Hawkamah - The Institute for Corporate Governance

Speakers

Lara

Lara was the Program Manager Financial Institutions and Family Owned Businesses at the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance. In her position, Lara is also responsible for identifying strategic partners for the Institute, developing market incentives to promote good corporate governance, and developing and managing Hawkamah's capacity building programs. She is currently leading two MENA Task Forces on Corporate Governance, namely for the Insurance and the Private Equity industries. Lara graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and has hands on experience in Corporate Governance and Project Management.

Mr Shenoy

Mr Shenoy is a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Middle East based in Bahrain. He currently leads PwC’s FS Regulatory Advisory and Islamic Finance initiatives in the Middle East. He is also a member of PwC’s Global Islamic Finance Team (“GIFT”) coordinating PwC’s global activities in the area of Islamic finance. He has also led projects involving the development of rules and regulations for investment firms, for stock exchanges and capital markets business, collective investment schemes, conduct of business, prudential reporting, public disclosure etc. for two regulators. He has led projects involving risk based supervision methodologies for three central banks. He serves a wide range of financial services clients including central banks and regulators in the Middle East. He has extensive experience in Islamic finance and capital markets having assisted a number of institutions in areas including strategy development, product structuring and market penetration studies, capital raising, governance, risk and compliance. He represents PwC on the Accounting Committee, Auditing and Governance Committee of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation of Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), and AAOIFI’s Accounting, Auditing and Governance Standards Board, and has been their trainer since 2000. He has contributed to the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) during the early years and is a regular speaker at its conferences. He has spoken at a number of conferences organised by AAOIFI, IFSB, FT Events, Hawkamah Institute of corporate Governance, Euro Finance, Central Bank of Bahrain, Central Bank of Qatar, Central Bank of Jordan, UAE Central Bank, Complinet, BSE/SEC, on a range of Islamic finance topics.

Tony Horspool

Tony Horspool is a partner in the Business Finance & Restructuring group. He advises debtors, creditors, shareholders, insolvency officeholders and providers of rescue and exit finance on restructurings, refinancings and insolvencies across the world, with a particular focus on creditor representations and cross-border work. Tony has been involved in many of the largest and most complex European restructurings including Eurotunnel, Parmalat and Telewest, and a number of structured investment vehicles. Most recently, he has been advising creditors of Four Seasons, Skyepharma, GHCL, GAL, Teksid and Schieder Moebel, and advising Lehman Brothers in relation to cross-border aspects of its chapter 11 filing. Tony's clients include hedge funds, special situations groups, banks, monolines, accountancy firms and insurers.

Erik Stern

Erik Stern, President Stern Stewart International, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia, has designed and implemented EVA® programmes for companies throughout the US and Europe. Erik co-authored the EVAluation report on cascading EVA to shop-floor employees, The Capitalist Manifesto, and has written for many publications, including the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Sunday Business and Global Investor in the UK, Børsen and Berlingske Tidende in Denmark, and El Mundo in Spain. A global value ranking based on his pioneering metric, the Wealth Added IndexTM, was highlighted in The Economist (December 1, 2001). Erik has appeared on TV, including Sky Business News and Bloomberg. His book, The Value Mindset, was published in March 2004. He has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA Hons from Brown University.

Hilton McCann

Hilton McCann, The Abraaj Group’s Chief Compliance Officer, has many years of experience in financial services, having worked in banking, financial regulation and compliance. He has served as Company Secretary and Financial Controller of a number of banks’ offshore subsidiaries. He has also been responsible for licensing and supervising banks, insurance companies, collective investment schemes and fiduciary businesses.

