Ahmed Talhaoui, CFA

Managing Director, Head of Middle East & Africa and Head of EMEA Product Strategy for Global Fixed Income, BlackRock

Ahmed Talhaoui, CFA, Managing Director, is the Head of the Middle East & Africa Business and Head of EMEA Product Strategy for BlackRock's Global Fixed Income Group.

Prior to joining Blackrock in 2014, Mr. Talhaoui was Head of Investments at the PensionFund of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi. In this role, he had responsibility for the investment of the Fund's assets, including the assessment and selection of external managers of traditional and hedge fund assets, and day-to-day responsibility for managing the Fund's proprietary fixed income and liquidity portfolios.

He was previously Head of Portfolio Solutions with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with Blackrock in 2009. In that role, Mr. Talhaoui was responsible for the management and oversight of all EMEA Index, iShares and model based active fixed income funds.

Prior to joining BGI, Mr Talhaoui started as a front office developer at JP Morgan in 1997, and was Head of Fixed Income Quantitative Portfolio Management at Credit Suisse Asset Management from 1999 to 2005.

Mr. Talhaoui earned a Master in Engineering in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Nationale d'informatique et mathematiques (ENSIMAG), France in 1997.

Noor Sweid

Founder, Global Ventures

Noor is the Founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, a UAE-based, Series-A focused, emerging-market venture capital firm with presence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. With $200 million AUM, and financial returns rating it as a top decile fund, Global Ventures has become a leading investor across the Middle East and Africa.

Since its inception in 2018, Global Ventures has completed 50 investments across ten markets, deliberately focused on sectors positively affecting millions of lives across the world, such as FinTech, Digital Health, EdTech and AgriTech. In addition to generating top decile returns, the portfolio has had a demonstrable impact on millions of lives through its company founders creating 7,200 jobs, enabling female leadership, powering financial inclusion for over 27 million people and expanding healthcare access to over 4 million patients.

Prior to Global Ventures, Noor was the first woman to operate, scale and IPO a company in the MENA region, listing Depa on NASDAQ Dubai and the London Stock Exchange for US$1.1 billion in April 2008. One of the world’s largest interior contractors, Noor scaled Depa tenfold, expanding operations from six countries to 22, including four cross-border acquisitions.

Identified by Forbes as one of the “World’s Top 50 Women in Tech” and by Arabian Business as one of the “Most Influential Arabs”, Noor's previous roles include Chief Investment Officer at The Dubai Future Foundation and a Founding Partner at Leap Ventures. Noor also founded the largest chain of yoga and pilates studios in the Middle East, ZenYoga, which was acquired by Cedarbridge in 2014.

Noor is an active, independent board director of Clue, the largest femtech company in Europe, and VAM Acquisitions Corp., a US based special purpose acquisition vehicle focused on the space ecosystem. She is the Founding Chairwoman of the Middle East Venture Capital Association, a Director of the Global Private Capital Association, TechWadi, and the Karman Fellowship.

She is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. She previously held Board Director roles at MIT Sloan and was a founding board member of Endeavor UAE.

Noor holds Bachelors’ degrees in Finance and Economics from Boston College, an MBA from MIT Sloan.Noor is the Founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, a UAE-based, Series-A focused, emerging-market venture capital firm with presence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. With $200 million AUM, and financial returns rating it as a top decile fund, Global Ventures has become a leading investor across the Middle East and Africa.

Since its inception in 2018, Global Ventures has completed 50 investments across ten markets, deliberately focused on sectors positively affecting millions of lives across the world, such as FinTech, Digital Health, EdTech and AgriTech. In addition to generating top decile returns, the portfolio has had a demonstrable impact on millions of lives through its company founders creating 7,200 jobs, enabling female leadership, powering financial inclusion for over 27 million people and expanding healthcare access to over 4 million patients.

Prior to Global Ventures, Noor was the first woman to operate, scale and IPO a company in the MENA region, listing Depa on NASDAQ Dubai and the London Stock Exchange for US$1.1 billion in April 2008. One of the world’s largest interior contractors, Noor scaled Depa tenfold, expanding operations from six countries to 22, including four cross-border acquisitions.

Identified by Forbes as one of the “World’s Top 50 Women in Tech” and by Arabian Business as one of the “Most Influential Arabs”, Noor's previous roles include Chief Investment Officer at The Dubai Future Foundation and a Founding Partner at Leap Ventures. Noor also founded the largest chain of yoga and pilates studios in the Middle East, ZenYoga, which was acquired by Cedarbridge in 2014.

