"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela -
Senior Director of the Financial
Operations Department at the
Dr. Youssef El Khalil studied at
the American University of Beirut, the University of Sussex, England, and the
‘Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Dévelopement International’, France,
where he obtained a PhD in Economics.
He joined the Lebanese Central
Bank as an economist in 1982 and is at present Senior Director of the Financial
Operations Department which is responsible of the implementation of the
national monetary policy, and a member of the Bank's Open Market Committee. He
is a board member of several non-governmental organizations operating in
Lebanon and serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Teach For Lebanon.
As a founder and president of the Association for the Development of Rural
Capacities (ADR), he has participated in the design and the implementation of
projects pertaining to low income housing, microfinance, vocational training
and agricultural development, mainly in South Lebanon.
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.
Rabih Abouchakra is the founder
and Managing Director of the Office of Strategic Affairs at the Crown Prince
Court since 2009, providing socioeconomic thought leadership and strategic
advisory. Previously, he was a Partner of Booz & Company based in the firm’s
Abu Dhabi office. Mr. Abouchakra served as the head of the “Organization and
Strategy” practice in the Middle East focusing on public administration
modernization, policy formulation, large-scale transformation, and economic
planning. Prior to that Mr. Abouchakra was a Senior Associate Consultant at
Bain & Company in Canada and the United Kingdom. Mr. Abouchakra sits
on the board of Al-Qattara Investments and is also a member of the Advisory
Boards of INSEAD Abu Dhabi and University of Zurich Department of Economics.
Mr. Abouchakra co-authored three
books: “Looking Ahead: the 50 Global Trends that Matters” (by Thinkers50,
2016), “Government for a New Age: The Transformation Agenda” (by Thinkers50,
2014), and “Leading Smart Transformation: A Roadmap for World Class Government”
(by Palgrave, 2011). Mr. Abouchakra holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Master of
Telecommunication Engineering and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering with Top
of Class honors from McGill University in Canada. He was awarded a British Medal
of Great Distinction in 1995.
Born in 1961, married to Nada and father of Thalia, Georgie and Maria.
Raised in Beirut, attended College Notre Dame de Jamhour until the war broke out in 1975, when he moved to France to pursue his education until obtaining a French Baccalaureate in 1979.
From 1979 to 1982, Maher attended the Loyola University in Chicago from which he graduated in 1982 with a BA in Business Administration.
After a short tenure with the advertising arm of Tele-Liban in 1983, Maher joined Leo Burnett in Beirut as a junior executive and moved up the ranks to his current position of Chief Operating Officer for the Agency’s network in the Middle East.
Maher likes to live in a world
full of ideas, humor and humanism.
A communication professional
for over 30 years, he contributed to build brands, including NGOs in the Middle
East.
He is passionate about coaching
and mentoring and is a true believer in the power of education to transform
behavior and better the world.
Salwa Siniora Baassiri,
currently the Director General of the Rafic Hariri Foundation, is a graduate of
Economics at the American University of Beirut. She has started her career as a
researcher in econometrics, then she ventured in several other domains which
empowered her with multi-dimensional capabilities and equipped her to assume
key responsibilities in the domains of education, science, culture and
communication, also in the realms of cultural and religious dialogue as well as
in Bioethics. Mrs. Baassiri actively participated in more than 200
conferences and fora, held at the national, regional and international levels,
in the capacity of main organizer, keynote speaker, lecturer, panelist,
rapporteur, chairperson, etc. Among the most prominent of which, was the
chairing of two commissions of two successive UNESCO general conferences, the
first the PRX commission during the 34th session in October, 2007, the second
the Social and Human Sciences during the 35th session in October 2009, in her
capacity as Secretary General of Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO.
Mrs. Baassiri produced several research papers, wrote newspaper articles,
reviewed and edited several publications, and had several T.V. interviews, at
the national, regional and international levels. In recognition of her outstanding stature and
professional attainment, Mrs. Baassiri got the WAAAUB Distinguished Alumnus
Award for 2015.Also in 2016 and on the occasion of the International Women's
Day, the Arab Cultural Club honored Mrs. Salwa Siniora Baasiri.