Zia Hashmi

Zia Hashmi is Regional General Counsel at EFG-Hermes, a leading investment bank in the MENA region. He has over 10 years experience of practicing corporate and banking law at top-tier international and regional law firms and is a specialist in cross-border transactional matters in the GCC region. He has extensively advised international financial institutions on sophisticated transactions and regulatory matters. Zia is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Ms. Alam

Ms. Alam has 24 years of investment banking, emerging market management and private equity experience. For the three years before starting DPI, Ms. Alam was Chief Executive of two African private equity funds run in parallel: the Zephyr Management African Investment Fund (“ZMAIF”), a joint venture between Zephyr Management of New York and Prince Al-Waleed's Kingdom Holdings, and the Pan-African Investment Partners and the Pan Commonwealth Africa Partners (“PAIP/PCAP”) funds, sponsored by the IFC and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Under Ms. Alam’s active management these funds realized some significant returns from investments. Runa was formerly a Director of the AIG Africa Infrastructure Fund, managed by Emerging Market Partnership in Washington, and has “on-the-ground” management experience in emerging markets having founded and managed both Peregrine Bangladesh and Union Capital Bangladesh in the 1990s. Ms. Alam started her career in New York working for investment banks including Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, where she worked in mergers and acquisitions and corporate and tax-exempt finance. She holds a BA in International and Developmental Economics from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University (1981) and an MBA from the Harvard Business School (1985) and was also a Harry S. Truman Congressional Scholar.

Milica

Prior to joining the Yale School of Management as the Managing Director of the Yale Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, Milica was the Deputy Director and Researcher/Writer for the New York State Commission on Public Authority Reform. The Commission, established by Governor Pataki to review New York’s public authorities and make recommendations on their governance and accountability, issued its final report in June 2006. Ms. Boskovic has also held the positions of Director of the Division for International Business for the New York City Mayor's Office, Director of Marketing at the Weissman Center for International Business at Baruch College/CUNY, and Editor of two editions of the International Business in New York City Directory. Milica has a Master‘s degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in International Media and Communications, focusing on Media and Transparency, a previous Master’s degree from the City University of New York in International Political Economy, and a Bachelor’s degree from New York University in Politics and History.

Hassan Shabrawishi

Hassan Shabrawishi currently works as consultant with the Global Corporate Governance Forum team based in Washington DC designing and implementing corporate governance advisory projects in the MENA and Eurasia regions. Hassan has several years of experience with policy making advisory and has participated in drafting several national economic development strategies, among which was the national strategy for microfinance in Egypt. He graduated from Richmond University in London, England - specializing in finance and economics of development. Before joining the Forum, Hassan worked for the Corporate Governance Program at IFC’s regional facility PEP-MENA in Cairo – delivering advisory services projects in ten different countries across the MENA region.

Paul C. Reilly

Paul C. Reilly is Chairman of Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), a premier global provider of talent management solutions, with more than 90 offices in 39 countries throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. The firm partners with clients worldwide to deliver services ranging from executive search to CEO and board services, leadership assessment and development, outsourced recruiting, interim solutions and mid-level search. Mr. Reilly also served as Chief Executive Officer of the firm for six years until mid-2007. Prior to joining Korn/Ferry in 2001, Mr. Reilly was CEO of KPMG International, where he was responsible for the overall strategy and implementation of the firm’s products, services and infrastructure on a global basis. Based in Amsterdam, Mr. Reilly drove the execution and implementation of strategies to integrate KPMG’s many businesses worldwide into one global firm. KPMG International has more than 100,000 employees in 156 countries; providing audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services, generating annual revenues of more than US $12 billion. Mr. Reilly received both a bachelor of science degree in pre professional studies and a master’s of business administration in finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Abdulqader Obaid Ali

