Abdulatif Y. Al-Hamad

Abdulatif Y. Al-Hamad is the Founding Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. He currently serves as Chairman and Director General of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD). He is a member of the Group of Thirty. He served as a member of boards of trustees of many universities and higher educational institutions in the Arab world and abroad. He also served as a member of advisory committee boards of international financial institutions in different parts of the world including the World Bank.

Lisa Anderson

Lisa Anderson was appointed president of The American University in Cairo in January 2011. A specialist on politics in the Middle East and North Africa, Anderson served as the University’s provost from 2008 to 2010. As the chief academic officer, she was responsible for shaping and implementing AUC’s academic vision and building the size and quality of the faculty.

Prior to joining AUC in 2008, Anderson served as the James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at Columbia University and is the former dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia. She also served as the chair of the political science department at the University and as the director of Columbia’s Middle East Institute. Before joining Columbia, she was assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University.

Anderson is the author of Pursuing Truth, Exercising Power: Social Science and Public Policy in the Twenty-first Century (Columbia University Press, 2003), The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (Princeton University Press, 1986), editor of Transitions to Democracy (Columbia University Press, 1999) and coeditor of The Origins of Arab Nationalism(Columbia 1991).

Past president of the Middle East Studies Association and past chair of the board of the Social Science Research Council, Anderson is also a former member of the Council of the American Political Science Association and served on the board of the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs. She is member emerita of the board of Human Rights Watch, where she served as co-chair of Human Rights Watch/Middle East, co-chair of the International Advisory Board of the Von Humbolt Foundation and member of the International Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle East Studies. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Anderson holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MA in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She earned a PhD in political science from Columbia University, 1981, where she also received a certificate from the Middle East Institute. She was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from Monmouth University in 2002.

Chunli Bai

Chunli Bai is President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), President of the Graduate University of CAS (GUCAS) with more than 47,000 graduate students, and Executive President of the Executive Committee of the Presidium of the Academic Divisions of CAS.

Bai graduated from the Department of Chemistry, Peking University in 1978 and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from CAS Institute of Chemistry in 1981 and 1985, respectively. During 1985-1987, he was at the California Institute of Technology, conducting research in the field of physical chemistry as a research associate. After his return home in 1987, he continued his research at CAS Institute of Chemistry. From 1991 to 1992, he was a visiting professor at Tohoku University in Japan.

His research areas involve the structure and properties of polymer catalysts, X-ray crystallography of organic compounds, molecular mechanics and EXAFS research on electro-conducting polymers. In the mid-1980s, he shifted his research orientation to the field of scanning tunneling microscopy, molecular nanostructures, self-assembly, novel nanomaterials, molecular nanodevices, and single molecule detection.

Bai has a long list of scientific publications and has authored 12 monographs and several book chapters. He has won more than twenty prestigious awards and prizes for his academic achievements. He was elected a Member of CAS and Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) in 1997. He is also a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), and honorary doctor or professor of several foreign universities. He is a recipient of the UNESCO first medal “for contributions to the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology” (shared with Professor Nobel Laureate Zhores Ivanovich Alferov ), International Medal awarded by the Society of Chemical Industry (London-based) and the TWAS 2002 Medal Lecture in Chemical Sciences. Bai also serves as the Chief Scientist for the National Steering Committee for Nanoscience and Technology and was the Founding Director of China National Center for Nanoscience and Technology.

Bai is the Vice President of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), President of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, and Honorary President of the Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (CSMNT).

Nicolas Berggruen

Nicolas Berggruen is the Chairman of Berggruen Holdings, a private company, which is the direct investment vehicle of The Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Trust. He is also the Chairman of the Nicolas Berggruen Institute, an independent, nonpartisan think tank that encourages the study and design of systems of good governance.

Berggruen is a founder of NBI’s 21st Century Council; a member of the Think Long Committee for California; as well as a Director of the Board of the Pacific Council on International Policy and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He sits on the boards of the Museum Berggruen, Berlin, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and is a member of the International Councils for the Tate Museum, London and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He has collaborated on projects with such renowned architects as Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban and David Adjaye.

Berggruen was born in Paris, where he studied at l’Ecole Alsacienne before attending Le Rosey in Switzerland. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business from New York University in 1981. Prior to Berggruen Holdings, he worked for Bass Brothers Enterprises on the real estate side of this family-held investment firm, as well as for Jacobson and Co., Inc., a leveraged buyout company. In 1988, Berggruen co-founded the Alpha Group, a hedge fund operation, which was sold to Safra Bank in 2004. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Le Monde Groupe (France) and the Grupo Prisa (Spain).

Günter Blobel

A native of Germany, Blobel received his M.D. from the University of Tübingen in 1960 and his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he worked with Van R. Potter in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research. He did postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University in the laboratory of George E. Palade and has been at the university since then. He was named the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor in 1992 and became an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1986.

Dr. Blobel was the 1999 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell. He also received the King Faisal International Prize in 1996, the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1993, the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize in 1989 and the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1982. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the German Order of Merit.

Jean-Lou Chameau

As the eighth president of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Jean-Lou Chameau has led one of the world’s preeminent centers of instruction and research in engineering and science since September 2006. Caltech is recognized for its highly selective student body and its outstanding faculty, including several Nobel laureates. Caltech also operates several renowned off-campus facilities, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the Palomar Observatory.

Chameau received his graduate education in civil engineering at Stanford University. In 1980, he joined the civil engineering faculty at Purdue University, where he ultimately became head of the geotechnical engineering program. Moving to Georgia Tech in 1991, he was named director of the school of civil and environmental engineering. Chameau was the president of Golder Associates, Inc., an international geotechnical consulting company, from 1994 to 1995, after which he returned to Georgia Tech as Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and vice-provost for research. He was named dean of its college of engineering, the largest in the country, in 1997, becoming provost of the university in 2001.

Chameau currently serves on the boards of the Council on Competitiveness, John Wiley & Sons, the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, MTS Systems, and Safran. He also serves on the Academic Research Council of Singapore and the Advisory Committee of InterWest Partners. His technical interests include sustainable technology; environmental geotechnology; soil dynamics; earthquake engineering; and liquefaction of soils. Chameau was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, the ASCE A. Casagrande Award, the Rodney Chipp Memorial Award from the Society of Women Engineers, the Prix Nessim Habif from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, and the Benjamin Garver Lamme Award from the American Society for Engineering Education. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the French Académie des Technologies.

Charles Elachi

Charles Elachi is the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Vice President of California Institute of Technology. He is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science at Caltech.

He is a member and past chair of the UCLA Sciences Board of Visitors, a member of the Huntington Hospital Board of Trustees (Pasadena), the chair of the Lebanese American University Board of Trustees (New York/Beirut), a member of the International Advisory Board of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) (Saudi Arabia), member of the International Advisory Council of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) (Saudi Arabia) and member of the visiting Committee, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT. He was a member of the University of Arizona Engineering School Advisory Committee and the Boston University Center of Remote Sensing Advisory Council.

Elachi has received numerous awards, including the “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, France” (2011), Space Foundation J.E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award (2011), AIAA Carl Sagan Award (2011), Occidental College honorary Doctor of Science degree (2011), Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement (2008), International von Kármán Wings Award (2007), the America’s Best Leaders by U.S News & World Report and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (2006), the Royal Society of London Massey Award (2006), the Lebanon Order of the Cedars (2006), the Philip Habib Award for Distinguished Public Service (2006), the American Astronautical Society Space Flight Award (2005), the Bob Hope Distinguished Citizen Award (2005), NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2005), the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2004, 2002, 1994), the Takeda Award (2002), the Wernher Von Braun Award (2002), the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Science Distinguished Alumni Award (2002), Dryden Award (2000), the NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1999), the COSPAR Nordberg Medal (1996), the Nevada Medal (1995), the IEEE Medal of Engineering Excellence (1992), the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Distinguished Achievement Award (1987), the W.T. Pecora Award (1985), the NASA Exceptional Scientific Medal (1982) and the ASP Autometric Award (1982, 1980).

Charles Elachi was born April 18, 1947, in Lebanon. He received a B.S. in physics from the University of Grenoble, France and the Diplome Ingenieur in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble in 1968 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical sciences from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena in 1969 and 1971, respectively. He later received an MBA from USC (1979) and an M.S. degree in geology from UCLA (1983).

Mohamed A. El-Erian

Mohamed El-Erian is CEO and co-CIO of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO). He re-joined PIMCO at the end of 2007 after serving for two years as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity that manages Harvard’s endowment and related accounts. El-Erian also served as a member of the faculty of Harvard Business School. Before joining PIMCO, El-Erian was a managing director at Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in London and before that, he spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.

El-Erian has published widely on international economic and finance topics. His book, “When Markets Collide,” was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, won the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs 2008 Business Book of the Year and was named a book of the year by The Economist and one of the best business books of all time by the Independent (UK). He was named to Foreign Policy’s list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers” for 2009, 2010 and 2011.

El-Erian has served on several boards and committees, including the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, the International Center for Research on Women, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the IMF’s Committee of Eminent Persons. He is currently a board member of the NBER, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Cambridge of America. He holds a master’s degree and doctorate in economics from Oxford University and received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University.

Richard Ernst

Richard R. Ernst was full Professor of Physical Chemistry starting from 1976. He directed a research group devoted to magnetic resonance spectroscopy and was director of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH-Z) until he retired in 1998.

He was born in 1933 in Winterthur, Switzerland. He finished his studies in 1962 at ETH-Z with a dissertation on nuclear magnetic resonance in the discipline of physical chemistry. In 1963 he joined Varian Associates as a scientist and developed Fourier-transform NMR, noise decoupling, and several other techniques. He returned to ETH-Z in 1968.

Since 1968, he was head of a research group concentrating on methodological developments in liquid state and solid state NMR. He developed two-dimensional NMR and many novel pulse techniques. He contributed to the development of medical magnetic resonance tomography, and in collaboration with Professor Kurt Wüthrich to the development of the NMR structure determination of biopolymers in solution. Lately, he was involved in the study of intramolecular dynamics.

Ernst was president of the Research Council of ETH Zurich and was, among other duties, a member of the Swiss Science Council, of the COST Committee, of the Foundation Marcel Benoist, of the Hochschulrat of the Technische Universität Munich, and vice president of the Board of Bruker AG, Fällanden. He is on the editorial board of 10 scientific journals.

He received numerous honors, including the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1991), the Wolf Prize for Chemistry (1991), the Horwitz Prize (1991), and the Marcel Benoist Prize (1986). He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, London, of the Deutsche Akademie Leopoldina, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and honorary member of many further societies.

Today, he is much involved in studies and conservation of Central Asian art. He became active also in Raman spectroscopy for identifying pigments in ancient paintings.

Theodor W. Hänsch

Theodor W. Hänsch jointly won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics with J.L. Hall and R. Glauber. He is the director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik and the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Professor of Physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universtät in Munich, Germany. His main area of research is ultraprecise laser spectroscopy and quantum physics of ultracold atoms.

Hänsch obtained his physics diploma in 1966 and his doctoral degree in 1969 from the University of Heidelberg. In 1969 he was appointed assistant professor at the Institute of Applied Physics, University of Heidelberg. He then worked at Stanford University in the U.S. from 1970 to 1986, after which he returned to Germany as the director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik.

Hänsch has received many awards over the course of his career. In addition to the 2005 Nobel in Physics, he most recently received the Stern-Gerlach Medal from the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, the Arthur L. Schawlow Award from the Laser Institute of America, the Philip Morris Research Prize, the Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize from the European Physical Society, the I. I. Rabi Award from the IEEE, the Rudolf Diesel Gold Medal from the German Institute of Interventions, the James Joyce Award from University College in Dublin, among many others.

Hänsch is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, a member of nine organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Franklin Institute, the Laser Institute of America, the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, the Pontifical Academy of Science, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the European Physical Society. He is a foreign associate in the U.S. National Academy of Science, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Italy, and the Académie des Sciences –Institut de France and he is an honorary member of another eight organizations. He has served on several editorial boards. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Springer Series in Optical Sciences and Laser & Photonics Review.

Michael Spence

Michael Spence is a former Chairman of the Independent Commission on Growth and Development, which focuses on growth in emerging economies. In 2001, Spence received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on markets with incomplete and asymmetric information.

Spence serves on the boards of Genpact and Mercadolibre, and a number of private companies. He is a member of the board of the Stanford Management Company, and the International Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation. He is a Senior Advisor to Oak Hill Investment Management and a consultant to Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO). He served as dean of the Stanford Business School from 1990 to 1999.

Spence earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Princeton summa cum laude and was selected for a Rhodes scholarship. He was awarded a B.S.–M.A. from Oxford in mathematics and earned his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University. He taught at Stanford University as an Associate Professor of Economics from 1973 to 1975. From 1975 to 1990, he was a professor of economics and business administration at Harvard, holding a joint appointment in the Business School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. From 1984 to 1990, Spence served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, overseeing Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Division of Continuing Education. In 1983 he was named chairman of the economics department and the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration. Spence was awarded the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize for excellence in teaching and the John Bates Clark medal for a “significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.”

He is Professor Emeritus of Management in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford. As of September 2010, he is a professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University.

John Meurig Thomas

John Meurig Thomas, who took his initial degree in Swansea and completed his doctorate in the University of London, taught and researched in the University of Wales (Bangor and Aberstwyth) for twenty years before he was invited to be Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge in 1978. In 1986 he followed Sir George Porter as the Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, where he occupied the chair created for Michael Faraday. In 1993 he became Master (Head) of the oldest college in Cambridge (Peterhouse). Since retiring from the post in 2002 he has been Honorary Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Cambridge.

Renowned for his pioneering work in the chemical applications of electron microscopy, in materials chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis, he has been the recipient of numerous medals and honours including the Willard Gibbs Gold Medal of the American Chemical Society, the Stokes Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Linus Pauling Gold Medal of Stanford University, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society and the Semenov Centenary Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He holds twenty honorary doctorates from universities in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the US; and he is a Foreign Fellow of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Science and the Royal Academy of Spain as well as the Hungarian, Polish, and Russian Academies and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome.

He broadcast the BBC Annual Radio Lecture (in Welsh) in 1978, and gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (on crystals), televised by the BBC in 1987. Formerly the Chairman of CHEMRAWN (Chemical Research Applied to World Needs), 1988-92 and a Cabinet Office (UK) Government Advisor (1982-86), a Trustee of the Science Museum and Natural History Museum, London, he was knighted in 1991 by Queen Elizabeth for his services to chemistry and the popularization of science.

The author of over 1000 scientific and popular articles, two university texts on heterogeneous catalysis, a biography of Michael Faraday (which has been translated to Japanese and Italian), and, with Ahmed Zewail, recent monograph (2010) on 4D Electron Microscopy: Imaging in Space and Time. He is the founding editor of the journals Catalysis Letters and Topics in Catalysis. In recognition of his geochemical researches a new mineral, meurigite, was named in his honour in 1995 by the International Mineralogical Association.

Charles M. Vest

Charles M. Vest is President of the National Academy of Engineering and President Emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vest earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University in 1963, and M.S.E. and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1964 and 1967 respectively. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as an assistant professor in 1968 where he taught in the areas of heat transfer, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics, and conducted research in heat transfer and engineering applications of laser optics and holography. He and his graduate students developed techniques for making quantitative measurements of various properties and motions from holographic interferograms, especially the measurement of three-dimensional temperature and density fields using computer tomography. He became an associate professor in 1972 and a full professor in 1977.

In 1981, Vest turned much of his attention to academic administration at the University of Michigan, serving as associate dean of engineering from 1981-86 and then dean of engineering from 1986-1989, when he became provost and vice president for academic affairs. In 1990 he became president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and served in that position until December 2004. He then became professor and president emeritus.

As president of MIT, he was active in science, technology, and innovation policy; building partnerships among academia, government and industry; and championing the importance of open, global scientific communication, travel, and sharing of intellectual resources. During his tenure, MIT launched its OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative; co-founded the Alliance for Global Sustainability; enhanced the racial, gender, and cultural diversity of its students and faculty; established major new institutes in neuroscience and genomic medicine; and redeveloped much of its campus.

He was a director of DuPont for 14 years and of IBM for 13 years; was vice chair of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness for eight years; and served on various federal committees and commissions, including the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) during the Clinton and Bush administrations, the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy and the Rice-Chertoff Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee. He serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations and foundations devoted to education, science, and technology.

In July 2007 he was elected to serve as president of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for six years. He has authored a book on holographic interferometry, and two books on higher education. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from seventeen universities. He was awarded the 2006 National Medal of Technology by President Bush and received the 2011 Vannevar Bush Award.

Magdi Yacoub

Magdi Yacoub is currently Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London and Founder and Director of Research at the Harefield Heart Science Centre (Magdi Yacoub Institute) overseeing over 60 scientists and students in the areas of tissue engineering, myocardial regeneration, stem cell biology, end stage heart failure, and transplant immunology.

Research led by Yacoub includes tissue engineering heart valves, myocardial regeneration, and novel left ventricular assist devices and wireless sensors with collaborations within Imperial College, nationally and internationally. He has also supervised over 18 higher degree (PhD/MD) students and published over 1000 articles.

Yacoub was born in Egypt and graduated from Cairo University Medical School in 1957, trained in London and held an Assistant Professorship at the University of Chicago. He was appointed as the first BHF Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, which he held for over 20 years, and Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Harefield Hospital from 1969-2001 and Royal Brompton Hospital from 1986-2001.

Yacoub established the largest heart and lung transplantation program in the world where more than 2500 transplant operations have been performed. He has also developed novel operations for a number of complex congenital heart anomalies. He was knighted for his services to medicine and surgery in 1991, awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998, and Fellowship of The Royal Society in 1999. A lifetime outstanding achievement award in recognition of his contribution to medicine was presented to him by the Secretary of State for Health in the same year.

He is Founder and Chairman of the Magdi Yacoub Research Network (formerly QAL Advanced Cardiovascular Network) which is a not-for-profit organization established in 2008 with the principal focus of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease worldwide through a program of basic science and translational research. In partnership with Qatar Foundation and Hamad Medical Centre, the newly created Qatar Cardiovascular Research Centre in Doha has recently been launched.

Yacoub has an active interest in global healthcare delivery with particular focus developing programs in Egypt, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Jamaica. He is Founder and President of the Chain of Hope charity, treating children with correctable cardiac conditions from war-torn and developing countries and establishing training and research programs in local cardiac units.

Amre Youness

Amre Youness is the CEO of International Mineral Resources (IMR), UK, since 2008. IMR controls mining and metal processing operations in five countries and has sales and representative offices across the globe. Youness is also the Chairman of Samancor, South Africa and Shaft Sinkers, South Africa. Samancor is the world’s second largest ferrochrome producer and controls the world’s largest chrome ore reserves. Shaft Sinkers is one of Africa’s most experienced mining contractors in shaft sinking, mining contracting, underground construction, large underground excavation, tunneling, design, consulting and draught engineering, procurement and contract management.

Youness began his career in 1985 as an associate in City National Bank, Beverly Hills, California. In March 1987 he joined Institutional Stockbroker, Jefferies & Co for one year, after which he worked for ten years as president of TMC Financial in Pasadena, California, a venture capital firm in mobile telecommunications, technology and online distribution.

