian-Americans become visible to the systems that already exist — Census ancestry write-in coding, agency data dictionaries, foundation grant criteria. Visibility comes first. Recognition follows from sustained organizing on top of a credible count. What the count actually does →
Team
Volunteers. The board is unpaid. Albanian Americans run NAR across five states — Founder & President, Treasurer, Secretary, Director of Outreach, plus product and engineering. Regional ambassadors are being added across more states.
Founder & President · New York
From Fier. Came to New York at 13 in 1997 during the post-pyramid civil unrest. Pace BBA, Wagner MBA. Senior international-mobility leader at Standard Chartered. President of the New York Chapter of the Albanian American National Organization. Hosts the Red Line Talk Show podcast and founded Shq1pe Co., the first Albanian-American clothing brand. Started NAR in 2026 because the Census shows ~224,000 Albanian Americans while the community knows it's closer to a million — and he wanted to help close that gap from inside the diaspora. LinkedIn · Instagram.
Outreach · National
Director of Community Outreach for NAR. Born in New York; second-generation Albanian American with family roots in Dibër. Physician Assistant and healthcare leader with both an MS and an MBA; her career spans clinical operations, patient advocacy, and strategic program development. In her NAR role she's focused on strengthening Albanian community connections, preserving cultural heritage, and making sure the next generation is represented and counted.
Treasurer · Michigan
From Erseke, in Michigan since his teens. 20+ years in financial services — started at a bank in 2002, licensed Financial Advisor since 2007. Senior wealth-management professional. Treasurer of the National Albanian Registry — keeps the books, signs the checks, and closes the year.
Secretary · Florida
Bioinformatics scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting the VA's Million Veteran Program. PhD in cell and molecular biology from the University of South Florida. From Lushnje; lives in Tampa, Florida. President of the AANO Tampa Chapter. Secretary of NAR.
Outreach · Texas
Runs a foodservice distribution business across the South. From Pogradec; based in Texas. Already knows half the Albanian-owned restaurants, grocers, and pizzerias in the region, and the families behind them. Carries the count into the diaspora outside the Northeast.
Engineering · Michigan
Software engineer and digital marketer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Studied Computer Science at the University of Michigan. Founding engineer at NAR. Founder of Lahuta.org, a marketplace for finding and sharing products, services, and events; builds high-credibility website funnels for law firms and business professionals at Lahuta.Pro. LinkedIn · Instagram.
Product · New York
Based in New York. Second-generation Albanian American who studied Information Science at Cornell. Spent his career as a Product Manager building infrastructure and developer products in crypto at Gemini, Avalanche, and Arbitrum. Now works on tokenization for social and collectibles applications and contributes on product at NAR. LinkedIn.
Product & Web · Texas
From Tirana; studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of North Texas. Founded Albania Visit, a destination travel site for planning a trip to Albania. Designed and built the NAR site, registry interface, and certificate flow. Co-authored Lifting the Iron Curtain with his father Ilia, a career Albanian diplomat who helped restore US–Albania relations. LinkedIn.
The 501(c)(3) is filed. Regional ambassadors are listed publicly. Full board roster published in the annual Impact Report.
Legitimacy
A community list is only as trustworthy as the structure behind it. Here are four pieces of public structure you can read for yourself before you sign up.
Pillar 1 · Bylaws
The same document the board signs is the document you can read. No "we'll send it on request." It governs how decisions get made and how the count gets protected — including your name, after you sign up.
Read the full bylawsalbanianregistry.org/governance/bylaws
Bylaws of the National Albanian Registry, Inc.
A Nonprofit Corporation · 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status pending IRS confirmation
Preamble
The National Albanian Registry was built between January and April 2026 by eight Albanian Americans, who serve as the initial managing board and propose these bylaws for ratification under the Article X bootstrap clause.
Continues — Articles I–XV.
Pillar 2 · Nonprofit status
National Albanian Registry, Inc. is incorporated in New York as a nonprofit. The Form 1023 application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status has been filed. The IRS determination letter is pending — the agency's published median is roughly six months. Until the letter is issued, we say "filed, pending IRS confirmation." Not "approved."
See transparency & filingsA pending status is normal — every nonprofit waits months for the IRS letter after filing. We'll publish the letter on the transparency page the day it arrives.
Pillar 3 · Three boards, one org
The bylaws split authority across three boards on purpose. Anything substantive — adding a director, changing data policy, signing a check above the threshold — needs more than one signature. Counts below reflect what's seated today.
Tier 1
Founding directors. Fiduciary duty for the org. 4-year terms. Two signatures required for substantive decisions. Seats up to 11.
8 of 11 seated
Tier 2
The founders who built NAR. Operations and day-to-day. Unpaid volunteers. Officers — President, Treasurer, Secretary, Outreach — sit here.
8 of 8 seated
Tier 3
Parallel branch. Sector and regional advisors — business, religious, nonprofit, academia, healthcare. Vote with the managing board on policy items. Target: 12 seats to clear bootstrap.
2 of 12 seated
Every executed board action lands on the public governance page as a dated entry. Audit log is append-only at the database — nothing rewrites history.
Pillar 4 · The eight founders
Five states. Mixed diaspora — Albania-born and US-born, immigrants and second generation. Their names and roles are visible here; click any founder for the full bio.
Legacy
Dua Lipa
Singer
Eliza Dushku
Actress
Bebe Rexha
Singer
Rita Ora
Singer
Photos via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licenses. Credits: Dua Lipa — Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0; Eliza Dushku — David Shankbone · CC BY 2.0; Bebe Rexha — Glenn Francis · CC BY-SA 4.0; Rita Ora — Firdaus Latif · CC BY-SA 2.0.
History
Ne jemi një
From Tirana to Detroit, Pristina to the Bronx, Skopje to Yonkers — Albanians are one people. Borders, generations, dialects don't change that. Counting ourselves makes the community visible.
Be counted →
Social
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New posts, member spotlights, and short videos from the registry.