Abdulqader Obaid Ali is the Director of Group Internal Audit and Business Excellence of Dubai World, the holding company that manages a number of world-class companies such as DP World, Economic Zones World (EZW), Nakheel, Istithmar, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Dubai maritime City, to name but a few of the roughly 80 Business Units of the group which employs over 50, 000 employees in 100 cities around the world. In his role as Director of Group Internal Audit he reports directly to the Chairman on Audit issues covering the whole of the DW Group and also performs the unique role of heading the Consultancy wing of Dubai World through Business Excellence Centre. Abdulqader is also the Chairman of Group Suggestion Reward Scheme for Dubai World and Chairman of Ideas.Arabia. He also functions as the President of the Institute of Internal Auditors (UAE Chapter) and is on the Board of Directors of the Dubai Media Incorporated and on the Board of DIHRD (Dubai Institute for Human Resources Development). Prior to joining as Director of Group Internal Audit and Quality, Abdulqader worked at Dubai Aluminum Company for 20 years holding various positions. As Head of Quality Assurance, he was responsible for the development and maintenance of the ISO certifications. In his role as Head of Organizational Development, he managed recruitment, training and succession planning. As the Manager of Information Technology, he aligned the IT systems to meet business needs.

Mr. Udaibir S. Das

Mr. Udaibir S. Das is an Assistant Director in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF where he heads the Sovereign Asset and Liability Management Division. Mr. Das leads a team that covers policy and operational issues relating to sovereign balance sheet risk management, debt, reserves and sovereign asset management, and local and regional sovereign bond markets. He is also associated with country specific vulnerability assessments and financial stability surveillance. Mr. Das joined the IMF in 1996. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Das was with the Reserve Bank of India for eighteen years. In his career with the Fund, he has represented Fund staff on various OECD Working Parties, the Basel-based Joint Forum and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, and the International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds. Mr. Das is a Fulbright-Humphrey scholar with graduate degrees in Economics (U.S.A.) and Management (U.S.A.). He was a lecturer in economics and finance at Boston University (U.S.A.) during 1989–91.

Susan Daniel

Susan Daniel is a partner of Advisory Services based in Oman and travels within the GCC region to support other teams in leading Corporate Governance, Risk Management and Internal Audit projects. Susan has 20 years of experience in Internal Audit and external Audit in United Kingdom and Oman. Her expertise is in the areas of corporate governance, organisation design, setting and managing risk management and internal audit departments. Susan worked in various industries such as the energy sector, manufacturing, service sector and the healthcare sector. Susan has lead projects in Abu Dhabi were she was responsible for designing the corporate governance framework for various companies. Susan's key role in many of those projects involved restructuring the management, introducing board of directors and committees, and also coaching the directors to perform their directorship duties. Susan is responsible for developing and writing the corporate governance framework tailored to the company needs. Susan has organised corporate governance conference in Oman sponsored by the Capital Market Authority. Key speakers were Sir Robert Smith and the Lord Mayor of London. Susan organised the topics and speaker and managed the whole event. The conference was well received in Oman. Susan has presented various topics to the IIA Oman Chapter and to the Ministries in Oman. Susan is working with a team who is partnering with other external companies with the aim of setting up the GCC –Board of Directors Institute. Susan is a regular presenter in the GCC –Institute of Directors. Susan is a Fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants – (ACCA) UK, a member in the International Corporate Governance Network – UK/US and member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (UK). She is a Board member of the Institute of Internal Auditors – Oman Chapter.

Michael

Michael joined Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) in 2005 where he managed business development in Northern Europe. With RiskMetrics Group’s acquisition of ISS in 2007 he now heads business and strategy for the Governance business in EMEA. Prior to joining ISS, Michael spent 6 years at Primark and then Thomson Financial in London and Hong Kong. Michael began his professional life working for a European Commission Quango in France promoting the study of the economic, legal, and accounting ramifications of a single European currency.

