Salah Khalil (Founding Trustee)
Salah Khalil is Founder of the Alexandria Trust. He is also Founding Executive Chairman of Macat International, a company that develops academic content in the social sciences and humanities. The Alexandria Trust and Macat, which operate independently of each other, share a commitment to catalytic philanthropy. Salah has had long-standing business achievements in Egypt and the Middle East, and was Strategy Consultant at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in London. He holds a master’s degree in political sociology from the London School of Economics and a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina. Salah serves on the advisory board of the Business School at the American University in Cairo. He lives in London with his family.
Haifa Jamal Allail
Haifa Jamal Allail is President of Effat University, a leading institution of higher education for women in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on public administration and public policy at Effat University, and has published a number of articles on a variety of topics including women empowerment and privatisation. Prior to joining Effat University, Jamal Allail was the first Dean of the Girls’ Campus in King Abdulaziz University and a visiting scholar at John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has been involved in education reform in Saudi Arabia since 1991. Her work was recognized in 2005 when she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1,000 PeaceWomen campaign, a global movement to recognise women's involvement in peace and social justice work. She received a PhD in public policy from the University of Southern California.
Wail Benjelloun
Wail Benjelloun is President of the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED). He is former President of Mohammed V University (MVU) in Rabat and President of the Conference of Moroccan University Presidents. He was Vice President of Al Akhawayn University and Dean of the MVU Faculty of Science. He holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from State University of New York (SUNY-Binghamton) and is a widely published researcher in the field. He has also served on several national and international committees concerned with higher education reform. He is President of the International Society of Pathophysiology and member of the Boards of Trustees of Ecole Centrale Casablanca. He is also member and past president of the Moroccan-American Fulbright Commission.
Heba Raouf Ezzat
Heba Raouf Ezzat is Assistant Professor of political science and Deputy Director of the Centre for Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies at Cairo University, and Adjunct Professor at the American University in Cairo. She has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, University of Westminster, University of California at Berkeley, Georgetown University, and Oxford's Centre for Islamic Studies. She has researched and written on topics such as global civil society and building global democracy, women and politics in Islam, faith and citizenship, and political and social movements in Islam. She has served as a member of the C-100 initiative for Islamic-Western understanding set up by the World Economic Forum, by which she was named a Young Global Leader in 2005.
Hazem Galal
Hazem Galal is a PwC Partner and Global Leader for PwC’s Cities and Local Government Sector. With 25 years of consulting experience, he has expertise in strategy formulation and implementation for cities and local government entities. He is currently the co-chair for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development group that contributes to the ISO standard for cities and smart infrastructure. Since 2007, Hazem has been leading PwC’s global Thought Leadership for cities and local government. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and panels organised by various international bodies as well as local and national governments in developed and developing countries, and a frequent guest expert on leading media channels.
Maha Shair
Maha Shair is a Lebanese philanthropist. She supports causes in education, health, and women empowerment, among others. Her philanthropic giving to higher education has helped to enable academic institutions to fund research and scholarships, in addition to evolving physically. Maha is a Roads for Life sports ambassador and has been running for charity for over 20 years with the support of family and friends. She has also led efforts in campaigning for breast cancer awareness and women fighting cancer. Maha is joined in her commitment to philanthropy by her husband Talal Shair.
Staff
Consultants
Rasha Faek
Rasha Faek is Managing Editor of Al-Fanar Media. Prior to joining Al-Fanar Media, Rasha was a business reporter at Syria Today magazine. Her professional experience includes freelancing as a journalist from 2006 to 2008 and serving as managing editor for a Syrian real estate news site from 2009 and 2011. Rasha holds three bachelor’s degrees in: English Literature from Damascus University, Dramatic Arts from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus, and Journalism from Damascus Open University. She participated in a number of trainings, some of which were run by Thomson Reuters Foundation, the BBC and the United Nations University-International Leadership Institute.
Charles Huckabee
Charles Huckabee is a freelance editor and writer based in Washington, DC, where he was a copy editor and news editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for nearly 20 years. He has also served on the news and copy desks of several daily newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Virginian-Pilot. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of South Carolina, where he also did graduate studies in journalism. He has contributed articles about classical music to several newspapers and is an active chamber-music player in the Washington area.
Tarek Abd Elgalil Ibrahim
Tarek Abd Elgalil Ibrahim is an Egyptian journalist with more than 10 years of experience in reporting on science, economy, environment, culture and immigration. He works as a correspondent at correspondents.org and other TV channels. Tarek has a BA in journalism from Minya University and was trained at a number of prestigious organizations such as the Thomson Reuters Foundation, AUC, GIZ, ARIJ and Al-Fanar Media.
Nasser Zawk
Nasser Zawk is a communications professional with a background in graphic arts. He has over 10 years of experience working as an art director, online marketing manager, communications manager, and scholarships manager with several international organizations, including Solidarités International and LASeR (Lebanese Association For Scientific Research). He holds a bachelor’s degree in visual communication and graphic arts from the Lebanese University.