Meet our Advisory Board
Adil Najam
Dean, The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University Prof. Adil Najam served as Vice Chancellor (equivalent of president) of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore Pakistan from August 2011 through June 2013. He served as the Director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University from November 2007 through August 2011, and he remains a Professor of International Relations and of Earth & Environment. In 2014, he was appointed Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Prof. Najam was a co-author for the Third and Fourth Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); work for which the scientific panel was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the public understanding of climate change science. In 2008 he was invited by the United Nations Secretary General to serve on the UN Committee on Development (CDP). In 2010 he was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence), one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards by the President of Pakistan. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the 2011 Human Development Report of the UNDP. Prof. Najam has taught at Boston University, MIT, University of Massachusetts and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human well-being. Prof. Najam has written nearly 100 scholarly papers and book chapters. He is a past winner of MIT’s Goodwin Medal for Effective Teaching, the Fletcher School Paddock Teaching Award, and the Stein Rokan Award of the International Political Science Association, the ARNOVA Emerging Scholar Award, and the Pakistan Television Medal for Outstanding Achievement. Prof. Najam also serves on the editorial boards of various scholarly publications, including Global Governance, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, The Journal of Ecological Economics, Annual Editions: Environment, and The Encyclopedia of Earth. Prof. Najam is frequently interviewed by and writes for the popular media and is the founding editor of the blog Pakistaniat.com (voted the Best Current Affairs Blog in Pakistan (2010) and also won the 2010 Brass Crescent Award for Best Muslim Blog from South Asia). Adil Najam is an expert in international diplomacy and development. His research interests include sustainable development, Muslim and South Asian politics, environmental politics in developing countries, and philanthropy among immigrant communities in the United States. Much of his work has focused on longer-term global policy problems, especially those related to human well-being and sustainable development. He contributed to Pakistan’s first environmental policy document, as well as to that country’s report to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, has worked closely with governments and civil society in both industrialized and developing countries, and regularly collaborates with the United Nations. He is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Visiting Fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), and serves on the Boards of the Pakistan Institute for Environment-Development Action Research (PIEDAR) and the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada. |
Humayun Akhtar Khan Former Commerce Minister of Pakistan Humayun Akhtar Khan’s career spans the areas of politics, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and the actuarial profession. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Khan was State Minister for Investment and Chairman, Pakistan Board of Investment. The 1997 Investment Policy he presented is still considered as among the best reform initiatives in the developing world. It opened Pakistan to foreign investors resulting in billions of dollars of FDI into Pakistan. From 2002 to 2007, Mr. Khan was Pakistan’s Commerce Minister. A firm believer in the development benefits of international trade, Mr. Khan worked aggressively to liberalize bilateral and multilateral trade. His main initiatives include FTAs with China, Malaysia and the South Asia region. Internationally, through his visible role in the Doha multilateral talks, he was recognized as an ardent supporter of global trade talks. He was designated a facilitator in the Hong Kong Ministerial in 2005. Mr. Khan remains deeply engaged in public policy. He piloted the Blueprint for Pakistan’s Economic Revival and in 2011 authored the Road Map for Pakistan’s Recovery. He is also the inspiration behind and the Chairman of the Institute for Policy Reforms (IPR). |
Salman Raja Partner at Raja, Mohammed, Akram & Co. Salman Akram Raja (LL.M 2001) is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan who regularly appears as counsel in cases of far reaching constitutional as well as corporate and commercial importance. Apart from his adversarial and pro bono work Mr. Raja has appeared as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Provincial High Courts in several cases. Prior to his LL.M at HLS, Mr. Raja graduated from Downing College, Cambridge University in 1989 and from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University in 1994. Notable cases Mr. Raja was involved in include those concerning: a woman’s right to marry (1996), disposal of foreign currency accounts (1998), Mobashir Hassan against the NRO (2007), PFUJ (2011), Air Marshal (Retd.) Asghar Khan (2012), DNA as evidence in rape cases (2013) and gerrymandering in municipal elections (2014). In addition to his constitutional law work Mr. Raja appears in regulatory, commercial and tax matters for leading corporations and banks. He has represented major regulators such as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the State Bank of Pakistan. |