Youness is a current board member of Millennium Promise, the leading international non-profit organization solely committed to supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; WAQF Endowment Fund; and C.S. Heinz Foundation. He also serves on the policy advisory board of ONE International, a campaign and advocacy organization committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.

Youness has a B.Sc. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Mohamed Aboulghar

Mohamed Aboulghar is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University since 1979 and Clinical Director of The Egyptian IVF-ET Center in Cairo, Egypt. The Egyptian IVF-ET Center is the first center dedicated to treating patients as well as providing high quality research in human reproduction and genetics and training programs for candidates from all over the Middle East on techniques of Assisted Reproduction.

Aboulghar received his medical education in Cairo University and got his MBBCH in 1962. Shortly afterwards, he received his Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1965, then his Diploma in General Surgery in 1966 and finally his Doctorate degree in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1969 all from Cairo University. He did post graduate training in Denmark, Sweden, and the United States.

Throughout his career, Aboulghar has been involved in numerous scientific activities worldwide. He participated in dozens of scientific conferences and published more than 200 scientific papers in local and international journals. He participated in the writing of many international scientific books on infertility, and together with his team in the Egyptian IVF center participated in many multicenter international studies.

He founded (and became the first president of) the Middle East Fertility Society (MEFS), which is the first and largest society in the Middle East in the field of reproduction. He has also been the Editor-in-Chief and founder of the Middle East Fertility Society Journal since 1996.

He is a member of numerous scientific committees of different international and regional societies as well as editorial boards of many important scientific journals specialized in fertility and reproduction including Fertility and Sterility, the world’s top journal in its field.

Aboulghar received the Egyptian National Award for Scientific Excellence in 1999. He also received honorary membership of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology in 2004 and honorary membership of the International Federation of Fertility Societies in 2000.

Aside from his scientific activities, Aboulghar has wide political, social and cultural interests. He has written hundreds of articles in the Egyptian press and currently has regular columns in some daily and weekly journals. In a very simple and smooth writing style he manages to express deep insight on most current and controversial issues taking place both in Egypt and abroad. He shows genuine passion in art and literature. He is a member of many cultural committees in Egypt and a very keen art collector. He has written three published books in Arabic, outside the field of medicine.

Tarek Amer

A pioneering banking figure in modern Egypt, Mr. Tarek Amer is the Chairman and CEO of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE).

NBE is the largest and foremost financial services provider in Egypt and one of the largest in the Middle East and North Africa region with assets of USD 50 billion and a net income of USD630 MM. The Bank dominates almost one third of the industry and is a comprehensive financial services provider leading the market in retail banking serving five million clients. It employs 18,000 employees and has presence in four continents. NBE is the leading development bank in the country and manages a private equity portfolio in more than 200 conglomerates. It has subsidiaries and affiliates operating in fields such as agricultural development in Egypt and Africa; financial services in Egypt, Africa and Europe; an African Equity fund; real estate development; petrochemicals, oil and gas; shipping; construction materials; and medical and commercial projects.

NBE is the leading SME provider with a market share of more than 75 percent, having launched a successful full-fledged initiative since 2009 managing a portfolio of USD 2 billion. The bank also launched a massive CSR program, one of the largest in the nation addressed to less fortunate communities.

Since his appointment in April 2008, the Bank’s operating and financial performance has changed dramatically. The Bank quickly regained its market share and was outgrowing every company in the industry, with full restructuring of human resources, product delivery capability and product mix, technology governance and risk management functions.

Before spearheading management at the National Bank of Egypt, Amer was appointed Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt in 2003. Due to his successful management, he was reappointed in December 2007 to serve a second-term. His responsibility covered oversight of all Central Bank divisions and functions. This included the restructuring of the Central Bank of Egypt; the state-owned banks and private banks (61 institutions) and a successful privatization program. A new monetary policy regime was implemented, which led to the abolishment of the black market, the reduction in inflation from 35 percent to ten percent, the appreciation of the domestic currency by over 25 percent, and the growth of the international reserves from USD 14 billion to over USD 40 billion.

He initiated and was lead negotiator with the EEC, the central banks of Italy, Germany, France and Greece and the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank to implement an MOU for the reform of the prudential regulations and supervision at the Central Bank of Egypt for six consecutive years. He also represented the Government of Egypt on a number of shareholders’ committees for strategic industries such as power, petrochemicals, aviation and chemicals industries.

Amer’s professional track record of 29 years spans vast and significant lead banking positions covering a wide array of regions, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Turkey, the Gulf, and Asia.  Earlier posts that he assumed include Deputy Chairman of MIBank (Feb 2002 – Dec 2003) and Vice President Head of Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at Citi Group, Gulf Region and Egypt (Feb 1996 – Feb 2002), where he re- launched Citibank Corporate Finance in Egypt and assisted in the startup of the consumer bank locally. He also led the corporate finance and investment banking business for Bank of America for MENA and the Gulf regions. In addition, he managed corporate and correspondent banking areas in 15 markets.

Farouk El-Baz

Farouk El-Baz is Research Professor and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University. He received a B.Sc. in 1958 in chemistry and geology from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; M.S. in 1961 in geology from the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, Rolla; and Ph.D. in1964 in geology from the University of Missouri, after performing research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (1962-1963). He taught geology at Assiut University, Egypt (1958-1960) and at the University of Heidelberg in Germany (1964-1965). El-Baz received an Honorary Doctor of Science, New England College, Henniker, NH in 1989; Professional Degree, University of Missouri-Rolla in 2002; Doctor of Philosophy, Mansoura University in 2003; Doctor of Laws, American University in Cairo in 2004; and Doctor of Engineering, University of Missouri (2004).

In 1966, he participated in the discovery of the first offshore oil in the Gulf of Suez by the Pan American-UAR Oil Company. From 1967 to 1972, he joined NASA’s Apollo program as Supervisor of Lunar Science Planning at Bellcomm, Inc. of Bell Laboratories in Washington, D.C. During these six years, he was Secretary of the Site Selection Committee for the Apollo lunar landings, Chairman of the Astronaut Training Group, and Principal Investigator for Visual Observations and Photography. From 1973 until 1982, he established and directed the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. El-Baz was selected by NASA as the Principal Investigator for Earth Observations and Photography on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project of 1975. From 1982 to 1986 he was Vice President for Science and Technology of Itek Optical Systems, Lexington, MA. Since 1986, his research at Boston University applies remote sensing technology to archaeology, geography and geology.

Dr. El-Baz served as Science Advisor (1978-1981) to the late Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt. In 1979, he conducted a journey into northwestern China, which completed his field investigations in all the major deserts of the world. He is known for pioneering work in the applications of space images to ground-water exploration in arid lands. Based on the analysis of space photographs, his recommendations resulted in the discovery of ground-water resources in Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, and the Geological Society of America Foundation, which established in 1999 “The Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research” to encourage and reward excellence in arid land studies worldwide.

He served on the Steering Committee of Earth Sciences of the Smithsonian Institution, the Arid and Semi-Arid Research Needs Panel of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Lunar Nomenclature Group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). He is Chair of the U.S. National Committee (USNC) for the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), and committee member of the GMRA Water Prize and the International Geoscience Program (IGCP), both of UNESCO, Paris.

Dr. El-Baz is President of the Arab Society of Desert Research and the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including NASA’s Apollo Achievement Award, Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and Special Recognition Award; the University of Missouri Alumni Achievement Award for Extraordinary Scientific Accomplishments; the Certificate of Merit of the World Aerospace Education Organization; and the Arab Republic of Egypt Order of Merit – First Class. He is the recipient of the 1989 Outstanding Achievement Award of the Egyptian American Organization, the 1991 Golden Door Award of the International Institute of Boston, and the 1992 Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also received the 1996 M. T. Halbouty Human Needs Award of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the 2004 State of Nevada Medal, and Pioneer Award of the Arab Thought Foundation. He is Fellow of the Explorers Club, Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), African Academy of Sciences, Arab Academy of Sciences, Islamic Academy of Sciences, Academia Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Royal Moroccan Academy of Sciences and Technology, and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

Lotfia El Nadi

Lotfia El Nadi is the vice-director of the International Committee of Scientific Research, National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences (NILES), Cairo University. She is also the vice-director of the International Center of Scientific and Applied Studies for High Density Short Pulse Lasers, NILES, Cairo University.

El Nadi obtained her B.Sc. in physics and chemistry from Cairo University, M.Sc. in radiation physics from Birmingham University, and Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Cairo University.

Her expansive academic career includes posts at Cairo University, Qatar University, and King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia. From 1990 to 1993 she was director of the National Center of Lasers and Applications at Cairo University and between 1991 and 1994 she was head of the physics department at Cairo University. She has been a board member of the National Institute of Laser Enhanced Sciences at Cairo University since 2005.

Mostafa A. El-Sayed

Mostafa El-Sayed is the Julius Brown Chair and Regents’ Professor and Director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S.

He received his B.Sc. degree at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt and his Ph.D. at Florida State University. He was a Research Associate at Yale, Harvard and the California Institute of Technology. He was a Faculty member at the department of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA until 1994 when he moved to Georgia Tech as the Julius Brown Chair and Regents’ Professor.

He was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry for a quarter of a century. He has served on the advisory boards of NSF, the DOE–BESAC and on a number of the DOE Nano-Centers in the United States. He was on the selection committee of the Kavli Prize of Nano-Science and now is a member of the President’s International Advisory Council of KAUST.

El-Sayed is an Elected Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (1980), an Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1986), an Elected Associate Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences (1984). He’s also an Inaugural Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He is an elected Honorary Fellow of the Indian and the Chinese Chemical Societies.

