Russell Duke is President and Chief Executive Officer of National Standard, and is a member of the company’s Management and Investment Committees. Mr. Duke also serves as Secretary General of Economic Council of Nations, a non-government organization that provides policy guidance and advisory to Central Banks and Treasurers across an array of sovereign economic issues.
Mr. Duke is the architect and voice of the Duke Global Initiative, a 21st century Marshall Plan policy initiative for infrastructure and monetary system strengthening. Since joining National Standard in 2008, Mr. Duke has provided creative and transformative financial solutions to governments, financial markets and the infrastructure industry around the world. He brings highly skilled experience in structured finance, credit structuring, sovereign debt, infrastructure finance, political risk management/insurance and asset-based leasing. He brings almost twenty years of experience in the international finance industry and economic policy expertise to National Standard. During this time Mr. Duke has worked in more than 70 countries worldwide across all continents.
Mr. Duke is a leading authority in the areas of international Infrastructure financing, Private Capital solutions for Sovereigns and Foreign Direct Investment. He is widely recognized as an industry leader in the use of private sector capital and FDI to achieve public policy objectives related to economic development and infrastructure development by the public sector internationally across developed and emerging markets.
Mr. Duke is a life time investment banker, financial executive, policy maker and hands-on CEO, active in the company’s most important transactions, assignments and client relationships. He routinely advises heads of state such as Presidents, Prime Ministers, Finance Ministers, Central Banks, Secretaries of State and global financial CEOs on monetary and economic issues as well as related geopolitical policy. Mr. Duke has also participated in numerous G2G negotiations, trade delegations, foreign direct Investment matters and economic policy matters.
During his tenure at National Standard, he has developed proprietary financial products that have helped the company become a participant in global sovereign and infrastructure debt finance. He began his career working in structured finance and project finance in the United States, China and other parts of Asia. Prior to joining National Standard he served for six years as President of a merchant bank, specializing in structured finance, lease finance and project finance of real estate and energy related infrastructure assets. Mr. Duke was also Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Investor Relations of a trade finance financial services company that facilitated export and import financial transactions.
Mr. Duke has authored dozens of published articles in major media outlets such as Bloomberg, The Guardian and other global news sources. Mr. Duke has also been the subject of numerous interviews on economic, banking and geopolitical matters and is a regular speaker at public and private sector conferences and events globally. He also serves on the Board of Directors of various international companies, including an investment fund and an insurance company. His academic background is in the fields of Economics and Business Administration.
Burak Erten is Deputy President and Chief Operating Officer at National Standard. In this capacity Mr. Erten oversees global operations at National Standard supporting the CEO & President and is a member of the Management Committee and Investment Committee. In this capacity, Mr. Erten is responsible for maintaining and developing relationships with governmental entities, financial institutions / multilaterals, insurance companies and multinational corporations that are strategic to National Standard. Mr. Erten is also privileged to be a licensed and regulated fund manager in Luxembourg of a SICAV-SIF by the CSSF.
In addition to Mr. Erten’s management responsibilities, he is actively involved in transaction and credit structuring, insurance ,due diligence, underwriting, project development, asset management as well as monetary and geopolitical policy plans and research. This includes negotiating and advising on local and foreign policy between countries related to economic cooperation, trade and Foreign Direct Investment. Mr. Erten has twenty years experience in finance, real estate, government policy and development.
Prior to National Standard, Mr. Erten began his finance and banking career in London prior to returning to his home country of Turkey to found one the largest and most successful real estate development and sales and marketing companies in Turkey. Mr. Erten has a broad financial services, real estate development and construction background including extensive sales and marketing experience of real estate products in emerging markets.
He is also a Board Member and Principal of Multilateral Infrastructure Investment Corporation, Global Multilateral Infrastructure Investment Corporation, Proxima Asset Management and Aire Asset Management. Mr. Erten lives between Turkey, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Hugo Barreca is Chief Financial Officer of National Standard and is a member of the Management Committee. In additional to Mr. Barreca’s role as CFO, he is a leader in the company’s government policy practice. In this capacity, Mr. Barreca works with our policy advisors to create and implement various types of economic, social and infrastructure policy plans for our government clients.