Neelam Hussain Founding Director of Lahore Grammar School Dr. Neelam Hussain is a founding Director of Lahore Grammar School (Pvt) Limited. She has also served as the CEO and Chairperson of the company over the years. In her capacity as an educationist and an entrepreneur, she has set up educational institutions in several cities across Pakistan including Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, and Gujrat. Additionally, Dr. Hussain is currently working towards the formation of the LGS University of Law and Social Sciences. She was appointed to serve as a member of the Punjab University Syndicate from 2009-2012 and a gold medal has been instituted in her name at the university for the most outstanding student in the Department of Educational Research. Dr. Neelam Hussain has also been a member of the Syndicate of the Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi. Her involvement in professional and organizational activities is diverse. Dr. Hussain founded a chapter of the International Reading Association in Pakistan. Moreover, she also initiated a chapter of the International Board of Books in Pakistan in 1984. She is a founder member of Language and Literacy in Asia and has served on the Executive Committee of PEN Pakistan. |
Shuja Keen Managing Director at The Resource Group Shuja is a Managing Director at The Resource Group based out of San Francisco. Shuja joined The Resource Group founding team at inception and his primary responsibility is to help the firm drive value by improving the operational effectiveness, and leading fundraising, liquidity and growth initiatives across TRG's portfolio companies. Shuja has worked on over fifteen completed M&A transactions and three IPOs. He currently serves on the boards of several private companies. Prior to joining TRG in 2002, Shuja was a founder of HauteDecor - an internet platform for high-end furniture and furnishings based in New York. Previously, Shuja held positions at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney. Shuja graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with concentrations in Finance, Information Technology, and Operations Research and a Minor in Economics. Shuja is an avid traveller and is passionate about art and design. |
Asim Khwaja Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Co-Director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD). His areas of interest include economic development, finance, education, political economy, institutions, and contract theory/mechanism design. His research combines extensive fieldwork, rigorous empirical analysis, and microeconomic theory to answer questions that are motivated by and engage with policy. It has been published in the leading economics journals, such as the American Economic Review, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and has received coverage in numerous media outlets such as the Economist, NY Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Al-Jazeera, BBC, and CNN. His recent work ranges from understanding market failures in emerging financial markets to examining the private education market in low-income countries. He was selected as a Carnegie Scholar in 2009 to pursue research on how religious institutions impact individual beliefs. Khwaja received BS degrees in economics and in mathematics with computer science from MIT and a PhD in economics from Harvard. A Pakistani, UK, and US citizen, he was born in London, U.K., lived for eight years in Kano, Nigeria, the next eight in Lahore, Pakistan, and the last eighteen years in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He continues to enjoy interacting with people around the globe. Asim Khwaja also serves as the faculty co-chair of a week-long executive education program, "Rethinking Financial Inclusion: Smart Design for Policy and Practice," aimed primarily at professionals involved in the design and regulation of financial products and services for low-income populations. |
Muhammed Ali Nekokara Muhammad Ali Nekokara joined Civil Service of Pakistan in 1995 and he has been serving in the Police Service of Pakistan performing challenging and high-pressure police field assignments in Lahore and various rural areas of Punjab since 1999. His last assignment was SSP Operations Islamabad. In addition to his fieldwork, Mr. Nekokara has performed staff assignments, most notably as Personal Staff Officer to the Chief Minister of Punjab and also with the Inspector General of Police. He holds a Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Master's in Criminal Justice from the London School of Economics. Mr. Nekokara is also committed to serve the people in his hometown especially through creating awareness and organizing against criminal activities which affect lower income groups particularly, such as, cattle theft in the rural areas as well as organizing and leveraging collective influence to solve agriculturists problems, such as, water logging and water drainage issues. |