Chief Executive Officer, iHilal Financial Services; Dubai, United Arab Emirates Ramzi Abu Khadra is currently CEO of iHilal Financial Services. He has held a number of key management positions in finance and in engineering. Prior to joining iHilal, Abu Khadra worked with the Carlyle Group in Saudi Arabia and with Saudi Aramco in the U.S. and in the Gulf. Abu Khadra has a B.S. and M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Founder, American Finance House- LARIBA; Pasadena, Calif. Yahia Abdul-Rahman is Founder of American Finance House – LARIBA, which has been offering LARIBA (Islamic) financing and financial services since 1987. He has over 30 years of experience in international banking, project financing, the oil and gas industry, and has held positions with Salomon Smith Barney, Atlantic Richfield, and the Industrial Bank of Kuwait. Abdul-Rahman has a B.S. from Cairo University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, all in Chemical Engineering, and an M.A.

President, American Finance House – LARIBA; Pasadena, Calif. Mike Abdelaaty is President of American Finance House – LARIBA, a California finance company specializing in LARIBA-type transactions to meet the needs of individuals, professionals, and businesses. He possesses over twenty years of traditional banking experience, both locally and in the Middle East. Abdelaaty has held positions with Bank of America, The Sanwa Bank Limited and its subsidiary, Sanwa Bank California, and The Saudi Investment Bank. Abdelaaty received a B.S.

Editor, Journal of Islamic Banking and Finance; Karachi, Pakistan Muhammad Imran A. Usmani is Editor of the Journal of Islamic Banking and Finance. He has carried out extensive research in the area of Islamic Finance. Usmani also serves as advisor or shari‘a supervisory board member for a number of institutions, including the State Bank of Pakistan, Meezan Bank, Amanah Finance HSBC, UBS Switzerland, Credit Suisse bank Switzerland, and Mashreq Bank Dubai.

Under Secretary for International Affairs, United States Department of the Treasury; Washington, D.C. John B. Taylor is Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Taylor serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on international economic and financial issues. He leads the development and implementation of policies in the areas of international finance, trade and investment, economic development, international debt, and U.S. participation in the IMF, the World Bank, and other international lending institutions.

First Vice-Governor, Central Bank of Lebanon; Beirut, Lebanon Ahmad M. Jachi was appointed First Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon in August 2003. He chairs committees on: Modern Banking and Financial Techniques and Information Technology (COBIT); Basel II; Financial Stability; Islamic Banking. Previously, Jachi was the Chairman of the Center for Economic and Financial Studies in Lebanon.

International Real Estate Agent; Cologne, Germany Michael S. Gassner is conference director of the 2004 First Islamic Finance Summit in Frankfurt, Germany. He works in the field of institutional real estate as an agent for

Professor, King Abdulaziz University; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Mohamed Ali Elgari is Associate Professor of Islamic Economics at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. He was formerly the director of the Center for Research in Islamic Economics at King Abdulaziz University. He is also a member of the OIC Fiqh Council.

Visiting Senior Fulbright Scholar, University of New Orleans; New Orleans, Louisiana M.A. Mannan Chowdhury is a development economist with research, teaching, and consulting experience in Islamic economics and macroeconomics. He has published ten books in Bengali and English and a number of research papers in various refereed academic journals. He has also presented research papers in many academic conferences both in Bangladesh and overseas. Chowdhury earned a B.A. in Economics with distinction in 1973 and an M.A. in Economics in 1974 from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.