Mr. Barreca is responsible for financial administration of the company, as well as legal compliance and oversight of National Standard’s entities. His experience includes senior positions in management, finance, and business law with both large public corporations as well as privately held companies. Mr. Barreca served in such capacities as CFO and General Counsel to companies over his approximate 40 years of corporate, law and finance experience.
He holds an MBA from New York University, a Juris Doctor of law from the Fordham School of Law, and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from The City University of New York, where he is currently completing his Doctoral Degree in Political Science. Mr. Barreca also serves as director of several New York non-profit foundations. In that capacity he has contributed to the planning and development of urban infrastructure development, zoning law, project management and implementation of smart-city technologies.
Tom Woodward is Chief Investment Officer of National Standard and is a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Woodward is responsible for overseeing and structuring, underwriting, and pricing of all new financial transactions as well as managing National Standard’s existing investment portfolio.
Tom Woodward has over two decades of experience in investment banking and debt capital markets. Prior to National Standard, Mr. Woodward served as Managing Director for Stifel Nicolaus & Company, a large US publicly traded global investment bank, with a primary focus on the structuring, underwriting, and credit analysis of corporate and governmental bond issues, letters of credit and debt financings. Prior to Stifel, Mr. Woodward was Senior Vice President at BB&T Capital Markets and was a banker at Robinson Humphrey – Smith Barney.
Mr. Woodward has financed transactions for multinational corporations, industrial facilities, public infrastructure projects, waste to energy projects, solid waste facilities, general governmental services, and sporting facilities, among other projects. Mr. Woodward has a deep understanding of project finance and the utilization of various forms of public, private and structured finance debt products. Over his career, Mr. Woodward has structured investment grade bonds, non-investment grade bonds, publically offered bonds, letters of credit and private placements. He has completed more than 175 financings during his twenty year career in banking.
Mr. Woodward maintains his FINRA registration that includes the following: Municipal Principal Exam Series 53, General Securities Registration Exam Series 7, Municipal Advisory Representative Qualifications Exam Series 50, and Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam Series 63.
Mr. Woodward is a graduate from Vanderbilt University.
Omar Khashoggi is CEO of National Standard GCC’s operations and investments for the Middle East region and headquartered in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Khashoggi brings more than 40 years of collective experience across many industries in Europe and the Middle East to National Standard.
Mr. Khashoggi an engineer by background, has a solid presence and track record in the business, government and financial community in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and abroad covering real estate development, investments and financing, hospitality, tourism and agriculture.
Mr. Khashoggi lived in London for 25 years where he worked as a real estate developer, executing 19 major real estate development projects during this time. He is the owner and Chairman of Bahauddin Hotels group and a Partner and Board of Director’s member of Hajj and Umr Company of Medinah, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Khashoggi is also a shareholder, Director and investor in Alton Maritime Investments, Amberley Investments and Duro Investments that invest in numerous industries and markets.
In addition to Mr. Khashoggi’s presence in the business world, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Madinah Region Governing Council of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia responsible for managing economic development of the region. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Basketball Association of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Khashoggi graduated from Seattle University, USA with a degree in environmental engineering. Mr. Khashoggi is a Saudi national citizen located in Jeddah and Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
Matt Garver is Executive Managing Director at National Standard. Mr. Garver advises clients in matters of private capital, asset privatization, geopolitical and economic policy and infrastructure finance. Mr. Garver works with private sector project sponsors, developers and financiers of global infrastructure assets. His extensive international privatization and infrastructure finance experience stems, in part, from his considerable work in the U.S., UK and EU member states.
