Tawfik serves as Deputy Chairman of The Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES), and First Vice President of The Federation of Mediterranean Business Organization (BUSINESSMED). Tawfik is also a board member of several organizations, including the General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI), The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), Egyptian Countryside Development Company, Egyptian Food Safety Authority, Chamber of Food Industries, Agricultural Bank of Egypt, the Ministry of Foreign Trade & Industry’s Industrial Modernization Center, Egyptian Poultry Federation, and the Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning, Weaving & Garment.
Tawfik holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Cairo University, a master’s of engineering from California Polytechnic State University (Pomona), and an MBA degree from San Francisco State University.
Mohanna is the Chairman of Chubb Insurance Co. Egypt and of Chubb Life Insurance Co. Egypt, both subsidiaries of the U.S. multinational insurance group Chubb. He is also Chairman of Prometeon Tire Egypt Co., the largest tire producer in Egypt and a subsidiary of the multinational tire manufacturer Pirelli.
He is also the former chairman of Suez Cement Group of Companies (SCGC), one of the largest cement producers in Egypt and a subsidiary of the German multinational group Heidelberg Cement AG, a world-leading cement producer.
Mohanna is currently Chairman of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council (EUSBC) and also Chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES). He is the past president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham Egypt) and is a member of a number of business associations, organizations, councils and NGOs.
He is a member of the boards of directors for the investment banking firm CI Capital; Corplease Egypt, the leading leasing company in Egypt; and B Investments, a private equity holding company.
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. He has handled large merger and acquisition projects in the Middle East, attracting FDI to the region from many countries.
After joining the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt in 1983, Aclimandos was elected to the Board of Governors in 1987 and re-elected in 1988 and 2007. He has served as chair of AmCham's Customs, Investment & Trade, and International Donor Programs committees, and as Vice President, Membership from 2001 to 2005.
Aclimandos was elected President of AmCham Egypt in 2013 and served two consecutive terms until 2017.
A certified accountant, Aclimandos earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Cairo University and holds Egyptian and U.S. certification in financial management and analysis.
Tarek Mohanna is an international partner of the global law firm White & Case, and is the Office Executive Partner of MHR & Partners in Association with White & Case in Cairo. White & Case is a leading global law firm with over 2,200 legal professionals in 44 offices, located in 44 countries and active in many more.
Mohanna joined White & Case in 2008 and worked at the firm's London office until he established the White & Case Cairo office in October 2016. White & Case and AmCham Egypt have maintained a close working relationship since the establishment of W&C Cairo Office, with the company being an AmCham Corporate Sponsor.
Over the years, Mohanna has been an active member of AmCham Egypt, and he currently serves as Executive Vice President on the 2021-2023 Board of Governors. Prior to that, he was Vice President for Legal Affairs from 2017 to 2019. He has participated in over 14 Doorknock missions to the United States.
Mohanna holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Economics, and a Master of Arts in International Human Rights Law, both from the American University in Cairo. He then completed his legal studies at BPP Law School in London.
Soha Ali joined J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in Egypt in 2010 as Senior Country Head, representing JPM relationships with financial institutions in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. She oversees the business activities of JPM and country coverage across the same countries. She works closely with country and credit risk management, investment banking, markets, trade finance sales and product teams to coordinate and facilitate their business in Egypt.
Ali’s banking experience spans over 21 years with multiple reputable local and international banks. Her coverage incorporated expertise in trade finance business, syndicated loans, correspondent banking, credit analysis of financial institutions, cash management and treasury services of banks and NBFIs.
From 1998 to 2006, Ali worked with the subsidiary of American Express Bank in Egypt (formerly Egyptian American Bank), where she was responsible for the correspondent banking department. She left in early 2006 to join Deutsche Bank AG running cash management across Egypt, North Africa & Levant. She then assumed responsibilities at BNY Mellon Cairo, heading the TS business for North Africa.
Ali is fluent in English and French, and has strong Spanish and knowledge of German language, with Arabic being her mother tongue.
Gamal Abou Ali is a partner in Hassouna & Abou Ali Law Firm (Egypt), representing and working on behalf of multinational and local corporations and institutions. His areas of expertise include corporate, commercial and business laws and transactions; EPC projects; investment and cross border trade; transport & logistics; maritime & shipping; and dispute resolution.
