Deputy Lord Mayor

Deputy Lord Mayor 2023-2024: Councillor Falak Ahmed

Falak Ahmed represents the Bingley Rural ward, having been elected in May 2022, where she has also been an active Parish Councillor since 2019.

Her early life and career were in Karachi, Pakistan where Falak was born and educated. After completion of her postgraduate studies from the University of Karachi she began working for a multinational company for a number of years in the Accounts and Finance department and ended her tenure in 1998 when she decided to shift her focus closer to family life.

In her personal life, Falak is happily married to Iftikhar Ahmed and has three adult children, all of whom are pursuing professional vocations. 

On the council, Falak takes a keen interest in a number of important issues and is committed to work involved on the Adoption Panel, Airedale Draining Commissioners Committee and the Licensing Panel.  As a Parish Councillor, Falak has been involved in the Harden Village Emergency Plan and is often called upon to help resolve issues facing residents in the ward.

Falak is particularly interested in improvements to children’s services; women’s safety and empowerment and the improvement of education.

In her leisure time, Falak has travelled widely on both holiday and business, including to Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sri Lanka.  Falak has also visited Rwanda, as a volunteer on the Umubano Project, where she was part of the British Government’s delegation selected to promote business skills in the country’s young local entrepreneurs.

Falak migrated to the United Kingdom in 2009 having lived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for more than a decade with her expatriate husband, looking after her then very young children. She spent her time in the UAE organising fun and sporting activities for her young family. These activities continued to be pursued in the UK in order to provide a sound basis for her children’s development and kept Falak very busy for a number of years. 

Falak speaks English and Urdu.  Among her interests and hobbies are playing (and winning) chess, watching cricket (whether international matches or her own children) and making new friends.  She also takes pleasure in reading Urdu poetry, listening to classical music and watching dance performances and enjoys nothing more than her morning newspaper with a nice cup of tea to hand.

Socially, Falak takes a keen interest in developing social cohesion and has a wide network of friends in different communities that sees her often attend Mosques, Churches, Gurdwaras and Temples on special days. She also promotes social cohesion through organising fundraising parties to support her many social causes which help underpin her principles of tolerance and community integration.

Falak is allergic to penicillin, and eats Halal where possible, otherwise vegetarian/pescatarian.  She prefers tea to coffee, is teetotal and loves white or yellow tulips.

Falak tries to live life according to her life motto: ‘One should live to serve others’.

Deputy Lord Mayor's Consort: Mr Iftikhar Ahmed

Iftikhar Ahmed (Ifti) is presently working as Management Consultant who assists SMEs with business turnaround strategies or new venture launches, both in this country and in the international arena.

Before 2010, Ifti spent more than a decade working in Pakistan, and the Middle East in strategic positions in the financial services sector with some of the largest global multinational companies. He focuses on business planning, establishing management structures, marketing activities such as product launches, handling media and competitive strategies, as well as developing corporate training regimes.

In Pakistan, in the mid-1990s Ifti was an integral part of introducing financial services to Pakistan under the umbrella of the then English conglomerate, Commercial Union, before moving to the United Arab Emirates in 1999 until late 2009 where he worked with English multinational companies initially and then with the largest composite Arab insurer in the Middle East.

From 1988 until 1996, Ifti worked in the UK in the financial services and later studied for an MBA from the University of Bradford, which he completed in 1996.  He has since worked in the international markets and, from 2010, as a Management Consultant in the UK.

Spending quality time with his three children is Ifti’s favourite pastime activity and aside from that, he has been a founding member of the social club, the Pakistan Club, which works to promote social cohesion in Bradford. Annually since 2011, large social events usually in March are organised by the Club with distinguished guests who have excelled as people of Pakistani heritage attending to mark the Pakistan Day. From the mid-1980s, Ifti was part of The Graduates Association which provided sporting opportunities for the youth in Bradford’s inner city areas. This was mainly through developing two cricket teams to compete in the local leagues and organising an indoor cricket tournament under the aegis of the Graduates Association. The Association cricket teams dominated in the leagues that they took part in with a lot of silverware to show for their efforts. Aside from cricket, the GA also organised high visibility dinners which raised money for Marie Curie.

The Consort has no known allergies, is teetotal, prefers coffee to tea and eats Halal food choices where possible, otherwise vegetarian/pescatarian.