Tarek Tawfik has a direct responsibility overseeing the Land Reclamation, Farming, Food Processing and Poultry divisions in the Americana Group in Egypt, and as such is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director, International Company for Agricultural Production & Processing; Chairman of the Cairo Poultry Group, and Chairman of the Egyptian Co. for Starch & Glucose.
Tawfik is a board member of the Export Development Agency (Ministry of Trade and Industry). He is a member of the board of the General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI), a board member of the Egyptian Countryside Development Company, and a board member of Export Support Council.
He is also involved in numerous organizations and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, Chairman of the Egyptian Franchise Development Association (EFDA) and Chairman of the Egyptian Dutch Business Club.
Tawfik is also a member of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council, the Egyptian-Austrian Business Council, Egyptian Exporters Association, German Chamber Advisory Board, the Egyptian Kuwaiti Business Council, the American University in Cairo’s Business School Advisory Board, and IRADA, a regulatory reform initiative.
Tawfik holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering - Cairo University, a master’s of engineering from California Polytechnic State University (Pomona), and an MBA degree from San Francisco State University.
Omar Mohanna is chairman of Suez Cement Group of Companies (SCGC), the largest cement producer in Egypt. SCGC is comprised of three major cement-producing companies and 10 other cement-related operations in Egypt and the region.
Mohanna is chairman of Chubb Insurance Co. Egypt, and chairman of Chubb Life Insurance Co. Egypt. Both companies are subsidiaries of the U.S. multinational insurance group Chubb. He is also chairman of Prometeon Tyre Egypt Co., the largest tire producer in Egypt and a subsidiary of the multinational tire manufacturer Pirelli.
Mohanna has over 25 years of commercial and investment banking experience with Egyptian and international financial institutions, which has culminated in the position of vice chairman and managing director of Egypt Arab African Bank (EAAB). He also held the position of managing director of Accor Hotels Group in Egypt and has been a member of the boards of directors of diverse companies.
Mohanna has served in different capacities as part of the AmCham Egypt Board of Governors, including as AmCham President from 2007-2009.
Mohanna is currently the chairman of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council (EUSBC) and is also chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES). He is a member of a number of business associations, organizations, councils and NGOs.
Anis Aclimandos is president of Transcentury Associates (TCA), which manages development projects worldwide. He is also president of Woodies, a subsidiary of TCA, the import agent for Eastman-Kodak. Aclimandos has handled large merger and acquisitions projects in the Middle East, attracting FDI to the region from many countries.
Aclimandos joined the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt in 1983. He was elected to the Board of Governors in 1987 and re-elected in 1988 and 2007. He has served as chair of AmCham Egypt’s Customs, Investment & Trade and International Donor Programs committees, and as Vice President, Membership, from 2001 to 2005.
A certified accountant, Aclimandos earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Cairo University and holds Egyptian and U.S. certifications in financial management and analysis.
Ahmed Abou Ali is a founding partner of Hassouna & Abou Ali law firm (1988), with an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School (1984) and LL.B. (1980) and Diploma in Private Law (1982) from Cairo University. He practiced law in the U.S. with Sidley Austin Law Firm in the banking and corporate areas from 1985 to 1987. Acting on behalf of multinational companies and international agencies, he has expertise in the areas of banking, capital markets, corporate, investment, mergers and acquisitions, project finance and restructuring, and legislative and economic reforms. He acts both as a transactional and litigator attorney.
Abou Ali is a board member and chair of the compensation and bonuses committee of Telecom Egypt and a board member of BLOM Bank Egypt and member of its audit committee. He is also a board member of Sekem Holding for Investment and member of its corporate governance committee.
He is a member of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council, the Egypt-Spain Business Council and the Egypt-Greece Business Council. He previously served at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt as the chair of the Legal Affairs Committee and as the past executive vice president from 2011 to 2013.
Abou Ali is a member of the Board of Trustees and Treasurer of the Education for Employment (EFE) association, and the current Chairman of the Board of the Egyptian Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights since 2014 and its past Secretary General. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies.
Abou Ali is an author of several published research papers and presentations on different aspects of Egyptian law.
Dalia Wahba is an entrepreneur and co-founder of CID Consulting, specialized in integrated, transformational solutions in marketing communications, management and community development consultancy across the MENA region, North America and Europe. CID has been operating for over 20 years and serves private and public sector clients and international organizations.
CID operates in diverse industries such as technical and vocational training, basic education, trade and economic development, energy, ICT, FMCG and financial services, among others. CID Consulting practices include growth strategy, organizational development and reputation management, and development communication in addition to designing and implementing social investment and sustainability programs for private sector companies. CID consulting has been engaged in a number of flagship projects in Egypt, namely the Suez Canal Investment Development project (ScZone) and the Aswan Renewable Energy Park of Egypt.
Wahba has more than 25 years of experience designing and implementing public awareness and outreach programs as well as integrated communication strategies for multinational companies in technology, oil and gas, banking and other sectors. She is the Vice President for Membership at AmCham Egypt and a Co-Chair of the Dean of the Business School’s Strategic Advisory Board at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Wahba served as a Chair and Co-Chair of the AmCham Marketing Committee from 2007-2009 and from 2015-2017. She was elected to serve on the AmCham Egypt Board of Governors as Vice President, Membership (2011-2015).
Wahba holds a master’s degree in Consulting and Coaching for Change from HEC, Paris, and a postgraduate degree in integrated marketing communications (AUC). She is a certified management consultant of the Institute of Management Consultancy in the United Kingdom. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Business Administration from AUC.
Tarek Mohanna is a partner of MHR & Partners in association with White & Case. White & Case is a leading global law firm with lawyers in 42 offices in 31 countries.
Mohanna joined White & Case in 2008 and worked in the firm's London office until he established the White & Case Cairo office in October 2016. Prior to joining White & Case, Mohanna worked for two years at a prominent law firm in Egypt.
Mohanna holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Economics, and a Master’s of Arts in International Human Rights Law, both from the American University in Cairo. He completed his legal studies at BPP Law School in London.
Girgis Abd El Shahid is a former public prosecutor. Since entering private practice, Abd El Shahid has provided legal services to national and multinational companies in the Middle East. He specializes in commercial and investor/state arbitration, banking and finance, securities offerings, joint venture arrangements, acquisitions, energy and natural resources, corporate and commercial agreements, telecommunications and intellectual property.
Abd El Shahid holds an LL.M. in international legal studies from Georgetown University Law Center, an LL.B. from Cairo University, English Section, and a B.A. in economics, with a minor in business administration, from the American University in Cairo. Abd El Shahid is a member of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council.
Hashem El Dandarawy is a businessman whose mission is to advance innovation in Egypt’s security sector. El Dandarawy is the founder of TEAM 4, a security company active in Egypt and across the region. TEAM 4 started off as a service provider focused on specialized K-9 services. It has since augmented its service range by launching a full suite of security services.
TEAM 4 is operating from the UAE, England, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, addressing security challenges through Cyber, Biometrics and Physical Security Solutions.
El Dandarawy studied business and international commercial law at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and at the Sorbonne, and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from AUC. El Dandarawy continues to support his alma mater by serving as a member of the Board of the School of Continuing Education.
Beyond advancing Egypt’s security sector and developing a canine-based security center of excellence, El Dandarawy’s personal mission is the social and cultural development of Upper Egypt. He established the NGO Dandara Cultural Centers, an organization that comprises 64 centers across Upper Egypt, serving 350,000 members by improving access to education and fostering women’s empowerment. He has been the elected Head of Upper Egypt’s Tribal Dispute Council for years and is a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.
