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Dr.
Alberto Brugnoni
Chairman
of the Board, ASSAIF, Italy
Alberto
G Brugnoni, a former director with Merrill Lynch Bank, is an
independent Islamic finance adviser. In the mid 1980’s he
pioneered some of the firsts murabaha transactions and participatory
investment schemes (mudharaba) ever done in Europe. In 1997 he released
'Pilot Project Genoardo,' a seminal study for the establishment of a
Mediterranean development bank based on Shariah compliant principles.
His unique professional background combines the Islamic, conventional
and ethical finance sectors. He is the founder and Chairman of the
Board of ASSAIF (www.assaif.org) a think tank that structures and
develops Shariah-compliant products and instruments with particular
emphasis on home financing, Takaful, structured products and
microfinance. It also offers professional consultancy and training in
legal, fiscal, administrative, financial engineering and marketing
areas related to Islamic finance. ASSAIF works with governments,
central banks, public and private institutions, local and regional
authorities, professional practices and investors.
Alberto regularly chairs some of the major Islamic finance forums
worldwide and gives presentations in Italian, French, English and
Arabic.
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John
Teolis
Partner,
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Canada
John
Teolis is a Partner in law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
His practice includes corporate, commercial and consumer finance,
banking, financial institution regulation, mergers and acquisitions
(particularly involving financial services entities), money
transmission, information processing and payment processing. John is
involved in most legal matters involving financial institutions. He has
acted as counsel to several Canadian and non-Canadian entities that
have established a banking, commercial, consumer or other financial
presence in Canada and for companies that have established a payment
processing or information processing business in Canada.
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Stephen
Ranzini
President
& Chairman, University Bank, USA
Stephen
Lange Ranzini is President of University Bank of Ann Arbor, Michigan
which has $8.2 billion in assets under management. He played
the leading role in the acquisition of the Bank in 1988 when he became
the nation’s youngest bank holding company President at age
23, a position he has held since. Among his accomplishments at
University Bank, he is the Founder, Chairman, President & CEO
of University Islamic Financial, the first banking subsidiary of a U.S.
bank run entirely on Sharia principles. University Bank was selected as
"Community Bankers of the Year" in 2006 by U.S. Banker magazine and as
“Community Bankers of the Year” in 2009 by the
American Bankers Association.
A magna cum laude graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Stephen
graduated from Yale on scholarship and has served as both the President
of the Yale Alumni Association of Michigan and as a Delegate to the
Yale Assembly.
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Dr.
Mohammad Fadel
Assistant
Law Professor, University of Toronto | Of Counsel, Bennett Jones LLP,
Canada
Mohammad
H. Fadel joined the Faculty of Law in January 2006. He received his
B.A. in Government and Foreign Affairs (1988), a Ph.D. in Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago (1995) and his
J.D. from the University of Virginia (1999). While at the University of
Virginia School of Law, Professor Fadel was a John M. Olin Law and
Economics Scholar and Articles Development Editor of the Virginia Law
Review. Prior to law school, Professor Fadel completed his Ph.D in
Chicago, where he wrote his dissertation on legal process in medieval
Islamic law. Professor Fadel was admitted to the Bar of New York in
2000 and practiced law with the firm of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
in New York, New York, where he worked on a wide variety of corporate
finance transactions and securities-related regulatory investigations.
In addition, Professor Fadel served as a law clerk to the Honorable
Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th
Circuit and the Honorable Anthony A. Alaimo of the United States
District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Professor Fadel
has published numerous articles in Islamic legal history.