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.
D
Previous
to that, he served as Academic Vice President at
Dr.
Jabbra was moreover fully engaged in preparing the strategic planning and fund
raising campaigns at both St. Mary’s University, in
Dr.
Jabbra has a passion for teaching and research. During his tenure as Academic
Administrator, he continued to teach and do significant research in the areas
of political science, international law, international relations, public
administration, the environment, globalization, law, and the
Dr.
Jabbra is the author, co-author, and co-editor of 12 books. The last book,
“Public Administration in Transition” was published last year in
During the AAICU meeting which was held from April 29 – May 1, 2011, in Beirut,
Dr. Joseph Jabbra was elected President of the Association of American
International Colleges and Universities (AAICU).
Dr.
Jabbra belongs to fifteen professional societies.
MD, the 16th president of the University,
assumed office on September 1, 2015. He previously held leadership positions at
Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. These
included professor and chairman of the Department of Hematology and
Medical Oncology, the Roberto C. Goizueta Distinguished Chair for Cancer
Research, deputy director for the Winship Cancer Institute, and the executive
associate dean for research. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Khuri was raised in
Beirut while his father Raja N. Khuri served as dean of the AUB’s Faculty of
Medicine and his mother as a professor of mathematics. Following a year of
study at AUB (1981-82), Khuri earned his undergraduate degree at Yale
University in New Haven, and his MD at Columbia University, College of
Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He completed a residency in Internal
Medicine at the Boston City Hospital, and a fellowship in Hematology and
Medical Oncology at the Tufts-New England Medical Center. Before joining Emory
University in 2003, Khuri was on the faculty at the University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center for seven years. His research is focused on the
development of molecular, prognostic, therapeutic, and chemopreventive
approaches to improve the standard of care for patients with lung and
aerodigestive cancers. He has published over 300 peer reviewed articles, and
his work has been cited over 16,000 times. Khuri’s work has been recognized
with several major awards, including the 2006 Nagi Sahyoun Award of
the Middle East Medical Assembly,
the 2010Waun Ki Hong Distinguished Professorship by the University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center, and the 2013 American Association
for Cancer Research Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award. He is a member of the Lebanese Academy
of Sciences; the American Society for Clinical Investigation,isa
fellow of the American College of
Physicians and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cancer.
Current
Positions: President
and CEO of AgriNova Holding and AgriNova SAL group of companies, a Cheminova – FMC
business Partner Companies responsible for the sales and marketing of
Agrochemicals and Fertilizers products in the Middle East, Turkey and North
Africa.
President
and CEO of ABYCO S.A.L Holding;
President and CEO of Lebanese Poultry company S.A.L;
Degrees:
Ph.D. Food Science. 1987, Iowa State University
M.S. 1984- Agriculture, American University of
Beirut
B.S. 1982- Agriculture, American University of Beirut
Career: Held several executive managerial positions
between 1987 and 2004 with multinationals such as American Cyanamid, American
Home product-Wyeth, and BASF which were geared towards introducing Agrochemical
propriety products in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria
and the CIS countries.
Interesting Factoid: *Co-founder of “ACT FOR LEBANON”, an NGO which has emerged (c2005) from the will of a few friends to “act for” rather than only “talk about” Lebanon. The NGO emphasizes secular education, sponsoring of young Lebanese talents, and promotion of cultural events. ACT has been involved in the Beirut Marathon, and in the Baalbek Festival. ACT has completed a project in Baalbek, Lebanon. This project consists of a school (Baalbek Community School) and a community center that are currently operational. The new school is not only an educational institution in which concepts such as democracy, transparency, rule of law, and tolerance are being taught, but is also an interactive hub where students and parents can engage in several activities.
*President
of Al Jam3iyeh Al Khairyeh Al Islamyeh Al Jafaryeh (c1922). This NGO emphasizes
secular education, construction of schools and charitable work in Baalbeck.
President
of the Alumni Agriculture Chapter of AUB 2009 -2014
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.
Number of fellows: 5
"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela -