Leadership

Dr. Omar Zuhair Hafiz - Chairman

Dr. omar Hafiz is an associate professor of Islamic finance in King Abdulaziz university. He is A Saudi citizen born in Almadina in 1950 and got his Ph.D from Indiana University bloomington USA in 1981 and a bachlor degree in islamic studies in 2005 from king Abdulaziz university. He joined department of Economics in 1981 after graduation for Around 9 years where he served as chairman of the department and director of the first international research center in islamic economics. in 1990 he left the university for working in Islamic Finance industry where he worked for Islamic Development Bank for around 15 years and for other islamic finance and Takaful institutions for more than 10 years.
He published some books in Arabic and supervised a lot of dissertations in islamic economics, and in 2017 He returned back to his university to work in Islamic Economics Institute

Ahmed Darwish- Vice Chairman

Ahmed Darwish is the CEO of BOK International. He achieved various milestones in the past few years, where he established the finance departments in both Bahrain and UAE branches.
Mr. Darwish brings with him more than 15 years’ experience in the banking and investments sectors. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from the New Hampshire Board of Accountancy, Certified Islamic Professional Accountant (CIPA) from Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), and holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from University of Bahrain.
Prior to joining BOKI, Mr. Darwish worked at Sage Capital as Vice President – Head of Financial Services, where he was an active member of the board of directors of several subsidiaries, charged with representing and protecting the interests of shareholders. He was also responsible for establishing the Finance, Operations, Human Resources and Administration departments at Tadhamon Capital, as Director of Finance and Operations. Prior to that, Mr. Darwish worked at Ernst & Young as an external auditor of leading banks and financial institutions in Bahrain.”

Mr. Faheem Ahmad - President - Strategic Planning and Global Relationships

Mr. Faheem Ahmad was recognized among top 500 Islamic personalities by Islamica 500. www.islamica500.com/download.html.

Listed among the top 5 CEOs in Pakistan 2015/2016. https://pakwired.com/top-ceos-pakistan-2015/ .
pakwired.com/top-ceos-pakistan-2016.
Faheem Ahmad is the founder of the VIS Group, Pakistan. He has top level management experience at international level in the fields of credit rating, Islamic and conventional financial risk assessment modeling.
In 2001, Faheem participated in the establishment of Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) in Bahrain. In 2011, he developed and launched ‘Fiduciary Ratings’; capturing Mudarib's quality, governance and compliance with Shari’ah principles. IIRA now has mandates in 14 Islamic countries.
In 2002, he a member of the founding team that established the Association of Credit Rating Agencies in Asia (ACRAA), with an office in Manila.
Mr. Ahmad served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACRAA from 2014-17. He is now serving as the Vice Chairman/Ambassador for International Relations. ACRAA has members from 30 rating agencies in Asia. In 2010, as the Chairman of the Best Practices Committee, he contributed to “ACRAA Code of Conduct Fundamentals for Domestic Credit Rating Agencies” and important publications, including ‘Credit Ratings – The Basics Revisited’, ‘Rating Shopping'.
In 1997, he formed a JV with a leading rating agency in the USA, to form DCR-VIS. JCRA joined JCR-VIS subsequent to the DCR’s merger with Fitch in 2001. In 2019 JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company was renamed as VIS Credit Rating Company Ltd., after JCRA sold its interest, however, JCRA remains a technical partner.
As a founder in 2003 and 2005, he helped to establish CRISL, Bangladesh and Islamic International Rating Agency, Bahrain. He is also the founder of Borhan Credit Rating Agency Iran. He has established National Investor Services (NIS), Turkey in 2019.

Mr. Abdulrahman Shehab - Board Member

Mr. Shehab is a holder of Master in Business Administration, University of Hull, UK. He Has over 37 years of banking experience gained in senior positions with various international financial institutions, both Islamic and conventional.
He commenced his career with Habib Bank Ltd in 1973, later worked with (then) Chase Manhattan Bank, Bahrain, Bank of America, Bahrain, American Express Bank, Bahrain and Bahrain Middle East Bank, Bahrain.
After a successful career with Shamil Bank of Bahrain (formerly Faysal Islamic Bank of Bahrain), he was appointed as Assistant Chief Executive Officer – Operations at Bahrain Islamic Bank in 2002, and thereafter joined Al Baraka Banking Group in May 2006. Mr. Shehab is a Board member of Banque Al Baraka D’Algérie, and Al Baraka Bank Ltd Pakistan.

Mr. Zubair Nawaz Chattha - Board Member

Mr. Zubair Nawaz Chattha has been associated with the Gourmet family business since his early days. Gourmet Group, a family enterprise, is the most diversified food and beverage manufacturing group of companies in Pakistan, with a product range of approximately 800 items of confectionery, bakery, dining, dairies, ice cream, traditional delicacies (Sub continent sweets), carbonated drinks, juices, jams and condiments.
Mr. Zubair bears an impressive profile detailing an unprecedented track record bedecked and evenly interspersed with illustrious achievements and services on various fronts during his professional career.
From his educational record to professional acumen, Mr. Zubair Nawaz Chattha stands out par excellence. After completing his B.A, he went for a graduation in law and completed his LLB in 1992. He also holds degree of LLM. On the academic front he has had renowned institutions among his alma maters, including University of Punjab, Lahore and Harvard Law School USA.

Mr. Husam Alakhal- Board Member

Mr. Husam Alakhal holds master’s degree in finance and bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Jordan. He has more than three decades of experience in banking in recognized commercial and development banks with focus on credit and risk management. His expertise covers managing and reporting on portfolio risk profile and risk assessment of all types of financing and investment operations; covering sovereign lending, project finance, corporate finance, trade finance, financial institutions, treasury transactions, and equity investments.
Mr. Husam worked with Arab Bank, Jordan from 1988 to 2002 and his latest position was head of specialized financing unit. During his work with this major regional financial institution, he played important roles in establishing the Bank’s leasing subsidiary, Arab National Leasing Company, the Bank’s acquisition of Amman Investment Bank, and the Bank’s proposals for the privatization of some public entities.
Mr. Husam joined Islamic Development Bank in 2002. Throughout his work with this multilateral financial institution, he worked, as head of credit risk division, on building the infrastructure of the credit risk function in terms of frameworks, policies, guidelines, systems, models, processes etc., covering loan origination, risk measurement, exposure management of loan and banking books, portfolio management and reporting, etc. He was a member of Bank’s rating team and the risk management roadmap team for instilling an ERM solution for the Bank.