Board of Directors
Shehab Gargash is a member of Dubai’s Gargash family, one of the leading business families in the UAE. The family has been actively involved in various businesses since 1918 with multiple interests that include automobile, real estate and investments.
In 2016, Mr. Gargash oversaw the closing of a 9-year project to consolidate the family business, thereby creating a launch platform for the business as it enters its second century. Mr. Gargash is the Managing Director & Group CEO of the Gargash Group.
Mr. Gargash is also the Founding Chairman of Daman Investments, a non-banking financial services company based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates since 1998.
Prior to establishing Daman, Mr. Gargash enjoyed a successful 12-year banking career in the UAE, initially with Citibank and later with Emirates Bank International (now Emirates NBD).
Mr. Gargash serves as a Director on several regional boards. Mr. Gargash was a Board Member of the Commercial Bank of Dubai in the UAE (2011 – 2018) and also served as a Board member of Burj Bank in Pakistan (2006 – 2016). He currently also serves as a Board member of the Coutts & Co. Middle East Advisory Board, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the UAE-UK Business Council.
Mr. Gargash is a frequent public speaker and a commentator on regional socio-economic issues and trends. He wrote a popular daily column in the UAE’s Al Ittihad newspaper from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Gargash is also an enthusiastic art collector and has established the Daman Middle East Art Fund which invests in Middle Eastern contemporary art and supports regional artists.
Born in 1966, Mr. Gargash is married with four children. He holds an MBA and a BBA, both from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, USA.
HE Hamad has been a board director of Daman Investments since its establishment in 2003. He holds several executive positions at companies in the UAE, and serves as a board member at a number of prominent investment, finance, real estate and trading institutions across the region. These companies include Amanat, Reem Developers, Arab Investment Bank, Al Ramz Corporation, DBZ, Ward Holdings and other notable institutions. HE Hamad also serves as Chairman and Board Member of several government and private institutions including leading investment firms.
HE Hamad is currently the Managing Director of His Highness Sheikh Dheyab Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Office and His Highness Sheikh Nayhan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Office, positions he has held since 2000. He is also the Executive Director of Ministry of Presidential Affairs.
HE Ahmed started his career at the Presidential Court in Abu Dhabi as the General Manager for the Finance and Administration Division, where he ultimately achieved the rank of Under Secretary.
HE Ahmed played a vital role in the development of the water and power sector in Abu Dhabi, and was instrumental in the structure and planning of the newly established Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA). Since the establishment of ADWEA in January 1999 until he left in 2010, he was involved in managing and directing ADWEA’s business through his post as Chairman’s Office Managing Director. He served as Chairman of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC), the Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Power Company (ADPC), and the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors for Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA). HE Ahmed served as a board member in several local and international reputable companies such as the US-based electrical car manufacturing company TESLA, and is still an active Board Member / Chairman for several other well-known regional and national companies.
H.E. Mr. Humaid Al Qutami is a government & corporate leader, with a comprehensive understanding of UAE business market and environment. He has been leading some major governmental projects and business in different sectors. He served at UAE national level as the former UAE Minister of Health & then Minister of Education, and served as the Chairman of the UAE Federal Authority for Government Human Resources. He is the Director General of Dubai Health Authority, and a member of the Executive Council of Government of Dubai. He serves as the chairman and member of many other Dubai Government’s institutions and corporations.
Mr. Humaid holds a Master Degree in Administration from Western Michigan University in U.S.A in 1985. He is having an extended experience in leading and serving the banking & financial industry in UAE. He served as the former General Manager of Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies. Throughout his career, Mr. Humaid has heavily been involving in managing and leading several national and commercial banks. Mr. Humaid is the Chairman of the Commercial Bank of Dubai. His knowledgeable engagement was mainly in the fields of human capital development, enhancing revenue diversification, boosting new areas of investment, and utilization of strategic planning for growth and sustainability.
The diversified experience, from banking, education, health, and training, qualifies Mr. Humaid to contribute a lot to the development of both public and private sectors in UAE. He has contributed a lot to the development of Higher Education institutions in UAE. He also played a significant role in the UAE voluntary movement, as a founder, Chairman and board member of many societies and associations.
Following his brilliant officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Great Britain. Mr Samir Gargash returned to the Gargash Family Business that had its humble beginnings on the Southern Shores of The Arabian Gulf – Dubai.
After holding multiple positions at the Gargash Group, Mr Samir Gargash is currently the Chairman of Gargash Group.
His vision and philosophy of customer centricity has placed The Gargash Group as a major player in the Automative Business in the GCC region.
Mr Samir Gargash is actively involved in a number of philanthropic endeavors in the UAE. He is also an investor in several industries in the Middle East and Europe.
Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Jallaf has served on the board of directors at Daman Investments since 2017, where he is also Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee. After working 16 years for Emirates Bank, where he helped introduce many ‘firsts’ for the banking sector in the UAE and the region related to digital and internet banking, Mohammed now focuses his time diversifying and growing the private family business.
Mohammed has served on the boards of several notable companies in Dubai in finance, banking and real estate including Dubai Properties, Dubai Bank, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, National General Insurance, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Dubai Investments Park.
Abdulla Qassem is one of the UAE’s most prominent and visionary business leaders. Abdulla is currently serving as Emirates NBD Group Chief Operating Officer. He was previously the Chairman of Network International; the UAE’s leading payments organization. He is currently the Chairman of Tanfeeth, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Emirates NBD Group, focusing on world-class shared services delivery. Abdulla’s other executive responsibilities include Chairman of Emirates NBD Properties, Vice-Chairman of the Emirates NBD EXCO and Board Member of Emirates NBD Egypt.
Outside the Emirates NBD Group, Abdulla is a Board member of D-Clear Europe Ltd, Smart Stream Technology Group PLC. He is also a Board Member of Numbrs, UAE Banks Federation, Global Tech, Advisory Board MasterCard and Daman Investments PSC.
Abdulla commenced his professional career at Emirates Bank in 1988. In just eight years, he rose to become General Manager, IT Operations and Administration. Since then, has become recognized both regionally and internationally for his business acumen, leadership skills and commitment to driving UAE innovation.
Majid Bin Dalmook has had a diverse parallel career that began in 2002 mainly focusing on entrepreneurial activities and investment banking.
Throughout his entrepreneurial career he has advised, managed and invested in various sectors including launching start-ups. Majid has regularly been an active member of company boards and strategic investment committees.
His banking career was mainly with two top tier global banks which led to the opportunity to work on several of the largest transactions in the region across various scopes of fund raising, M&A and public listings.
Senior Management
Mr. Ahmed Khizer Khan is the CEO of Daman Investments. Mr. Khan started his career with PWC and Citibank; spending his formative years in USA, Central Europe, UAE, and Pakistan; before joining Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank as its Chief Executive, Emerging Markets, responsible for 15 countries including high-growth markets in India, Pakistan, UAE, Africa, Russia and Indonesia. Mr. Khan served on the Barclays Board for several countries, working with the Global Chairman on formulating strategies for the emerging markets.
After an impactful stint at the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, Jeddah, as its COO & Director Coverage, Partnerships and Syndication, across 35 countries; he became the President & Chief Executive Officer of Burj Bank Limited in Pakistan, where he turned around a small loss-making entity into the fastest growing Islamic bank in Pakistan.
Mr. Khan, with nearly three decades of international banking industry experience, took over the reins at Daman Investments in 2016, with a mandate to reengineer the business. Under his leadership, the company has increased footprint in new areas and won mandates for large M&A and investment banking projects. In a short span of time, he has been instrumental in achieving over 100% growth in profitability. He has led Daman Investments in conducting one of the largest leveraged buyouts within the family-owned entities in UAE.
Ali El Adou is a seasoned fund manager with more than 14 years of experience in the Middle East and North Africa equity markets. As Head of Asset Management at Daman Investments, Ali brings with him a proven track record in managing regional long-only and absolute-return strategies. Ali holds an MBA from Duke University and Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the Lebanese American University.
Prior to joining Daman, Ali was Portfolio Manager and Senior Vice President, Asset Management at The National Investor (TNI), where he managed funds and discretionary accounts focusing on the MENA region for over 12 years. At TNI, Ali started as a research analyst on companies in the GCC. Prior to TNI, Ali was an Investment Advisor at the Arab Finance Corporation in Lebanon where he provided advisory and trading services to clients.
Mahyar Ghassemi joined Daman Investments in 2019 to head the investments and advisory functions. He brings over 19 years of experience in private equity and corporate finance.
Mahyar was a Managing Director in the investment team at Abraaj having re-joined in 2016. Prior to this, Mahyar was the Chief Investment Officer at the ETA Group of Companies, a conglomerate based in the United Arab Emirates and involved in different sectors where he was managing a portfolio of public and private equity investments. Before ETA Group, Mahyar spent 10 years at Abraaj in the investment team.
Mahyar is a CFA charter holder, and a member of the CFA institute. He received his MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, Canada.
Ahmed Waheed is a seasoned business leader with over 15 years’ experience in financial markets and equity brokerage. He has extensive experience covering different products within the MENA and GCC region.