Michael Zamorski

Michael Zamorski joined the DFSA in April 2006 after a 29 year career with the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), to oversee Supervision of Authorised Firms within the DIFC. As FDIC’s Director of the Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection, he was responsible for overseeing the FDIC’s bank supervisory activities for safety and soundness, as well as compliance and consumer protection for the 5,200 institutions under its jurisdiction. Michael was a Member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the prudential standard-setter for large, internationally-active banks, from 2000 to 2006. He is a 2004 recipient of the American University School of Public Policy’s Roger W. Jones Award for outstanding executive leadership in the U.S. government. Michael holds a BS degree in Economics, conferred cum laude, from Villanova University, Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the American Bankers’ Association’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

William (Bill) Foster

William (Bill) Foster is Executive Director of the Mudara Institute of Directors, the region's leading, professional membership organisation representing the interests of directors and board members. He has been in the region, based in Abu Dhabi and now Dubai, for the last six years and has played an active role in the development and adoption of improved governance and directorship practices. He is a frequent speaker at MENA Corporate Governance workshops and conferences on regional market issues, supported by international agencies such as the IFC, the GCGF and CIPE. As COO of the Abu Dhabi Securities Market for 2 ½ years he was actively involved in programmes and initiatives to introduce best or leading international standards and practices it the market. Prior to coming to the UAE, Bill was Managing Director of the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE – now NZX) for 13 years and a securities market advisor and consultant since leaving NZSE. During his time at NZSE Bill served as the New Zealand representative on the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) for many years and was a Board member and Chairman of the WFE Working Committee for 2001 and 2002.

Jahanara Sajjad Ahmad

Jahanara Sajjad Ahmad is the Program Manager Financial Institutions and Capital Markets at Hawkamah, responsible for driving Hawkamah’s Task Forces on Corporate Governance of State Owned Enterprises, Islamic Banks and Insolvency and Debtor Creditor Rights leading to the task of implementing the Policy recommendations culminating out of the work of the Task Forces throughout the MENA region. She has carried out corporate governance assessments of regional companies, developed Codes of Corporate Governance for listed and un-listed companies at the Country level as well as at the company level. She has also organized and spoken at a number of Hawkamah’s corporate governance awareness sessions and programs in support of the work of the various Task Forces she manages on Islamic Finance, Insolvency and Debtor Creditor Rights and Islamic Mortgages. She has been invited to speak at a number of external conferences covering capital markets, Islamic finance and executive remuneration. She has also prepared research pieces on Corporate Governance structures of Shari’a Supervisory Boards and a GCC focused analyses of corporate governance codes. Prior to joining Hawkamah, she was Director Securities Market Division at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan where she was responsible for regulating the Primary Capital Market of Pakistan, ensuring adequate disclosure in the prospectuses of companies proposing to be listed on the Pakistan and the International Stock Exchanges, Development of the Debt Capital Market, Licensing of Special Purpose Vehicles, Monitoring the implementation of the Takeovers and Acquisition Law for Listed Companies and Enforcement of the Code of Corporate Governance of Pakistan. Jahanara is a Chartered Accountant and as member of the Debt Capital Markets Committee, has participated in the preparation of a Report on ‘Proposed Reforms to Pakistan’s Debt Capital Market’ for the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan.

Mr. Amer Halawi

Mr. Amer Halawi, in his capacity as Managing Director at The National Investor and member of the TNI Management Committee, has operational responsibility for Investment Research. He brings to the role more than 12 years experience in European and Middle Eastern equity markets. Prior to joining TNI in 2005, Mr. Halawi worked at Goldman Sachs. As Executive Director on the Pan-European Sales desk, his role consisted in distributing equities and derivatives to French institutional investors. Before that, Mr. Halawi spearheaded the firm’s Global Products’ distribution strategy to French institutional investors, first out of London and then out of Paris, where he moved to set up the French Global Products desk. From 1995 to 2000 Mr. Halawi was based in Paris, working as a research analyst for some of the largest European banks. He started as generalist French market analyst, and progressively specialized in the French Capital/Intermediate Goods industry. In 2000, he appeared in the annual Reuters survey, as one of the Top 10 European analysts in his sector. Mr. Halawi holds a Masters in Management with a major in Finance from ESCP and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University.