Seif El Sadek is an entrepreneur, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Agrocorp for Agriculture Investment. Agrocorp is an agro processing company focused on the growing and canning of vegetables such as artichokes, pulses, tomato paste and juice, and exporting them to retailers and food service distributors in the U.S, Europe, Middle East and Africa. The company also distributes in the local market under the Foody brand.
El Sadek was one of the pioneers in exporting ready-to-eat canned vegetables out of Egypt in a Qualifying Industrial Zone area. Today, his company accounts for over 50% of all foods exported under QIZ. With more than 20 years of business expertise under his belt, El Sadek has extensive experience in the agriculture sector and the development of modern agriculture and processing operations. He has a wide understanding of the global trading of processed food and fresh produce in the Western world and Egypt.
El Sadek is a board member of AmCham Egypt. He is also Vice President of the Food Export Council (FEC) and chairs the exhibition committee. He also is a board member of the Egypt-US Business Council.
El Sadek holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the American University in Cairo.
Dr. Amr Talaat has been the General Manager of IBM Egypt since 2010. He joined IBM in 1988, and throughout his 30-year tenure with the company, he has worked in various strategic roles.
Talaat earned his Masters of Science in Information Technology from Illinois Institute of Technology. He also holds an MBA and a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) that he earned at University of Paris - Paris School of Business. Talaat completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at Cairo University.
In addition to being a corporate executive, Talaat is also a visiting professor at Cairo University and an active citizen of the academic community; he is an honorary member of the Board of Information Technology at Cairo University and a member of the ICT Board of the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology (ASRT). He is also the Chairman of the ICT Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.
In addition, Talaat is an avid historian; he lectures and writes about Egypt’s contemporary history and has published a book on the 1919 Egyptian Revolution.
Hisham Fahmy is CEO of AmCham Egypt Inc., a mirror organization for AmCham Egypt based in Washington D.C., and advisor to the AmCham Egypt Board of Governors. Prior to January 2016, Fahmy had served first as executive director then CEO of AmCham Egypt since December 1999 and as general manager from 1987 to 1993. Fahmy has organized over 28 business missions to Washington D.C. and other states as well as three U.S. missions to Egypt in cooperation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is a familiar face in Washington, offering expertise on strategic bilateral issues and the economic relationship between Egypt and the United States.
For over 20 years, Fahmy has advocated for a friendly business environment for U.S. companies operating in Egypt and Egyptian companies working with the United States. He also helped create the AmCham MENA Regional Council to promote U.S. business and investment in the MENA region, and served as the council’s Regional Coordinating CEO. Fahmy also supported the establishment of AmCham Bahrain and AmCham Afghanistan. Under his leadership, AmCham Egypt’s membership reached over 1,900 members and 90 staff.
Fahmy previously served as acting director of the nonprofit think tank Egyptian Center for Economic Studies. He serves on the Board of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council (EUSBC), the Advisory Board of the American University in Cairo’s (AUC) School of Business, AmidEast Global Board, and the board of the Education for Employment association. A member of the American Society for Association Executives, he is the founder and former chairman of the Egyptian Society of Association Executives.
Fahmy has been recognized by U.S. corporations including ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and others for his role promoting Egypt-U.S. economic relations. Most recently, the Center for Transatlantic Relations gave him the “Mediterranean Leadership Award 2016" for his efforts fostering stronger U.S.-Egypt business and economic relations.
Fahmy graduated from AUC in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
Sylvia Menassa is the CEO of AmCham Egypt and as such leads the organization, which serves and connects almost 1,900 members. Menassa has been playing an instrumental role in promoting the U.S.-Egypt business relationship through coordinating policy advocacy efforts on behalf of Egypt’s private sector, organizing several Doorknock and business missions to and from the U.S., and organizing awareness-building activities aimed at enhancing the economic and business environment and encouraging investment.
Menassa also serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the AmCham MENA Regional Council, for which AmCham Egypt is the Permanent Secretariat, coordinating the activities of nine countries and working to promote U.S. business and investment in the MENA region.
