Our Team & Leadership
BoardTitans Team:
Yazad Patel – Chief Executive Officer
Yazad Patel is the Chief Executive Officer of Board Titans and overseas the firm's strategy and operations. Besides himself having held various C-level and Board positions, he is passionate about advising organizations on Strategy and Corporate Governance.
In a career spanning over 2 decades Yazad has worked across multinationals, privately held enterprises, family owned businesses as well as quasi-government entities and has been associated with the Real Estate, Retail, Marine Engineering, Manufacturing, Energy and Financial Services sectors.
Prior to leading Board Titans, Yazad has been instrumental for various Strategic initiatives and handled asset responsibilities in excess of USD 500 million. Some of his achievements include responsibilities in overseeing a reduction of 20% in corporate financing costs, saving financial default, increasing profit abilities by 35%, reducing operational overheads by 24% and implementing a USD 2 billion global alliance to gain business efficiencies.
Yazad's passion for advisory has enabled him to partner with Chairmen, Owners, Directors and Senior C-Suite Executives ranging from Start-ups, PE/VC led SMEs, mid-market companies as well as multinational conglomerates. He is also a Council Member for Investment Consulting and Real Estate at Gerson Lehrman Group.
Yazad has an MBA with Distinction from Hult International Business School, is a certified accountant (CMA), holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance & Economics and has attended Executive Leadership programs at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Winner of the Standard Chartered Award for exceptional "best-in-class" Finance Performance, Yazad is an adjunct faculty at Hult International Business School, a member of the Harvard Business Publishing for Educators and speaker at various forums on Strategy, Corporate Governance, Ethics & CSR.
ADVISORY BOARD
Board Titan’s Advisory Board consists of Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Board Directors, C-Suite Executives and senior professionals from diverse Industry, Demographic and Cultural backgrounds.
Charles Corm – Chief Executive Officer, Corm Capital
Charles is the CEO at Corm Capital. Corm Capital ® is a global multi-sector holding company founded in 1998 and active in five main sectors: finance, investments, technology, media and real estate. Backed by prestigious international advisors, Corm Capital is committed to operating to the highest ethical and moral standards. This common goal is extended to the company's ever-growing portfolio of businesses, assets and investments. Charles is also the Founder of OX Factory (an ICT start-up Read More
incubator and foundry), the Founder of OX Media (a fully integrated online media company) and a Founding Partner at Inco Capital (a boutique investment banking firm). He is a shareholder in a number of global start-ups since 1996, having created a solid, extensive and diversified portfolio of what are now, for the most, successful businesses (some publicly listed). Charles acts as an Advisor to several global companies where he brings his combined expertise in management, finance and technology to help them achieve a number of critical funding, strategic and business development oriented goals. Charles also acts as a Connector, having assembled one of the most extensive contact networks in the MENASA region and beyond.
Other than that, Charles was a hedge fund analyst and investment banker on Wall Street for several years. He sits on the board of a number of reputed firms as well as established NGOs and charitable organizations including the Charles Corm Foundation and the Charles Corm Charitable Foundation (named after his late grandfather). Charles is also an accomplished and internationally exhibited artist, combining traditional painting, photography and digital art. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School as well as degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Paris Dauphine University. Charles is the recipient of several prestigious and internationally recognized awards, most often being among the 1% of youngest Listees. Read Less
Rupert Purser – Head of Business Consulting & Risk Advisory,
Hill International Inc.
Rupert is an engineer, accountant and business transformation practitioner with over 25 years in assisting businesses manage change when in distress and when facing rapid growth, the last 17 of which have been in Greater China and recently the Middle East. Read More
He has worked in industry and private equity as interim management, restructuring agent and investor. Before joining Hill in April 2013, he consulted with PwC Consulting from 2010 for significant internal and external change management programmes. Rupert won the Asia Transformation & Turnaround Association’s ("ATTA") annual Turnaround & Transformation award in 2011 and again in 2012. He also was part of the transformation team that won the 2012 iFT Turnaround of the year award in Europe. His expertise includes that within construction, financial services and with heavily branded businesses. Rupert is the elected Immediate Past Chairman of the Asia Transformation & Turnaround Association.
Rupert has done a BSc in Engineering and Economics, University of London, UK and holds, or has recently held, several governmental and industry steering committee positions, including acting as a Member of the Public Affairs Forum of the Hong Kong Government Secretariat, the Lawyers’ Disciplinary Panel and the Deposit Protection Board Tribunal. He serves as a non-executive director on several corporate and charitable boards.
He has acted as an adviser to the Mongolian Stock Exchange and as a contributor to the China State Economic and Trade Commission's review of restructuring mechanisms for domestic enterprises, corporate governance and brand valuation; he is the author of several published articles; and, a frequent forum speaker and panellist on these and related subjects. Read Less
Dr. Soumia Lotfi – Director, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
Soumia is strategic-minded with an extensive 10-year international background, proven track record in best practice Financial Services, Risk Management, Capital Management, Portfolio Management, Macro Economic Studies, Analytics, Market Research, Customer Intelligence and Information Management, with proven Business leadership experience as of Process development for successful engagements with offshore Read More
Her other experiences includes: Strategic/Business development, Regulatory requirements, Performance Improvement, Enterprise Risk Management, Governance, Strategic Frameworks, Policies and Procedures, Rating/Scorecard, Predictive Analytics, Marketing Solutions, Product/Solutions, Compliance, Business Continuity Plan, recovery and resolution plan, Reporting.