Elena Miteva

Elena Miteva is an economist at the Corporate Affairs Division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. In her current position, she is in charge of the corporate governance programme of the OECD Middle East and North Africa Investment Initiative. She also manages the Forum for Asian Insolvency Reform (FAIR), which is the only regional high level policy forum on the topic, and a joint initiative of the OECD, the Asian Development Bank, the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation, the UN Commission for International Trade Law and the World Bank. Elena began her career at the OECD in 1992 and successively contributed to the work of the OECD Private Sector Development Centre, the OECD / Stability Pact Investment Compact for South East Europe, the OECD Privatisation Network and its Advisory Group on Privatisation in non-OECD economies. In recent years, she worked for the OECD Steering Group on Corporate Governance and was in charge of its Corporate Governance Roundtable in Eurasia. Elena managed projects, built networks of high level officials, private sector experts and academics, and represented the OECD in international events in over 25 member and non-member countries Elena, a Bulgarian and French citizen, holds a PhD in applied economics from the Institut de Sciences Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), which she completed under the supervision of Prime Minister Raymond Barre.

Martin Steindl

Martin Steindl is IFC's Corporate Governance Specialist for the South Asia region. As such, he identifies and mitigates governance risks in IFC’s investments by providing direct advice to future investee companies. He also supports local institutes of directors or corporate governance in providing support to banks and companies on good corporate governance practices.In the past five years, Martin has supported the foundation of three institutes of directors and the crafting of 17 corporate governance codes in the Middle East and Pakistan. Martin, an Austrian national, who received his Ph.D. on a corporate governance topic from the Georgia State University and the University of Vienna, practiced as an attorney at law for seven years in Vienna. Martin.

Dr. Ali Al Amari

Dr. Ali Al Amari is currently a Senior Director of Supervision & Authorization and AML at Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) mainly responsible for all supervisory requirements and risk management including Anti- Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Dr. AI Amari has accumulated more than 20 years of experience in the regulatory system including Islamic Finance and financial institutions, supervision and authorisation in the Qatar Central Bank, Barwa Bank (a full-fledged Islamic Bank) and QFCRA. Dr. AI Amari also holds expertise in Strategic planning, Basel Standards, Corporate Governance, Risk management, AML, Regulations and Supervision. Before joining the Regulatory Authority Dr Al Amari was Chief Risk Officer (CRO) in Barwa Bank where he was in charge of all elements of risk management framework including policy, procedures and risk analysis. In addition to his risk management responsibilities, he successfully implemented Capital adequacy requirements as well as operational risk models, credit rating and scoring models for both corporate and retail banking. Dr. Al Amari has spent more than 18 years in Qatar Central Bank as Asst. Director for Banking Supervision (QCB). Dr Al Amari was responsible for the supervision and licensing of financial institutions as well as leading the implementation of Basel II and Corporate Governance. Dr. Al Amari holds a PhD in credit evaluation process and the role of credit scoring from University College Dublin (Ireland). MBA in finance and accounting and international business from Regis University (USA) and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Qatar University.

Jane Thorpe

Jane Thorpe is the chief legal officer of the Qatar Financial Center Authority, she is pioneering a road map that will serve as the basis of Qatar's financial system and governing laws. After graduating from George Washington University and Georgetown, Jane spent 15 years at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which oversees customer protection, financial integrity, and the proper functioning of the U.S. futures and options markets. She joined Orrick's Washington, D.C., office in 1997 with two primary roles: to develop Orrick's derivatives regulatory practice and to advise the structured finance practice as regulatory counsel.

Nada Abdelsater-Abusamra

Nada Abdelsater-Abusamra is a corporate and finance attorney practicing in Beirut, and is also admitted to the courts of New York. In addition to her law degree from the Saint Joseph University in Beirut, she holds a B.Sc. from the American University of Beirut and an LL.M from Harvard Law School with emphasis on corporate governance and corporate law. She is an active member of several boards of directors, including LTA, LCGTF, and the Lebanese Institute for Excellence in Government. She is the author of various articles, and a speaker on corporate governance in several national and international conferences.