Menassa has been serving AmCham Egypt relentlessly for the past 30 years in various positions, last of which being COO of AmCham Egypt, managing the operations and overseeing the implementation of AmCham Egypt’s program of work.
Ahmed Issa has been leading Retail Banking divisions at CIB since 2015, and is a member of the bank’s management committee, ALCO, and other group level management committees. His key responsibilities include the formulation and execution of the business strategies across Consumer Banking, Business Banking and the bank’s distribution networks. Prior to this role, Issa was Chairman of the Board at CORPLEASE and at Falcon, Group CFO at CIB, and Head of Strategic Planning at CIB in addition to his successful career as a Corporate and Investment Banker at CIB and CICAPITAL.
Issa chairs the Banking and Finance Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, chairs the board audit committee at the Civil Aviation Finance Holding Company, and sits on the Board of Egypt’s Internal Trade Development Authority.
He earned his MBA at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2003, and re-joined CIB in the same year. As a Fulbright scholar, Issa attended the Program on Investment Appraisal and Management at Harvard University in 1997 and subsequently interned at Merrill Lynch in New York, USA. Issa has attended more than 25 executive and leadership development programs including the industry-leading CIB Credit Course in 1994.
Dina Samaha is currently Citi Egypt Banking head and has been with Citi for the past 18+ years. She has handled different roles within Citi, all within the Corporate and Investment Banking franchise. Samaha has managerial as well as credit and marketing experience with public sector, local corporate and financial institutions clients. Additionally, she has worked on various corporate finance and other structured debt capital market transactions. This is in addition to her prior risk management assignments that complement her corporate banking experience.
Samaha is an American Chamber of Commerce member and a member in all of the Citi Egypt senior management committees.
Samaha has an MBA from Maastricht School of Management (2005) and has focused on banking and finance. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with a major in Business Administration and minor in Economics.
Dina Sherif is committed to building sustainable societies through the application of a more ‘conscious’ form of capitalism, and she founded Ahead of the Curve (ATC) in 2012 to further that goal. ATC is a social enterprise promoting responsible/sustainable management practices, more inclusive and equitable economies and the development of socially innovative business models in growth markets to support both economic growth and social change. As CEO, Sherif is responsible for business strategy and business development, as well as overseeing all research-related activities within the firm. Ahead of the Curve established the first impact investment fund in the MENA region, called Entrepreneurship with Impact Ventures, to support early stage impact entrepreneurs through equity financing, and it will be launching the first-of-its-kind regional network of women leaders across the Arab region through an online and offline platform. Sherif was previously an Associate Professor of Practice at the American University in Cairo, where she was also Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation from 2015-2017.
Sherif also serves as an Advisor to the President of Egypt on economic development and is passionate about public policy reform within emerging markets. Sherif comes from a background in economic development, strategic philanthropy and civil society development. She is the lead author of several key publications such as the book “From Charity to Social Change: Trends in Arab Philanthropy” and key reports including a seven-country study on trends in responsible business practice in the Arab region as well as the 2016 UNDP Business Solutions Report. Her current focus is on how entrepreneurship can be a pathway to sustainable economic growth and job creation.
Sherif is also an angel investor with a specific focus on healthcare businesses and is also an avid supporter of civil society, previously serving as the Chair of the Board of the Arab Foundations Forum. She is currently a member of the Board of Educate Me and Ruwwad, both based in Egypt. She is an Eisenhower Fellow, a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Centre for Public Leadership and a former New America Foundation Middle East Fellow. Sherif was chosen as the AmCham Egypt's Woman Entrepreneur of the Year for Egypt in 2016.
Gamal Abou Ali is an attorney admitted to practice law in Egypt and the State of New York. He is a CEDR Accredited Mediator and Mediation Trainer, a listed mediator at the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration and a listed expert at the Investors’ Dispute Resolution Centre of the Egyptian General Authority for Investment and Free Zones.
