State Senator Kevin Parker has lived a storied life on his journey to his current position on the leadership team of the New York State Senate Democratic Majority. When he was first elected State Senator, he had the distinction of being the youngest serving member of the body at age thirty-five. Now among his leadership accolades is being the most senior African American Senator in the Senate. As the first and only State Representative of the 21st Senate District in Brooklyn, he is intimately familiar with the needs of his constituents in the diverse neighborhoods of Flatbush, East Flatbush, Kensington, Ditmas Park, Midwood, Flatlands, Canarsie, Georgetown, Old Mill Basin, Mill Basin, Marine Park and Bergen Beach. Engendering the trust and respect of his colleagues, Senator Parker was recently appointed Senior Assistant Majority Leader and serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy & Telecommunications – with the added distinction of being its longest serving member. He is a leading voice nationwide on energy matters and the creator and primary sponsor of Intersolar Summit Northeast, the largest solar energy conference on the East Coast which gathers experts in the field to discuss real solutions to bringing about a solar energy future. Additionally, Senator Parker is a member of the following Senate Committees: finance; rules; judiciary; select majority task force on diversity in the judiciary; banks; health; civil service and pensions; internet and technology; select majority task force on minority and women-owned business enterprises. Before the emergence of his political career, Senator Parker amassed knowledge in finance in both the public and private sectors with his work as Special Assistant to former New York State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, Project Manager with the New York State Urban Development Corporation and Director of Government Affairs at UBS PaineWebber. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Service at Penn State and holds a Master of Science Degree in Urban Policy and Management from the New School for Social Research. His commitment to education has taken him into the classroom as an African American Studies and Political Science Professor at several colleges. Well-known for his ardent dedication to his constituency and legislative initiatives surrounding issues of education, energy, quality health services delivery, economic development and domestic violence, Senator Parker approaches his job with a sense of purpose and dedication to duty and is well-respected for his political prowess. This status is supported by a prolific legislative profile which include legislation such as: mandatory jail time for repeat violators of orders of protection; unlisted or anonymous telephone numbers within 15 days for victims of domestic violence; increased safety for community treatment center residents against eviction; enhancing the ability of cemeteries to treat the remains of deceased veterans with respect; and protecting seniors from disasters by including the Office for the Aging in the Governor’s Disaster Preparedness Commission. As a representative of the people, Senator Parker is committed to working with all communities to realize his ultimate aim of ensuring adequate representation for all New Yorkers. He is a proud member of the Alpha Chapter of the Pi Eta Honor Society.

Aamir Rehman is Chair of Innate Capital Partners, an active investor in financial technology firms building values-aligned consumer finance across North America. The portfolio includes Wahed Invest, Zoya Finance, Manzil, and Yielders, which together form much of the contemporary infrastructure for Muslim retail and wealth participation in the region. He has worked across Islamic finance, capital markets, and public policy for more than two decades as an investor, advisor, author, and educator. He serves as a Founding Board Member of IFTANA, bringing his investment, multilateral advisory, and academic experience to the association’s efforts to advance Islamic finance across North America. Aamir was a co-founder and managing director of Fajr Capital, a private equity group whose shareholders include the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Khazanah Nasional, and the HSBC Group. He led capital-raising efforts exceeding $700 million and built the firm’s advisory practice for clients, including the United Nations and the Islamic Development Bank. Earlier, he served as Director and Global Head of Strategy at HSBC Amanah, the bank’s global Islamic finance business, and as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. From 2017 to 2021, he served as Senior Advisor on Islamic Finance to the United Nations Development Program and continues to consult the World Bank Group on Islamic finance and financial inclusion. Aamir is a Senior Fellow at Columbia University’s Richman Center and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia Business School. He is the author of Gulf Capital and Islamic Finance (McGraw-Hill, 2009) and Dubai & Co. (McGraw-Hill, 2007) and was named to the Islamica 500 in 2015. He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and MBA degrees from Harvard and a doctorate in education from Columbia University.

Ahmad Quqa is the Founder and CEO of Crescent Private Wealth, a wealth management firm serving Muslim American families, institutions, and endowments across the United States. He serves as a Founding Board Member of IFTANA, lending his expertise in Shariah-aligned wealth management to the association’s mission of advancing Islamic finance across North America. His work centers on long-term financial planning and values-driven investments for clients seeking faith-based solutions. Community focus has been central to Ahmad’s career, grounded in expertise across wealth advisory, asset management, private equity, and executive leadership. He founded Crescent Private Wealth with the conviction that Muslim households and institutions deserve a dedicated fiduciary practice built on both professional rigor and values alignment. The growth of Crescent Private Wealth reflects the broader, largely underserved demand for professionally managed Shariah wealth services in the North American market. He remains active in initiatives advancing Islamic finance education, research, fintech collaboration, and Shariah-aligned product development for the North American market. He holds an MBA from the University of Dallas and the Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) designation.