To Daman, Ahmed brings his expertise in setting up new business lines and diversifying revenue streams through different asset classes. Prior to Daman, Ahmed was most recently Head Institutional Coverage at Menacorp, where he initiated, developed and executed new product lines, including launching Menacorp’s business in the Saudi Arabia market. Ahmed started at Menacorp as VP of its Institutional Trading Desk in Dubai. Before Menacorp, Ahmed worked in senior roles with leading MENA brokerage houses including Raddah Investment, Naeem Holding, CI Capital and Dynamic Securities Trading.
Ahmed received his MBA from Hult International Business School, Dubai and has a BA in Economics from Cairo University. Ahmed is CISI certified.
Janti Biyouk joined Daman Investments as Financial Controller in 2019. Janti is a certified public accountant from California Board of Accountancy with over 18 years of extensive experience in financial services and asset management with leading market players, across various functions including finance, budgeting & forecasting.
Prior to joining Daman Investments, Janti was Head of Finance at ADS Holding & Securities LLC. for the past nine years supporting the firm’s Financial Strategy and Operations as well as managing analysis, cash flow performance, consolidated reports & business risks for the group. Janti rotated across various positions in Dubai, covering the Middle East Oil & Gas region as Financial Controller prior to the latest position back in Dubai. In a previous role, Janti was managing various accounting activities at Schlumberger Technical Services, prior to that he started his career as an external Auditor with KPMG Dubai.
In his current role, he is responsible for end to end accounting process, financial project management, financial controls, reporting and for supporting the management in strategic matters.
Faisal Ali joined Daman Investments in 2018. Faisal has over 20 years of experience in government and private organizations, where he has set up start-up government agencies and managed large-scale IT infrastructure projects.
Prior to joining Gargash, Faisal was Group Head of IT at Deyaar Development where he led the digital transformation of the group. In this role, he was named among the Top 100 CIO’s in the Middle East in 2018. He was also CEO at Sharaf Computers and Software Trading, and CIO at Sharaf Retail where he transformed various IT departments under a unified strategy. Prior to Sharaf, Faisal was the IT Director for Tanmia.
Aisha Al Shareef joined Daman Investments in 2018, In her role, she is responsible for shaping and implementation of the human capital governance framework, strategy, policy, processes and tools.
Aisha brings over 17 years of experience in human resources and professional development.
Prior to joining Daman Investments, Aisha was Chief Administrative Officer at Amanat Holdings, where she focused on the performance of each department, the culture and day-to-day operations. Before Amanat, Aisha was Executive Director, Talent and Organizational Development for Dubai Holding where she was responsible for developing L&D strategies, performance management, succession planning and training.
Aisha is a recognized expert on human resource concerns and has spoken on panels around the world on a wide range of topics including Emiratization, succession planning, enabling human capital to achieve its potential.
Aisha holds a Master of Science in Project Management from British University in Dubai in association with The University of Manchester in UK.
Owen Waft joined Daman Investments as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel in 2018. An accomplished and trusted senior financial services, transactional and corporate lawyer with over 25 years’ experience in regulation, funds, commercial agreements, joint ventures , capital markets transactions, corporate governance and compliance.
Prior to joining Daman, Owen was the Senior Middle East Corporate/Transactional Partner for K & L Gates where he established their Middle East Corporate practice. Owen has worked on projects in UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, USA, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London. In addition to the financial services sector, his legal expertise includes automotive, real estate, technology and natural resources.
Owen holds an LLB Honours Degree. He is a member of the Law Society and is admitted to the Roll of Solicitors of England and Wales.
Walid Hizaoui joined Daman Investments in 2018. Currently the Head of Strategic Planning and PMO, he is responsible for planning and implementing turnaround strategies in companies. Working in collaboration with senior management he develops strategy and goals that are clearly defined and capable of being cascaded across organizations.
Walid also leads on our Corporate Innovation Lab initiative, which he is developing to deliver innovative solutions for deployment across multiple sectors. Before joining Daman Investments, Walid was Senior Strategy Consultant at Swicorp (Previously Numu Consulting) where he worked with Governments, international organizations and private sector companies , including banking and hospitality, and most notably the World Bank and IFC. He holds a Master’s Degree in Quantitative Finance from Peking University, China and a Bachelors degree from HEC. He was also Fulbright finalist and SUSI participant at the University of Connecticut.
Ahmed has enjoyed a successful career spanning almost 20 years as a financial services professional recognised by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI) as a Certified Internal Controller his role at Daman Investments as Compliance & Risk Officer sees him oversee the compliance and Internal audit functions. In addition, he supervises policy enforcement, ensuring all departments comply fully with the necessary rules and regulations. He has responsibility for the organisation’s full audit cycle, including risk and control management relating to operational effectiveness, financial reliability and compliance.
He has an economics degree from one of Egypt’s most prestigious universities and prior to taking up a senior role with Daman Investments worked as Compliance and Risk Officer at a leading Middle Eastern brokerage.
