Dr Ahmet Aysan is a full professor, associate dean for research and the program coordinator of the PhD and Master of Science programs at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He has been a board member and Monetary Policy Committee member of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye and served as a consultant at various institutions such as the World Bank, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye and Oxford Analytica. Dr Ahmet, who has many articles published in academic journals, is a recipient of the Bogaziçi University Award and the MEEA Ibn Khaldun Prize. Dr Ahmet is also a research associate at the University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies and a non-resident fellow at the ME Council.

Akber has more than 25 years of experience in the investment industry and is Acting Chief Executive Officer of Al Rayan Investment (ARI). ARI is a leading firm for corporate financial advisory and asset management. Akber joined ARI in 2009, to set up and lead asset management, which included overall responsibility for managing GCC public equity and global sukuk portfolios of $1.5bn. ARI manages the award winning Al Rayan GCC Fund and Al Rayan Qatar ETF.

Prior to ARI, Akber was a Director at Deutsche Bank in London, where he spent more than 11 years in European and emerging markets equities. Akber is a graduate of University College London. Akber has lived in Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Karachi and London.

Dr Andrew completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) (Sydney, Australia) in 2014 examining the history of banking and its relationship the Australian Constitution. He is an Australian academic based in Doha, Qatar and has taught law in Australia, Europe and the Middle East. He has published numerous cited books, articles, notes and commentaries and is currently researching and writing on topics related to corporate law, financial services and new technology.

George M. Barakat is an accomplished banking and finance professional with 18 years of expertise in Banking, Treasury and Finance. He has a strong background in Corporate Treasury and Finance, with extensive experience in capital-related financing and restructuring transactions. His expertise includes sukuk issuance, syndicated loans, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and investment management.

Currently, George serves as the Group Treasury Director at Power International Holding (PIH), where he is responsible for strategically overseeing the Group Treasury. Prior to joining PIH, George headed the Group Treasury and Investments at Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana & Group of Companies where he also served as a board advisor for one of the group’s major companies. George also headed the Group Treasury at Ezdan Holding Group Q.P.S.C where he played a key role in structuring and negotiating syndicated loan facilities, sukuk issuances and managing investor relations. Before Ezdan, George spent over nine years at Mashreq Bank, where he held key positions across Business, Treasury and Finance, gaining comprehensive experience in each area.

George holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) issued by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), USA as well as a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) issued by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), USA.

Dr. Marjan Muhammad is the Deputy President Research at ISRA Institute, INCEIF University. In her current capacity, she oversees different portfolios including research and innovation, research management, assessment and publication, research commercialization, and Islamic finance online database (I-FIKR) developed by ISRA. She was previously the Director of Research Affairs Department at ISRA from 2013-2017. She is currently a member of the Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) effective from 1 November 2019 and a member of the Shariah Advisory Council of Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) effective from 1 July 2023. Prior to that, she was a member of Shariah Committee at a few local Islamic banks. At the international level, she sits on the Advisory Committee of Experts of Lotus Bank Limited and Shariah Supervisory Board of Lotus Capital Limited, both are based in Nigeria. Marjan obtained her bachelor’s degree in Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Heritage (Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh) from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and graduated from her master’s and PhD degrees at the same university.

Munaf Usmani is a Senior Vice-President in the Treasury and Markets Division at QInvest with a career spanning 15 years in the Islamic finance industry, having closed over US$5 billion in investment and advisory transactions. In his current role, he is responsible for managing the firm’s proprietary capital in financial market investments including fixed income funds, equities, derivatives, structured products, etc. He is also responsible for asset liability management, hedging and funding for the firm. Additionally, he oversees the financial institution function, focusing on establishing and enhancing relationships with local, regional and global financial institutions. Prior to QInvest, Munaf was in the Treasury and Financial Institutions Department at Meezan Bank, where he started as a Trainee Dealer and rose to the level of Deputy Treasurer. During his time at Meezan, he was in charge of the sales, trading and liquidity management portfolios with a total balance sheet size of US$15 billion; led key initiatives for the bank including establishing the Equity Capital Markets and Fund Transfer Pricing units; and successfully closed landmark agreements in the Islamic banking space. Munaf holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a Master’s degree in Management from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

Tahir joined the Group in December 2021 as part of the merger with Al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) where he held a similar position since 2015. He started working with the Bank in 2007.

He has over 30 years of banking experience in leading regional and international banks, having previously worked in Dubai Bank PJSC, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Prime Bank and First International Investment Bank in variety of roles in Treasury, Investments, DCM and Corporate/Institutional Banking

Tahir holds an MBA (Finance) from Imperial College of Business Studies, Pakistan.