Matthew Lawrence Ramadan is a native of Minneapolis, MN, but spent his childhood growing up in the ghetto of south central Los Angeles. In spite of gang involvement and juvenile offenses, Matthew maintained a 3.2 grade point average in school. He returned to Minnesota in 1974 to attend the University of Minnesota on an academic scholarship, majoring in Business Administration with a minor in African/African American History. Upon completion of college, Matthew returned to the traditional family trade of carpentry, eventually working to the position of field engineer/carpenter with a major construction firm. In1986, Mr. Ramadan opened Ramadan Meat and Seafood, Inc., the first halal meat, fresh fish and seafood market/restaurant in Minneapolis.

Mr. Ramadan is the Executive Director of Operation Breakthrough in Durham, NC. He previously served on the boards of the Minneapolis Foundation, Turning Point, the Citizens League, Twin Cities RISE!, the Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers, and the Minnesota State Chaplains Advisory Board.

In public service, Imam Ramadan represented District 7 on the Metropolitan Council. He has previously served on two Governor's task forces (Drugs and Crime - 1989 and Affordable Housing - 1992), the Minneapolis Community Development Agency Review Committee (1994), the Nicollet Mall Task Force (1989) and the Minneapolis Convention Center Task Force (1988).

Imam Matthew Ramadan has been a member in the Muslim American Society and a follower of Imam W. Deen Mohammed since 1974, serving as an imam (religious leader) since 1978. In 1987, Imam Ramadan attended a month-long intensive imam’s training session in Villa Park, IL sponsored by the University of Medina and the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in Fairfax, VA. In 1989, he founded the local chapter of African American Men Against Narcotics (AAMAN), an anti-drug group which provides neighborhood patrols, youth mentors, chemical dependency referrals, and court monitoring in drug cases. Imam Matthew Ramadan is a founding member of Masjid An-Nur/Islamic Centers of Minneapolis and St. Paul (1989 - 1996). Imam Ramadan performed Hajj as the guest of the Muslim World League in 1991 (following the Gulf War) and on his own in 1994.

Imam Ramadan also served as an Islamic Chaplain for the Minnesota Department of Corrections (1978 – 2001) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (1990 – 2001) before relocating to North Carolina in 2001. 1992, Imam Ramadan initiated two new youth crime prevention efforts, the Malcolm X Program and the Innovative Teen Intervention Project, to work with young people in the areas of substance abuse awareness and violent behavior awareness. These programs received statewide recognition for their involvement of young people as the solution to the risks that many will face in today's society.

Imam Ramadan has been invited to be the guest speaker at several schools, churches, business associations, and conferences. He speaks on such wide ranging topics as youth gangs, drugs, the Islamic faith, African American history, and the criminal justice system. Imam Matthew L. Ramadan is married to Paris Branch-Ramadan. They reside with their six children in a home they recently built on the family land near Henderson, NC. Imam Ramadan also has three adult children living in Minnesota.