Leadership

Zubair Shaikh is an accomplished business leader with a strong background in finance and commercial management, currently serving as the General Manager of Mobility at Wafi Energy Pakistan Limited (formerly Shell Pakistan Limited). As of February 1, 2025, Zubair has also been appointed Interim CEO of Wafi Energy Pakistan by the Board of Directors. In this capacity, he will leverage his leadership experience to guide the company through a phase of strategic growth. His expertise spans managing both the Lubricants and Mobility businesses, demonstrating his ability to lead diverse business units effectively. Zubair’s leadership is focused on building high-performing teams, fostering talent development, and driving continuous improvement.

Zubair began his journey with Shell in 2006, initially in finance, before moving into key business roles. His broad experience includes sales, marketing finance, and strategy. Combining financial expertise with commercial insights, he has been instrumental in turning around business operations and ensuring long-term growth.

His career has spanned multiple sectors, including oil and gas, banking, ports and shipping, and audit and assurance. Before joining Shell, Zubair held various audit and finance roles. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan.

Outside of work, Zubair is passionate about sports, particularly squash and golf.

Ghassan Al-Amoudi is a highly accomplished executive with over 30 years of successful experience in leadership in the financial industry. With a strong focus on strategic planning, operational management, and building valuable relationships, he has consistently delivered exceptional results throughout his career.

Ghassan has been the CEO of ASYAD Holding Group since October 2022, leading a modern and sophisticated family group, driving significant revenue generation, and fostering investment relationships with a mission of building and managing an efficient organization capable of adapting to changing needs and operational scale.

Throughout his extensive professional career, Ghassan held prestigious positions at renowned companies globally and regionally.

Between 2020 and 2022, he served as the CEO of the Saudi-based Dar Al Tamleek, through this experience, he directed the largest mortgage finance provider in the Kingdom, overseeing a managed asset portfolio of SAR12+ billion. As a key part of his role, he was responsible for setting the organization’s strategy and direction in alignment with board directives. Moreover, he managed day-to-day operations, fostered strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and initiated a roadmap for IPO listing.

Being a part of SABB’s team represented another milestone in Ghassan’s career journey. Through his role as the General Manager of Corporate Banking at SABB, Riyadh, KSA between 2017 and 2019, he played a leading role as a member of the merger committee in SABB and Awwal Bank, which is now known as SAB.

During this two-year journey, he oversaw the corporate banking domain, contributing to 30% of SABB’s top-line revenues. He also developed and maintained key relationships with shareholders, executives, and clients, as well as formulating corporate banking strategies, with a center role of overseeing asset allocation strategies. In addition, he developed and revised policies, procedures, and reporting schemes, as well as evaluating offers from partners and vendors, assessing technology needs, and ensuring effective communication across channels.

Ghassan began his banking career in 1994, he progressed through various roles and became the Regional Head of Corporate Banking for the Western Region at SABB, Jeddah in 2007. He spent a prosperous decade driving effective business strategies and exceeding operating plans year over year.

Moreover, he led multiple corporate teams and achieved double-digit growth by challenging norms and capitalizing on emerging opportunities.

He also developed and motivated a high-performing team of relationship managers, contributing to regional growth, and defined business plans and strategies, optimizing profitability, and addressing strategic issues.

Ghassan equally implemented efficient resource allocation and low-cost income ratio practices, and successfully originated and executed syndication transactions, securing substantial volume.

During this period, he became a member of prestigious boards, namely Halwani Brothers PLC as an Independent Board Member and Member of the Remuneration and Audit Committees; Al Baraka Bank Turkey as an Independent Board Member and Member of the Governance, Sustainability, and Risk Committees; Dar Al Hekma University as a Member of the Board of Trustees and Chairman of the Finance Committee; Prince Muqrin Foundation as a Board Member and Member of the Executive Committee; Alrajhi Capital as an Independent Board Member of the Jeddah Real Estate South Fund; and Jordan Islamic Bank as an Independent Board Member and Member of the Nomination, Remuneration, Risk, and Credit Committees.

All these experiences were driven by a robust and solid education and skills background. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the American University in Los Angeles, CA (1994), with fluent skills in English and Arabic.

He also honed his educational background through top-level training and securing high-profile professional certifications – Managing Strategically, Leading for Results from Harvard Business School, Strategic Implementation M2 from IMD, Advanced Corporate Banking Strategy from INSEAD and various In-house / Group Trainings at SABB/HSBC.

Javaid Akhtar is recognized amongst the forerunners in the field of strategic business development in a market driven financial environment. He has expertise in Financial Management, Capital Market Investment, Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) through a practical, proactive, and innovative approach to a wide variety of business situations. He has completed projects with Bain & Company, BCG, McKinsey, Accenture Consulting and all Big 4 firms. He has completed a project with McKinsey recently on post Covid strategic outlook of family businesses.