Abou Ali is also a registered arbitrator and mediator, and acts as arbitration counsel, arbitrator and mediator. He also acts as a legal consultant on a number of investment, economic and development projects for international organizations.
He is an active member of several business associations and currently serves as Vice President, Legal Affairs of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham Egypt). He is also Chairman of the Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB), and regularly participates in governmental and parliamentary legislative and economic reform dialogues
Abou Ali obtained his Law Degree from Cairo University; an LL.M from The University of Chicago; and an LL.M from Indiana University. He is admitted to practice law in Egypt and the State of New York, USA. He is an accredited arbitrator, mediator and mediation trainer, and a listed arbitrator/mediator at The Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI), and Egyptian Center for Arbitration and Settlement (ECAS).
Hatem El Ezzawy is currently the Managing Director of PICO Agriculture, one of the leading Egyptian producers and exporters of fresh produce. PICO prides itself with its extensive technical expertise and long-standing know how. The company has an impressive track record that spans well over three decades.
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 2,000 employees with industry-specific technical expertise. PICO has always been a pioneer in creating value and 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 holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago-2014. He is also a Certified Business and Corporate Finance Specialist and Certified Banking Credit Analyst, earning both certifications from the Institute of Banking and Finance at the American University in Cairo.
El Ezzawy currently serves as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and as Head of the Fruit Committee at the Agricultural Export Council.
Ahmed Issa is responsible for strategy formulation and execution across CIB’s consumer banking and business banking. He is also responsible for managing CIB’s branches and is a member of ALCO and other group management committees.
He started his banking career in 1993 in CIB branches and, after attending CIB’s industry-leading credit course in 1994, was later promoted through the ranks within CIB corporate banking and investment banking divisions between 1995 and 2001. In 2001, he took a two-year study break to earn an MBA degree at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
During his career, Issa has taken on notable positions such as Head of Research at CIBC, Managing Director at CI Capital Investment Banking, Head of Strategic Planning at CIB, Head of Financial Institutions Group at CIB Corporate Banking, Group CFO at CIB, Chairman of the Board of Directors at CORPLEASE - the leading lease finance company in Egypt, and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Falcon Group.
He was the chairman of the Banking Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, where he is now an elected Member of the Board. He was appointed by the Prime Minister of Egypt to the Board of Egypt’s Trade Development Authority in 2017, and in April 2018, at the request of the Minister of Aviation, he became a member of the Board of Directors at EGYPTAIR Holding Company. He is also a board member of Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and Internal Trade Development Agency (ITDA), as well as a member of MasterCard MENA Leadership Council.
Sherif ElKholy believes in the positive power of capital to impact a country’s development goals. And at Actis, he considers himself one of the good guys. Our ethos of responsible investment, long-term commitment to growth markets and a track record of institutionalizing family businesses all set us apart. It’s our culture as much as our financial support that Sherif feels makes Actis an attractive business partner.
Cairo-born ElKholy has spent most of his life in Egypt apart from a period spent in London where he earned a Ph.D. in economics and an MSc in finance and economic development (with distinction) from the University of London. He learned his trade at EFG Hermes Private Equity, investing in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, and then switched to structured finance at HSBC. But his heart remained in investing, so he went back to private equity.
In 2004, ElKholy joined Actis as an associate focusing on North Africa. Now a Partner leading the Actis business across the Middle East and North Africa, he has played various deal leadership, execution, investment management and exit roles in Edita Food Industries, Honoris United Universities, El-Rashidi El-Mizan, Mo'men Group, Orascom Telecom Algeria, and Lekela Power. He also played a key role in the transaction leading up to Actis taking over management of certain funds previously managed by Abraaj in 2019.
More recently, ElKholy has been working more broadly across asset classes, playing an important leadership role of the firm’s activities in infrastructure and energy, including leading Lekela Power's push into Egypt, as well as originating and working on new deal opportunities across the region.
ElKholy is also an adjunct professor of finance at the American University in Cairo, where he teaches private equity and was awarded the “Excellence in Teaching Award.” He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, the leading NGO in Egypt focusing on trade and investment and acting as the main business lobby for the private sector in Egypt.