Noor is an active, independent board director of Clue, the largest femtech company in Europe, and VAM Acquisitions Corp., a US based special purpose acquisition vehicle focused on the space ecosystem. She is the Founding Chairwoman of the Middle East Venture Capital Association, a Director of the Global Private Capital Association, TechWadi, and the Karman Fellowship.

She is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. She previously held Board Director roles at MIT Sloan and was a founding board member of Endeavor UAE.

Noor holds Bachelors’ degrees in Finance and Economics from Boston College, an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Masuda Sultan

Chief Executive Officer, Symbio Services

Masuda Sultan is an entrepreneur and women’s rights activist.

Masuda Sultan is founder and CEO of Symbio Services. Her business ventures include projects in education, media, defense, manufacturing, and telecommunications in Afghanistan and real estate in the United Arab Emirates.

Ms. Sultan is a co-founder and current board member of Women for Afghan Women (WAW), the largest women’s rights organization in Afghanistan. Founded in 2001, WAW began in New York City and runs programs assisting women, children and families across Afghanistan in 32 facilities.

Ms. Sultan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Women and Foreign Policy Advisory Committee. She is a member of the US-Afghan Women’s Council, a bipartisan body set up by the US State Department under President Bush. She is also a founder of American Chamber of Commerce in Afghanistan and the American Muslim Women Political Action Committee (PAC) in the U.S. Ms. Sultan currently serves as advisor to the Afghan Business Council of Dubai and holds an MPA from Harvard University. In addition to her memoir, “My War at Home” her writing has appeared in the NY Times and Miami Herald.

Alex Spiro

Managing Partner, Brighteye

Alex is the founder and managing partner of Brighteye, which he runs with investment partner Ben Wirz. Founded in 2017, the 50m € Brighteye Ventures fund is the first and largest European EdTech focused VC. BEV invests at seed, series A and B, with a geographic focus on Europe, Israel and the USA and looks for early stage companies that leverage technology to help people and organisations learn and grow. Since founding the fund has rapidly become a thought leader in the European EdTech space, holding events, speaking at conferences and publishing frequent state of the art articles and market research reports.

For more info on portfolio companies, to read our regular insights.

Alex is an entrepreneur and operator with 11+ years’ experience in media and technology businesses, across publishing, entertainment, mobile gaming and EdTech. In his career, he has sold IP to the likes of Disney, DreamWorks and Netflix, has produced Emmy award-winning content for children and is the co-founder and CEO of multiple award-winning kids mobile gaming outfit Minilab. He holds a degree in History from Oxford University, a second BA in Computer Graphics from Central Saint Martins and an MBA from LSE/HEC and NYU Stern (TRIUM).

Ferran Soriano

Chief Executive Officer, City Football Group & Manchester City Football Group

Born in Barcelona, Ferran has more than 25 years of business experience in ten countries, in the industries of consumer goods, telecommunications, aviation and football.

He served at Futbol Club Barcelona as Vice-Chairman and CEO between 2003-2008 and is credited with playing a major role in the transformation of the club. FC Barcelona started a period that would bring it the best results in its history and became one of the most successful football teams globally, doubling revenues in three years and moving from loss-making to a profit-making position.

Ferran negotiated deals with some of the sport’s most high-profile players, including football superstars like Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi and led on some of the most significant TV and merchandising deals in the industry, including a ground-breaking non-profit making shirt deal with UNICEF.

Author of a book published in more than ten countries and languages – Goal: The Ball Doesn’t Go In By Chance - Ferran is married with two daughters and lives in Manchester.

David Arthur Smith

Senior Managing Director, Co-Investment Team, Capital Dynamics

David is a Senior Managing Director of Capital Dynamics’ Co-investment team. He is also Chairman of the firm’s Clean Energy Infrastructure Investment Committee in respect of certain existing investment mandates. He has over 30 years of experience in private equity and infrastructure financing. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics, David worked with GE Capital in the UK and the US from early 1990 until late 2002, serving in its energy infrastructure finance and private equity business. Earlier in his career, David was engaged as an adviser to AXA Private Equity (now known as Ardian) and established the European business of First Reserve Corporation, prior to which he was with BP Ventures’ solar photovoltaics business. David serves on the board of directors of the Major Projects Association and is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. David holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and a master's degree in Engineering, each from the University of Southampton, and an MBA from the Cass Business School of City University London.