He holds CA, CPA, CMA, PGD and CIS. In addition, he has attended and conducted numerous workshops, seminars, and conferences with global perspective in the discipline of finance and general management.

He has more than thirty (30) years of senior management experience enriched with developing investment criteria, accounting system, control mechanism, financial and business policy and procedure, corporate & financial governance, restructuring and reengineering for a cross section of industries and trading corporations. Currently, his major focus encompasses project management and financial structuring of PPP projects, financial modelling and building the retail business, business feasibility, viability, and profitability in relativity scenarios. He has more than ten (10) years of entrepreneurial experience in investing and divesting in viable business in retail, real estate, PE and hospitality in North America.

He has extensively worked in carrying out workability of promising and profitable portfolios, resource deployment to earn a high return on investment, equity and asset for consistent growth and success.

He has experience and understanding of capital re-structuring, economic funding and working with banks and other financial institutions in partnering for mutual benefit. He has worked in situations involving mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and leasing arrangements and situations emanating from resulting scenarios. His latest achievement is the financial close of Aramco project with $1.2B which is 100% financed by financial institution.

His involvement in such complex phenomena as risk management and investments based on futuristic growth possibilities in multi-disciplinary sectors is overwhelming.

He has broad exposure and experience in implementing computer based modular financial integrated packages in different operating system environment.

He has competency and skills profile of analytical, interpretative, informative reporting, training and development of people, teamwork, team building and working with clearly defined objectives and targets giving direction to efforts and discipline in producing high quality results.

Javaid is currently associated with Asyad Holding Group (www.asyadgroup.com) since February 15, 2005 as Group CFO and board member, and is functionally responsible for financial, regulatory reporting, governance, risk and treasury management, financial planning, forecasting, restructuring, cash flow and project management. He also participated in developing SAMA approved regulated funds in KSA. He has huge experience in raising appropriate financing structures with international banks to support growth of the Group in the areas of retail, hospitals, hotels, and commercial real estate.

He has worked at senior financial management positions with Merck (USA), SPIMACO, Naft Services companies and Midroc Holding Group for 1980 to 2004.

Parvez Ghias is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants from England & Wales and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics.

He was Chief Executive Officer at Habib University Foundation, a not-for-profit organization engaged in promotion of higher education through its flagship project the Habib University from 2017 to 2022. Prior to that Parvez Ghias was the Chief Executive Officer at Indus Motor Company from 2005 to 2016, a joint venture between the House of Habib, Toyota Motor and Toyota Tsusho Corporations, engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of Toyota brand automobiles.

His earlier career spanning 25+ years was at Engro Corporation (formerly Exxon Chemical Pakistan, an Exxon Mobil affiliate), where he undertook various assignments in Pakistan, Hong Kong and Canada, including CFO and Vice President Corporate Affairs and served as a board member of the Company and its subsidiaries.

Parvez Ghias currently serves as an independent director on the boards of Shell Pakistan, Ravi Autos Sundar and HRSG and as a non-executive director on the board of Dawood Hercules Corporation. He is also a member of the advisory board at Al Karam Textile Mills Ltd.

Imran Rashid Ibrahim is a graduate from Government College, Lahore, and pursued post graduate studies at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi. He is an entrepreneur with 46 years of experience in diverse areas of business such as distribution of products for various multinationals as well as cotton ginning and edible oil extraction.

He has served on the Board of Directors of Shell Pakistan Ltd., from 2008 to 2017, during which period he was also a member of the Board Audit Committee. He has also served on the Board of Directors of PICIC Asset Management Company Ltd., from 2010 to 2014.

Zaffar A. Khan graduated as a Mechanical Engineer and soon thereafter joined Exxon which following an employee led buyout became known as Engro. He served the Company for 35 years the last 6 years were as the CEO. His career with Exxon included a decade of assignments in Hong Kong, USA and Singapore in the petrochemical division. Upon retirement from Engro he served as Chairman of PTCL, Karachi Stock Exchange & PIA. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor at IBA where he teaches Human Resource Management.

He completed an Advanced Management Program from the University of Hawaii and has undertaken several short courses from the Harvard Business School & INSEAD.

Zaffar A. Khan has served on a number of diverse Boards in the Private Sector, Public Sector & Civil Society Organization. He has previously served on the Shell Pakistan Board for three terms which ended in 2017. Current Board appointments include Security Printing Corporation of Pakistan, Benazir Income Support Program, Data Check Ltd, Acumen Pakistan & Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy.

He is a recipient of Sitara e Imtiaz.