Aijaz Hussain is Executive Vice President of Sales and a Director at UIF Corporation, a Michigan-based Islamic financing institution operating in 32 U.S. states and recognized by Islamic Finance News as the leading Islamic financing institution globally for nine consecutive years. He has worked across Islamic banking and investment management for more than two decades, helping build two of the most established Shariah-compliant home financing platforms in the United States. He serves as a Founding Board Member of IFTANA, contributing his experience in Shariah-compliant home financing and Islamic banking operations to the association’s mission of advancing Islamic finance across North America. Aijaz began his career in investment management at UBS and Morgan Stanley, where he spent five years in the Private Client Group advising high-net-worth clients on Islamic investments, hedging strategies, charitable trusts, and estate planning. In 2003, he joined Guidance Residential shortly after its founding and spent eight years helping scale it from a startup into a multi-billion-dollar Islamic home financing company, serving as Regional Manager and top producer for four consecutive years before being promoted to Vice President of Sales. He joined UIF in 2011 to lead National Sales and the firm’s growth strategy and was appointed to its Board of Directors in 2013. Across his career, Aijaz has conducted more than 500 seminars and contributed numerous articles on Islamic financing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Management from Northern Illinois University.

Dr. Amjad Hammad is a retina surgeon, entrepreneur, and the driving force behind Baraka’s vision. He holds an MBA from Yale and brings decades of clinical and operational experience, having built and scaled leading physician-led platforms in upstate New York, including EyesNY, EyeStudioNY, and the New York Surgical Center.

What distinguishes Dr. Hammad is his dual perspective as both a practicing surgeon and an accomplished operator. He has consistently translated clinical expertise into scalable healthcare businesses that balance high-quality patient care with strong financial performance. He has a proven track record in building profitable, physician-aligned platforms from the ground up, alongside deep expertise in healthcare real estate development and strategic expansion. His work is defined by a commitment to transparent, physician-first investment models and the alignment of long-term prosperity with ethical and community-focused impact.

More than a founder, Dr. Hammad is a steward of Baraka’s mission—dedicated to building sustainable wealth through responsible, physician-led investment.

Charles Stackhouse is a senior asset-backed finance and specialty finance executive focused on alternative finance, private markets, and commercial origination platforms. He currently serves as Senior Vice President at JA Mitsui Capital Corporation, where he leads corporate development, strategy, capital markets, and institutional partnership initiatives across commercial finance, equipment leasing, trade finance, and asset-backed credit. Previously, Charles was a Vice President at InterVest Capital Partners (f/k/a Wafra Capital Partners), where he originated, structured, and underwrote control investments, minority investments, growth capital facilities, and asset-backed finance transactions across specialty finance and leasing platforms. He has been involved in platform investments including Oxford Finance, North Mill Equipment Finance, Access Point Financial, Foundation Finance, and multiple specialty rental businesses. Charles is a frequent speaker and panelist at ABS, specialty finance, and equipment finance conferences, and has served in leadership roles with ELFA private capital initiatives.

Dr Ehab Elsonbaty’s practice focuses on sovereign wealth funds, government advice as well as projects and affairs, corporate matters, corporate governance, sustainability, ESG and Shariah compliant legal services. He advises Middle Eastern entities seeking to do business in the Americas and American clients seeking to do business in the Middle East. Ehab’s extensive transactional and regulatory experience enables him to provide efficient and effective strategic legal support in a wide variety of business matters. Ehab is a strategic adviser to many boards or directors and advisory boards. He helps the firm deliver seamless cross-border solutions for Middle East entities. Among them are corporate enterprises, private equity investors, family offices, government entities and sovereign wealth funds. He helps clients maximize inbound and outbound opportunities arising from this dynamic region, providing comprehensive bilingual legal services and sensitive on-the-ground awareness of each geography in this diverse region. Before joining DLA Piper, Ehab served as Senior Legal Counsel and Head of Corporate Governance and Government Affairs and Senior Adviser to the General Counsel on Special Projects at the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. There, he was responsible for strategic, corporate, sustainability, ESG and special projects and transactions valued at billions of dollars as well as was a member of several management committees including the Management Investment Committee and the Crisis Management Committee. Earlier in his career, he served for six years as Senior Legal Adviser to the Amiri Diwan, the office of the Amir of Qatar at the Royal Court. During this time, Ehab was also a member of many policy and legal committees, among them the Permanent Legislative Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Committee for Review of Legislation as well as a Member of the National Committee to Review Commercial Laws of the Ministry of Economy and Trade. Ehab drafted and contributed to several laws and regulations of Qatar, GCC and Middle East. In addition, he served as a public prosecutor in the Egyptian public prosecution, and as a Judge in the commercial courts and was Assistant Minister of Justice for more than 15 years, most recently as a Judge in Cairo’s Court of Appeal. He is currently admitted to the Bar in Egypt and is a certified and practicing arbitrator and mediator and a Member of the Egyptian Judges Club. During his service in Egypt, Ehab was seconded to the Ministry of Justice’s Office for International Cooperation and Human Rights, was an Adviser to the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology, a Member of the National Committee for Humanitarian Law, a Member of the National Committee for Counter-Terrorism and the national committee to control the public elections. He has provided consultancy support to several regional and international organizations such as the UN, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Council of Europe and the Arab League.

Elias Scheker Da Silva is a Director and Portfolio Manager at Wafra, responsible for global fixed income. In this capacity, he has been the recipient of numerous industry performance awards including being named Best Islamic Fund Manager by Euromoney Magazine and Best Global Strategy by Global Banking & Markets. He has also been a featured panelist at various international conferences. Prior to joining Wafra, Elias was a portfolio manager at Vanderbilt Avenue Asset Management, where he managed fixed income portfolios for high-net worth individuals and institutional clients. Elias earned a BA in Economics from Michigan State University with high honors and is currently an MBA candidate at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He is a member of the National Association for Business Economics.

Fahad is a pioneering force in Islamic banking and fintech, with over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. He’s a visionary architect of Shariah compliant solutions, seamlessly integrating ethical finance with cutting-edge technology. This unique expertise has been instrumental in shaping Mabrook Canada’s groundbreaking framework, which blends traditional Islamic principles with next-generation digital assets infrastructure. Fahad is a globally recognized leader whose influence spans strategic brand positioning, international market expansion and fintech education. He has worked in leadership roles with major financial institutions and tech companies like Dubai Islamic Bank, Scotiabank and IBM in the US and co-founded TAIF, an award-winning Islamic finance education platform. He is leading Mabrook Canada’s launch of the world’s first AAOIFI compliant blockchain-powered Islamic tokenization platform, pushing the boundaries of ethical finance and Web3 innovation.

Irshad Rasheed is the President of Stearns Salaam Banking, the Shariah-aligned banking division of Stearns Bank, a community banking institution with more than a century of heritage. He founded the Salaam division, establishing one of the few bank-native Shariah-compliant banking offerings in the United States. Under his leadership Stearns Salaam has become nation’s premier bank-backed gateway to Shariah-compliant financial services serving Muslim families, businesses, and institutions across North America. He serves as a Founding President and Board Member of IFTANA, bringing his institutional experience and industry relationships to the work of building the policy and infrastructure that Islamic finance in North America requires. Throughout his career, Irshad consistently identified emerging opportunities and built scalable, purpose-led organizations around them. His experience spans entrepreneurship, product development, and executive leadership across financial services and adjacent sectors. Irshad weaves innovation with proven implementation and has successfully launched and expanded ventures by building teams, developing solutions, and building organizations from the ground up, with purpose-led values at the heart of their existence. At Stearns Salaam Bank, his mandate spans strategic growth, financial performance, regulatory alignment, and corporate leadership. As a Founding President of IFTANA, he brings the same long-term institutional orientation to building the association and prioritizing structural depth and durability over short-term momentum. He is committed to building the collaborative infrastructure across institutions, regulators, and practitioners that Islamic finance in North America needs to scale with credibility.

Ishmam Ahmed is the Managing Director of Hoya Advisory, a boutique advisory firm specializing in Islamic capital placement, real estate advisory and education consulting. He also serves as an Adjunct Faculty Member at Georgetown University, where he teaches the Masters of Real Estate program, and as Director of Sanctuary AP3, a Virginia-based nonprofit dedicated to developing affordable housing across the US. He is passionate about leveraging ethical finance and strategic partnerships to create sustainable, community-driven development. Ishmam holds a Master’s in Real Estate from Georgetown University, with a focus on global real estate development and affordable housing.

Junaid Wahedna is the Founder and Chairman of Wahed. In 2015, Junaid formed Wahed, which quickly grew to be the leading Islamic Fintech in the world. Wahed is backed by strategic shareholders such as Saudi Aramco Ventures (KSA), Cueball Capital (USA), Qatar Development Bank (Qatar), Kamco (Kuwait), amongst other sovereign institutions and family offices. Wahed is regulated in over 10 countries. Junaid has helped create and pioneer visionary products including the first ethical and faith-based Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in North America on the Nasdaq with the ticker: HLAL. Today, Wahed is a global leader in faith-based ETF’s with fund assets over $1 billion. Junaid has a MSc in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Columbia University in New York. While at Columbia, he served as the Managing Editor of The Columbia Financial Review. Junaid is the holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA), and Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designations. Prior to Wahed, Junaid gained an intimate understanding of global financial markets while working for a multinational merchant banking firm on Wall Street, New York. In the past few years, Junaid has launched Wahed Ventures, the first global Crowdfunding platform to fund ethical startups, Wahed Real Estate, a crowdfunding platform for global private real estate, a gold-backed bank account in the UK, amongst other pioneering products. Junaid has been a speaker at leading international conferences on Islamic finance, and has lectured at London Business School, Harvard, and Cambridge on the subject.