Dr. R Seetharaman

Dr. R Seetharaman - Group Chief Executive Officer, Doha Bank has nearly three decades of experience in banking, information technology and consultancy. He has a distinguished academic background - he is a Chartered Accountant and holds certificates in IT Systems and Corporate Management, whilst being a gold medalist in his graduation Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Madras in the year 1979. Dr.R.Seetharaman has an extensive experience in integrating people, process, technology and re-engineering. He has excelled in handling multi-dimensional functions within the banking sector and has been responsible for two successful mergers. Prior to joining Doha Bank in 2002, Dr. Seetharaman held executive management positions in three banks in Oman, handling all domains in banking. He started his professional career at one of the global consultancy firms, Price Waterhouse before moving to banking sector.

Bob

Bob was the President of INSOL International and a Senior Advisor to KPMG LLP’s Financial Advisory Services Group. His practice focuses on multi-national corporate transactions in the financial services sector, with particular emphasis on complex cross-border matters including deposit taking institutions, life and property and casualty insurance, real estate development and a wide variety of funds. He is also a frequent advisor to board of directors and prudential regulators on transaction and restructuring matters. Bob has provided leadership in a number of significant matters having a value of over $10 billion, including structuring both acquisitions and divestitures. He has led the teams involved with Telesystem International Wireless Inc., Confederation Life Insurance Company, Sovereign Life Insurance Company, Reliance Insurance Company (Canadian branch), Canadian Millers’ Mutual Insurance Company, Central Capital Corporation, Coulter Financial Group of Companies, Challenger Drilling Ltd., Abacus Cities Ltd., United Canso Oil & Gas Ltd. and Sulpetro Limited.

H.E. Yousef Hussain Kamal

H.E. Yousef Hussain Kamal. Mr. Kamal is a member of the Board of Directors of QH and the Chairman of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and has occupied this position for the past five years. During the five year period ending July 7, 2013, Mr. Kamal served as a member of the board of directors of QIA and was Minister of Economy and Finance of the State of Qatar. During the five year period ending July 7, 2013, Mr. Kamal served as Chairman of the Qatar National Bank and during the five year period ending July 17, 2013, Mr. Kamal served as a director of Qatari Diar.

Dr Rainer Geiger

Dr Rainer Geiger is head of the OECD-MENA Investment Programme, and Deputy Director, Financial and Enterprise Affairs, OECD. He is co-chair of the Investment Compact for South East Europe and an associate professor of international economic law at the Paris I University Pantheon-Sorbonne. He holds an advanced degree in law, a PhD from the University of Heidelberg/ Germany and an LL.M from Columbia Law School, New York. His professional career started as counsellor in the Ministries of Economics and Economic Cooperation in Germany. In 1976/1977 he was secretary of the Finance Commission of the Conference on International Economic Co-operation in Paris, France. In 1977, he joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris where he has held various posts and is currently Deputy Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs.

Sumant

Sumant is the managing partner of Kesar Dass B. & Associates, an Indian corporate and commercial law firm. He is senior consultant on insolvency to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. His areas of specialisation include corporate insolvency & restructuring, policy & regulatory advice, foreign direct investment advisory, capital market regulations, corporate and commercial transactions, private equity. Sumant is President of INSOL International. He is Founder and Permanent Invitee, Society of Insolvency Practitioners of India. He was Founder Secretary of INSOL India. He is also Member of Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs; Government of India-United Kingdom Task Force on Corporate Affairs; Managing Committee, ASSOCHAM; Regional Council, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce; Advisory Board, Institute of Asia-Pacific Business Law, University of Hawaii, U.S.A.; Advisory Committee, Education Promotion Society of India; MENA Task Force on Insolvency Reforms established by INSOL, Hawkamah, OECD and World Bank. He is author of the popular coffee table book – The Indians.www.theindians.co.in

