Board of Directors

Nedal Ismail

Chair of the Board & Treasurer

Nedal Ismail is Professor and Program Coordinator of the Bachelor of Commerce programs in Supply Chain Management and Management Studies at the Faculty of Business at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Toronto. Previously, Nedal serves as the Political and Commercial Officer for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He is a recipient of the [Canadian] Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Merit Award for exceptional and distinguished contribution to the effectiveness and efficiency of the public service of Canada.

Youssef Youssef

Secretary of The Board

Dr. Youssef A. Youssef is an accomplished professional with expertise in governance, leadership, business and management models for both for-profit and non-profit sectors. He has co-founded and advised several organizations on governance matters and helped them implement effective frameworks that align with their strategic objectives. Dr. Youssef has also demonstrated strong leadership skills throughout his career, having served in various leadership roles in different organizations. He has led diverse teams and implemented innovative organizational growth and success strategies in Canada, South America and the Middle East.

Bessma Momani

Director

Dr. Bessma Momani is Full Professor in the Department of Political Science and Assistant Vice-President, Research and International in the Office of Research at the University of Waterloo. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States’ Institute in Washington, DC, and a Fulbright Scholar. She was interim Assistant Vice-President, International at the University of Waterloo, a 2015 fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and also previously served as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, and was a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center. She has worked as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, both in the communications office and the Independent Evaluation Office.

Bessma currently sits on the board of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, is consulting Global Affairs Canada on international assistance policy, and serves as an adviser to the National Security Transparency Advisory Group at Public Safety Canada. Bessma has authored, co-authored and co-edited more than ten books and authored more than 80 peer-reviewed academic articles or book chapters that examine international organizations, international political economy, gender and diversity, political economy of the Middle East and geopolitics of the Middle East. Bessma has written editorials in The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, the Economist, the National Post and the Toronto Star. She is also a regular media contributor, having done thousands of live broadcast interviews, with CNN, CBC News, CTV, Al Jazeera, CGTN, TRT World and BNN Bloomberg.