Kamal Solaiman is the CEO and Managing Partner of Sinbad Capital, a values-aligned private equity platform purpose-built to connect institutional allocators in the Americas with high-conviction opportunities in ethical real estate, SME growth equity and SME growth financing, international commodity trading, and emerging-market healthcare. Operating under the firm’s “Capital with a Compass™” philosophy, Sinbad Capital structures zero-leverage, values-based investment vehicles that deliver institutional-grade resilient yield without compromising on the ethical, social impact, and governance standards, all demanded by today’s discerning global investor base including US tax-exempt entities. Kamal brings 35+ years of executive and investment leadership to the table. His career included multiple $1+B global leaders, including A.T. Kearney where he advised Fortune 500 clients on strategy and operations. Also, entrepreneurially, he has started and built several companies. Today, in addition to leading Sinbad Capital, he oversees a family office and a charitable foundation, sits on the boards of small businesses, and serves as an AMCOB Ambassador. He brings experience with cross-border capital between North America, the MENAT region, and emerging markets in South Asia. A speaker on ethical and impact investing, Kamal contributes thought leadership on the convergence of impact frameworks, faith-aligned and values-based finance, and emerging-market capital formation. He has been an invited contributor to academic and industry forums, including the Stanford GSBVC Alumni’s AI & Investment Series where he advocated for no-leverage investing with an ethical, values-based process and having social impact. Kamal academic background includes a Wharton MBA, and Wharton programs in Private Equity Corporate Governance.

Lawrence Oliver is a Director and Deputy CEO of DDCAP and its subsidiaries, DD&Co Limited and DDGI Limited. Lawrence has worked in the Islamic finance market for more than twenty-five years. He joined DDCAP in April 1998. Previously, he was a member of the team responsible for the Islamic Finance and Investment activity at Kleinwort Benson Limited. Lawrence is responsible for the company’s Business Development and Trading Desk including the evolvement and placement of its fintech solutions and has extensive experience of arranging asset-based transactions, which conform to Sharia stipulation. He specialises in Sharia compliant structured finance and asset origination. His broad knowledge of the physical commodity sector has enabled him to evolve the traditional merchant trading capabilities of DD&Co Limited for the benefit of institutional clients operating within the Islamic financial sector.

Lawrence is a member of the advisory board of CDIT, an initiative launched in September 2018 by the Responsible Finance & Investment Foundation (RFI) with the aim of improving transparency and accountability in the responsible finance industry. In 2021, Lawrence was invited by AAOIFI to join the AAOIFI Governance and Ethics committee’s Commodity Murabaha working group.  Lawrence is a regular speaker at many annual Islamic conferences held in the GCC, Southeast Asia and Europe.

Professor Dr M Kabir Hassan is Professor of Finance in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of New Orleans. He currently holds four endowed Chairs – Hancock Whitney Chair Professor of Economics I, Hancock Whitney Chair Professor of Economics II, Hibernia Professor of Economics and Finance, and Bank One Professor in Business – in the University of New Orleans. Professor Hassan is the Winner of the 2016 IsDB Prize in Islamic Banking and Finance. Professor Hassan received his BA in Economics and Mathematics from Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota, USA, his MA in Economics and PhD in Finance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA respectively. Dr. Hassan stood first in the combined merit list in the Secondary School Certificate (equivalent to O level) in 1978 from Comilla Zilla School, Comilla, Bangladesh in 1978 and Higher Secondary Certificate (equivalent to A level) in 1980 from Comilla Victoria Government College, Comilla, Bangladesh in 1980, respectively. Professor Hassan was selected as a Senior Fulbright Scholar for 2022-2023. Professor Hassan is a financial economist with consulting, research and teaching experiences in development finance, money and capital markets, Islamic finance, corporate finance, investments, monetary economics, macroeconomics, Islamic banking and finance and international trade and finance. Professor Hassan has been a consultant for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank, Transparency International-Bangladesh, IsDB, the UN Development Programme, the Bangladesh Bank, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, Government of Turkey and many private organizations.

