Abdulhadi Shayif worked in all areas of the National Commercial Bank from 1997, and was the GM from 1999-2005. He is currently a member on the Board of Saudi Railroad Organization, Saudi Cables Co. as well as Amwal Invest and the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Studies, both in Amman, Jordan. In 1970, he was at Sun Oil Company, and 1974, at Bank Indosuez, Jeddah. Previously, he was a member of the Board and Executive Committee of Housing Bank, Jordan and the Board and Executive Committee of the Union of Arab Banks, Beirut. Additionally, he was a board member of the Arab Insurance Group, Bahrain and the Jeddah Marketing Board. He was also the Chairman of Arab Financial Services Co., Bahrain and Vice Chairman of Arab Jordan Investment Bank, Amman. Shayif participated in many conferences within Saudi Arabia, regionally and internationally as a speaker, panelist, and has chaired many sessions. Shayif received the Grand Cordon of the Order of Al-Istiqlal (Independence) from King Abdullah of Jordan. Abdulhadi Shayif graduated with Economics from the American University of Beirut.
Ulrich E. Wiechmann Advisory Board Member
Ulrich E. Wiechmann is President of UWINC S.A., a consultancy firm headquartered in Switzerland, focusing on Strategy, Change Management, Organizational Behavior, Marketing, and Senior Management Development. UWINC S.A.'s activities have spanned Europe, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Middle East, with an emphasis on the GCC countries. It has a diversified client base, which includes global and regional corporations, with an emphasis on the financial services industry. Wiechmann received his Diplom-Kaufmann degree from University Mannheim, Germany, and a Doctor of Business Administration from Harvard University,USA. Dr. Wiechmann was a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, teaching in the MBA Program, senior and mid-Level executive development programs, and the International Teachers' Program. He was also a visiting professor at Keio Business School, Japan, and at INSEAD - European Institute of Business Administration, France. He has conducted research in the fields of Strategy and Organization, Banking, Marketing, People Management, and Learning Methods.
Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Advisory Board Member
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was appointed Federal Minister for Privatization and Investment in April 2003. He is an economist of international repute, who was appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Privatization & Investment with a status of Federal Minister in December 2002. He was elected member of the Senate of Pakistan in March 2003. Dr. Shaikh has over 25 years experience in policymaking and management. During 2000-2002, he served in the Sindh Government as Minister for Finance, Planning and Development. He remained country head of the World Bank in Saudi Arabia and also led assignments and advised more than 18 countries of Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa as a senior World Bank official. Some of these countries include Pakistan , Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Romania, Czech Republic, Argentina, Bangladesh, Jordan, Qatar, Malta, Botswana, Tanzania and Ghana. Before joining the World Bank, he worked at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has a Ph. D in economics and authored many publications including a book on "Argentina’s Privatization". He also led the teams for successful privatization in many countries in the field of telecommunication, electricity, transport, aviation, banking and manufacturing.
Dr. Hafeez Shaikh had a highly successful tenure as Minister for Finance, Planning & Development in Sindh Province. He was the architect of the financial recovery of Sindh, restoring financial discipline and reducing taxes, increasing revenues, paying over RS 20 billion of old bills, clearing the over draft of State Bank of Pakistan of RS 11 billion, increasing allocation for poverty alleviation, social sector and development, and enhancing relationship of Sindh Government with international donor agencies.
His two years as the Federal Minister for Privatization & Investment has been the most successful in Pakistan’s history. 18 transactions worth RS 50 billion have been completed in a transparent fashion in banking, energy and manufacturing sector. Using the slogan of “Privatisation for the People” shares in several companies have been given to 0.4 million people, creating broad ownership for the privatization program. Transactions in telecom, electricity and oil distribution have been brought to an advanced stage of completion. The period has also seen a doubling of FDI and an unprecedented increase in domestic investment.
Fawaz Al-Alamy
Advisory Board Member
Born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. In 1976, he Obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Energy Physics from the UK. In 1977, he joined King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, where he assumed several posts, the most prominent of which were; Chairman of the Research Center and Dean of Environmental Studies. In 1983, he completed the advanced executive management program in business and finance at Stanford University, USA. In 1984, he joined the Private Sector as CEO & COO of major multinational corporations. He also served as a board member in a number of regional and international firms. In 1996, he was appointed by the Saudi Council of Ministers as the Deputy Minister of Commerce & Industry and assumed the following posts:
WTO Chief Technical Trade Negotiater.
Member of the Board of the Privatization Committee.
Member of the Board of Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Member of the Board of the General Investment Authority.
Member of the Board of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.
Member of the Board of the Saudi Offset Committee.
Member of the Board of the Saudi Engineering Council.
Chairman of the Antidumping National Committee.
Chairman of the E-Commerce National Committee.
Chairman of the Trade and Environment National Committee.
Chairman of the Sustainable Development National Committee.
Published two books on Globalization and the WTO Legal system.