Pontus Siren

Managing Director, INNOSIGHT

Pontus is an Innosight Partner who has been based in the Singapore office for 8 years. During his tenure, he has worked across the region and has helped clients such as Johnson & Johnson, the Ayala Group, Singtel, Manila Water and SCG address the challenges of innovation and new growth. He has worked across a range of markets, particularly in India, Singapore, Australia, China, the Philippines, UK, Turkey and Thailand. Pontus speaks and writes regularly on the topic of innovation, and he is the co-author of the 2014 Harvard Business Review article “Build an Innovation Engine in 90 Days” and the 2016 MIT Sloan Management Review article “The Next Wave of Business Models in Asia”.

Prior to joining Innosight, Pontus was the CEO of Bioneris AB, a biotech company that was founded together with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He has published numerous articles on cancer cachexia and sudden infant death syndrome in journals such as The British Journal of Cancer, Experimental Cell Research and Frontier in Neurology. Before his biotech career Pontus worked for The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Hamburg.

Pontus has an MBA (honors) from the Helsinki School of Economics, MPhil (honors) from Cambridge University in International Relations, MPhil (honors) from Glasgow University in Russian and East European Studies and a BA in History from Hamilton college.

Ben Simpfendorfer

Chief Executive Officer, Silk Road Associates

Ben Simpfendorfer is CEO of Silk Road Associates, a data-driven strategic advisory based in Hong Kong.

Ben advises Fortune 500 multinationals and leading Asian firms on their commercial strategies in Greater China, South East Asia, the Middle East & Africa, providing clients teams with geospatial-driven solutions based on the firm’s proprietary SRA Intelligence® analytics. He briefs CEOs and executive boards worldwide.

Ben has worked in Asia and the Middle East for over 20 years. He was previously chief China economist at RBS and senior China economist at JPMorgan in Hong Kong. He started his career in Beirut in the 1990s, later working as a Middle East & North Africa senior analyst for Dun & Bradstreet in London.

Ben is a Mandarin and Arabic speaker, and author of The New Silk Road (2009) and The Rise of the New East (2014). He is a leading specialist on China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) and a member of the Foreign Experts Committee advising the Chinese government on BRI’s implementation. He is a Board Member of PBEC, one of Asia’s oldest business organizations, and Co-Chairman of the China Business Committee at AmCham Hong Kong. He is also a regular commentator on Bloomberg & CNBC.

Siddharth Shah

Senior Partner, Khaitan & Co.

Siddharth is a senior partner with Khaitan & Co, a leading law firm in India. He has over 20 years of professional experience in advising domestic and international fund clients on legal, regulatory and tax matters involving structuring and organisation of funds/investment platforms. His clients include funds across asset classes ranging from angel, venture capital, private equity, real estate, credit, distress assets, hedge funds, REITs, INVITs etc. He also advises clients on corporate transactions involving M&A, private equity and real estate investments and joint ventures.

He is acknowledged as an expert in his field by reputed legal directories and industry publications and is a regular invitee/member of various industry associations and regulatory committees set up by regulators for policy initiatives. He is also a regular speaker at domestic and international conferences.

Robert Shafir

Chief Executive Officer & Member, Partner Management Committee, Sculptor Capital

Robert Shafir is the Chief Executive Officer of Sculptor Capital and a member of Sculptor Capital’s Partner Management Committee. He is also an Executive Managing Director and a member of the Firm’s Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Sculptor Capital in 2018, Mr. Shafir served in various capacities at Credit Suisse Group AG from 2007 to 2016. Most recently, he served as Chairman and CEO of Credit Suisse Americas and Co-Head of Private Banking & Wealth Management, which included oversight of Asset Management. He was a member of the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group and Credit Suisse.

Prior to joining Credit Suisse, in August 2007, Mr. Shafir worked at Lehman Brothers for 17 years serving as Head of Global Equities, as well as a member of their Executive Board. He also held other senior roles, including Head of European Equities and Global Head of Equities Trading, and played a key role in building Lehman's equities business into a global, institutionally-focused franchise. Prior to that, he worked at Morgan Stanley in the preferred stock business within the fixed income division.