He obtained his law degree from Cairo University, an LL.M from the University of Chicago, and an LL.M from Indiana University.
Abou Ali is a partner of Hassouna & Abou Ali Law Firm (Egypt). He represents and works on various matters on behalf of multinational and local clients as well as matters referred by top-tier law firms. His areas of expertise include corporate, commercial and business laws and transactions, foreign investments, telecommunications law, intellectual property law, construction projects, employment and social insurance laws, and dispute resolution. He also acts a legal consultant on a number of investment, economic and development projects for international organizations. He regularly participates in governmental and parliamentary legislative and economic reform dialogues.
In addition, he is the Secretary General of the Egyptian Junior Business Association and an expert member of the investment committee of the Federation of Egyptian Industries.
Hatem El Ezzawy is the Managing Director of PICO Agriculture, one of the leading Egyptian producers and exporters of fresh produce. The company’s track record spans well over three decades. It is a subsidiary of the larger PICO group, a leading group with diverse, fully independent companies with expansive operations in food and agriculture, real estate, energy, engineering supplies and finance. PICO Agriculture is a vertically integrated business covering the agricultural value chain from propagation to cultivation and export. Assets include a land bank of 7,000 acres, state-of-the-art tissue culture lab and nurseries, certified packing facilities, an extensive network with the top international breeding programs, quality assurance certifications and human capital of 2,500 employees with industry-specific technical expertise. PICO has always been a pioneer in creating value and has always been a positive contributor to the overall development of the communities that the company operates within. The company exports its high-value crops to high-end supermarkets in the UK, EU, South Africa, Asia and the GCC.
El Ezzawy graduated from UC Davis in 2003 with a B.Sc. in Crop Science and Management, and he holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago (2014). He serves as the Co-Chair of the Agriculture and Food Security Committee at AmCham Egypt.
Hatem Kheir is the general manager of Kheir Group, a firm that develops fluid handling systems ranging from water, waste water and process to fire, power and industrial applications. The company represents many pump companies from the USA, UK, France, Germany and South Korea.
Kheir’s company was selected as best world dealer for Peerless Pump for 2003, best international dealer 2010 and best team player 2012.
He is one of the founders and a board member of the Egyptian Fire Protection Association and has represented Egypt in many international conferences on fire protection. He is now the Chairman of the Confederation of Fire Protection Associations International, a group of over 28 associations worldwide. He is also the only foreign member serving in the technical committee of fire pumps in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Kheir was nominated as a member of NFPA’s board of directors, based in Boston USA, and is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, USA.
Kheir is the head of the media committee of the Chamber of Engineering Industries, a board member of the engineering services for industry section in the Chamber of Engineering Industries, and a board member and the Treasurer of Egypt’s Society for Culture and Development. He studied mechanical engineering at Cairo University, graduating in 1981.
J. Michael Lacey is managing partner of the Cairo office of the international law firm Dentons. He has worked for Dentons in Cairo since 2002 and is experienced in international construction projects, with a focus on privatizations. Previously, he worked on major build-operate-transfer projects, and his experience includes road, port, hospital, airport, power, bridge and airport privatizations. He also works with aviation, corporate, energy and environmental projects, including several major dispute adjudications for multinational clients in the areas of construction insurance, finance, warranties and procurement fraud. He also worked for Skanska USA and Skanska Infrastructure Development in New York and Stockholm.
Lacey served as Co-Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee at AmCham Egypt.
Lacey holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and international relations from the University of San Diego, a J.D. from Saint Louis University and a master’s degree in European law from Stockholm University.
Jack L. Litmer has served as the Assistant General Counsel and country legal manager for Apache Egypt since November 2006. Prior to that, he held management positions in the legal department of British Petroleum in the United States in Cleveland, Ohio; Houston, Texas; and Anchorage, Alaska. Litmer also had lengthy international assignments with BP in Abu Dhabi, UAE, as the regional legal manager for the Middle East and in Baku, Azerbaijan, as the legal manager for the Caspian Region.
