Soud Ba'alawy Executive Chairman Dubai Group

Soud Ba'alawy is the Executive Chairman of Dubai Group, the leading diversified financial services company of Dubai Holding. It focuses on Banking, Investments, and Insurance, both at a regional and global level.

Known for his strategic insights and entrepreneurial vision, Ba'alawy was previously CEO of Dubai Investment Group and played a key role in its foundation and growth. He has more than ten years experience in banking and investment with Citigroup, and was the Vice President of Gulf Treasury in Citibank Dubai. He has also served as Chief Investment Officer of Dubai Internet City and Vice President of The Executive Office.

Ba'alawy is a member of the Executive Committee of Dubai Holding and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK.

Board Membership and Affiliations:

Chairman, Marfin Popular Bank
Chairman, TAIB Bank
Chairman and Board Member, NASDAQ Dubai
Vice Chairman of Marfin Investment Group
Vice Chairman and Board Member, Dubai Bank
Vice Chairman, Borse Dubai
Board Member and Chairman of Executive Committee, Noor Islamic Bank
Board Member, NASDAQ - OMX Group
Board Member, Dubai Financial Market
Board Member, Etisalat
Board Member and member of the Executive Committee, Emirates Investment Authority
Chairman, Manzil, a non-profit centre for people with special needs

Thomas S. Volpe Group Chief Executive Officer Dubai Group

A distinguished veteran in the investment industry, Thomas Volpe joined Dubai Group in january 2007. He is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Volpe Investments LLC, a private equity investment firm based in the Silicon Valley in California, USA.

Before joining Dubai Group, Mr. Volpe was the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Volpe Brown Whelan & Company (VBW), an international risk capital, asset management and investment banking firm focused on rapidly growing entrepreneurial companies in the technology and healthcare industries. After VBW was sold to Prudential Securities in 1999, and Mr. Volpe served as Chairman of the renamed Prudential Volpe Technology Group until 2001.

Mr. Volpe was also CEO, President and a Member of the Board of Directors of Hambrecht & Quist Incorporated, the world’s leading technology and healthcare focused venture capital and investment banking firm.

Mr. Volpe is a graduate of Harvard Business School (MBA), the London School of Economics (MSc Economics) and Harvard College (AB Economics).

Board Membership and Affiliations:

Board Member, TAIB Bank
Board Member, EFG Hermes
Board Member, Linear Technology Corporation
Board Member, Cyalume Technologies Inc.
Board Member, Kline Hawkes & Company
Board Member, The Jackson Laboratory
Chairman, Stockton Ports Baseball Club
Board Member, The California League of Professional Baseball

Jacqueline Asher Managing Director Dubai Group

Jacqueline Asher joined the Group in 2001 and has been responsible for several key areas including Finance, Operations, Risk Management,  Corporate Governance and Human Resources. 

Ms. Asher has over 20 years of experience in institutional investment, and prior to joining the Group, held positions at Baring Asset Management and HSBC Asset Management in London, managing portfolios for institutional clients with a focus on pension and charity funds.

Earlier, Ms. Asher served for 10 years with one of the largest government pension funds in the UK, initially heading Finance and Operations,and later in the position of Senior Fixed Income and Property Fund Manager.

She is a Fellow Member of The Chartered Certified Accountants,UK,and a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research.

S. K. (Tim) Husain Chief Financial Officer Dubai Group

Tim Husain has over 25 years of experience in banking, finance and senior management.

Before joining Dubai Group, Mr. Husain acted as a consultant, advising private sector companies with respect to raising finance, making acquisitions and disposals. He was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Hub Power Company (Hubco) a quoted independent power producer in Pakistan.

Mr. Husain has also served as Finance Director at Dumas West & Co., a boutique investment firm based in London. The firm specialised in raising debt and equity for commercial real estate and venture capital financing. Prior to this, he spent several years in commercial banking and the securities industry, working in London, New York, Europe and South America.

Mr. Husain has a law degree from the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Accountant (ICEAW) qualifying while at KPMG in London.

Huda Buhumaid Managing Director - Marketing and Communications, Dubai Group

Huda Buhumaid joined the Dubai Group in October 2006. She is responsible for the overall implementation of the marketing and communications strategies and for identifying, developing and effectively managing strategic partnerships for Dubai Group and its entities.

Prior to joining Dubai Group, Ms. Buhumaid was Vice President – Business Development and e-business Head of Citibank, UAE, where she successfully launched many services such as Citibank Online – Citibank’s internet banking service in the UAE, both for consumer and corporate businesses, CitiAlerts – the mobile notification service and the e-card – the Internet shopping card.

During her 10 years at Citibank, Ms. Buhumaid headed many functions; Usage & Retention, Student Segment, Deposits, and the Co-branded Cards Division where she launched several card products including the award-winning Emirates Airline co-branded credit card and EPPCO-Citibank Credit Card. She also developed several sales promotions, one of which won the Freddi Best Bonus Award in 2001 and 2003.

Ms. Buhumaid holds a Masters (Hons.) degree in Organisational Excellence from the University of Bradford, UK.

Board Membership:

Board Member, Dubai First
Board Member, Khaleej Times

JC Goh Corporate TreasurerDubai Group

JC Goh joined Dubai Group in 2008 and is the group's Corporate Treasurer.

JC comes with a rich and varied background that spans 25 years in several major avenues of the banking industry, such as management of financial institutions, consumer banking, Islamic banking, treasury management, risk management, e-commerce, structuring, sales, distribution and trading, change management, and private equity related work. He has in-depth experience in managing a wide variety of crisis situations in the past and was key to managing Citibank's Asian exposure during the Asian Crisis.

Prior before joining Dubai Group, JC was the Director of Treasury in Guangdong Development Bank, China, managing a US$64 bio book.

During his career, JC has been professionally associated with several leading regional and international institutions including the Saudi American Bank and Samba Group in Riyadh, Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank and The Monetary Authority of Singapore.

JC is a Far Eastern Scholar, Pritzker Scholar and Alexander White Scholar at the University of Chicago where he obtained his Bachelors of Arts with Honors and Masters of Arts in International Finance.

Inanc Kirgiz Executive Director - Risk Dubai Group

Inanc Kirgiz’s main responsibilities include capital and risk allocation decisions for Dubai Group. He also oversees business development, strategy, risk evaluation and due diligence.

Mr. Kirgiz joined the company in July 2001 as an Investment Analyst.Between 2001 and 2004 he was responsible for developing and implementing quantitative risk management and related analytical tools for Dubai Group's fund of funds and equity portfolios.

Mr. Kirgiz has a doctorate in financial economics from the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland. He has written papers on 'Risk Aversion, Physical Skew and Kurtosis, and the Dichotomy Between Risk-Neutral and Physical Index Volatility,' (with Gurdip Bakshi and Dilip Madan) and on 'An Empirical Comparison of Alternative Stochastic Volatility Option Pricing Models'.

Gerard Hobby Group Legal Dubai Holding LLC

In addition to his role as Group Legal of Dubai Holding (the parent entity of Dubai Group) Gerard Hobby is also responsible for the legal function of Dubai Group.

He has over 17 years of experience in legal expertise across a broad range of areas, in both practice and an in-house capacity.

Mr. Hobby has been involved with both Dubai Holding and Dubai Group since their inception, and before that, as Chief Legal Officer of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority, a role he continues to retain. He has worked in senior corporate and commercial capacities in law firms in Dubai and Bahrain before which he was the in-house Counsel to the Ministry of Finance in Bahrain.

Mr. Hobby holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Canterbury, is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, and a member of the Law Society for England and Wales.