Michael McMillen is one of the foremost legal practitioners and scholars in Islamic finance in the United States, with more than three decades of experience advising on some of the most complex transactions in the field. A Partner at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt and Mosle LLP, he is the author of more than 27 books spanning Islamic finance law, infrastructure finance, and transaction structuring, a body of work that has shaped the field’s legal and intellectual foundation. His practice spans infrastructure finance, project finance, equipment finance, and Islamic finance transactions across multiple jurisdictions. Alongside his practice, he currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Columbia Law School. He serves as a Founding Board Member of IFTANA, bringing three decades of legal expertise and institutional knowledge to the association’s efforts to advance Islamic finance across North America. His work in Islamic finance spans more than three decades, with transactions across North America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. He serves as an editor of the Arab Law Quarterly and has contributed extensively to legal and academic publications across the field. His contributions to the field have earned recognition from leading international legal and industry bodies. He founded the Islamic Finance Section of the American Bar Association and has served as its Chair twice, a record of institutional leadership that has helped define the legal architecture of Islamic finance in the United States. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he graduated Order of the Coif and served as Research and Writing Editor of the Wisconsin Law Review, an M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and a B.B.A. from the Wisconsin School of Business.

Michal Selbka is a Director at S&P Global Ratings, where he focuses on decentralized finance, digital assets and tokenization across North America. He brings over a decade of experience as a primary rating analyst covering financial institutions in the US and EMEA, including consumer banks, financial market infrastructure entities such as global payment networks and stock exchanges, securities firms, and alternative investment funds.

Michal has also led systemic banking sector assessments across Europe and regularly engages with regulators, investors and industry stakeholders. He is an active participant at conferences and has delivered keynote addresses on evolving trends in financial markets and digital finance. Prior to joining S&P Global Ratings, Michal spent ten years in risk management and control, working across risk reporting, control functions and Basel-related projects. He also has experience in international Commercial Real Estate.

Dr Mohamad Sawwaf is the Founder and CEO of Manzil, Canada’s premier Islamic fintech company, which offers Shariah compliant financial solutions such as mortgages and investment funds. He earned a Doctorate in Islamic Finance from Henley Business School in the UK, focusing on the determinants influencing the adoption of Islamic banking and financial services among Canadian Muslim consumers. Additionally, he holds an MBA with a specialization in finance from the Rotman School of Management in Canada and an MSc in Corporate Governance from Henley Business School. Dr Sawwaf regularly advises the UAE government on Islamic finance practices and teaches corporate and Islamic finance as well as entrepreneurship, at business schools in Toronto. He is widely recognized as a leading authority on Islamic finance in Canada. In his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Canada Arab Business Council, Dr Sawwaf advises Canadian and Arab governments on policies to enhance and expand economic relations and trade.

Monem Salam is Executive Vice President and Portfolio Executive at Saturna Capital, where he has spent more than two decades advancing Shariah-compliant investment strategies. He oversees a range of investment strategies, including the Amana Income Fund and the Amana Developing World Fund, managing portfolios around long-term, Shariah-compliant financial growth. His work has meaningfully expanded both awareness and access to Shariah-compliant investing across North America and global markets. He serves as a Founding Board Member of IFTANA, contributing his expertise in Shariah-compliant investment management to the association’s mission of advancing Islamic finance across North America. Before joining Saturna Capital in 2003, Monem served as Chief Investment Officer at ITG and Associates and later worked with Morgan Stanley in Dallas. At Saturna, he led Islamic investing initiatives for the Amana Mutual Funds Trust before relocating to Kuala Lumpur to oversee the firm’s Malaysian operations. After several years in Southeast Asia, he returned to the United States in 2018 and continues to lead Saturna’s Islamic investment strategies from its headquarters in Bellingham, Washington. Monem is an active voice on Islamic finance on the global stage. He has served as a professor at IE Business School, coauthored ‘A Muslim’s Guide to Investing and Personal Finance,’ and contributed to multiple industry publications on Islamic finance and ethics-based investing. He has been named among the Islamic World’s 500 most influential leaders in receiving the recognition in both 2015 and 2019. He holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mushfique Shams Billah is a Partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where he leads the debt finance group, chairs both the private credit team and the firm’s Middle East and North Africa Services Practice. Shams advises clients on financing, restructuring, and Islamic finance transactions, bringing both commercial precision and Shariah-compliance expertise to institutions navigating complex cross-border financial matters. He serves as a Founding Board Member of IFTANA, contributing his legal expertise and transactional depth to the association’s efforts to advance Shariah-compliant finance across North America. Shams is a leading voice on Islamic finance in the United States. He regularly advises on Shariah-compliant financing structures and is an active contributor to the field through speaking engagements and written publications. Prior to Barnes & Thornburg, he practiced at Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. Earlier in his career, he worked in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, where he gained a foundation in financial markets and transaction structuring. Over the past decade, he has advised on more than $250 billion in transactions globally. His work has earned recognition from several leading industry platforms, including Bloomberg Law’s ‘They’ve Got Next: the 40 under 40’ in Banking and Finance. He has also been recognized by The Deal and Global Restructuring Review. He holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from George Washington University.