Hoda Mansour is a highly experienced, creative and self-motivated executive with more than 25 years of experience in delivering innovation and driving business value for customers in their respective industries. She worked for leading multinational software companies including SAP, Oracle & Microsoft in regional and global capacities, where she lived and worked in three different continents (Europe, Asia and Africa), which gave her a well-rounded experience in dealing with different cultures, challenges and business models.
Mansour joined SAP in Dubai in 2013 where she held various roles including COO for UAE & Oman, and the Managing Director for SAP Egypt & Frontier Countries before being promoted in September 2021 as the Head of Business Process Intelligence (BPI) for Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA South), a region that covers 75 countries.
Given her transformational impact, Forbes has repeatedly acknowledged Mansour’s leadership, listing her among the global business magazine’s Top 5 Women in Technology in the Middle East in March 2022, Top 50 Power Businesswomen for 2022 and 2021, Top 100 Power Businesswomen in the Middle East in 2020, and Top 100 Most Influential Women in the Middle East for 2018. She was also awarded the Best Distinguished Women Award in the field of Digital Transformation by the Arab Council for Social Responsibility in 2021 and has been recognized as one of the Top 50 women in Egypt since 2019.
After being nominated by SAP Middle East South cluster employees, Mansour won the SAP Middle East South’s “Diversity & Inclusion Champion” award, and in early 2020, she was selected for SAP’s Women to Watch Program, which focuses on a group of around 70 top female talents (in a company of 100,000+ employees).
Mansour is one of the Middle East’s leading technology innovators and pioneers, supporting public and private sector customers to advance their digital transformation agendas, drive new business models, and transform citizen and customer experiences. Upon her appointment as Managing Director of SAP Egypt, she made strong progress on Egypt’s investment plan, expanding the breadth and depth of the SAP Channel Partner Program, and is continuing to enhance the partnerships with the academic sector to support young talent development and job creation.
Under her leadership, SAP Egypt had its best performance ever since the company’s establishment (more than 10 years ago) for both revenue and contribution, with a significant growth for all business KPIs led by triple-digit growth for the Cloud business. SAP Egypt was recognized as a Top Employer and Great Place to Work for the first time under her leadership. Mansour also managed to secure significant in-country investments from SAP’s Board to expand the company’s presence in the country, including the establishment of a new state-of-the-art office for SAP Egypt that reflects the growth plan of tripling the presence in the country within three years.
The first women ever to be appointed by SAP as a Managing Director in the whole of the Middle East & Africa and also the first women ever to be appointed to lead a multinational software company in Egypt, Mansour has capitalized on her international experience and succeeded in overachieving on all her KPIs
After joining SAP in 2013, Mansour played a pivotal role in supporting the company’s growth strategy to transform the United Arab Emirates market. During her role as Chief Operating Officer in 2017, the UAE & Oman won the Market Unit of the Year award for the first time ever and Mansour was recognized as the Top COO for EMEA South, where she acted as the local executive sponsor for several strategic digital transformation engagements including Expo2020 Dubai.
Mansour represents women in leadership as part of SAP’s Women Leadership Excellence Acceleration Program (LEAP) across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She regularly speaks at global and regional forums. She has been a Board Member of the American Chamber of Commerce since June 2021 and has also been the elected Vice-President and Board Member of the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce since September 2020.
Mansour holds a B.Sc. with Distinction & Honors in Engineering from Alexandria University in addition to a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) with Distinction from Maastricht School of Management.
Riad Armanious is a serial entrepreneur heading EVA group, one of the leading pharmaceuticals and personal care organizations in the MENA region.
Armanious is Vice-chairman of the Egyptian Industrial Chamber of Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Medical Appliances. He is also the founder and former President of the Association of Graduates of Business Administration in Harvard and a Member of the Boards of the Egyptian-Hungarian, Ethiopian, Bahraini, and Emirati Business Councils. Armanious also serves as the President of the Egyptian-Sudanese Business Council. Additionally, he is the founder of the T20 Foundation, a non-charitable organization that focuses on utilizing the knowledge of highly educated youth to develop people and programs for social and economic improvement. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Association and Young Global Leaders. Armanious was the only Egyptian featured on the World's Economic Forum's 2018 list of 100 global leaders under 40. He previously served as a leader of AmCham Egypt’s Pharmaceuticals Committee.
