Fadi Ghandour is Founder & CEO of Aramex, a position he has held for the past 26 years. Aramex, a global provider of logistics and transportation solutions, was the first company from the Arab world to go public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. After five years of successful trading, Aramex returned to private ownership until June 2005 when it went public again on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

Ghandour is a Founding Partner in Maktoob.com, the world’s largest Arab On-Line community, is a member of the Board of Abraaj Capital, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut. Between 2003 and 2005, he was the Middle East and North Africa Area Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

Ghandour is actively involved with community and NGO work. He is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Jordan River Foundation, Chairman of “National Microfinance Bank” in Jordan, and founder of Ruwwad, a region-wide sustainable community development initiative.

Ghandour passionately believes in corporate sustainability as the way of the future, and lead Aramex to release the first sustainability report in the Arab World. He is committed to creating awareness about sustainable business practices in the region, and engaging the private sector to play a leading role in the development of their communities.

Ghandour is married to Rula Atalla and has two sons, Bassel and Fares.

Dr Khalaf has held high-ranking ministerial positions in Jordan, including that of Minister of Industry and Trade (1993-1995), Minister of Planning (1995-1998) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning (1999-2000).

Between 2000-2006, Dr. Khalaf served as Assistant Secretary-General; and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), where she was the principal architect of the Arab Human Development Report series. The first volume, “Creating Opportunities for Future Generations,” received the 2003 Prince Claus Award, and the third report, “Towards Freedom in the Arab World,” received the King Hussein Leadership Prize.

Between February 2006 and December 2007, Dr. Khalaf served as the Chairperson of Advisory Board of the UN Democracy Fund, and between 2008 and March 2009 as the Chief Executive Officer of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.

Dr. Khalaf is a regular contributor to regional and international policy forums concerned with the state of development in the Arab world, and in 2005 was honored with the League of Arab States award for “the Most Distinguished Arab Woman in the Field of International Organizations.” Dr. Khalaf is also holder of the Grand Cordon of the Order of Al-Kawkab Al-Urduni (The Star of Jordan) bestowed upon her in 1995 by King Hussein bin Talal.

A Jordanian citizen, Dr. Rima Khalaf holds a BA in economics from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s in Economics and a Ph. D in System Science from Portland State University in the United States. In 2009, she received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the American University of Cairo in recognition of her “important regional initiatives in education, women’s rights, civic engagement and economic growth”.
 

H.E. Dr. Khalife has served as the Minister of Public Health of Lebanon since 2005. He is also Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Liver Transplantation and HPB Services at the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine.

Throughout his career, Dr. Khalife has led several achievements in the fields of medicine, organ transplantation and public health. His public health accomplishments include the establishment of a new registry for quality and prices of pharmaceuticals in Lebanon, which led to improvements in the regulation and control of prices of pharmaceuticals, and the development and expansion of the public health sector and primary health care in Lebanon.

Dr. Khalife has numerous publications in the field of surgery and organ transplantation. He is also an active member in several professional societies and committees including the Regional Consultative Committee for the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Dr. Khalife has graduated with a Doctor of Medicine from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania and earned his Specialty degree in General Surgery from the American University of Beirut. He held positions as senior clinical and research fellow of several institutions including the American College of Surgeons.