Mr. Garver’s market segment focus is public private partnerships in security infrastructure, transportation systems such as marine ports, social infrastructure criminal justice, energy production, transmission, underfunded pension liabilities and environmental services. Matt most recently was co-owner and Chairman of one of the largest and most respected integrated O&M, facility management, engineering, planning and development companies focused on the criminal justice sector completing more than US $5 Billion of criminal justice projects, prior to the company being sold in 2013.
Mathew most recently served as a Senior Advisor at Patton Boggs LLP one of the world’s largest law firms based in Washington D.C. where he advised the firm’s public and private sector clients on infrastructure development and finance, public policy matters and private capital for public authorities. Before joining National Standard in his respective role, Mr. Garver served as the Secretary to the Global Infrastructure Steering Committee at the world’s largest global law firm DLA Piper, where he specialized in private equity finance for public private infrastructure projects in North America and Europe.
Formerly, he was a principal with a leading private equity banking firm, where he specialized in growth equity, LBO, MBO and recapitalization transactions for larger middle-market companies. He also served as the director of corporate development and managed investor relations for one of the most sizeable lottery systems providers listed on the NYSE.
He is a graduate of Michigan State University, Saïd Business School at Oxford University and Fellow at Harvard University. He is an author of numerous articles and publications on alternative assets, privatization, concession and infrastructure finance.
Mr. Narayanan is Executive Managing Director of Structured Finance Products at National Standard and is President of Multilateral Infrastructure Investment Corporation. Mr. Narayanan has over fifteen years of experience in the establishment and management of enhanced return portfolios in the infrastructure and industrial markets.
Gosakan has established the firm’s expansion into the India, Japan and southeast Asian emerging markets (ASEAN region) as well as designed bespoke products to manage and structure credit risk to corporate and sovereign liquidity solutions. Mr. Narayanan has extensive experience and skills in the area of public transportation including metro-rail systems as well as power producing asset classes.
Mr. Narayanan works closely with the Brunei-Indonesia- Malaysia-Philippines [BIMP – ASEAN] countries regarding infrastructure planning, Foreign Direct Investment, infrastructure development, monetary advisory, Marshall Plan style policy plans for infrastructure and investment and structuring liquidity capital to the requirements.
Gosakan has developed numerous European and Asian banking relationships with top 50 global banks to create structured products for the emerging markets and has also formed a comprehensive and engineered underwriting and risk management model to bring large infrastructure and industrial developments for access to sophisticated debt of National Standard Finance.
Mr. Narayanan’s current assignments focus on the Malaysian and Indonesian sovereign markets, large multinational Japanese corporates and the establishment of an airline with Brunei Bumiputera Bersatu Berhad and the Malaysian Government to establish this initiative. Additionally, Gosakan works on sovereign and corporate debt transactions with underlying fixed income instruments and derivatives with backstops to creating risk management structures.
Mr. Narayanan holds a Masters of Business Administration from his graduate studies in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Duff has held a number of senior positions giving him a unique blend of experience in insurance and capital markets over the past 25 years in the European markets. At National Standard, Mr. Duff manages and operates the day to day operations of National Standard’s Risk Management, Structured Insurance and Risk Finance activities in Europe and Bermuda. Key to this is Robert’s extensive 25 plus year background in Risk Management, which enables a multi-disciplinary approach to managing insurance and risk-focused operations. As well as holding a BA degree in Risk Management, Mr. Duff holds insurance and securities Associateship qualifications and has an excellent appreciation for compliance and regulation. Robert excels in structuring solutions in challenging financial circumstances, combining his knowledge of capital markets and insurance/reinsurance to deliver leading-edge, innovative risk financing for governments and companies around the world. In addition to providing risk management and risk finance to governments and corporates, Mr. Duff has a specialized knowledge and experience with sports finance and insurance including media rights.