In 2005, Litmer was an Adjunct Professor at the Boston University School of Law and taught a course on International Joint Ventures. Earlier in his career, he was in private practice in Ohio and later was an Administrative Law Judge for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Litmer holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been admitted to practice law in Ohio, Nebraska, Alaska, Connecticut and various U.S. Federal Courts.
Khaled Hashem is the Honeywell President for Egypt and Libya as well as an adjunct professor of strategic management at the American University in Cairo. Prior to this role, Hashem was the East Mediterranean country manager at General Electric. He also served as the project controls and productivity leader for Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe at GE, and prior to that he was the country manager of GE Oil & Gas for Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Qatar. Hashem started his career as a project engineer at Metito Water Treatment before moving to a project manager position with ExxonMobil, and then he moved to General Electric. Hashem has a rich track record of regional leadership positions within critical industries including oil & gas and petrochemicals, aviation and defense, ICT and automation, power, security and fire, industrial solutions and water treatment in addition to his business consultancy experience. Hashem serves as a member of the Industry and Trade and the ICT committees at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.
Hashem is completing his PhD in Business at the IE Business School in Spain (ranked 8th among business schools globally) and earned his MBA and B.Sc. in construction engineering from the American University in Cairo.
Mohamed Abdalla pioneered institutionalizing the real estate brokerage sector in the country by establishing Egypt’s first premier real estate full-service provider Coldwell Banker in 2001. This took place after an exceptional success in establishing and managing Egypt’s leading securities brokerage firm in the 1990s, InterCapital Securities, which is now a part of the largest investment bank in the region, EFG-Hermes.
With over 23 years of experience in the equities and real estate sectors, Abdalla is currently the Chairman of Coldwell Banker Egypt and Coldwell Banker Intercontinental Affiliates, which has the franchise of Coldwell Banker in 36 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. Coldwell Banker Egypt has 16 branches and employs over 200 real estate agents. The company earned several awards in international real estate conferences held in the USA over the last years as the number one international master franchise.
In 2010, Abdalla co-founded Acumen Holding. The holding company has three main subsidiaries: Acumen Securities Brokerage, Acumen Asset Management and Acumen-BPE Real-estate Fund Management. The firm is managing Egypt’s top-performing balanced fund in 2014, “El Kheir”; Bank Audi’s Islamic fund “Izdehar”, the first fund to be launched in Egypt after the revolution; along with portfolios of public sector banks, public and private institutions, and high-net-worth individuals.
Abdalla is an active member of AmCham Egypt. He co-founded and has chaired the Real Estate Committee since its inception in 2003, and has attended the AmCham Egypt Doorknock Missions to Washington D.C for the past 14 years.
Abdalla served as board member in Raya Holding from 2013 until 2015 and as board member in the Egyptian Railways Projects and Transport Company from 2005 until February 2010.
Mohamed El Kalla is the chief executive officer of Cairo for Investment and Real Estate Development (CIRA), currently Egypt’s largest investor in the area of private education. CIRA holds more than 16 affiliate companies and brands, including Futures Educational Systems, Rising Stars, Mavericks and Badr University. CIRA has invested in 25 campuses, serving more than 27,000 students around Egypt, and has plans to expand regionally.
Following a 10year career in the United Nations that focused on development and corporate sustainability, El Kalla founded Ahead of the Curve (ATC) consultancy, offering technical assistance to the private sector on corporate social responsibility issues. In 2011, Ahead of the Curve restructured into a leading regional sustainability management think tank focused around inclusive economies, as El Kalla believed that the region was in dire need of developing a locally sensitized think tank that works on supporting the realization of a MENA-based model for sustainability.
El Kalla is a specialist in private sector sustainable development, educational and BOP investments, and corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. A graduate of the American University in Cairo, he majored in political science with a specialization in international law and a minor in development studies. He started his career in UNHCR, moving on to UNV, UNRC and UNDP, where he supported the foundation of the Global Compact Network in Egypt, and other countries around the MENA region. El Kalla is responsible for the creation and management of more than 100 developmental projects and partnerships involving the private sector, including the setup of the Egyptian Responsibility Center and the Center for Transparency at the Ministry of Investment.
Mohamed Serry is a former public prosecutor and is currently a partner of Serry Law Office. Serry Law Office was established in 1937 and has been offering corporate and real estate legal services in Egypt to many of the leading national and multinational companies, ranking as one of the oldest and largest law firms in Egypt with a network of correspondent offices in the Middle East region and several European countries.
Serry is a qualified lawyer who is practicing in and familiar with the laws of the Arab Republic of Egypt and specializes in corporate, trade, mergers and acquisitions, with extensive experience in real estate legal matters. He has been working for more than 15 years on matters related to incorporation, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and dissolution, distribution, commercial agency and franchise agreements, legal due diligence reports and all forms of real estate transactions.
Serry is a member of the Egyptian Bar Association, Egyptian Franchise Development Association, British-Egyptian Business Association and the International Bar Association. He served as the Co-Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and is a visiting lecturer at the American University in Cairo.
Serry obtained an American Diploma from the American International School in Cairo in 1993, a Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law, Cairo University in 1998, and was a double major at the American University in Cairo from 1993 to 1996, majoring in political science and business law. He completed his master’s degree in international commercial law in 2001 from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.
Currently based in Cairo, Mohamed Shelbaya is CEO & Chairman of PepsiCo Egypt Commercial Unit, the global food and beverage leader with net revenue of over $63 billion and a product portfolio that includes Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola, to name a few.
Shelbaya is a PepsiCo veteran with over 23 years of experience across the Middle East and North Africa’s business models and markets. Prior to assuming his current role, Shelbaya was the Vice President of MENA Snacks Category where he played a critical role in driving the snacks business growth and leading the MENA snacks innovation revenue to unprecedented levels.
Prior to this role, Shelbaya was General Manager, Egypt Snacks where he grew the business double digit year-on-year, achieving breakthrough results on market share and equity metrics.
Shelbaya has held a wide range of roles since joining the company back in 1994. He was the Vice President of PepsiCo’s bottling operations for Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and had previously served as Sales and Customer Development Director for the Middle East & Africa. He also held other leading positions in Marketing and Sales.
Going back through his thread of success before joining PepsiCo, Shelbaya set off his career in advertising working for Saatchi & Saatchi in Egypt and the GCC.
El Chiati, the CEO of EFG Hermes UAE, is a 14-year banking veteran with a strong track record in leading high-profile merger and acquisition transactions as well as equity and debt offerings across multiple industries in various regional markets. In addition to this role, he is also responsible for all coverage activities across the region. Since assuming leadership of EFG Hermes’ operations in the UAE, El Chiati has succeeded in building a comprehensive regional deals pipeline for EFG Hermes’ largest regional office.
Prior to his current role, El Chiati served as a managing director at EFG Hermes’ Investment Banking division which he joined in 2007. El Chiati has led teams to conclude a broad spectrum of transactions: equity, advisory (both sell-side and buy-side) and the more market-oriented dimension of debt instruments. He also managed and supervised a number of restructuring transactions as well as established strategies for the boards of directors of different companies.
Before joining EFG Hermes, El Chiati worked for four years in HSBC’s Corporate & Credit Banking Department after completing the rigorous nine-month HSBC Executive Training Program. During his tenure in commercial banking, El Chiati was directly involved in several prominent loan syndications to the most active and financially sophisticated companies in the Egyptian economy.
Omar Ezz El-Arab heads the Abraaj Group’s Egypt operations where he has overseen some of the most significant private equity transactions in the country, including the merger of Al Borg Laboratories and Al Mokhtabar and its subsequent listing on the London Stock Exchange. Prior to joining The Abraaj Group in 2008, Ezz Al Arab worked at J.P. Morgan in London as part of the Mergers & Acquisitions team, where he advised on more than US$15bn worth of transactions during his time at the firm.