His experience includes business development, marketing, production, international markets, and project management. Prior to his current position in Eva Pharma, Armanious set the company strategy, vision and objectives to achieve the company's profitability.
Armanious holds a Bachelors of Pharmacy from Cairo University and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School.
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. 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; board member of Enmaa Finance (Leasing and Factoring)) Company and chair of its risk committee; board member of Sekem Holding for Investment and member of its Corporate Governance Committee. He is a former board member of BLOM Bank Egypt and member of its audit 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 on the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt’s Board of Governors as Executive Vice President for several terms.
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. 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 and regulatory environment.
Dalia Wahba is an entrepreneur and co-founder of CID Consulting, a management and development consulting firm in Egypt, with work across the MENA region, North America and Europe. CID Consulting is an award-winning firm that has designed and implemented a number of flagship and national projects in economic and human development, economic and sustainability.
Wahba instinctively informs marketing and communication strategies for government entities, international and multinational organizations, and Egypt-based companies. Her expertise extends over the breadth of CID’s offering, as she works across a range of strategic planning, partnership building, marketing communications, designing and implementing initiatives for social impact and transformation management projects serving both government and private sector clients.
Wahba is currently serving as the Co-Chair of the Dean’s Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) of the School of Business, the American University in Cairo. She also sits on the Advisory Council for the Middle East Institute’s Egypt Program, Washington D.C. She served as the Executive Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt from 2019-2021. Wahba has participated in multiple private sector-led missions to the U.S. to promote U.S.-Egyptian relationship at multiple fronts and support in branding Egypt beyond borders.
Wahba holds a Master’s Degree in Consulting and Coaching for Change from HEC, Paris and Oxford’s Saïd Business School; a postgraduate degree in integrated marketing communications from The American University in Cairo; and is a Certified Management Consultant of the Institute of Management Consultancy in the United Kingdom. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the American University in Cairo.
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 BA 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.
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 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, the Global Board of Amideast, 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. 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 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, the organization of several Doorknock and business missions to and from the U.S., and 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 serves as the Permanent Secretariat, coordinating the activities of 10 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.
Dina Nawar is Director of Operations and Communications at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AmCham Egypt). She has been serving AmCham for more than 22 years in different capacities. In her current role she oversees and coordinates the activities of AmCham’s 24 sector-focused committees, which spearhead advocacy efforts for a favorable business environment in Egypt and a stronger bilateral relationship with the United States. She is also in charge of designing AmCham Egypt’s annual planner and overseeing the logistics of hosting all major AmCham events, Business Missions to Egypt and Special Missions to the United States.
Serving as Regional Coordinating Officer of the AmCham MENA Council, she is in charge of coordinating joint activities between 10 American Chambers of Commerce in the MENA Region and the Arabian Gulf; members of the Council, helping create linkages between members of the different organizations. Nawar is also in charge of the Secretariat of the Egypt-U.S. Business Council (EUSBC), working with its counterpart at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Egypt Business Council on advancing the bilateral relationship.
Between 2002 and 2003, Nawar served as Projects Coordinator at CID Consulting, a management consulting firm specialized in both the private sector and economic development, where she worked with CID clients on designing and implementing their marketing communications plans.
Nawar holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the American University in Cairo. She also holds professional certifications in Strategic Management of Non-Governmental Organizations from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and in Leadership Communication from INSEAD.
Lauren Griffith is a Programs Associate at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Inc. (AmCham Egypt, Inc.), a mirror organization for AmCham Egypt based in Washington D.C. In this role, she is responsible for managing communications and assists with developing and executing programmatic agendas that promote U.S.-Egypt business relations. She has worked at AmCham since 2019.
Griffith’s previous work experience includes the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to her time in Washington, D.C., she was a high school English teacher in Michigan.
Griffith earned a BA in English from Western Michigan University and an MA in International Affairs with a concentration in Middle East Studies from The George Washington University.