Patrick, a Fixed Income Lead and Portfolio Manager, joined Saturna Capital in October 2014. He was a former Adjunct Professor of Finance for the Sustainable MBA Program at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute currently known as Presidio Graduate School. Patrick holds a BA in Economics from Western Washington University and an MBA from Seattle University Albers School of Business. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Financial Planner. Prior to joining Saturna Capital, Patrick led ESG research and was Director of Fixed Income Portfolio Management since 2007 with a private account group at UBS Institutional Consulting Services specializing in investment management for global conservation and national wildlife park endowments as well as sustainable-social screened client portfolios. He is a former Chair of the United Nation’s Principles for Investment Fixed Income Outreach Subcommittee and a current Member of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment’s Bondholder Engagement Working Group, an advisory committee working to elevate important ESG considerations and best practices among issuers and investors. Patrick’s past experience also includes business valuation at Moss Adams and portfolio management at Washington Mutual Bank. He lives in Bellingham and is a proud father of two. He enjoys sea kayaking, hiking and being part of the Pacific Northwest community. Patrick is a Member of the Board of Trustees to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and a Rotary Member.

Saad Malik is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zoya, a fintech start-up dedicated to providing Shariah compliant investing tools for Muslims worldwide. Under Saad’s leadership, Zoya has become a trusted platform in Halal investing, enabling users to manage over $500 million in assets as of April 2025. Before founding Zoya, Malik served as a Vice-President at JPMorgan, where he gained extensive experience in finance. Saad is a prominent voice in the Islamic finance and fintech sectors, frequently sharing insights on faith-based investing and entrepreneurship. He has been featured on platforms such as CNN Business Arabic and the Islamic Finance news podcast. Additionally, he has participated in discussions on building Shariah compliant fintech companies. Through Zoya, Malik continues to empower nearly two billion Muslims to take control of their financial futures while adhering to their faith.

Shakeel Adli is the founder and CEO of Zunikh. He is a qualified solicitor and spent over 18 years working at various international law firms in London and Dubai. He was most recently a partner and global head of Islamic finance at CMS.

Having been involved in real estate both personally and professionally for more than two decades, Shakeel has experience with all real estate asset classes. He is a firm believer in the power of real estate to change people’s lives and founded Zunikh in 2019 with the intention of creating a truly unique property development and investment offering.

Shakeel personifies Zunikh’s passion for real estate and doing things differently. He conducts business in a fair, honest and approachable way and seeks to develop long-term mutually beneficial relationships with everyone that he works with.
As CEO, Shakeel has the overall responsibility for the strategy and direction of Zunikh.

Souhayl Maronesy is a Kurdish American software engineer, Islamic scholar, and entrepreneur. He earned his Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has over 16 years of experience in the tech industry. Alongside his technical background, he completed traditional Islamic studies in the Middle East and is authorized to teach Islamic sciences. He is the founder of Alkalam Institute, an institute dedicated to Islamic education and intellectual development, and the Founder & CEO of EdificeX, a company building the first tokenized path to homeownership, a third option beyond all-cash or mortgage.

Tariq Al-Rifai is an Islamic finance and financial systems specialist with more than 25 years of experience working across Islamic banking, investment management, capital markets, economic policy and financial sector development. He previously served as an advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on economic policy in Kuwait, Head of Investor Relations and Research at Kuwait Finance House, Director of Islamic Indices and Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, Vice President of UIB Capital in Chicago, where he focused on Shariah-compliant private equity and investment transactions, and Vice President at HSBC Bank in New York, where he helped launch the bank’s Islamic banking program and the first Murabaha home financing product in the United States. Throughout his career, Tariq has advised governments, financial institutions, development organizations and private-sector firms on Islamic finance, investment strategy and financial sector development. He has worked extensively with policymakers, regulators, investors and industry leaders to develop practical solutions that promote financial inclusion, capital formation and sustainable economic growth. He is the author of Islamic Finance and the New Financial System (Wiley) and is a frequent guest commentator on CNBC Arabia, Sky News Arabia, Al Arabiya Business, and Qatar Business Channel (QBC).

Thomas Polson is General Partner at Polson Real Assets, a Halal multi-member investment partnership that primarily invests in residential properties, Bitcoin, and tokenized assets. He has been active in the Islamic finance industry since 2008. His industry experience includes advisory services, product development, real estate, public securities, and converting conventional funds to compliant versions. His corporate roles have included being a senior consultant at Ascenta, a firm specializing in knowledge transfer initiatives between the USA and GCC, co-founding Falah Capital, which managed an NYSE-listed Islamic ETF program, and working as an investment advisor at The Investor for Securities Company, a $4 billion asset manager in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Polson has a bachelor’s degree from Franklin University Switzerland, a postgraduate diploma from the Institute of Islamic Banking & Insurance, and a master’s degree in Islamic finance from Bangor Business School.

Zeshan Gondal is Senior Vice-President of the Islamic Banking Division at Stearns Bank, N.A. He was previously a Partner and Head of Investments at Zayn Venture Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm. He has also worked as a David Swensen Fellow at Yale University, where he advised senior university leadership on strategy related to the University’s $5B annual budget and $41B endowment. Zeshan’s background is primarily in finance, investments and strategy. Zeshan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he served as President of the Harvard Business School Islamic Society.

