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Gulf One Investment Bank is led by Dr. Nahed Taher, a leading economist and
executive banker
and the first female CEO of a bank in the GCC, and COO Mr. Ziyad Omar, with
over 20 years of
senior banking experience in Saudi Arabia and the US, both of whom will
serve as Executive
Directors on Gulf One’s Board. Gulf One's distinctive high
caliber investment
banking team comprises of internationally experienced, motivated individuals.
Key personnel
from top tier companies and financial institutions have been identified and
will be brought
on board in coming months.
A brief background on each team member is
as follows:
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Founder and Chief Executive Officer
– Nahed M. Taher, PhD |
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Dr. Nahed is a leading economist and
executive banker and the first female CEO of a bank in the GCC.
Prior to co-founding Gulf One, Dr. Nahed served as Chief Economist
and Chairman of the Risk and Portfolio Management Committee at The
National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Prior to NCB, Dr. Taher held the
position of Professor/Head of Accounting Department at the King
Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah. Dr. Nahed has over 15 years of
banking, academic and research experience and is also a known
personality in the field of International Economics and has
presented at numerous Global Economic forums around the world.
She is a board member of KAPRSAC
Energy Research Centre in Saudi Arabia, a member of the Eisenhower
Fellowship in Saudi Arabia, is ranked 72nd by Forbes of the “Most
Powerful Women in the World” in 2006, is ranked 25th by Financial
Times of the “Most Powerful Business Women in the World” in 2009,
and as one of the “Top 100 Powerful People in Finance” by Dow Jones
in the same year.
She received the “Businesswoman of
the Year” award in Saudi Arabia during 2007. She was recently
appointed as a Board Member of the IMD in Switzerland in 2008, a
milestone achievement as she is the first member from the Middle
East to join the IMD. Dr. Taher holds dual Masters Degrees in
International Finance and Financial Economics and a PhD in Monetary
Economics from the University of Lancaster in United Kingdom. |
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Founder and Chief Investment Officer
– Ziyad F. Omar |
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Ziyad Omar is a co-founder of Gulf
One. Previously, Mr. Omar founded a Financial and Management
Consulting firm in Saudi Arabia and a business advisory and
consulting firm, Compass Consulting in Bahrain, which focused on
providing advisory services for large corporations in the GCC.
Mr. Omar has over 25 years of
regional and international finance and banking experience. He has
previously worked with; National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Saudi
Arabia, as Country Head of the Corporate Banking Group (CBG) where
his reengineering of NCB’s multibillion dollar corporate banking
portfolio resulted in a significantly improved risk/reward profile,
and was CFO of Al Faisaliah Group where he created the Group Finance
and Corporate Treasury.
Mr. Omar also worked in various
senior positions at the Saudi American Bank in Jeddah in Corporate
Banking and Structured Finance, where he co-pioneered the first
securitization transaction in Saudi Arabia.
Prior to returning to Saudi Arabia,
he spent five years as Systems Manager with Equitable Financial
Companies (currently AXA) in California, USA. Mr. Omar received his
MBA in 1989 and a BA Mathematics - Computer Science in 1984, from
California State University, Fresno, California, USA. |
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Chief Financial Officer and Chief Knowledge Officer – P H Subramani |
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Mr. Subramani joined Gulf One in
October 2006 as the Chief Financial Officer of the Bank. He
possesses over 24 years of consulting and industry experience in the
Middle East which includes over 16 years in senior management
positions.
Mr. Subramani has also held various
senior management positions at Al Faisaliah Group, one of the
largest diversified business groups in Saudi Arabia.
From September 1985 to February 1998
he held various positions, including Manager – Consulting, with
Ernst & Young in Saudi Arabia handling engagements covering business
valuation, feasibility studies, financial restructuring of
businesses, corporate finance and treasury, financial reporting,
policies and procedures, system implementations and business process
improvement.
During this period he was appointed
as an advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Mr. Subramani
holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and is also a qualified
Chartered Accountant. |
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Chief Economist – Dr. Mohammed Adaya Salisu |
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Prior to joining Gulf One, Dr.
Salisu was Principal Research Economist at the African
Development Bank (“AfDB”) from 2004 to 2007 and a Lecturer in
Economics at Lancaster University, UK, from 1990 to 2004.
Dr. Salisu is an Econometrician
by training and has applied econometric techniques to a wide
range of research areas in economics and international business,
including infrastructure, international trade, macroeconomics,
finance and emerging economies, and has published extensively on
these areas in international journals and policy-oriented
reports.
Throughout his professional
career, Dr. Salisu provided a wide range of knowledge-based
consultancy services to a number of internationally renowned
organisations, including the World Bank, the European
Commission, the United Nations, and the UK Department of Trade
and Industry.