Dr. Ayesha K. Khan is a Regional Managing Director at Acumen – a global impact investment fund. She has a strong background in climate finance, corporate strategy, and international business, with a career that has spanned across North America, Asia and the Middle East. Dr. Khan is also the founder and MD of Pakistan’s first climate adaptation fund – a USD 90M equity fund investing in transformative agribusinesses.

Dr Khan sits on various corporate boards, including Bank Alfalah and is part of multiple high-level committees advising the Pakistan government on climate finance and impact investing. Her innovative climate work has been recognized by multiple organizations, including GLF (Germany), where she was selected as one of 16 Women Renewing the Earth (2023) and Fin-Erth (UK) where she was awarded the inaugural Women in Climate award for unlocking capital (2024).

Dr Khan has previously worked as the head of strategy at HBL, the largest bank in Pakistan. She has also worked in New York as a management consultant with McKinsey, where she focused on the financial sector, and at the UNDP, where she was a consultant with the Millennium Development Project.

Dr. Khan holds a doctorate from the Harvard Business School. She has authored various case studies and published several articles focused on emerging markets for different publications – including the Harvard Business Review. Dr. Khan also holds a Masters in International Development (MPAID) from the Harvard University and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Zarrar Mahmud is the Chief Financial Officer and Finance Director of Shell Pakistan Limited. Zarrar joined Shell in 2008 and has had diverse experience across many geographies such as Singapore, Brunei, Oman, Pakistan, Middle East, Central Asia and Asia Pacific. He has held roles in Integrated Gas and Downstream marketing business namely Lubricants, Retail, Commercial Fuels and Aviation. His roles include Shareholder Finance Manager in Integrated Gas non-operated ventures, Shell Director UAE (Trading & Supply) and Saudi Arabia (Aviation), Regional Finance Manager managing 10 countries, Retail Country Finance Manager for Pakistan and UAE, Lubricants Finance Manager and Pricing Specialist.

Zarrar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the London School of Economics and a Master’s degree in Accounting from Cass Business School London.

Amir Paracha serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Unilever Pakistan Limited. He began his journey with Unilever in 2000 as an Assistant Brand Manager, advancing through various Marketing and Sales leadership roles throughout his career in Pakistan and globally.

Currently, Amir spearheads the company’s “Unilever for Pakistan” vision, a purpose-driven movement aimed at strengthening Unilever Pakistan’s impact on the lives of Pakistani citizens by providing equitable opportunities, fostering meaningful livelihoods, and ensuring living wages. As part of this mission, he is also dedicated to promoting Unilever Pakistan’s climate action by emphasizing a clean energy transition, minimizing plastic waste, and accelerating the shift toward a circular economy in Pakistan. Amir has been recognized by the Government as a “Corona War Hero” and was also conferred Shan-e-Pakistan Award by the President of Pakistan for Unilever Pakistan’s COVID relief drive in the country.

Committed to collaborating with the broader industry and ecosystem, Amir serves as the President at the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OICCI). He is on the boards of Shell Pakistan Limited, Karachi Vocational Training Centre, Habib University Foundation and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI). He also leads the Centre of Excellence for Responsible Business (CERB) under the Pakistan Business Council and is a Male Champion of Change under Australia (MCC)’s Pakistan Coalition.

He obtained his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Institute of Business Administration. His professional journey began at The Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company in 1996. Throughout his career, he has attended executive courses at prestigious institutions, including Harvard, INSEAD, and London Business School.

Amir enjoys reading, landscaping, and exploring conceptual architecture in his personal time.

Badaruddin F. Vellani is an Honours graduate in Chemical Engineering from the Loughborough University of Technology, Leicestershire, UK, and a Barrister-at-Law from the Middle Temple (London). He was called to the Bar in 1982 and commenced legal practice in Karachi immediately thereafter.

He is enrolled as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and is the Senior Partner at the law firm, Vellani & Vellani. In addition to his legal practice, he is also member of the Board of Directors in a number of multinational companies and several philanthropic organizations and foundations.

KU has 31 years of working experience with Shell, a multinational energy company in multiple operational and management roles. He led the retail business in Italy and Belgium/Luxembourg, and was also responsible for HSSE globally, marketing for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and sponsorship management globally. In his last 4 years with the organization, he led the global licensed markets business for Shell.

Since January 2024 Kai-Uwe supports the Asyad Group, Saudi Arabia for mobility and retail. KU is a board member of Wafi Energy Saudi Arabia and Wafi Energy Pakistan and is recently appointed as the CEO for Wafi Holding, Abu Dhabi.

KU is married, has two children and lives in Hamburg, Germany.

His personal interests are sports, nature and meeting people of different cultures.

He is passionate about operational excellence, differentiation and the power of positive mindset.