Abdulkader Thomas is the President and CEO of SHAPE for Economic Consulting operating as SHAPE Knowledge Services, Kuwait. Abdulkader has over 30 years of diversified financial services experience. Abdulkader’s background includes capital markets, real estate finance and trade finance. He has served in various international banks and dealt with regulatory approval for Islamic products in different countries, consulting for and training financial institutions, regulators and businesses about Islamic finance.

Along with his team at SHAPE, Abdulkader works on projects that include launching de novo Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows, funds, Sukuk, regulations, policies and procedures including Shariah policies, Shariah compliance, product development and structuring.

Abdulkader is a Member of the International Advisory Committee for Islamic Capital Markets at the Securities Commission of Malaysia.
A graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in International Trade, Abdulkader earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honors) in Arabic and Islamic studies from the University of Chicago.

Abdulkader is a frequent speaker on Islamic financial and banking matters. He has co-authored or edited several works in the field including ‘Structuring Islamic Financial Transactions’ with Stella Cox and Bryan Kraty (London: Euromoney, 2005) among others.

Dr Ehab Elsonbaty’s practice focuses on sovereign wealth funds, government advice as well as projects and affairs, corporate matters, corporate governance, sustainability, ESG and Shariah compliant legal services. He advises Middle Eastern entities seeking to do business in the Americas and American clients seeking to do business in the Middle East. Ehab’s extensive transactional and regulatory experience enables him to provide efficient and effective strategic legal support in a wide variety of business matters. Ehab is a strategic adviser to many boards or directors and advisory boards. He helps the firm deliver seamless cross-border solutions for Middle East entities. Among them are corporate enterprises, private equity investors, family offices, government entities and sovereign wealth funds. He helps clients maximize inbound and outbound opportunities arising from this dynamic region, providing comprehensive bilingual legal services and sensitive on-the-ground awareness of each geography in this diverse region. Before joining DLA Piper, Ehab served as Senior Legal Counsel and Head of Corporate Governance and Government Affairs and Senior Adviser to the General Counsel on Special Projects at the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. There, he was responsible for strategic, corporate, sustainability, ESG and special projects and transactions valued at billions of dollars as well as was a member of several management committees including the Management Investment Committee and the Crisis Management Committee. Earlier in his career, he served for six years as Senior Legal Adviser to the Amiri Diwan, the office of the Amir of Qatar at the Royal Court. During this time, Ehab was also a member of many policy and legal committees, among them the Permanent Legislative Committee of the Council of Ministers and the Committee for Review of Legislation as well as a Member of the National Committee to Review Commercial Laws of the Ministry of Economy and Trade. Ehab drafted and contributed to several laws and regulations of Qatar, GCC and Middle East. In addition, he served as a public prosecutor in the Egyptian public prosecution, and as a Judge in the commercial courts and was Assistant Minister of Justice for more than 15 years, most recently as a Judge in Cairo’s Court of Appeal. He is currently admitted to the Bar in Egypt and is a certified and practicing arbitrator and mediator and a Member of the Egyptian Judges Club. During his service in Egypt, Ehab was seconded to the Ministry of Justice’s Office for International Cooperation and Human Rights, was an Adviser to the Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology, a Member of the National Committee for Humanitarian Law, a Member of the National Committee for Counter-Terrorism and the national committee to control the public elections. He has provided consultancy support to several regional and international organizations such as the UN, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Council of Europe and the Arab League.

Elias Scheker Da Silva is a Director and Portfolio Manager at Wafra, responsible for global fixed income. In this capacity, he has been the recipient of numerous industry performance awards including being named Best Islamic Fund Manager by Euromoney Magazine and Best Global Strategy by Global Banking & Markets. He has also been a featured panelist at various international conferences. Prior to joining Wafra, Elias was a portfolio manager at Vanderbilt Avenue Asset Management, where he managed fixed income portfolios for high-net worth individuals and institutional clients. Elias earned a BA in Economics from Michigan State University with high honors and is currently an MBA candidate at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He is a member of the National Association for Business Economics.

Fahad is a pioneering force in Islamic banking and fintech, with over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. He’s a visionary architect of Shariah compliant solutions, seamlessly integrating ethical finance with cutting-edge technology. This unique expertise has been instrumental in shaping Mabrook Canada’s groundbreaking framework, which blends traditional Islamic principles with next-generation digital assets infrastructure. Fahad is a globally recognized leader whose influence spans strategic brand positioning, international market expansion and fintech education. He has worked in leadership roles with major financial institutions and tech companies like Dubai Islamic Bank, Scotiabank and IBM in the US and co-founded TAIF, an award-winning Islamic finance education platform. He is leading Mabrook Canada’s launch of the world’s first AAOIFI compliant blockchain-powered Islamic tokenization platform, pushing the boundaries of ethical finance and Web3 innovation.

