Dr. Amer Bisat, Managing Partner at the New York-based macro hedge fund Traxis Partners, has been elected President of the Arab Bankers Association of North America (ABANA) board of directors. He succeeds Omar Wohabe, Partner in Wohabe Law Offices, who concluded three terms as ABANA president.
Dr. Bisat is Traxis’s Chief Investment Officer, overseeing its flagship emerging markets macro fund. He held previous positions as partner or portfolio manager at Rubicon, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Salomon Brothers. From 1990-98, he was a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund. Dr. Bisat is also an adjunct professor of International Monetary Theory at Columbia University.
Dr. Bisat has served as an ABANA director since 2010 and takes leadership of the Association as it celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. His fellow 2013 ABANA officers are:
- Vice President Amr M. Nosseir, Founding Partner, Perella Weinberg Partners
- Vice President A. Sami Idliby, Senior Vice President, UBS
- Vice President Mahmoud Mamdani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Morgan Stanley
- Secretary Rima Moawad, Partner at Proskauer Rose
- Treasurer Mohannad Aama, Founder and Senior Portfolio Manager at Beam Capital Management
- Assistant Treasurer Zineb Guessous, Managing Partner of Almena Partners
- Chief Operating Officer Susan Peters, ABANA Executive Director
In addition to Bisat, Nosseir and Idliby, the following directors were elected or re-elected to ABANA’s twenty-person board by the Association membership:
- Karim Babay, President and Chief Investment Officer of Intrinsic Value Investment Investors
- Mohammed Grimeh, Co-head of Wholesale Bank and Head of Global Markets-Americas, Standard Chartered Bank
- Sherif Lotfi, Managing Director, Royal Bank of Scotland
- Dr. Faten Sabry, Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting
- Faye Samaha-Golub, Managing Director, CIBC World Markets