Basil Al Askari is the Cofounder and CEO of MidChains a regulated virtual asset trading and custody platform based in Abu Dhabi, UAE focused on both the retail and institutional markets. MidChains was founded after his tenures on Mubadala Capital’s Private Equity team and various commercial finance teams in GE Capital based in the UAE, US, UK.
Faisal J. Abbas is the Editor-in-Chief of the Riyadh-based leading Middle East English language daily, Arab News. He has held this position since September 2016.Under his editorship, Arab News (established in 1975) relaunched with a more global, more digital direction. It has expanded its international presence through several new international editions, a large network of local and international correspondents and regional bureaus across the world.
Prior to joining the Arab News, Abbas has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Dubai-based English language news site of Al Arabiya News Channel.
Abbas is a renowned columnist on Arab-international affairs, he also appears regularly as a political commentator on CNN International, BBC World and Sky News (UK). Throughout his career, he has interviewed several world leaders; among the latest were Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Pakistani President Arif Alvi, Coptic Pope Tawadros II of Egypt, Former Japanese Foreign and Defense Minister Taro Kono. He has previously written for Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The Huffington Post and worked with both Asharq Al Awsat and Al Hayat leading pan-Arab daily newspapers.
Abbas is a member of the Editorial Board of Al Arabiya News Channel, an associate fellow of the Cambridge Union Society and a member of the British Society of Authors. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders network, and an alumnus of the US State Department’s Edward R. Murrow International Visitor Program for Journalists. He has been the recipient of many media awards, including the UK’s Next Century Foundation’s Cutting-Edge Award (2009) for efforts in bridging the communication gap between the West and the Arab World, and British Council’s UK alumni “Social Impact” award in Saudi Arabia (2017).
Abbas holds a master’s degree from the University of Westminster and a bachelor’s degree from the Lebanese American University. He is also a graduate of the Executive Education Program of the Harvard Kennedy School, where he studied Global Leadership and Public Policy; and has recently completed a Leadership module at the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge.