I am a Finance professional and frequent commentator with nearly 20 years of professional experience. I have been a Managing Director and senior Portfolio Manager at Beam Capital Management, a New York-based value-driven registered investment management and advisory firm that caters to individual and institutional investors. More recently, I have assumed a senior role at Rutgers University as Managing Director of Professional Programs where I help manage graduate MS degree programs in Quantitative Finance & Risk Management and Data Science.
I enjoy public speaking and have been an invited speaker at numerous asset management and investment conferences in the Middle East and North America that included MEED Conferences, IMN/Euromoney, Inside ETFs, Aspen Institute, ABANA, REDmoney and many others.
In addition, I am frequently asked to share my views on the global economy and financial markets with print and broadcast media outlets and have appeared on – or have been quoted in – BBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, NY Times, The Guardian, PBS, France24, Al Arabiya, CNBC Arabia, LBC, Alhurra, Fortune, CNN Money, Nikkei, Radio Monte Carlo and other TV and print media outlets located in North America, the Middle East, Europe and Australia.
I am currently Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors at the NY Arabic Orchestra, a 501(c)(3) not for profit cultural institution based in New York. I am also a former Board member of ABANA – the preeminent US organization for finance professionals and institutions with interest in the Middle East and North Africa, where I served as a member of its Executive Committee as well as Treasurer, Chair of Communications and Chair of Programs.
I am fluent in Arabic and earned a B.A. in Economics from Brooklyn College in New York City and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester in New York State. I also hold the CFP® certification given by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards as well as the designation of Financial Risk Manager (FRM) given by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).