Mahesh Uttamchandani

Mahesh Uttamchandani is the Global Product Leader for the World Bank Group’s Investment Climate Unit Debt Resolution & Insolvency Technical Assistance Program, providing technical assistance to governments around the world. Prior to this, Mahesh was a Senior Counsel in the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and led the World Bank’s Insolvency & Creditors’ Rights ROSC (Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes) Initiative. Prior to joining the Bank, Mahesh was Insolvency Counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, England where he led the reform of insolvency systems throughout eastern Europe and central Asia. He has extensive experience advising governments of developing and transition economies on insolvency matters. Mahesh is a Canadian lawyer who practiced for several years exclusively in the area of insolvency & creditors’ rights at a leading Canadian law firm and has published and lectured extensively in North America, Europe and Asia. He is a board member of the insolvency-related legal journal, International Corporate Rescue, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Law in the St. John’s University Law School LL.M in Insolvency.

Hari Bhambra

Senior Partner, Praesidium LLP Hari has a remarkable reputation in Financial Services, both from a regulatory and industry perspective. Her career began at the Financial Services Authority in London where she was part of a dynamic team responsible for creating the integrated regulatory body. Hari was instrumental in drafting aspects of the FSA Handbook on Rules and Guidance. In 2003 and during the inception of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Hari joined the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the independent regulatory authority for the Dubai International Financial Centre. Hari was instrumental in developing parts of the common law system and the DFSA regulations, including the internal processes which apply within the DIFC. Hari was also responsible for creating the regulatory framework for Islamic Finance for the DFSA and has successfully created the ‘Shari’a Systems’ regulatory model for the regulation of Islamic Firms. Hari was also the key driver in initiating foreign access of foreign Islamic products into Malaysia under the Mutual Recognition Arrangement conducive to Malaysia’s liberalization programme. She was recently appointed as the sole advisor by US FSVC to advise the Central banking agency of a secular Islamic jurisdiction on the introduction of Islamic Financial products. In 2007 Hari left the DFSA and together with well respected lawyer Sagheer Mohammed, she established Praesidium LLP, a regulatory and client advisory firm.

Mr. Walid Chiniara

Mr. Walid Chiniara is an International Corporate Lawyer, a Family Business Advisor, and a Mediator, with over 30 years experience serving families in business, financial institutions, and multinational corporations across the five continents. Walid started his career in private practice and later in-house as Deputy-General Counsel at Alcatel in Paris. In 1997, Walid joined his first Family Office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and spent the last decade serving families in business and HNW family entrepreneurs, building family offices and implementing family governance systems. He intends to spend the next decade devising region-specific tools and building platforms that ensure “his families” become more competitive in an increasingly global world. Walid is a member of the Quebec Bar, the Family Firm Institute (FFI), and the Society of Trust and Estate Planners (STEP). He holds a Bachelor of Law degree from St-Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon and a Master of Comparative Jurisprudence degree from New York University in the US. He is also an accredited Mediator specialized in managing inter-generational conflicts within family firms. He sits on the advisory board of a number of family controlled businesses. Walid is the co-founder and the Managing Director of The Family Business Advisory Group, a virtual multi-family office based at the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Dr. Nasser H. Saidi

Dr. Nasser H. Saidi was the Chief Economist of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) since 2006. He leads the links with governments, central banks, and international organisations. Dr. Saidi is also the Executive Director of the Hawkamah-Institute for Corporate Governance and The Mudara Institute of Directors at the DIFC. Dr. Saidi is a member of the IMF’s Regional Advisory Group for MENA and Co-Chair of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) MENA Corporate Governance Working Group. He is a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the Global Corporate Governance Forum, an institution of the World Bank driving global corporate governance reforms. He is also Chair of the regional Clean Energy Business Council. In 2011, he was named among the 50 most influential Arabs in the World by The Middle East magazine, for the fourth consecutive year. Dr. Saidi was the Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry of Lebanon between 1998 and 2000. He was the first Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for two successive mandates, 1993-1998 and 1998-2003. He was a Member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP) for two mandates over the period 2000-2006, a position to which he was appointed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his personal capacity.

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