He received the King Faisal International Prize in the Sciences and a number of honorary Doctoral Degrees from several Middle Eastern Universities like Mansura University, the University of Alexandria Medical School, Beni-Suef University, and the American University of Beirut. He has received a number of American national awards. He was a von Humboldt senior fellow in Germany, the Fairchild Professor at the California Institute of Technology, and visiting Miller Professor at UC Berkley. El-Sayed received the 2007 US National Medal of Sciences from the President of the United States in 2008 and in 2009 he received the Medal of the Egyptian Republic of the First Class.

Ahmed Galal

Ahmed Galal is currently Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum, a regional research institution covering the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey. Between 2000 and 2006, he was the Executive Director and Director of Research of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES), another independent think-tank dedicated to economic development in Egypt. He held the same position in 1996 and 1997, while on leave from the World Bank.

Galal was a staff member of the World Bank for 18 years, between 1984 and 2006. During his long tenure at the Bank, he served as industrial economist in the Europe, Middle East and North Africa region, as senior then principal economist at the research arm of the Bank and as economic advisor at the private sector development department and as economic advisor at the Middle East and North Africa Region. His work combined research on different issues as well as policy advice to several countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

Galal has published extensively. He co-authored/co-edited ten books on a wide range of issues including privatization, regulation of monopolies, trade, monetary policy and fiscal policy. His better known books include Welfare Consequences of Selling Public Enterprises, Bureaucrats in Business, and Regional Partners in Global Markets. His other publications include a large number of journal articles and chapters in books. Concerned with public discourse, Galal also writes occasionally in newspapers and magazines, both in English and Arabic.

Ahmed Galal is an Egyptian national. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Boston University.

Mohamed Ahmed Ghoneim

Mohamed Ghoneim is professor emeritus of urology at Mansoura University in Egypt. He was the director of the Urology and Nephrology Center in Mansoura, Egypt from 1983 to 2002.

Ghoneim obtained his M.B., B.Ch in 1960, Diploma of General Surgery in 1963, Diploma of Urology in 1964 and M.Ch. in urology in 1967, all in Cairo. He obtained E.C.F.M.G from London in 1972 and an honorary MD from Goteberg in 1988.

Ghoneim’s medical internship and residency were at Cairo University Hospital. He then moved to Mansoura University where he served as clinical demonstrator, lecturer and associate professor until 1972. In the 1970s, Ghoneim was registrar at the department of urology & general surgery at South Mead General Hospital in Bristol, UK; Clinical Fellow in Urology at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York; and Research Fellow, Urodynamic Lab. Dept. of Urology at the University of Sherbrooke Medical Centre, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.

Ghoneim has received many awards including the Fleix Guyon Medal from the International Society of Urology; the Arab Pioneers Award from the Arab Thought Organization; the Harry Spence Medal from the American Association of genito-urinary surgeons; Mubarak’s Scientific Award; the Arab-American Medical Association Award; the Saint-Paul Medal Award from the British Urological Association; and Dr Fakhry’s Prize for distinguished research in surgical sciences.

He is a corresponding member of the French Urological Association, a member of the Society of Surgical Oncology, U.S.A, a member of the International Society of Urology, honorary member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons, corresponding member of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, Vice President of the Societe International D’Urologie (S.I.U.), honorary member of the American Urological Association, member of the Board of Chairmen of SIU; was made honorary president of the Pan-Arab Urological Association in 2000, and is Honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgoens, and honorary member of the German Urological Association. Ghoneim has been a visiting professor in universities all over the world.

Ahmed Okasha

Ahmed Okasha is Professor and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Training and Research in Mental Health. He is the founder and honorary chairman of the Okasha Institute of Psychiatry at Ain Shams University, Cairo. He was also the chairperson of the neuropsychiatric department at Ain Shams University from 1988 to 1994.

Okasha is president of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association, Honorary President of the Arab Federation of Psychiatrists, was President of the World Psychiatric Association (2002 – 2005), President of the Egyptian Society of Biological Psychiatry, President of the WFSBP, Chairman of WPA Review Committee (2008 – 2011), Chairman of WPA Ethics’ Committee (1993 – 2002). He has been on the editorial advisory board of twenty international scientific journals. He was awarded the golden Medal of ICAPAP ( 2004), Honorary Fellowship of The American College of Psychiatrists (2002), Fellow of Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh, 1973), Fellow of Royal College of Psychiatrists (London, 1973), Honorary Fellow of WPA( 2005), and Presidential Commendation of APA (2006). He has published more than 260 original articles in national and international journals, was an editor and contributor of 47 books. Okasha received the State Merit Prize in Creativity in Medicine (2000), State Merit Award in Medical Sciences (2007), and El Nil Merit Award in Medical Sciences (2010).

Mohamed Fathi Saoud

Mohamed Fathi Saoud is a Member of the Board of Directors and President of the Qatar Foundation.

Saoud was appointed President of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development in November 2007. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2003 and previously served as Higher Education Advisor from 1997-2007 where he participated in the planning and development of Education City, one of the largest projects of the Qatar Foundation.