Mr. Shafir received a B.A. in Economics from Lafayette College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. He is a member of the Board of the Greater New York Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Danny E. Sebright

President, U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council

Danny E. Sebright was appointed in June 2008 as President of the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council. Previously, Mr. Sebright worked at the geo-strategic advisory firm The Cohen Group from 2002-2016.  Prior to this, he served as the Defense Department’s Director of the Policy Executive Secretariat for the global war on terrorism from 2001-2002 during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan and Operation NOBLE EAGLE.  He was awarded the Department of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award for his service to his country.

Mr. Sebright also served in the Office of the Under Secretary for Policy at the Department of Defense, where he advised the Defense Department on the Middle East Peace Process, regional arms sales, and counter-proliferation initiatives. He received the Paul H. Nitze Award for Excellence in International Security Policy for his work on the Middle East Peace Process.  Prior to this, Mr. Sebright served with the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1984 to 1995 as a career intelligence officer, earning numerous Intelligence Community awards for his service. Mr. Sebright earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001.  He earned his BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University in 1984.

Anthony Scaramucci

Founder & Managing Partner, SkyBridge

Anthony Scaramucci is the Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital. He is the author of four books: The Little Book of Hedge Funds, Goodbye Gordon Gekko, Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole (a 2016 Wall Street Journal best seller), and Trump: The Blue-Collar President.

Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs & Co.

In 2016, Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year – New York” Award in the Financial Services category. Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, a board member of both The Brain Tumor Foundation and Business Executives for National Security (BENS), and a Trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. He was a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2012.

In November 2016, he was named to President-Elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the EXIM Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017.

Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

Bobby Sarnevesht

Partner, Proxima Media

Executive Chairman and Owner of Triller, Bobby Sarnevesht, is a highly accomplished figure in the tech and finance industry with over 20 years of experience.

Having earned a B.S. in Computer Information Systems, Sarnevesht began his career working as a developer at IBM Global Services.

From there, Sarnevesht took his developing skills and went on to create and sell several companies of his own. Among those sold are MemoryMedia, a recordable CD Media company and MyHomey, a real estate agent discovery and homebuyer platform that gives users real estate services on-demand.

Aside from his duties as partner of Proxima Media, Sarnevesht recently led the acquisition of Triller, a social media and music app focused on artist and music discovery that touts licensing agreements with all major record labels and groundbreaking AI technology.

Faisal Mansour Sarkhou

Chief Executive Officer, KAMCO Investment Company

Faisal Sarkhou joined KAMCO’s team in 2000 and was last promoted to lead KAMCO in the position of Chief Executive Officer in the first half of 2014 after heading the Corporate Finance Department from 2006 - 2010 and the Financial Services and Investment Division at KAMCO since 2010. Mr Sarkhou was also elected as the Chairman of Global Investment House as of September 2018. He has extensive experience of over 20 years in investment banking, asset management, financial products as well as financial services. Mr Sarkhou commenced his career in the late ‘90s with KPMG Corporate Finance in Kuwait. He serves as a board member on several reputable companies and funds. He also sits on a number of company and investment management committees as well as being a board member and treasurer at the Union of Investment Companies in Kuwait and a member of the advisory board of the College of Business & Economics at the American University of Kuwait. Mr Sarkhou is also a board member on the Industrial Advisory Board at the Australian College of Kuwait. He is an Economics graduate with honors from the University of Birmingham, UK and holds an EMBA with distinction from HEC Paris, France.