Mr. Duff’s blend of skills across both capital markets and insurance/reinsurance have made him highly sought-after by global financial institutions, governments, development banks and global corporations in a variety of sectors from finance & leasing, investment banking, emerging markets, local government, motor industry, extractive industries, renewable energy, multi-lateral agencies, longevity, and sports finance. This reflects Mr. Duff’s intrinsic ability to research, devise, negotiate and implement bespoke complex solutions including transaction analysis and impact assessment of accounting, legal and tax aspects, double tax treaties and establishing offshore/onshore delivery platforms. Mr. Duff lives and works in the United Kingdom operating from the London insurance and financial markets.
Rodolfo Errore is Senior Advisor to the President & CEO and to the Management and Investment Committees at National Standard regarding European financial transactions and plays a vital role day to day in National Standard’s European operations and relationships with European financial institutions.
Mr. Errore a career banking and finance attorney, Rodolfo has more than 25 years experience in banking and international finance law based in London and Italy. He has held senior partnership roles within several prestigious international Law firms, including Simmons & Simmons and DLA Piper. He has held senior partnership roles with prestigious law firms including Simmons & Simmons where he was head of banking legal Italy, DLA Piper where he was head of project finance legal Italy and Ernst & Young in Europe. Rodolfo has vast experience in Banking, Industry and International Project Finance Law. He has held senior partnership roles within several prestigious international Law firms, including Simmons & Simmons and DLA Piper.
Mr. Errore has advised banks, institutional counterparties and corporate multinationals in structuring large projects in the infrastructure, energy and oil and gas sectors in countries such as Turkey, South Africa, the Balkan States, former CSI countries, India and the US. He is the author of several publications relating to structured and corporate finance and to project and infrastructure financing, on which he is often invited to speak to a number of seminars and conferences across Europe. Since 2000, Mr. Errore has worked in various roles in London including investment banking, corporate finance, project finance, public finance and asset management.
Rodolfo has been on the Board of the Sofipa fund and of Arena, as well as honorary member of the American Studies Centre and member of the Millennium foundation. Mr. Errore currently is privileged to be a member of the Board at SACE Spa, the Italy export credit agency, Senior Advisor to Ernst & Young, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Aurelys Asset Management headquartered in Monte Carlo, Board member of Metro5 Spa.
Banking and Finance Experience: Legal advisor to major European and global banks and financial institutions on financing contracts, syndicated loans, bond issuing, structured finance, guarantees and collateral, security packages and other financial operations for BNL-BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo, Deutsche Bank, Unicredit, Banca Finnat, Sace, Standarbank, Investec, Ned Bank, UBS, Rabobank, SocGen, Credit Foncier, as well as Governments and major sponsor such as Origis, KGAL, Acea, Eni, Free Energia and Enel Green Power.
Rodolfo has advised banks and multinationals on lending and financial structuring (project financing, corporate finance, acquisition finance, public finance, bonds and securitization), in major projects in the following industrial sectors, infrastructure, energy, oil and gas with a special focus on Turkey, South Africa, Congo Brazzaville, Chile, Tunisia, Rumania, Dubai, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, India and the United States.
He was a professor of commercial law at the University Kore of Enna and is mentioned by The Legal 500 EMEA among the most reputable banking and finance lawyers in Italy. Rodolfo speaks fluently Italian and English language. Mr. Errore graduated with a Masters degree of law from Università degli Studi di Palermo in 1989.
Elizabeth Ivy brings over 27 years of diversified experience in banking, lending, wealth and asset management as well as real estate investing including sales and marketing to National Standard. Ms. Ivy began her career at a large US bank serving as Vice President, business lender and financial advisor in 1990. Elizabeth successfully promoted solutions through risk management products, business and real estate lending and investment portfolios. Thereafter, Ms. Ivy spent five years in mortgage banking originating and structuring primary, secondary and investment loans.
In 2004 Ms. Ivy began engineering joint ventures with real estate developers and investors which led her to founding her own real estate company in 2008 serving as President. Additionally, Elizabeth founded and served as President of a licensed, Registered Investment Advisor, wealth management Investment Advisory firm where she advises clients regarding portfolio management, insurance, taxes and estate planning in the United States and as a regulated investment advisor and wealth management professional named HarborVest Advisors.
Elizabeth’s almost three decades of executive experience in banking, lending, wealth management and real estate in highly regulated industries from the United States provides invaluable senior leadership capabilities to daily management at National Standard.
She holds a B.A. in Communications and has a series 65 security license and broker-in-charge real estate license in the United States.
Marc Chen is Chairman of National Standard Finance (HK) Ltd based in Hong Kong and manages National Standard’s business operations in China and select Asia markets. He is a veteran financial expert from the China market, having had more than 20 years experience in investment and trade including forex trading and major infrastructure investments in China and Asia.
Mr. Chen has served as an adviser to various governmental entities and State Owned Enterprises in China and Asia as well as across emerging markets on securing offshore financing and establishing sovereign wealth funds. Mr. Chen is responsible for business and corporate development for National Standard and handling all governmental and banking market relations in China.
Mark Gantar is Managing Director at National Standard responsible for business and corporate development in Africa, specializing in Foreign Direct Investment. At National Standard, Mark develops and manages relationships with Africa sovereigns, banks and local corporations active in Africa. Mr. Gantar regularly travels and visits numerous Africa countries to meet with government leaders, business community and major infrastructure project sponsors.
Mr. Gantar is a global economic development leader with diverse experience in growing business operations and facilitating complex public-private investment both in the U.S. and Africa. He is a seasoned professional in the information technology field starting out as a systems engineer and eventually running his own technology company for the past decade. His industry experience includes technology staffing, training, finance, manufacturing, and energy. In his diplomatic role as Honorary Consul for Ethiopia, he has international experience with overseas business operations and foreign direct investment.
In his technology business, he has focused a good portion of his work on the federal government for consulting and training. Core competencies include large enterprise federal government systems and Business Intelligence utilizing a General Services Administration (GSA) contract from the U.S. Federal Government. He has secured various Government contracts over the years.
Mr. Gantar is the Honorary Consul for Ethiopia in Seattle. His passion for Ethiopia and Africa as a whole has been demonstrated by his relentless commitment to bringing relevant technology to Ethiopia in impactful and cost-effective methods utilizing public private partnerships. His international experiences include large scale technology and energy related projects in Africa and numerous training and content engagements in India, Europe, and Asia.
He has worked closely with numerous international organizations such as World Bank, OPIC, African Development Bank, and USAID to gain funding, support and general assistance for various projects in sub-Sahara Africa. Some of these projects were in the areas of education, energy, agriculture, health, non-profits, financing, and transportation.
He is heavily involved in business and capacity building in Ethiopia. Worked in cooperation with numerous Ministries and non-profits on both capacity building endeavors and for-profit projects. In Mr. Gantar’s role as Honorary Consul he is extremely active with the Ethiopian Consulate Office in Los Angeles and the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC assisting with everything from the implementation of technology, philanthropic endeavors, consular duties, and fostering more business activity between the United States and Ethiopia.
He has a strong track record of performance in turning around or building organizations by applying modern technology to enhance business operations. Responsible for overseeing all strategic planning, technical, financial, and business aspects of multiple companies. Deep business operational experience with system integration, manufacturing engineering systems, technical content and curriculum development.
Carlos Ortiz is Executive Vice President at National Standard and Advisor to the CEO and Chairman’s office. Mr. Ortiz is responsible for operations, business and market development for National Standard in Latin America.
Mr. Ortiz is knowledgeable and highly experienced in all facets of infrastructure and industrial project development, construction and financing. He previously taught finance and economics at the university level in Mexico as a Professor. Mr. Ortiz has a sound understanding of government administration and policy making in Latin America.
Mr. Ortiz has been a consultant and adviser to multiple Latin America governments and international companies for large infrastructure projects and capital programs in his career. During the past fifteen years, Carlos has started and built companies in construction, mining, technology and financial industries, which has been conglomerated in CAXXOR GROUP, a corporation specializing in infrastructure development, project planning and capital projects, currently the company has been expanded from Mexico to more than twenty countries with more of $40 Billion dollars in projects under mandate for development across infrastructure, real estate and industrial asset classes.
Mr. Ortiz has two undergraduate degrees and several postgraduate studies related to economics and international finance. Mr. Ortiz is located in Mexico City, Mexico and manages Latin America for the company from the Latin America hub of National Standard in Mexico City.
Manuel Pérez is Managing Director of corporate development at National Standard and has been a Global Project Manager and Vice President with Caxxor Group, an affiliate infrastructure development company of National Standard. At National Standard, Mr. Perez orchestrates economic and foreign direct investment initiatives and corporate development of National Standard globally including Europe, Africa and Latin America.
Manuel Pérez has worked mainly with government and private financing with International Funds and investment-equity with International Capital Funds. He has participated collaborating with International Reimbursable and Non-Refundable Cooperation Agencies.
It has also made collaborations with other Institutions and International Organizations.
Manuel Pérez collaborates with the World Bank in “The Benchmarking Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Procurement 2014 to 2017 and next years. Participation in the publication of scientific publications on governance in the African countries of the Africa 21 agency. Portal Nazca of COP21, promoting the participation of companies and government institutions. Collaborating with UN promoting sustainable development goals, ODSManuel has collaborated with some governments facilitating non-reimbursable cooperation. Manuel has been a partner in USAID for a long time Collaborate within the directory of some NGOs promoting social and economic development.
Manuel Pérez has been Managing Partner in JGCC. He has directed as Port Manager and Technical Manager in Shopping Centers. Manuel has managed several own companies such as Constructec Systems, SL and was Inspector of aid of the European Union in the cotton factories during several years.
Manuel studied Engineering and Management and Business Administration and continues to update his profile with different courses from international institutions and new professional studies.
Cem Turan is Executive Vice President of National Standard GCC, operating from Istanbul, Turkey office. Mr. Turan has gained diverse experience across the Banking, Islam?c Banking and Global Finance, Trade
Finance, Asset Management, Real Estate, Aviation, Energy, Transportation and the Pharmaceutical industries from his past career at Deloitte. Mr. Turan concentrates his efforts in Turkey, the GCC/Middle East region and Europe.
Since 2013, Mr. Turan has focused on structured finance, securitization, insurance and reinsurance Products and captive structures with a specialized focus on project, government financing and real Estate development and deal generation targeting urban regeneration of major city centers in Turkey, Europe and Saudi Arabia. In 2016, with National Standard Finance he established a Luxembourg CSSF licensed and regulated Sicav-Sif type Sub-Fund to invest in housing development under urban regeneration legislation in Turkey, utilizing the housing construction and financial system that Mr. Turan
engineered from concept.
His core competencies include financial and investment management, business development and strategy, capital markets, IPO’s, project funding and corporate finance among others.
Mr. Turan is a serial entrepreneur with several startup experiences under his belt spanning the renewable energy, technology, financial services and real estate space.
Mr. Turan has been actively involved with the establishment and growth of a local asset management and a regional trade finance company; at his previous role as CFO for Sardes Factoring, a financial service company offering short-term financing for SMEs and corporate firms, Cem has played a pivotal
role in the company’s exponential growth and turnover over during its first four years managing over 400 million TL of transactions with a 7M TL equity base.
He holds B.A. in Economics from Bilkent University (Turkey) and an MBA focused on Entrepreneurship and Finance from SDA Bocconi (Italy).
Dr. Nahed Taher is currently the President of National Standard Finance SEEDS (GCC) based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In this role, Dr. Taher represents National Standard to GCC regional governments, banks and the regions largest corporations and policy makers. National Standard was the first international company to introduce credit financing techniques in the GCC.