As a member of the Academic Team of the Foundation, he was engaged in the discussions that led to the agreement with Cornell University in 2001 to establish a branch campus of Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in Education City. He also led negotiations with Virginia Commonwealth University, Texas A&M University (TAMU), RAND, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Georgetown University to establish branch campuses in Education City which now offer Design Arts, Engineering, Public Policy Research, Computer Sciences and Business as well as Foreign Service Programs . He participated in the initial planning of the Science and Technology Park and Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) together with a major project for reforming K – 12 schooling in Qatar. He has also been engaged in establishing a branch campus of the College of North Atlantic in Qatar and University of Calgary Nursing Program in Qatar.

Saoud represents Qatar Foundation in the Joint Advisory Boards of WCMC-Q, TAMU-Q, and CMU-Q. He is the Vice Chairperson of the Board of Governors for the Sidra Medical and Research Center. Also, he chairs the Executive Committee of the Sidra Medical and Research Center and the Steering Committee of QNRF. He is a member of the Steering Committee of University of Calgary Nursing Program in Qatar and the Executive Committee of the College of North Atlantic- Qatar.

Saoud started his academic career as Senior Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor of Parasitology at the University of Ain Shams in Egypt and the University of Khartoum in Sudan and then joined the newly established University of Qatar where he became the founding Dean of Science in 1978. He was the co-principal investigator of a collaborative NIH funded research project on schistosomiasis in Egypt between the University of Ain Shams, University of Lowell, University of Michigan Ann Arbor and University of California Los Angeles. During his research career, Saoud established a school in medical and animal parasitology in Egypt, Sudan and Qatar. More than thirty M.S. and Ph.D. students have worked under his direct supervision.

He has published more than 100 papers in parasitology and immunology in the UK, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, Egypt, Japan and Qatar. Saoud graduated in 1959 from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt with an honors degree and earned a Ph.D degree from the London School of Tropical Medicine, London University in 1965. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and a member of the British, Japanese, and Egyptian Societies for Parasitology.

Mona Zulficar

Mona Zulficar is Founding Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee of Zulficar & Partners Law Firm.

A practicing attorney for more than 30 years, she is a specialist in major financial, industrial, and commercial transactions and has negotiated, drafted, and concluded all the major contracts required by some of the most important joint venture businesses in Egypt. She has been involved in major restructuring of companies, M&A transactions, and is particularly recognized for handling ground breaking and precedent transactions, such as the largest transaction in the history of the Middle East relating to the sale of Orascom Building Materials Holding SAE to Lafarge, for approximately USD 13 billion in addition to USD 2 billion of assumed debt. Most recently, she led the team responsible for the first successful PPP Project in Egypt.

She has played and continues to play a key role in drafting new legislation and developing existing economic legislation as adviser to the various governmental entities and as member of the national drafting committees on many important laws, such as the new Telecom Law, the new Capital Market Regulations, the new Special Economic Zones Law and the new Banking Law regulations. She has also been appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Egypt and is directly involved in the ambitious Egyptian institutional and regulatory reform program of the banking and finance sector. Complementing her professional activities with a commitment to community activism, she has been an active advocate for human rights and women’s rights in Egypt and internationally. She has recently been elected member and Vice Chair of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and she is also a member of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt. In 2009, she received La Legion d’Honneur from the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, for her significant professional role in concluding landmark commercial and financial transactions between Egypt and France and for her achievements in the field of human rights.

Zulficar obtained her political science and law degrees from Cairo University and Mansoura University and an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Zurich. Her working languages are Arabic, English and French.

Ahmed Zewail

Ahmed Zewail is the Chairman of the Board of Zewail City of Science and Technology. He is the Linus Pauling Chair professor of chemistry and professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and is currently the Director of the Moore Foundation’s Center for Physical Biology at Caltech. He received his early education in Egypt and in the U.S., completed a Ph. D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a postdoctoral (IBM) fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the faculty at Caltech. On April 27, 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Council of Advisors of the White House, and in November of the same year, he was named the first United States Science Envoy to the Middle East.

Zewail was the sole recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering developments in femtoscience, making possible observations of atomic motions during molecular transformations in femtoseconds, a millionth of a billionth of a second. More recently, he and his group have developed the field of 4D electron microscopy for the direct visualization of matter’s behavior, from atoms to biological cells, in the four dimensions of space and time. A significant effort is also devoted to giving public lectures on science and on the promotion of education and partnership for world peace, and he continues to serve on national and international boards for academic, cultural, and world affairs.

For his contributions to science and public life he has garnered other honors from around the globe: forty honorary degrees in the sciences, arts, philosophy, law, medicine, and humane letters; Orders of State and Merit; commemorative postage stamps; and more than 100 international awards, including the Albert Einstein World Award, Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Leonardo da Vinci Award, the King Faisal Prize, and the Priestley Medal. In his name, international prizes have been established, and the AZ foundation provides support for the dissemination of knowledge and for merit awards in arts and sciences. He is an elected member of academies and learned societies, including the American Philosophical Society, National Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of London, French Academy, Russian Academy, Chinese Academy, and the Swedish Academy.