فيصل منصور صرخوه

انضم السيد فيصل صرخوه إلى كامكو في العام 2000 . وتدرّج في عدة مناصب قيادية داخل الشركة حتى شغل منصب الرئيس التنفيذي لشركة كامكو في النصف الأول من العام 2014 . حيث قام برئاسة إدارة تمويل الشركات من العام 2006 إلى 2010، ثم تولّى السيد صرخوه منصب رئيس قطاع الخدمات المالية والاستثمار في كامكو في العام 2010 ، تم انتخاب السيد فيصل صرخوه ليتولى منصب رئيس مجلس إدارة شركة بيت الاستثمار العالمي “جلوبل” في سبتمبر 2018 . يتمتع السيد صرخوه بأكثر من 20 سنة من الخبرة المهنية في مجال الاستثمارات المصرفية وإدارة الأصول والمنتجات الاستثمارية والتمويل وبشكل عام في قطاع الخدمات المالية. بدأ الرئيس التنفيذي لشركة كامكو حياته المهنية في أواخر التسعينيات عندما عمل لدى مكتب “كيه بى أم جي” في الكويت. كما يتولى السيد فيصل صرخوه حالياً عدة مناصب تنفيذية حيث أنه عضواً في عدد من مجالس الإدارات لشركات وصناديق استثمارية مرموقة. فالسيد صرخوه عضو في مجلس الإدارة ومدير أمانة الصندوق في اتحاد الشركات الاستثمارية الكويتية، وفي المجلس الاستشاري لكلية إدارة الأعمال والاقتصاد في الجامعة الأمريكية في الكويت، وفي مجلس إدارة المجلس الاستشاري الصناعي في الكلية الأسترالية في الكويت. ويحمل السيد صرخوه بكالوريوس مع مرتبة شرف في الاقتصاد من جامعة برمنغهام – المملكة المتحدة وماجستير تنفيذي في إدارة الأعمال بتقدير امتياز من جامعة HEC في باريس، فرنسا.

Hussain Sajwani

Founder & Chairman, DAMAC Properties

Hussain Sajwani, a UAE national, is the founder and Chairman of global property development Company, DAMAC Properties.

A self-made billionaire, Sajwani has been recognised as one of the most powerful Arabs, among other accolades.

A graduate from the University of Washington, he started his career as a Contracts Manager in GASCO, a subsidiary of ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company). After a short period, he established his own business and in 1982 founded his own catering venture.

From modest beginnings, the catering division has grown from strength to strength and today is a market leader managing more than 200 projects and serving over 150,000 meals daily in a number of markets, including the Middle East, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In addition to servicing various industries, the division specialises in providing ancillary services such as camp management, maintenance and manpower supply.

In 2002, he identified the market opportunity and established DAMAC Properties, which has grown to become one of the largest property development companies in the region with projects in key global cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Amman, Beirut, Jeddah, Riyadh, Muscat and London.

As an astute businessman and investor, Sajwani also has a proven track record of successful forays into the global equity and capital markets. He established the DICO Group in the early 1990s as his private investment vehicle. The Group focuses on building a diversified portfolio of new businesses across geographies and industries like luxury fashion, real estate, hospitality, manufacturing and more. Today, DICO Group’s global footprint extends across North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Ellecia Saffron

Founder & Managing Director, Maysaffron

Ellecia advises firms and funds globally to connect with the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Maysaffron, which she founded in 2015 is the solution for institutions wanting to connect intelligently and effectively with the Middle East region. The group focuses on thematic areas of Natural Resources, Disruptive Industry, Technology and Health Care and also works with funds wanting to connect with the region. Formerly a Fund Manager at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Australia, Asia Pacific & Global mandates) and prior to this a Research Analyst at Macquarie Bank, Ellecia is currently the Deputy Chair of 100 Women in Finance Middle East, Co-Deputy Chair Australian Institute of Company Directors Middle East and the Chair and Co-Founder of the Australian Business Group Middle East Association and sits on the Australian Business Group Abu Dhabi Board. She is passionate about community and giving back. In 2018 she was one of 100 recipients in the UAE of an award in honour of the Founder of the UAE the late Sheikh Zayed, for contributions to the business community. Ellecia received honours for her MBA dissertation in 2010 on “Diversity at the top” a study of the top 200 Australian companies measuring the diversity on their board and management teams and financial performance. The study found a link between the more diverse leadership teams and outperformance. She speaks regularly at conferences on diversity, females in finance and funds management, portfolio management and also has spoken several times as a key note speaker (Private Equity Fund AGM in New York, Middle East Mining Forum & the Kuwait Australian Ambassadors Residence) on the future outlook for commodity demand and the potential disruption of Electric Vehicles in the hydrocarbon market.

Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Manna Tree Partners

Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein has over 10 years of experience in asset management, including as a Partner with a well-known, high net worth individual in Los Angeles, as Co-Founder of Pt Holdings, an arctic asset manager headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, and as a founding investor of the Alaska Angel Investment Network. As a member of a prominent family of asset managers, Ellie has been involved and mentored in the industry since a young age.