Dr John A. Sandwick is a recognized pioneer in Islamic finance. He created the first application of the Modern Portfolio Theory in the context of global portfolio allocations with Shariah certification. He is also noted for organizing innovative domestic and international Sukuk, the world’s first global Sukuk fund, a Sukuk participation certificate and the first-ever mid-market Sukuk facility in Saudi Arabia. Dr John served as a Visiting Professor of Finance at Al Yamamah University in Riyadh, and a former instructor in the Graduate School of Finance at University Paris-Dauphine. He frequently taught Master Classes on Islamic Finance for groups including central banks, pension funds, family offices and treasuries.

Dr John’s most recent publications on Islamic finance include a popular article in the Journal of Asset Management. He has a Master’s degree in Development Banking from American University in Washington, DC and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Grenoble Ecole de Management in France. He previously worked in the private banking units of Deutsche Bank (Suisse), Credit Suisse and Encore Management (in association with UBS). He is currently a Corporate Finance and Asset Management Consultant for Saudi families and businesses.

Justin Alexander helps investors and governments understand the GCC including the differentiating features of each state and the roles they play in the global economy. He has been involved with the Middle East as an Economist and Political Analyst for a quarter of a century including a decade living in the region. He was an Economic Adviser at Qatar’s Ministry of Finance and a Senior Economist at Qatar National Bank. His previous roles also include being a Middle East Economist at the EIU, a Constitutional Affairs Officer at the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq and an Equity Analyst at Schroders in London. He holds degrees from Oxford and London.

Nasser Albarghash is an investment professional with expertise in private equity, real estate and management consulting. He excels at identifying high-potential opportunities, structuring private market deals and advising on capital deployment, bringing a disciplined, analytical approach to value creation. Based in a boutique family office in Washington, DC, Nasser concentrates on asset management and strategic investments. His consulting work enhances operational efficiency, optimizes financial performance and drives growth-oriented strategies for businesses. He employs data-driven decision-making, risk assessment and long-term planning to navigate complex financial landscapes. With a global perspective and deep knowledge of Shariah compliant finance, Nasser is a trusted adviser in both conventional and Islamic markets. He holds a degree from The George Washington University School of Business and continues to explore opportunities in real estate, venture capital and ethical finance.

Oussama Kaissi is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in Islamic finance, Takaful and risk management in development finance. He currently serves as Chairman of Meridiem Group, a US-based advisory firm specializing in structured finance and risk solutions and as Managing Partner at DEVimpact Consultants in the UAE, focusing on sustainable development initiatives. Previously, Oussama spent 10 years as the CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, a member of the IsDB Group. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in advancing Shariah compliant de-risking instruments – including credit wraps and political risk insurance structures – to support trade, infrastructure and climate resilience projects across member countries. Oussama holds board positions in several financial and insurance institutions and is a respected contributor to industry publications. His insights on risk mitigation, Islamic structured finance and ESG integration have been featured in international platforms. Oussama remains actively engaged in fostering dialogue between the public and private sectors to scale ethical and sustainable finance across the Global South.

Dr Radwa Elsaman is a Professor of Business Law and an International Legal Expert with two decades of experience in corporate, commercial and regulatory matters. She currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School, where she teaches business law and sustainable development with a focus on the MENA region. Her legal career includes work with leading international law firms and advising global clients on cross-border transactions, corporate governance and investment frameworks. She has played a strategic role in supporting international organizations and governments on legal reforms related to financial markets, regulatory frameworks and sustainable investment policies. Dr Radwa has consulted for the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Devleopment, the European Investment Bank, International Development Law Organization and the German Agency for International Cooperation, contributing to projects that integrate legal development with global investment strategies. She has served on a selection committee for the American Association of University Women in Washington, DC, is a judge for the LexisNexis Women in Law Awards and serves as a country representative to the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. Dr Radwa holds an S.J.D. and LL.M. from American University Washington College of Law, an LL.M. from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute and an LL.B. from Cairo University. Her academic career includes teaching at Boston University and Central European University. Her work has been published by leading academic presses including Cambridge University Press, Edward Elgar Publishing and the American Bar Association. Her articles have also appeared in respected journals such as the Cornell International Law Journal and Transnational Dispute Management, among others.

Zeshan Gondal is Senior Vice-President of the Islamic Banking Division at Stearns Bank, N.A. He was previously a Partner and Head of Investments at Zayn Venture Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm. He has also worked as a David Swensen Fellow at Yale University, where he advised senior university leadership on strategy related to the University’s $5B annual budget and $41B endowment. Zeshan’s background is primarily in finance, investments and strategy. Zeshan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he served as President of the Harvard Business School Islamic Society.