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Kamal
Abdelkarim Hassan
Treasury,
Debt Capital Markets, Kuwait Finance House, Bahrain
Kamal
Abdelkarim Hassan currently in Treasury, Debt Capital Markets at Kuwait
Finance House - Bahrain as part of an expanded team of dynamic and
international professionals involved in structring, cross-border
syndication, origination and enhacing relationship with other islamic
financial institutions. KFH(Bahrain), is a leading Islamic Bank in
Bahrain since its establishment in 2002. He is the former Director at
Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial
Institutions (AAOIFI) based in the Kingdom of Bahrain . Kamal
Abdelkarim Hassan has many years experience working in the Islamic
finance industry, began his career at the United Bank of Kuwait as part
of its Islamic Investment Banking Unit in London, England. Kamal
Abdelkarim Hassan, holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the London
School of Economics and an MBA in Islamic Banking & Finance
from the International Islamic University Malaysia .
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Asif
Khan
President
and CEO, FrontierAlt Oasis Mutual Funds, Canada
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Omar
Kalair
President
and CEO, UM Financial, Canada
In
2004, Omar Kalair founded UM Financial, which today is
Canada’s premier Islamic Financial Institution as well as a
member of IFSB and AAOIFI. UM operates UM Financial, UM Investment, UM
Advisory (Sukuks) and a Islamic Mastercard. UM Financial is
also working towards Islamic ETF, Takaful insurance, Canadian bank
license and more. UM Financial is a founding member of Usury Free
Association of North America. In 2005, Omar Kalair was admitted to a
PhD program in Islamic Economics & Finance. In 2007, Mr. Kalair
was recognized among CIC's top twenty Muslim business leaders at the
Canadian parliament. In 2009, Omar Kalair was presented by World
Finance with the annual “Islamic Finance Business Leadership
Award - North America”. He was also awarded Entrepreneur of
the Year 2009 by the Canadian Islamic Chamber of Commerce. In founding
UM Financial, Mr. Kalair has demonstrated an exceptional ability to see
and lead the Canadian Islamic Finance industry from a technical,
marketing, financial and regulatory angle.
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Linda
Jeffery
Director,
Treasury Services, Central 1 Credit Union
Linda has been with Central 1 Credit Union (formally Credit Union Central of Ontario) for over 20 years. Prior to her experience at Central, she worked in the treasury of a Canadian insurance company and with an investment dealer. Linda is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Her responsibilities at Central have included capital and liquidity planning, asset/liability management, securitization activities, the management of Central's fixed income portfolio, and the development and delivery of financial products and services, including the funding of Shariah compliant residential mortgages.
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Thomas
Gainor
Director, Investment Banking, Legend Securities, USA
Tom Gainor was a member of the venture team that created Guidance Residential, LLC and since its inception has served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the Company where he is responsible for a full spectrum of legal matters including product development. Guidance is a premier provider of Sharia compliant home financing in the United States. Mr. Gainor has over 25 years of diversified professional experience. Prior to joining Guidance, Tom served as Managing Partner in the London office of The International Investor ("TII"), a prominent Islamic investment bank. Prior to his time in London, he spent four years in TII's Kuwait based corporate headquarters where he founded that company's fund administration unit, chaired its product development committee and had primary responsibility for its wholesale distribution strategy. He also worked in a strategic tax planning position with FPL Group, Inc. (a Fortune 100 Company) and spent ten years in public accounting with Touche Ross & Co. Mr. Gainor is a licensed attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant and possesses both a Series 7 and 24 securities license. He earned his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Rhode Island and both his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from The University of Miami School of Law.
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John
Ruffolo
Partner
Deloitte & Touche LLP, Canada
John
Ruffolo is the Global Tax Leader and the Canadian industry leader for
Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT)
practice and a member of the firm’s Tax and TMT Global
Leadership teams. He is a Director on the Board of Deloitte.
John has over 20 years of international corporate tax experience
advising public and private companies on effective global tax
strategies. He also has extensive experience providing strategic tax
and advisory services to Canadian and foreign-based TMT companies and
is recognized as one of the country’s leading
“green” technology advisors. In addition, John
works closely with a number of North America’s leading
venture capitalists, and advises many of the companies in which they
invest. John is also recognized as a leading international corporate
tax advisor for clients seeking Shariah compliant tax advice.
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Blake
Goud
Islamic
Finance in North America report by Yasaar Media Writer, USA
Blake
Goud is the founder of SharingRisk.org, a think tank on Islamic finance
based in Portland, Oregon. During 2009, he wrote the “Islamic
Finance in North America” report for Yasaar Media.
In April 2008, Blake co-authored a paper, "The Development of
Shari'ah-based microfinance using the Grameen group financing
methodology" which he presented at the pre-forum workshop on Islamic
microfinance at the 8th Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance.
Blake has served as US Correspondent for Islamic Business &
Finance magazine since 2007 and he is a frequent contributor to
Business Islamica magazine and Islamic Finance News, and writes a blog
at Sharing Risk dot Org and Zawya.com. He graduated from Reed
College with a B.A. in Economics in 2003 and is also the Chief
Compliance Officer for Marquam Capital, an Oregon-based registered
investment advisor.
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Andrzej
Jakubowski
Executive
Manager - Investment Funds, Investment Banking & Development
Group, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar
Mr.
Jakubowski is presently working at Qatar Islamic Bank as Executive
Manager Investment Funds. He holds a Bachelor Degree from HEC Montreal
University and a Master Degree in Finance from Sherbrook University. He
has successfully completed the Canadian Securities Institute and the
Financial Risk Manager certifications. He is also presently a candidate
for the Chartered Financial Analyst certification as well as the
Islamic Finance Qualification.
Mr. Jakubowski has 10 years of professional experience mainly in
banking and investment banking fields, but also in insurance and
petrochemical industry. His domains of expertise are asset
management and products structuring although he has extensive
experience in credit, market and operational risks management. Andrzej
has worked within both conventional and Islamic frameworks.
Mr. Jakubowski has been involved with Muslim Presence Montreal since
2002 and is a founding member of a think tank researching and working
on concepts of economy, finance and banking system from Islamic,
conventional, alternative and ethical perception.
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Brian
Koscak
Partner,
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Canada
Brian
has been involved in various aspects of Islamic Finance since 2005,
including sukuk offerings (sovereign and corporate), Islamic mortgages,
Islamic banking, takaful insurance and Shariah compliant investment
funds, where Brian developed a family of Shariah compliant mutual funds
in Canada. Brian was also a catalyst in developing the
S&P/TSX 60 Shariah, Canada's first index of Shariah compliant
stocks launched in 2009. Brian has travelled extensively in
the Middle East , including attending the 5th Annual Islamic Funds
World Conference in Dubai in 2007, and spending three weeks in the MENA
Region in 2009 meeting with senior executives of various Islamic
financial institutions in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia. In 2009, Brian co-authored an article titled
“The Development of the Canadian Sukuk Market”
which was published in the Fall of 2009 in the Collaborative Sukuk
Report – An agenda setting study for the growth and
development of the global sukuk industry by Zawya. Brian is
very active in promoting Islamic finance in Canada and has also
facilitated discussions to promote dual-listings between stock
exchanges in Canada and in the MENA Region and Malaysia.
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John
Birch
Partner,
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Canada
John
is a partner whose practice focuses on insolvency law and commercial
litigation. For over 10 years, he has acted for debtors, creditors,
receivers, and trustees in a wide variety of proceedings under the
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, Companies’ Creditors
Arrangement Act, and the Personal Property Security Act. John is
currently representing a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed firm in
restructuring proceedings, as well as a company formerly listed on the
AIM market (London) that is in court-supervised liquidation. John also
represents clients in commercial litigation, including shareholder
disputes, class proceedings, and debtor-creditor matters.
John is a contributor to Restructuring & Insolvency, an annual
publication of Law Business Research Ltd., and he speaks at conferences
hosted by the Canadian Bar Association, the University of British
Columbia, and the Canadian Institute. He also writes frequently on
international insolvency issues. John is the author of chapters on
litigation and arbitration in the Canada-U.S. Commercial Law Guide, a
loose-leaf service published by Thomson Carswell.
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Jonathan
Fleisher
Partner,
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Canada
Jonathan
Fleisher is a partner at the law firm of Cassels Brock &
Blackwell where his financial services practice focuses on the
commercial finance industry with a particular emphasis on innovative
cross-border transactions and equipment finance. He has particular
expertise assisting U.S. commercial finance companies, both public and
private, with establishing operations in Canada providing both legal
and practical business advice. He sits on the board of many
of his financial services clients. His expertise also extends
to all forms of debt finance including sub-debt, venture financings,
convertible debt, tranche b debt and asset based lending. He is the
author of numerous articles on the equipment leasing industry where his
articles have been published internationally in both legal and non
legal journals. He has spoken internationally on equipment
finance and is the lead Canadian contributor to the Equipment Leasing
and Financing Association’s legal compendium. He
holds a B. Comm., M.B.A. and JD degree. His
Martindale-Hubbell rating is an AV Pre-eminent 5.0 out of 5.
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Malik
Saeed
Board
of Director, UM Financial, Canada
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Dr.
Walid Hejazi
Professor
of International Competitiveness, Rotman School of
Management, University of Toronto
Walid
Hejazi is Professor of International Competitiveness at the, Rotman
School of Management, University of Toronto. He teaches in the MBA,
executive MBA and custom executive programs; and is academic director
of international programs. He has worked extensively with the Canadian
and foreign governments on international trade, foreign direct
investment and international competitiveness, and has published
extensively in leading academic and business journals. Recent studies
include "Assessing the Costs and Benefits of a Closer Canada-EU
Economic Partnership" (tabled at the 2008 Canada-EU summit), "Foreign
Direct Investment and the Canadian Economy" (Competition Policy Review
Panel Secretariat, 2008). In January, 2010, he released an IRPP study
entitled "Dispelling Canadian Myths about Foreign Direct
Investment". He is currently developing courses in Islamic
Finance for the Rotman School.
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Saad
Rehman
Wealth
Advisor, Scotia McLeod, Scotia Bank, Canada
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Guy
David
Partner,
Gowling Lafleur Henderson, LLP, Canada
Guy
David is a lawyer and partner in the Corporate Finance, Securities and
Public M&A Group in the Ottawa office of Gowlings and leads the
firm’s Islamic Finance practice. He is also the
Ottawa office leader of Gowlings National Infrastructure Team. His
practice includes corporate finance and securities, project finance,
financial regulatory law and international finance. He holds law
degrees in both the civil law and common law legal systems.
Mr. David has participated in a number of Islamic finance transactions,
including in-bound investments into Canada, Sharia-compliant loans by
Canadian financial institutions and to entities in the GCC and
development of retail financial products for Canadian financial
institutions. Guy David has led the Gowlings’ team advising
GCC investors on a Sharia- compliant structure for a major resort
acquisition in British Columbia. He has advised the Canadian federal
government’s Islamic Financial Services Working Group and led
the Gowlings’ team that completed the Islamic Housing Finance
study recently published by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
CMHC. Guy David has spoken extensively on Islamic finance in Canada and
internationally and has also published articles on the subject.
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Majid
Dawood
CEO,
Yasaar Limited, Dubai
Majid
is an experienced financial services professional. He is the CEO and
has been a key individual in the establishment of Yasaar Limited, the
first Shariah compliance services company which assists financial
institutions structure cost-effective Shariah compliant financing
structures around the globe. Prior to setting up Yasaar, Majid held the
position of country representative for Credit Lyonnais Securities
(Asia) Ltd as well as capital markets consultant to Credit Lyonnais and
Jardine Fleming.
Majid is a well known speaker on Islamic finance and Shariah, having
presented on these topics globally as well as having authored numerous
articles for industry journals and chapters for books. In 2004, Majid
was presented the Deloitte & Touche award for the most
innovative Islamic finance product for the Caravan 1 Sukuk. Under his
leadership and guidance in December 2007 Yasaar was voted
“The Best Islamic Finance Advisory Firm” by the
readers of Islamic Business and Finance magazine and in January 2009
won the same award for the second year running. Also in 2009 he set up
the publication capability by establishing Yasaar Media. Yasaar Human
Capital, the Islamic finance executive search and recruitment division
was launched in Q3 in 2009. Majid holds a BA (Economics) from the
University of Massachusetts.
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Adnan
Haider
Head
of Fixed Income and Equities | Treasury & Investments Division,
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, UAE
Adnan
is with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank where he looks after the Fixed
Income, Equities and Structuring businesses. Adnan has 15+
years of capital markets, investment banking and management consulting
experiences, having worked in UAE, UK and Canada. Most
recently, Adnan was a co-founder of a Dubai based investment
bank where he co-headed the Capital Markets division, and previously
worked at a bulge bracket investment bank in London on the credit
trading desk and the leveraged finance desk. Prior to
banking, Adnan worked in strategy consulting and private
equity. Adnan holds an MBA from London Business School and a
Masters of Accounting from University of Waterloo, and is a qualified
CA.
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Pervez
Nasim
Chairman,
Ansar Financial
Pervez
Nasim is a Bachelor of Commerce and a Certified Management Accountant
(CMA). He is a founding member and Chair of the Board of the Islamic
Co-operative Housing Corporation Ltd. and he has been volunteering his
time since its inception in 1980 in Toronto, and Ansar Co-operative
Housing Corporation. He is also the Chairman of Ansar Financial Group
of companies, Interest-free business and investment companies in Canada.
He was employed by the Ministry of Finance from where he retired last
year after twenty-seven years of service. During the past twelve years
he has made a number of presentations on Islamic finance in various
international Islamic banking and finance conferences held in Chicago,
Houston, Los Angeles, Toronto, Khartoum, Kuala Lumpur, Monterrey,
Mexico, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and at Harvard University, London
School of Economics in England and at Crans Montana Forum in Geneva,
Switzerland.
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Mufti
Barkatullah
Shariah
Scholar | Lecturer, Ebrahim College, London, UK
Mufti
is a Lecturer on Islamic Finance at a ebrahim College, London. He is a
prominent Islamic Sharia law scholar with a strong background in
economics and finance. Trained extensively both in traditional Islamic
and modern Western educational traditions, Mufti has served UK Muslims
as a community worker and Sharia Judge at Islamic Sharia Council,
London. Previously Mufti had developed Islamic Sharia information
databases on CD-Rom and recently hosted live phone-in shows on
community TV channels.
Mufti Barkatulla is member of the Sharia supervisory boards for several
Islamic financial institutions and Banks, including Islamic Bank of
Britain and Lloyds TSB. As a respected Scholar, and
maintainer of the Islamic Helpline, he has a wealth of experience in
Islamic community and financial issues in Europe.
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Dr.
Iqbal Al-Nadvi
President,
ICNA, Canada
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Shahzad
Siddiqui
Author
& Lawyer, Canada
Shahzad
Siddiqui is a Toronto-based lawyer. A graduate of the
University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, he worked at the Bay
Street law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP before teaching the law
of international business transactions at Southwest University in
China. He subsequently spearheaded the entry of a Chinese
conglomerate into the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
He currently advises organizations as diverse as the Islamic Foundation
of Toronto Inc., one of the largest mosque and school facilities in
Canada; the Chinese Muslim Association of Canada; and Islamic wealth
management teams at HSBC Securities and Macquarie Capital Advisors.
He is the author of a recent Sovereign Sukuk report, co-written with
Parvez Daruwalla of the Ontario Financing Authority. He is
also the author of the upcoming report Cross-Border Regulation of
Islamic Finance and Foreign Investments in North America, co-written
with Imran Ahmad of Bennett Jones LLP. His book on
Shari'a-Compliant Private Equity is due to be published by Euromoney
plc in mid-2010.
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Brian Masse
Member of Parliament, Windsor West, Canada
Brian Masse has been an elected representative for the past 13 years, with the last eight as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. He serves as the NDP Industry, Automotive and Border Critic and is a member of House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology. He is one of the leading voices in parliament on manufacturing, automotive, telecom, broadcasting, foreign investment and the financial services sectors. He is also the Vice-Chair of US-Canada Parliamentary Group and a member of the joint House of Commons- Senate regulatory committee.
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Hooman Sabeti
Senior Counsel, Allen & Overy, Singapore
Hooman Sabeti-Rahmati is a senior counsel in Allen & Overy's Singapore office. He has extensive experience in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US in a wide range of capital markets transactions, with an expertise in securitisations, structured financings and Islamic financings, particularly sukuk. Since working on the first global sukuk, for the Malaysian sovereign in 2002, he has been involved with numerous Islamic financings, including the very first Sharia-compatible securitisation of home financings, for Tamweel in the UAE, and most recently, Indonesia's sovereign sukuk issuance, on which he advised the government.
Hooman is a member of the Bar of the State of New York. He speaks frequently on his practice areas at various conferences and to the media, is listed in Euromoney's Guide to Leading Islamic Finance Lawyers and sits on the Advisory Board of the Duke Islamic Studies Center.
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Farrukh Siddiqui
Managing Director and COO, Zayan Takaful LLC, USA
Farrukh Siddiqui's professional experience extends to over fifteen years in the Insurance/Financial Services and Technology industries. During that time Farrukh successfully optimized sales, marketing, business development, and technology initiatives for companies such as Aon Corporation, Rohm and Haas Company, Adesta Group, and Maximus. This includes fourteen years of direct work in sales, sales management, and operations in financial services as well as five years of technology and process management. In addition to Zayan, Farrukh has directly contributed to the success of several other financial services start-up companies such as Tradescape and Guidance Financial Group.
Prior to founding Zayan Finance and Zayan Takaful, Farrukh served as Regional Manager for the Northeast United States for Guidance Financial Group, a Shari'ah compliant start-up financial services firm. Shortly after joining the firm, Farrukh's contributions to creating efficiencies in the company's sales operations prompted Guidance's senior management to assign him with the additional title of Sales Operations Manager. In this role, he successfully overhauled the company's mortgage origination and processing methodologies and helped launch many useful best practices to the underwriting and closing departments.
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Franco F. Hasou
Partner, Ernst & Young LLP, Canada
As a Partner at Ernst & Young LLP and GTA Cleantech Industry Group Leader. Franco advises enterprises in the technology (including software and internet), clean tech and manufacturing sectors on broad types of issues and needs primarily related to dealing with tax effective expansion of their businesses as well as tax optimization of capital structure and tax planning and reporting.
While in the New York office, he advised multi-national corporations and private equity firms from North America as well as Europe and the Middle East on acquisitions, various structuring, financing and related opportunities and deals. Franco has advised on cross border sukuk structures and shariah compliant investments and cross border investment arrangements.
Franco advises on domestic and international acquisitions and re-organizations, and helps clients build tax solutions and implement global financing, treasury management and business operating structures. Franco also advises companies in Canada on availability of government incentives and funding, sources of financing, tax effective structuring and establishing tax effective business models.
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Ajmal Bhatty
CEO Takaful & COO, Tokio Marine Middle East, UAE
Ajmal Bhatty is CEO of Tokio Marine Middle East Takaful based in Dubai. The Company is global hub of takaful for Tokio Marine Group and develops and manages takaful businesses for Group and non-Group takaful ventures.
Previously, Mr. Bhatty served in senior positions as Global Head of Takaful at HSBC, CEO of Takaful International Bahrain, Arab Insurance Group Bahrain and Old Mutual in the UK.
Mr. Bhatty has supported takaful industry's development and promotion vigorously and untiringly for more than 20 years. He carried out pioneering research work that lead to invaluable insights into quantifiable takaful potential and industry's progress and growth over recent years in key markets of Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Some of his notable activities are: Advisor to the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance, UK; Takaful advisor to Bahrain Monetary Agency; Established four takaful companies.
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Steven Watts
Audit Partner, KPMG Canada
Steve is a KPMG Audit Partner in the Financial Institutions Practice in Toronto. He has significant experience auditing and advising banking and finance clients in Canada and internationally. His banking clients include a Schedule I Canadian bank and Schedule II banks. Steve has been involved with several successful OSFI bank applications and is currently assisting other applicants with their OSFI application. Steve is also the Canadian firm's specialist on Islamic finance and has spoken at conferences and to the media in Canada and internationally on this topic. Steve has been involved with position papers on the accounting for Islamic Finance products under Canadian GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards.
Steve is a member of KPMG's global Islamic Finance network, which was instrumental in helping KPMG be awarded the top advisory prize in the 2010 Euromoney Islamic Finance Awards. It is the third year in a row that the firm has been named Best Islamic Assurance and Advisory Services Provider.
Other than KPMG Canada, Steve has worked in KPMG offices in India, Dubai and The Netherlands.
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Yasir Naqvi
Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), Ottawa Centre, Canada
Yasir Naqvi was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in October 2007, and now serves as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Revenue.
Prior to being elected, Mr. Naqvi was the Associate Director and International Trade Counsel at the Centre for Trade Policy and Law (CTPL). Before joining CTPL, he practiced international trade law with Lang Michener LLP and Flavell Kubrick LLP.
Mr. Naqvi obtained his law degree (LL.B.) from the University of Ottawa, and is called to the bars of Ontario, and England and Wales. He holds a Masters in International Affairs from the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) and Bachelor of Sciences (Life Sciences) from McMaster University. He has served as a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, and as a guest lecturer at Carleton University.
Mr. Naqvi is recognized by his peers as a strong community leader and involved resident of Ottawa Centre. He sat on the Board of Directors of the Centretown Community Health Centre for four years and has been the Co-Chair of the Capital Food Bank Blitz since 2005. This summer, the food bank blitz raised over 62,000 pounds of food for those in need in our community.
A first generation Canadian, Mr. Naqvi's family arrived in Canada in 1988 after the Pakistani government imprisoned his father for leading a pro-democracy march. Canada welcomed his family and allowed them to prosper.
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Hisham Sobhy
Director, Investment Banking, Legend Securities, USA
Mr. Sobhy is the Director of Investment Banking at Legend Securities, Inc. in New York. With over 15 years of experience in the financial arena He has participated in numerous transactions over his career that in aggregate exceed $1 Billion. Prior to Legend, Mr. Sobhy held a First Vice President position at Janney Montgomery Scott and a Senior Vice President position at Josephthal & Co. His background includes investment analysis, valuation, capital structure and government negotiations. His past projects include seeing through seed investments, private placement, bridge financing, and initial public offerings. In addition, he has assisted and contributed to merger and acquisition transactions for some major U.S. & Multinational companies. Mr. Sobhy also served as an advisor for several institutions, funds and private companies. Over his career he has represented a number of companies in the U.S. Department of Commerce Trade Missions to the Middle East, Euro Money and World Economic Forum and helped approve products and businesses in the Middle Eastern region.
Mr. Sobhy earned an M.B.A. in Management and Finance from AU Berkeley, California and received his B.S. in Engineering from Cairo University. In addition, he has certificates from Harvard School of Business executive training program and Georgetown University.
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George Salamis
President & Director, Rusoro Mining, USA
Mr. Salamis has previously held senior management positions with well-established mining companies, most notably Placer Dome Inc. and Cameco Corporation. Mr. Salamis has over 20 years experience directing the exploration, development and mining operations of a number of gold, base metal and coal projects in many different regions of the world including Latin America.
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