Dr. Taher is the prior founder and a Board of Directors member Gulf One Investment Bank. Since 2005, Dr. Taher served as the CEO of the bank until stepping down in 2017 to join National Standard Finance. By holding this position, she is the first female CEO of a Gulf based investment bank. Prior to that Dr. Taher was a Managing Partner of Compass Consulting, a financial advisory company in Saudi Arabia and was the first female to get a financial advisory license in Saudi Arabia. Prior to Compass, she was Chief Economist and Chairman of Risk and Portfolio Management Committee at the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Jeddah, where she was the first female to be hired in a senior management position among 4,000 men in the bank.
Dr. Taher has represented the Saudi Arabia government, the private sector, and Saudi Arabia Chamber of Commerce in many high level international business and banking events.
Dr. Taher has been ranked by Forbes magazine as number 72 of the 100 most powerful women in the world. She was also ranked by the Financial Times as no. 25, 24, and 23 respectively of the top 50 businesswomen in the world in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Dr. Taher also received the award of Businesswoman of the year 2006 by HH Prince Hamid Al-Nihayyan, In addition, she received the award of “Saudi Businesswoman of the year 2007” by HRH Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Lately in September 2009, Dr. Taher was ranked as no. 25, 24, then 23 among the top 50 business women in the World by Financial Times in 2009, 2010 and 2011 consecutively, and among the top 100 women of Finance and Leadership in Crisis by Dow Jones in 2009.
Dr. Nahed M. Taher holds dual Masters Degrees in Financial Economics and a PhD in Monetary Economics from Lancaster University in the UK. Recently she was awarded an honor professorial degree from Lancaster university for her contribution banking and finance in the world. And also was awarded from the same university the award of “outstanding Alumni” in 2014.
Dr. Taher served as a professor and head of the Economics Department at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU). She was also a co-owner and a financial advisor to various private companies in the Kingdom.
Dr. Nahed is a board member in a number of Saudi private companies and committees including:
Chairman of Moya Water Company
Chairman of Alafaq Insurance Company, KSA
Board member of Jasarah home health care company
Member of the Supreme Committee of Environment in Saudi
Member of the foundation board of IMD University in Switzerland
Member of the international Advisory board of Lancaster University , UK
Member of the international Advisory board of King Abdulaziz University
Member of the Board in the OECD-MENA region Financial group
International Board member of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center of Energy (KAPSARC)
Member of Young President Organization (YPO)
A board member in the Saudi German business group
Michael Tichareva is the Managing Director and Principal of the Africa Division of National Standard Finance, having co-founded and formalized the division’s operations in 2014. He is responsible for the Africa strategy and the strategic and day to day operational management. In addition, Michael is involved in the origination and structuring of sovereign, sub-sovereign and private sector infrastructure and real estate deals across Africa with a strong focus on developmental finance to improve quality of lives of people and is currently working on a number of such deals.
Michael has extensive relationships in both the public and private sectors in Africa and is responsible for building strategic networks and relationships in different parts of the World to progress National Standard Finance’s initiatives in Africa. Michael believes in developing solutions that are suitable for Africa within the global framework and he is currently leading initiatives that he believes will lead to accelerating Africa’s infrastructure development so that Africa can compete sustainably in the global economy. One of the solutions involve promoting the increased use of credit enhancement instruments in infrastructure finance in Africa, a structured finance solution that combines elements of banking and insurance solutions.
Michael is a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA) having qualified in 2004 through the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries (UK). He holds an Honors degree in Actuarial Science from National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Michael also holds an MBA from Wits Business School (South Africa) and attended some of his electives at Fuqua School of Business, Duke University (USA) majoring in Investment Banking and Finance related subjects.