Ellie holds a MS-MBA in Food and Agribusiness Management, a dual degree program that awards an MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. While studying at Indiana University, she was honored to be accepted into the Tobias Leadership Fellows program. Ellie attended Harvard University where she received a BA in Sociology with an honors thesis on Philanthropy and was a Varsity Ski Racer. Having experienced the healing power of food and the outdoors in her own life, she also earned a graduate certificate in Mind-Body-Wellness from UCLA’s Center for East-West Medicine, and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Ellie’s role as CEO includes driving a strong culture toward the firms billion dollar vision to revolutionize the food supply chain. She leads the firms fundraising efforts and is a member of the Investment Committee. Her expertise of global food systems and international network creates meaningful value for Manna Tree Partners Fund investors.

An active philanthropist, Ellie was awarded a Presidential Volunteerism Medal, currently serves on the American Red Cross as Lead Volunteer Advisor for Service to Armed Forces at its national headquarters, and as Board Member of the Mission and Outreach Committee at the American Red Cross of Alaska. Ellie also serves on various local boards and initiatives focused on the Military, Public Policy, Health, and Education.

Ellie is an avid hunter and fisher and spends much of her free time on the shores or in the woods pursuing protein sources. A self-described ‘foodie’, Ellie enjoys nothing more than sharing the nutritious food she has harvested with family and friends.

David Rubenstein

Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, The Carlyle Group

David M. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest and most successful private investment firms. Established in 1987, Carlyle now manages $276 billion from 27 offices around the world.

Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Economic Club of Washington; a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation; a Trustee of the National Gallery of Art, the University of Chicago, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Constitution Center, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; and a Director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Mr. Rubenstein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, Business Council, Harvard Global Advisory Council (Chairman), Madison Council of the Library of Congress (Chairman), Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Business School at Harvard, Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University (former Chairman), and Board of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community.

Mr. Rubenstein has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Duke University and the Smithsonian Institution, and Co-Chairman of the Board of the Brookings Institution.

Mr. Rubenstein is an original signer of The Giving Pledge, a significant donor to all of the above-mentioned non-profit organizations, and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, and the MoMA’s David Rockefeller Award, among other philanthropic awards.

Mr. Rubenstein is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Mr. Rubenstein has also provided to the U.S. government long-term loans of his rare copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the first map of the U.S. (Abel Buell map), and the first book printed in the U.S. (Bay Psalm Book).

Mr. Rubenstein is the host of The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS and Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg TV; and the author of The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians, a book published by Simon & Schuster in October 2019, and How to Lead: Wisdom from the World's Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers, a book published by Simon & Schuster in September 2020.

Mr. Rubenstein, a native of Baltimore, is a 1970 magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Rubenstein graduated in 1973 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.

From 1973-1975, Mr. Rubenstein practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. From 1975-1976, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. From 1977-1981, during the Carter Administration, Mr. Rubenstein was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. After his White House service and before co-founding Carlyle, Mr. Rubenstein practiced law in Washington with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman).

Norman T. Roule

Chief Executive Officer, Pharos Strategic Consulting LLC

Norman T. Roule is a business consultant on Middle East political, security, economic, and energy issues with an emphasis on the Gulf Cooperation Council states and Iran. He served for 34-years in the Central Intelligence Agency, managing multiple programs relating to the Middle East. His work in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations included service as Division Chief and Chief of Station as well as more than 15 years of overseas work.

Mr. Roule served as the National Intelligence Manager for Iran (NIM-I) at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from November 2008 until September 2017. As NIM-I, he was the principal Intelligence Community (IC) official responsible for national intelligence policy & activities related to Iran-related issues, to include IC engagement on these topics with senior-most policymakers in the National Security Council, the Departments of State, Defense, and Energy, and Congress. Mr. Roule has received multiple national security awards and was decorated by President Obama. Since his retirement, Mr. Roule continues to engage policymakers in the U.S. and the Middle East.

Mr. Roule is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-resident Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Visiting Fellow at George Mason University. He is frequently asked to comment on Middle East issues for international media.

Saleh Romeih

Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers

Saleh Romeih serves as a Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers and is a member of its Investment Committee. Prior to joining SoftBank, Saleh was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs as Head of Securities for the Middle East and North Africa region. Previously, he spent 17 years at Deutsche Bank, notably as Head of Corporate Coverage for Asia, and Head of Central Europe, Middle East and Africa regions for the CIB Divisions. He began his banking career in 1989 with BNP Paribas. Saleh serves on the boards of SoftBank Investment Advisers and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He previously served on the boards of Auto 1 and Abraaj Capital and Deutsche Bank Saudi Arabia.