Ezz El-Arab holds a Bachelor of Arts honors degree in Law and Business from University of Warwick.
Patrick Brennan has been in the position of Commercial Manager, Apache Egypt Companies since January 1998. Apache Egypt is the largest producer of crude oil in Egypt and third-largest natural gas producer. As Commercial Manager in Egypt, he has negotiated a number of concession agreements, amendments, farm-in and related commercial agreements to assemble the largest acreage position in the Western Desert of Egypt.
Brennan served as Land Manager Apache Corporation in the Mid-Continent office of Apache Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from April 1, 1978 to the time of his transfer to Egypt. Apache is an independent energy company that explores for and produces natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids operating in four countries: the U.S., Canada, Egypt and the U.K. (North Sea).
Prior to joining Apache, Brennan worked in various energy land-related assignments with ONG Exploration, Inc. working in the Mid-Continent region of the U.S.
Brennan holds a bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Land Management from the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the Association of Petroleum Negotiators and the American Association of Professional Landmen.
Ali has been with J.P. Morgan since August 2010 and is currently the Head of the Treasury Services Financial Institutions business for North Africa. She is the senior country representative for JPM in Egypt.
In her role as country head, Ali is responsible for the coordination of the Egypt business among different lines of business within the organization.
Ali has 20 years of banking experience with multiple reputable local and international banks, covering trade finance & syndications, correspondent banking, credit analysis of financial institutions, cash management and treasury services, and coverage of bank and NBFI sales.
Somaya El Sherbini has spent the last 12+ years as a Human Resource Practitioner. She started her HR career at Microsoft, working with different teams, organizations and geographies in Egypt, regionally (specifically in Saudi Arabia) and then at an area level (focusing on the Middle East and Africa). El Sherbini spent her 18-year tenure at Microsoft focused on employer branding, next-generation talent programs and talent management. El Sherbini found her passion in focusing on developing these skills and capabilities. Her exciting work involved learning about, being a part of and helping build organizations from within, as well as building their brand as an employer of choice in the different Middle East and Africa markets.
Most recently, El Sherbini founded a company, namely RightFoot, which focuses on leveraging technology-based solutions and services that enable human resources to be more impactful and insightful. In addition, RightFoot provides Consultative Human Resource solutions with specific focus on start-ups, mid-size and high-growth entrepreneurships. The name of the company is really inspired by the belief that these types of businesses need to ‘get off on the right foot’.
El Sherbini is the chair of the Human Resources Committee of AmCham Egypt. She majored in business administration and accounting, and is a Myers-Brigg certified practitioner, a certified trainer and a certified professional human resources and compensation professional from the U.S. Institute of HR Management.
Tamer Younes is a corporate affairs expert with professional career spanning over 19 years. He has accumulated experience in government relations and public policy, business management, engineering operations, sales and purchasing with several multinational companies across several sectors, including FMCG, oil and gas and industrial manufacturing. He joined P&G in 2005 and assumed various responsibilities in product supply and regulatory affairs.
Currently, Younes leads Corporate Affairs for P&G’s business in the Near East and Global Development Markets. His work focuses on championing public policy efforts to protect and grow the business and the industry. His portfolio of activities includes liaising with legislative and regulatory agencies, providing leadership counseling, representing P&G in business associations and managing relations with foreign diplomacies to advocate investment policies that improve the business landscape in his owned markets. He also acts as the company’s point of contact for media and press.
Younes chairs AmCham Egypt’s CSR Committee and is a member of the Industry Core Committee. He is a board member at the Chamber of Chemical Industries at the Federation of Egyptian Industries and a board member and treasurer at the Chemicals Export Council.
Younes holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo. He is also a lead trainer in P&G’s Leadership Academy.