Michael worked as a senior banker at Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banks, where he was involved in real estate finance deal origination and structuring as well as on-going client service and relationship management. He also served as a Trustee of the NedGroup Retirement Funds and was a member of the Investment Committee and the Communication Committee. He also served on the Management Committee of the NedGroup Disability Scheme. Michael served as Deputy Chair of the Employment Equity Forum of the Property Finance Division. Michael is an investment and banking professional who has worked in various senior roles within the UK at AON Hewitt, South Africa at Alexander Forbes and Old Mutual, and Zimbabwe at Old Mutual for the past 16 years.
Michael was a former member of Council of the Actuarial Society of South Africa until 31 December 2016 and he is a former Chairperson of the Education Board of the Actuarial Society until 31 December 2017. He is also a former Chairperson of the Banking Committee for the Actuarial Profession in South Africa, a position he held for 8 years to 31 December 2017. He holds other various roles within the Actuarial Society and has led a number of key initiatives over the past few years. Most notably, Michael led the development of the first ever banking qualifying subject for actuaries over a 5 year period that was finally launched by the Actuarial Society of South Africa in 2015. This banking initiative for actuarial practice, a first in the World, has received great international attention within the global actuarial profession. Michael is the current Chairperson of the recently established Banking Working Group of the International Actuarial Association (“IAA”). Michael has been an external examiner of Actuarial Science Honors degree research projects at the University of Pretoria in South Africa since 2012.
Dr. Nahed Taher is currently the President of National Standard Finance SEEDS (GCC) based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In this role, Dr. Taher represents National Standard to GCC regional governments, banks and the regions largest corporations and policy makers. National Standard was the first international company to introduce credit financing techniques in the GCC.
Dr. Taher is the prior founder and a Board of Directors member Gulf One Investment Bank. Since 2005, Dr. Taher served as the CEO of the bank until stepping down in 2017 to join National Standard Finance. By holding this position, she is the first female CEO of a Gulf based investment bank. Prior to that Dr. Taher was a Managing Partner of Compass Consulting, a financial advisory company in Saudi Arabia and was the first female to get a financial advisory license in Saudi Arabia. Prior to Compass, she was Chief Economist and Chairman of Risk and Portfolio Management Committee at the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Jeddah, where she was the first female to be hired in a senior management position among 4,000 men in the bank.
Dr. Taher has represented the Saudi Arabia government, the private sector, and Saudi Arabia Chamber of Commerce in many high level international business and banking events.
Dr. Taher has been ranked by Forbes magazine as number 72 of the 100 most powerful women in the world. She was also ranked by the Financial Times as no. 25, 24, and 23 respectively of the top 50 businesswomen in the world in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Dr. Taher also received the award of Businesswoman of the year 2006 by HH Prince Hamid Al-Nihayyan, In addition, she received the award of “Saudi Businesswoman of the year 2007” by HRH Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Lately in September 2009, Dr. Taher was ranked as no. 25, 24, then 23 among the top 50 business women in the World by Financial Times in 2009, 2010 and 2011 consecutively, and among the top 100 women of Finance and Leadership in Crisis by Dow Jones in 2009.
Dr. Nahed M. Taher holds dual Masters Degrees in Financial Economics and a PhD in Monetary Economics from Lancaster University in the UK. Recently she was awarded an honor professorial degree from Lancaster university for her contribution banking and finance in the world. And also was awarded from the same university the award of “outstanding Alumni” in 2014.
Dr. Taher served as a professor and head of the Economics Department at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU). She was also a co-owner and a financial advisor to various private companies in the Kingdom.
Dr. Nahed is a board member in a number of Saudi private companies and committees including:
Chairman of Moya Water Company
Chairman of Alafaq Insurance Company, KSA
Board member of Jasarah home health care company
Member of the Supreme Committee of Environment in Saudi
Member of the foundation board of IMD University in Switzerland
Member of the international Advisory board of Lancaster University , UK
Member of the international Advisory board of King Abdulaziz University
Member of the Board in the OECD-MENA region Financial group
International Board member of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center of Energy (KAPSARC)
Member of Young President Organization (YPO)
A board member in the Saudi German business group