On August 1, 2008 he established his own consulting house and is currently advising several multinational firms.
Rateb Shallah Advisory Board Member
Rateb Shallah is the Chairman & CEO of Shallah Trading Corp. Damascus since 1962. He is also the owner of R. Shallah Est., Beirut, and the Chairman of Rakha Co. agent Nissan motor co. Ltd, in Damascus, Bank Syria & Overseas BSO, as well as of the Damascus Stock Exchange. Shallah has been the President of Federation of the Syrian Chambers of Commerce since 1993, and the VP of the Syrian National Committee, ICC since 1986, as well as the Management Committee of the Syrian EuropeanBusiness Center and the Syrian-Lebanese Businessmen board. Previously, Shallah lectured within the Dept. of Commerce at the Univ. of Damascus, as well as in the Bus. Admin at AUB. He has been awarded the Grand Gold Medal of Honor of the Republic of Austria, the Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur of France, the Commendatore' of the order al Merito Della Republica Italaiana', the Medal of the first order "al Nilein of Sudan and the Gold Medal 'Zlaty Medallion of Czechoslovakia.Shallah received a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Oxford University, England, as well as an MBA and PhD in Finance & Bus. Administration, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Riad Kahale
Advisory Board Member
Riad Kahale is the executive manager of Kahale Archi Center. Previously, Kahale was the planning designer for the Municipality Dept. in Kuwait, 1970, and became the Chief of Municipality Dept from 1971-1972. He is the chairman of board for Blue Dana For Trade & Contracting, Kuwait Additionally, he assumes the same position for Arab Real-Estate Investment Co. and Arabian Hotelier Investment Co. Kahale is a member of society of Engineers in all of Kuwait, Syria, and Canada. He also studied & developed many touristic projects such as the 5-star Al Riyadh Palace Hotel in Riyadh, Al Masilla Beach in Kuwait and Sheraton Hotel in Kuwait. Kahale is in the process of developing 2,000,000 m.square in Palma de Mallorca Island, as part of a touristic complex. Kahale initiated architectural designs for many regions including expansion studies for Al Jahra village in Kuwait, studies & execution of Happy Land project-Damascus, and Project Al Manamah Port & Sea front Development. Riad Kahale attained a B.Sc. in Architecture in 1968 from the University of Damascus and D.S- Urbanism from ESA Paris.
John Yip Advisory Board Member
John H.C. YIP, MD of Josor Capital Sdn Bhd, has been a prolific contributor of Islamic finance articles to the specialist Islamic finance magazine, Islamic Banker. In recognition of his contribution, he has been invited to join the esteemed ranks of task force members of the Islamic Finance Task Force of Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority. Yip has a varied experience covering the field of equity, debt, M&A and Islamic ibanking. Yip was the GM of Structured Finance and Fixed Income at Hong Leong Islamic Bank; before this, Yip was also involved in the setting up and operation of a private equity firm in Kuala Lumpur. Having spent a number of years working for a Kuwait based and Arabian Gulf focused Islamic investment bank in the Arabian Gulf region, Yip experienced structuring and arranging Shairah compliant asset based and innovative financing. Yip was also given the task to structure and arrange a compendious Islamic finance scheme for the Saudi Arabia Export Fund Programme. A law graduate from the National University of Singapore, Yip completed postgraduate courses in Shariah law, Islamic banking and finance from the International Islamic University, Malaysia as well as a master’s degree in finance from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom.
Khalil Amiouni Advisory Board Member
Mr. Amiouni is the Founder, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Equity Partners for Financial Services Company, an independent investment advisory services company headquartered in Kuwait . Prior to the formation of Equity Partners, Mr. Amiouni was a Private Banker with Merrill Lynch International Bank, Bahrain, as per the ranking by Merrill Lynch for asset gathering, Mr. Amiouni received first position in Middle East and fifteenth position worldwide for the assets he gathered. Prior to Mr. Amiouni’s tenure in Merrill Lynch, he worked with International Investor, Kuwait, advising corporates and governments. At the International Investor Mr. Amiouni was also responsible for: (i) Financial due diligence and evaluation of major transactions, (ii) Developing & structuring of Islamic leasing, currency, equity and real estate funds and (iii) functioning in the capacity of Chairman and Director respectively in two leasing funds and a UK property fund. Prior to joining the International Investor, he has held responsible positions in Banque Arabe et Internationale d’Investissement (B.A.I.I.), Paris, Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith- Paris and Bank of America, San Francisco, California. Mr. Amiouni received his MBA from Wharton School of Business in 1985 and has also attended University of California, Berkeley, in 1982 receiving his degree with an Economics major. In 2002, Mr. Amiouni received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from CFA Institute and in 2007, he has received the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation from Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association. Mr. Amiouni is a trusted financial and investment advisor to several reputed High Net Worth Individuals, Family Offices and Institutions worldwide.
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