During his career at the AfDB,
Dr. Salisu was the focal person for external liaison with the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) on trade related research issues.
Dr. Salisu holds a PhD in Economics from the University of
Lancaster, United Kingdom and also a MSc. and BSc. in Economics
from the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. |
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Chief
Risk Officer – Dean R Rowan |
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Mr. Rowan, before joining Gulf One in
2005, worked previously with Westpac Bank in Australia as Head of
Risk, Global Treasury as well as Head of Credit, and with Barclays
Bank PLC London as Head of Group Risk, and most recently with the
National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia as the Head of Operational
Risk and Basel II.
He also has over 10 years of
experience with Citibank, Australia and Asia Pacific and has
previously worked with Lloyds Bank in Australia. Mr. Rowan obtained
a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the University of New South
Wales, and holds a postgraduate degree in finance from the
Securities Institute of Australia.
He is a Fellow of the Australian
Society of Certified Practicing Accountants, a Fellow of the
Taxation and Management Accountants of Australia, a Fellow of the
Taxation Institute of Australia, a Fellow of Financial Securities
Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of
Company Directors. |
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Managing Director, Infrastructure and Chief Executive Officer, Gulf One Fund
Advisory and Management Company - Brian Little |
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Mr. Little is the Managing Director
of Gulf One’s Infrastructure Division and its team of specialist
investment professionals with responsibility for the acquisition,
management and realisation of infrastructure investments.
He is also the CEO of Gulf One’s fund
advisory and management company (under formation) that currently
includes Gulf One’s flagship investment fund, the Gulf One Tharawat
Infrastructure Fund L.P.
In a career spanning over 28 years
with leading firms including Citigroup and JPMorganChase, Brian is a
recognised senior practitioner of emerging markets infrastructure
development and structured finance with specialties in equity
advisory, structuring, restructuring, portfolio management and
business management.
During his extensive career, Brian
has been involved in numerous groundbreaking emerging market
capacity expansion infrastructure projects in the power, energy,
transportation, mining, communications, water and social
infrastructure sectors and has direct experience of several complete
economic cycles and their related effects on infrastructure
investments and their stakeholders including equity owners, debt
providers, project partners, host public sectors and consumers.
Transactions he has been directly involved in havebeen the recipient
of over 30 industry awards. Brian holds a B. Econs. (Hons.) from the
University of Sydney, Australia. |
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Senior Vice President, Private Equity - Shibu Nair |
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Mr. Nair joined Gulf One in August
2006. Mr. Nair has extensive experience in Corporate Finance and
Investment Banking business across a wide range of industries.
Prior to joining Gulf One, Mr. Nair
was a Principal in the Private Equity and Venture Capital department
of Gulf Finance House, Bahrain. At Gulf Finance House, Mr. Nair was
part of a team that structured private equity deals in excess of USD
1 billion, primarily in the financial services sector.
Mr. Nair holds a MBA degree from
Bharathiyar University in India, is a rank-holder Certified Public
Accountant (CPA) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
Charterholder. |
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SVP Advisory – Dan Taylor |
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Mr. Taylor joined Gulf One in
November 2008. He was previously employed by the Australian
investment banking businesses of leading global investment banks
Goldman Sachs JBWere, UBS and Merrill Lynch. He has extensive
experience developed over nine years across corporate advisory and
capital markets transactions.
Mr. Taylor has developed expertise
across a diverse range of high profile transactions that have
delivered innovative advisory and financing solutions for some of
Australia’s largest and other leading global public and private
companies.
He has extensive senior involvement
across M&A transactions with a leading role in deal structuring,
negotiation and execution. He has also had high level involvement
across a range of capital markets and acquisition financing
transactions, including successful IPOs, secondary raisings and
hybrid capital offerings.
Prior to joining Gulf One, Dan was a
Director of the Goldman Sachs JBWere Industrials advisory team. Dan
was awarded BA and LLB (Hons) degrees by the University of Sydney. |
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Senior Vice President, Corporate and Project Finance Advisory - Vishal
Joshipura |
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Mr. Joshipura joined Gulf One in
April 2007 and co-leads the Bank’s Advisory division with
responsibility for execution and closing of Project Finance
assignments.
Vishal has a wide-ranging
infrastructure advisory experience in areas such as project finance,
PPP, privatisation, restructuring, financial feasibility, due
diligence amongst others. Prior to joining Gulf One, Vishal worked
with Deloitte in infrastructure advisory and with KPMG in
transaction advisory services. Vishal holds a Bachelor’s Degree in
Commerce and is a qualified Chartered Accountant from India. He is
also an Associate Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) from UK.
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