Besides being a Director for Advisory Services at a Big 4 (E&Y), Soumia has held various senior executive positions in Belgium within the Financial Services and Banking industry. She has also been a Director of Consulting & Research at Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and has worked with the Dutch Police Department in Netherlands.
Soumia holds a PhD in Statistics from the Institute of Statistics & Operational Research, University Libre of Brussels and is a Faculty of Economics & Applied Economics at KULeuven, Belgium. She also holds a Master in Acturial Sciences and a Diploma in thorough studies in Statistics (DEA) from the University of Brussels.
Soumia has pioneered research in Statistical modelling and has authored various publications and books on Optimal Detection of Periodicities in Vector Autoregressive Models, Forecasting Crime using Neural Networks & Linear Methods and Data Mining studies. She is also keynote speaker on various global conventions & societies on Financial, Statistical and Risk-based modelling. Read Less
Shane Phillips – Managing Director, Shane Phillips Consultants
Shane is currently the Managing Director of Shane Phillips Consultants in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Helping companies build championship leadership teams has been a tradition in the Phillips family for two generations. Read More
From assisting Fortune 500 companies acquire and retain top performing senior executives or advising leading Chief Executive Officers on developing their human capital, Shane has executed CXO assignments all over the world. His passion for helping people and companies develop leadership capability has driven him to engage the media, where he is now the host of the MENA Region’s number one Talk Radio Career show on Dubai Eye 103.8 called "Eye On Careers". He is also the Host of one of the leading Asian business TV Show called "Top Guns" on Zee TV, the leading South Asian television satellite channel.
Shane holds an MBA from London Business School and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of British Columbia. He is a Non Executive Board Member of Fortis Group Holdings. He is the founder of The Career Clinic and Risk Middle East Group. A former Executive Board Member of the Canadian Business Council, President of the Club for Canadians and a volunteer with the Families with Special Needs, the United Way and Young Achievers. Read Less
Mario Chimento – Chief Executive Officer, Chimento Consulting
Mario has over 19 years of working experience within various industries such as Banking, Food & Beverage, Real Estate and IT, Mario has developed depth and breadth of competencies in both fields of Corporate and Private Finance, as well as in entrepreneurial business development. Read More
Mario started his career in the Banking industry, working for 7 years with leading European financial institutions in Paris-France, Principality of Monaco and Rome-Italy, providing 360° finance advisory services on a portfolio of corporate and private customers.
He then pursued a career in the Food & Beverage industry as the Finance Director of a long-established Italian Coffee brand, well-known on the local Coffee market of Rome-Italy, producing and commercializing top quality and rare coffee products.
In 2008, he moved to the UAE and specialized in supporting small and medium Italian businesses to start up operations and develop sales opportunities within the GCC countries (mainly in Food & Beverage, and IT-enabled Real Estate industries).
Today Mario is focusing his business consultancy activities in the field of Corporate Performance Management, Financial Risk Management, Big Data and Smart Cities.
Mario holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics & Business from La Sapienza University of Rome-Italy; an Executive MBA with Distinction from HULT International Business School (2012 top student, GPA 3.9/4.0); a CIDF Diploma in Islamic Finance from the CIMA Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (score 90/100); a CSV Certificate in Strategy & Value-Creation from the Institute of Strategy & Valuation as well as various Risk Management and Banking certifications. Read Less
Karim Hachani – Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Pepperweb
Karim is the Founder & CEO of Pepperweb, a digital agency focusing on UI / UX and complex developments for both private and public sector. He oversees the firms Strategy, Product Designs and is responsible for guiding and positioning its operations to deliver innovative solutions and value to worldwide clients. Read More
Karim is a serial entrepreneur and has launched 3 companies, made them successful and exited whilst making a decent US$ 8 million in the process. He has also been involved in more than 25 start ups, setting various incubators and accelerators across various regions and geography.
Although Karim is a Digital Marketing Perfectionist he builds apps and digital experiences for a living. A design enthusiast with over 10 years of experience in Web, Product and Identity Design, he is passionate about Analytics and Conversion tracking. He also boasts skills in Digital Strategy, PPC and SEO planning.
Karim is a linguist of sorts with fluency in European and Middle Eastern languages. He has attained a French Baccalaureate in Economy with “Felicitations of the Jury”; is a Bachelor in Marketing and Finance; Master in Digital Marketing and is currently undertaken an Executive MBA from Hult International Business School. He is also a keynote speaker across various conferences on Digital Strategy in several universities. Finance from the CIMA Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (score 90/100); a CSV Certificate in Strategy & Value-Creation from the Institute of Strategy & Valuation as well as various Risk Management and Banking certifications.Read Less
It is exciting times at Board Titans and we hope that we are able to be a part of your success story.
Please read on to our PRO BONO & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY section to understand our social initiatives towards deserving businesses and the community we operate within.