"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela -
Maissa is member of the BOD and Chief Sustainability Officer at HOLDAL Group - a 3rd generation family business based in Lebanon covering retail, distribution, manufacturing and supply chain in beauty, personal and household care, health & wellbeing, lifestyle and luxury.
Maissa has been heavily involved in the Group's transformation journey since 2010. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of USJ FGM and she recently joined TFL’s new Executive Board as Secretary. Maissa has been dedicating most of her time to various NGOs, social enterprises and purpose & values driven entrepreneurs in Lebanon in addition to talented youth (her passion).
Before 2010, Maissa worked in several multinational Groups in commercial roles at L’Oréal and Sears in Canada or Kenzo (LVMH Group) in Europe, Middle East and North Africa.
Maissa is passionate about humane global citizenship, change management, sustainability and social impact. Her experience across multiple countries has provided her with a unique understanding of diversity, cultures, and the power of building 'bridges' and connecting people provided they share the same core values.
She recently graduated from the Advanced Management Program at IESE Business School (University of Navarra) and she is the co-author of “Recettes de Vie”, a social and humanitarian project that has been helping Lebanon since 2006.
Rima Abu Shakra has led, initiated and been involved with a number of private and public sector ventures in Lebanon, the United States and Egypt. Since 2010, Rima has been the CEO and co-founder of Beirut Ink, a company that operates a restaurant, bookshop and cultural space in Beirut named Dar Bistro and Books. She is also the deputy director of Zakira, a Lebanese NGO specialized in teaching photography to vulnerable communities including the Lahza projects, which taught 1,000 refugee children photography and published two books containing their photos. Rima is also a former teacher and currently serves on the board of ESOL Education, an organization that operates nine international schools in the Middle East, Cyprus and Hong Kong.
As a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Rima wrote articles and contributed reporting and research to the paper’s coverage of Syria and Lebanon. She was one of three authors of an article reconstructing the events of Syria's August 2013 chemical weapon attack, which was submitted by the Wall Street Journal as part of a package for Pulitzer Prize consideration. Rima has also written dozens of articles for the WSJ and AFP, as well as been a speaker at many conferences.
Rima earned her undergraduate
degree from Tufts University in 2000 and a Masters of Science in Foreign
Service from Georgetown University in 2006. She is a dual Lebanese and American
citizen.
Dr. Nuhad Daghir graduated from AUB in 1957 with a B.S. in
Agriculture and then received his MS and PhD degrees from Iowa State University
in 1962 in Nutrition. He joined AUB as Assistant professor and then was
promoted to Associate and then to Professor in 1975. He was Chair of the Animal
Science Department for many years and then in 1996 became Dean of the Faculty
of Agriculture & Food Sciences (FAFS) serving in that capacity until 2006.
He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the UAE
University from 1992-1996. He served as consultant for poultry companies in
many countries in the region and as Team Leader for AUB projects in Saudi
Arabia from 1984-1986.
Dr Daghir has published over 100 articles in scientific
journals and several chapters in books and compendia. His book “Poultry
Production in Hot Countries” was published in the UK in 1995 and a second
revised copy was published in 2008. This book has been translated to three
languages and has been used by scientists, graduate students and industry
people all over the World. He still writes and presents papers at scientific
meetings on a regular basis, and has recently published several articles on
Higher Agricultural Education in the Middle East .Dr. Daghir was inducted to the "International Poultry
Hall of Fame" in 2012, which is the highest honor granted by the World
Poultry Science Association. His resume has appeared in Who’s Who in Lebanon.
Who’s Who in the Arab World and Who’s Who in the World. Dr. Daghir has served
on many national and international committees and was on the Advisory Technical
Committee of the Ministry of Higher Education from 1997-2007. He is a founding member of TFL and was
Chairman of its Board from 2008-2011.
Born in Lebanon,
he studied at the American University of Beirut and earned his Master's degree
in Public Administration in 1957. He served in several institutions before
working at AUB in 1968 as an Assistant to the President and Director of
Development. Mr. Zeidan has also membership in several companies' board of
directors.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela -