| Awad Capital

Core Team

Ziad Awad

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Marc Nassim

Partner & Managing Director

Fouad Beyrouty

Vice President

Salman Kazrooni

Analyst

Agnes Yu

Office Manager

Board of Directors and Advisory Council Members

Omar Al Madhi

Board Member

Faris Almazrui

Board Member

George Mushahwar

Board Member

Marwan Abedin

Advisory Council Member

Abdulla Al Mansoori

Advisory Council Member

Fred Aubin

Advisory Council Member

Khamis Buharoon

Advisory Council Member

Amira Rashad

Advisory Council Member

Walter Schindler

Advisory Council Member

Salman Kazrooni

Analyst

Salman is an Analyst at Awad Capital where he contributes to the team's execution efforts. He has 3 years of experience in M&A and Private Equity in Canada with a focus on software and technology.

He joined Awad Capital from Valsoft Corporation, a Canadian Private Equity boutique, where he was involved in multiple transactions in the North American and European software SME spaces. Before that, he was part of the M&A Operations team at Valnet Inc., a Canadian media and publishing company.

Salman holds a BComm in finance and economics from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada".

George Mushahwar

Board Member

George served as the acting Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise from July 2008 to February 2012.

He is currently the Managing Partner of Zaya Advisory a consultancy firm based in the DIFC.

He also serves as an Independent Board member in a number of government related entities and private family businesses.

George was designated as the Secretary General of the DIFC in 2008, where he joined the DIFC Governor’s Office to support the Governor with all aspects of running the Centre, and day to day operations.

Mr. Mushahwar also served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Dubai-based TECOM Investments, where he was responsible for managing its investment portfolio in addition to his operative responsibilities ranging from policy setting, legislative and regulatory aspects to portfolio management.

George also serves on the boards of many companies in the UAE and abroad, including Tunis Telecom, Interoute, Axiom, Emirates International Telecommunications, DIFC Investments, TECOM Investments and Standard Aero in the USA.

Faris Almazrui

Board Member

Faris earned his bachelor of science degree from Davidson College in the United States, majoring in Economics.

Later on, Faris pursued a master’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics.

Mr. Almazrui started his career with Goldman Sachs in London and was later hired by Mubadala where he has spent the last 9 years working on multiple transactions across the globe.

He is currently the head of the Mubadala Moscow office.

Abdulla Al Mansoori

Advisory Council Member

Mr. Abdulla Al Mansoori is currently the Director of Corporate Support at the Government of Dubai Media Office

He is a serial investor and mentor in several UAE based start-ups

He brings over 18 years of experience in senior leadership roles in prominent Dubai corporations including the DIFC Investments, TECOM Investments, DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Center, DIFC Authority

He served in many boards spanning from Aviation, Art, Technology, Media, Human Resources, Legal and Real Estate Development

Amira Rashad

Advisory Council Member

Amira is CEO of BulkWhiz, the first bulk grocery e-commerce platform in the Middle East, powered by home grown artificial intelligence. She has extensive strategy, operations and marketing experience across the technology, media, consumer products and services sectors.

She was most recently the regional Head of Brand for Facebook Middle East, North Africa & Pakistan, working closely with leading global and regional companies as well as the startup and VC ecosystem. She has advised Fortune 500 companies as a senior consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, and led teams at PepsiCo, Yahoo, Dun & Bradstreet, and Leo Burnett Advertising, while working in the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Walter Schindler

Advisory Council Member

Mr. Walter L. Schindler is an investor, strategist and lawyer who is internationally recognized as the Founder and the Managing Partner of SAIL Capital Partners LLC.

Walter served as a partner of the international law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where his 19 year career included advised clients on 60 high profile IPOs and mergers in the US at that time. He was also one of the Partners active in the firm’s global expansion into Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

With more than 25 early renewable power and cogeneration projects under his belt, Mr. Schindler sits on the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Canada Foundation.

Agnes Yu

Office Manager

Agnes is the Office Manager at Awad Capital where she is responsible for all administrative and clerical tasks.

She will be providing support to our managers and employees. Her duties include assisting the daily office needs and managing the company’s general administrative activities.

Marwan Abedin

Advisory Council Member

Mr. Marwan Abedin is CEO and Founder of Flatrace Investments, providing the strategic vision and leadership for the firm.

He served as Director of Debt Management at the Government of Dubai Department of Finance since 2008 and was responsible for the treasury and debt issues. Mr. Abedin played a key role in investor relations on behalf of Dubai after the Dubai World restructuring and overall development of GCC debt capital markets over the last few years.

Aside from sitting on many blue-chip and governmental boards, he held key roles such as the CEO of an Investment Fund of the Government of Dubai, the Executive Director of DHCA and a member of the board of Directors for Emaar Properties

Fouad Beyrouty

Vice President

Fouad is a Vice President at Awad Capital where he is in charge of production and M&A execution. He has 5 years of experience in M&A, transaction advisory and capital raising in the GCC.

