BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rami Harawi, President

Rami Harawi is investment manager at a family office where he focuses on early to growth stage tech investments focused on climate, biotech/life sciences, and other tough-tech investments. Rami also covers real estate investments and other special opportunities in developed and emerging markets. Rami is passionate about social justice and human rights, as well as nature-based and tech-enabled solutions for climate change mitigation and resilience. Currently residing in New York, Rami has worked in a variety of geographies including the UAE, Egypt, South Africa, the US, and the UK.

Rami has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, as well as a M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Michèle Daoud, Vice President

Michèle Daoud is a Partner at Monk's Hill Ventures, an-early stage Venture Capital fund investing in technology startups in Southeast Asia. She invests across industries with a preference for education, healthcare and financial inclusion and a focus on responsible leadership and wealth creation through technology. Prior to Monk's Hill Ventures, Michele was a Director at Udemy, the largest online education marketplace with a mission to democratize access to education globally. At Udemy, Michele helped build and lead teams across Strategy, Acquisitions and Operations. Prior to joining Udemy, Michele worked at Google in New Products & Services and as a Strategy Consultant at Oliver Wyman with a focus on Technology, Media & Communications.

Michèle has a MBA and Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut. Michèle has been volunteering with arcenciel USA since January 2015, helping set up arcenciel USA and then serving on its board. She was born and raised in Lebanon and currently lives in Singapore.

Rhonda Trad, Secretary

Rhonda Trad has a BA in Comparative Literature and an MA from Georgetown University in Economic Development and Arab Studies. She served as Programming and Development Officer at the Peace Corps, an international service organization funded by the United States, where she mainly focused on water & sanitation, disease eradication, and women empowerment projects. She then worked with United Nations Volunteers (UNV), a UN organization fostering and developing volunteerism as a force for sustainable development. She coordinated the United States’ funding to UNV, as well as American volunteer recruitment and placement in the program.

Rhonda later moved back to Lebanon and worked in management consulting at Consulting and Development Services (CDS) where she assisted on projects in the banking and manufacturing sectors. After taking some time off to raise her 5 children, Rhonda moved to the US and refocused her attention on the field of education. She is currently Dean of Students at the French International School in the Washington DC area where she has been living with her family since 2006.

Nada Sara, Board Member

Nada Sara graduated from the Institut Sainte Anne de Besançon of Beirut in 1974. She attended law school at the Université Saint Joseph (USJ) in Beirut where she obtained her degree in Lebanese Law and a Master’s in French Law in 1978. She then went back to school in New York – where she has been living since 1981 – and joined the LL.M program at Fordham School of Law, graduating in 2007. Nada has been active to promote Lebanon, giving lectures to the French community of New York and presenting the UNESCO Lebanese sites to her fellow Lebanese across the US. She is a founding member of the Jamhour Alumni US association in NY since 2003, programing yearly reunions to gather alumni during a cultural and fundraising event. In 2016, she headed the Alumni of "Université Saint Joseph" ( USJ), her alma mater, for the states of NY, NJ and CT and has been organizing events to profit its foundation.

Hisham Beydoun, Board Advisor

Hisham Beydoun is a multicultural and multilingual global citizen. Today, Hisham runs an executive coaching business for business leaders and ethnic minorities working in business. Before discovering his passion for coaching, Hisham Beydoun graduated from Babson College with his MBA in Global Management and served as President of the Graduate Student Body where he represented 4,000 student voices. After completing his studies, he helped scale from 300,000 in revenue to 2.5MM in 2 years. Prior to pursuing his MBA and coaching career, Hisham worked as the Awareness and Education Manager in Beirut, Lebanon where he built systems to support marginalized people. Before moving to Lebanon, he worked for an NGO in New York City where he employed adults with mental illness to provide them vocational training and basic income. Before that, he was a full time classroom teacher on the small pacific island of Kosrae (population 5,000) in the Federated States of Micronesia.

In his free time, Hisham teaches meditation, mentors refugee youth in San Diego, rock climbs, surfs, and goes on solo’s in California's Anza Borrego desserts.

Majdi Ramadan, Board Member

Majdi Ramadan comes to arcenciel USA's board with 25 years of experience in foreign service. Most recently, he served as Consul General of Lebanon in New York. Between 2002 and 2012, Majdi held several positions at the UN. He served as Vice Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee and he was a member of the Executive Board of UNICEF, among several other commissions. He also served as an expert on Middle East issues and Peacekeeping Operations on the Security Council. Between 1999 and 2002, Majdi worked for the Foreign Service in Ghana, Liberia and the Togo.

Majdi has a B.A. from the American University of Beirut, an LLB Bachelor of Laws from the Lebanese University, and a MBA from Columbia Business School.

Nabil Eldeh, Board Advisor

Nabil Eldeh is a seasoned consultant with over 18 years of Canadian and International experience in Internal Audit, Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering. Nabil worked as a Project lead in different industries such as financial services, banking, insurance, consulting and retail, in Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, Algeria, Qatar, UAE and Lebanon. He assisted clients in improving their control environment to mitigate risks and meet regulatory expectations while achieving the company's objectives. He was also an advisor to organizations on developing policies and frameworks for Internal Audit, Operational Risk and Anti-Money Laundering. He also spent time as a trainer and workshop facilitator for different financial companies' senior management, transferring the knowledge of new regulatory requirements. Nabil also developed and managed the Internal Audit Division for Banque Misr Liban.

He led comprehensive audit assignments covering internal controls, risk management processes and regulatory compliance. He carried out sensitive and fraud related investigation and reliability of financial and management accounts. He evaluated the quality of corporate and credit portfolios, credit management processes, treasury and investment portfolios, administration and financial systems, human resources, I.T. services and other related business of the bank. Nabil holds a business degree from York University, Canada along with risk management and internal control audit certifications.

Joe Manok, Board Advisor

Joe Manok is Director of Global Initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with focus on the MENA region. Prior to joining MIT, Joe worked at the Development Office of the American University of Beirut (AUB) for more than ten years. Most recently he served as Associate Director of Development for Major Gifts and Advancement Services at the AUB New York Office. In 2007, Joe received the AUB President's Service Excellence Award for outstanding service to the institution. In 2012, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, District II (CASE II), an international association of 700 educational institutions, named Joe as their Rising Star.

Joe served as the Co-Chair of the Development Track for the 2013 CASE II Conference in Pittsburgh and the Co-Chair of the Program for the 2014 CASE II Conference in Baltimore. He was also a member of the Communications Committee of the Association of Fundraising Professional (AFP), New York City Chapter in 2012-13. He continues to volunteer with various nonprofits.