He joined Awad Capital from Al Mal Capital, a UAE-based financial services company, where he contributed to the M&A execution efforts. Before that, he worked at EY in their Abu Dhabi transaction advisory team and in private banking at Credit Suisse in London.

Fouad holds a BBA from AUB in Lebanon.

Dr. Marc Nassim

Partner & Managing Director

Dr. Nassim is a Managing Director, a member of the Board of Directors and Head of Corporate Development at Awad Capital, where his main focus is to cover regional and international clients to offer them the most suitable advice and opportunities.

He was most recently Head of Corporate Development at Dar Al Mal Ltd, an Alternative Asset Management firm based in the DIFC and prior to that, a Partner with (and then Advisor to) AR Investment Partners, a consulting and advisory boutique based in Dubai.

Before that, Marc was Head of Clients & Markets, Financial Advisory Services for Deloitte Corporate Finance Ltd in the Middle East, where he focused on building and strengthening the relationship with clients across the Middle East, with a particular focus on family groups, private equity funds and sovereign financial institutions. Since 2005, he has advised on numerous deals involving financial sponsors, both within the MENA region and cross-border. Prior to joining Deloitte, he gained experience in M&A, private equity and banking, with leading French and Lebanese institutions.

Dr. Nassim has a PhD in corporate finance (summa cum laude) from the Univeristé d’Aix-Marseille (France), a postgraduate degree in financial management from Grenoble Graduate School of Business (France) and a Masters degree in Money & Banking from Univeristé Saint-Joseph (Lebanon).

He is a member of the French Valuation Society (SFEV) and fellow of the French Finance Association (AFFI) and the American Finance Association (AFA).

Ziad Awad

Chief Executive Officer

Ziad founded Awad Advisory in March 2013, which then renamed as Awad Capital in February 2015. In response to client demand, the firm rapidly grew to offer a diversified range of financial services, operating from the DIFC with a category 4 DFSA licence. Ziad is personally involved in all client engagements with a particular emphasis on connecting the best investment opportunities with the most suitable sources of capital.

From 2007 to 2012, Ziad was a Managing Director with Merrill Lynch in Dubai, then Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he occupied a number of senior positions including Senior Executive Officer for the DIFC branch, Head of Capital markets and Financing and Head of Investment Banking for Industrials, Energy and Power. He executed numerous advisory assignments, including for TAQA, Lamprell, Dubai Holding, Qatari Diar, ACWA Power, Investment Corporation of Dubai; as a well as a number of financing deals.

From 1994 to 2007, Ziad was with Goldman Sachs in Paris (4 years), then London (9 years) then Dubai. He started his career as a Government bond trader then moved to the debt capital markets where he executed close to half a trillion dollar of bond deals including for the World bank, The Federal Republic of Germany, HBOS, The Republic of Italy, The Kingdom of Belgium, Exportfinans. He was also a board member and Executive Director of MTS Associated Markets, an Electronic Trading company.

Ziad holds a masters from ESSEC in France and is an avid sailor.

Omar Al Madhi

Board Member

Omar Al-Madhi is the Senior Managing Director & Board Member of the Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Investments, as well as Partner & Co-founder of Iliad Partners.

Omar joined ALJ Group’s leadership after nearly three years within Volkswagen Group’s leadership as the Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen Group Saudi Arabia (VGSA), the establishment of which he led.

Prior to VGSA, Omar was a member of SAGIA's executive team. Omar was also selected as an Advisor to HE the Minister of Labor.

Prior to SAGIA, Omar was an associate at McKinsey & Company in Dubai and at Saudi Aramco.

Fred Aubin

Advisory Council Member

A 35 year command-level combat veteran of the Canadian Army and former Director Future Security Analysis for the Government of Canada, Mr. Aubin is the CEO & Founder of Strategic Red Team Consulting.

A pioneer of utilizing military-style competitive intelligence, strategy, operational planning, war gaming and red teaming in the commercial world, Mr Aubin has been used extensively in executive leadership consultancy and strategic planning capacity building portfolios at Head of State, Ministerial, Ambassadorial, CEO and Senior Executive levels on five continents.

Fred holds a Masters in Military Technology from the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham, a Baccalaureate of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Ottawa, and is a graduate of the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College Kingston, the UK's Joint Command and Staff College and the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.

Khamis Buharoon

Advisory Council Member

Mr. Buharoon has more than 30 years of experience in the banking and finance sectors.

Khamis is a board member of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, as well as Executive Chairman of Burooj Properties, Vice Chairman of Abu Dhabi National Takaful Company and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Islamic Financial Services Company.

Prior to these positions, Khamis was CEO of Commercial Bank International

Awad Capital Ltd. is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)