American University of Beirut

​​Adam Kobeissi​

Adam Kobeissi is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Kobeissi Letter, a leading commentary on global capital markets focused on macroeconomic investing. Since 2020, The Kobeissi Letter’s investment strategy has returned 516%, significantly outperforming the S &P 500’s 112% return over the same period.

The publication reaches millions of investors worldwide and generates over 3 billion views annually, with regular features in major outlets including Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Forbes, CNN, and The New York Times. Adam is a frequent on-air contributor to Fox Business and CNBC and has participated in roundtable discussions with prominent investors, including Elon Musk and Mark Cuban.

Previously, Adam worked as an investment banker in New York City at Mizuho Securities and Moelis & Company, advising on mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, debt issuances, and SPAC transactions. His experience includes advising consumer and retail companies through the COVID-19 pandemic, including Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean Group, and working on over $5 billion in M &A transactions across the consumer, retail, and industrials sectors.

Adam holds a BBA with High Distinction from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, as well as a degree in Biochemistry.

​​​Aswath Damodaran

Aswath Damodaran holds the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and is Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business. Before joining Stern, he lectured in Finance at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Damodaran has been the recipient of Giblin, Glucksman, and Heyman Fellowships, a David Margolis Teaching Excellence Fellowship, and the Richard L. Rosenthal Award for Innovation in Investment Management and Corporate Finance. He has also won the Stern School of Business Excellence in Teaching Award in 1988, and the Distinguished Teaching award from NYU in 1990. He has been voted  "Professor of the Year" by the graduating M.B.A. class nine times during his career at NYU. In addition to myriad publications in academic journals, Professor Damodaran is the author of several highly-regarded and widely-used academic texts on Valuation, Corporate Finance, and Investment Management. Professor Damodaran currently teaches Corporate Finance and Valuation to the MBAs. His interests lie in disentangling value drivers and understanding market pricing and behavior. He is known as the ‘Dean of Valuation’ in the finance community.

​Habib Kairouz

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Habib Kairouz is a managing partner of Rho with over 30 years of experience investing in technology. Habib seeks to partner with entrepreneurs who are visionaries, hungry to build massive opportunities, confident enough to challenge established market leaders and charismatic enough to attract top-tier partners, customers and other business personnel. Habib joined Rho in 1993 and focuses on investments in Consumer and Enterprise SaaS, Marketplaces, and Media companies at various stages of development – from seed stage to private equity. Habib currently serves on the advisory boards of Columbia University Lang Entrepreneurship Center, Cornell University PhD Runway Program and the Fintech Lab of NYC.

John Dagher​

Mr. Dagher has been the Head and Chief Executive Officer of the Lebanon Branch at Julius Baer Group Ltd. Since January 1, 2014, after previously serving as Managing Director and Senior Advisor. He was responsible for expanding Julius Baer ’s franchise in Lebanon and the Levant region, drawing on his prior experience as consultant to the Chairman of BLC Bank in Beirut and as Managing Director and Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch, where he managed assets for Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, banks, sovereign funds, and financial institutions across global offices in New York, London, Kuwait, Dubai, and Beirut for 22 years. In addition to his professional roles, Mr. Dagher has consulted for offshore banks in Lebanon, contributed to the Lebanese Central Bank's mutual fund regulatory committee, and introduced options into the Lebanese financial market. He also lectured at the American University of Beirut and other academic institutions from 1994 to 2009. Since 2017, Mr. Dagher has chaired the Banking Committee at the Swiss Lebanese Business Council and served on various committees at the American University of Beirut. ” He also served as the head of two committees at the International Chamber of Commerce in Lebanon (The Taxation Committee and the Investment Committee). Mr. Dagher was also for several years, the Vice President of the Lebanese Chess Federation.  At present, Mr. Dagher is residing in Geneva where he is overseeing the investments of ultra-high net worth investors, families and family offices and institutions in the Middle East region. ”​

​Karim Chedid​

Karim Chedid, Managing Director at BlackRock, is Head of the EMEA Investment Strategy team. Karim is responsible for delivering investment trade ideas and market insights across index and alpha strategies within the firm’s Global Product Solutions (GPS) group. The research his team produces, anchored in product implementation ideas, spans tactical to strategic investment horizons, structural drivers, as well as breadth of views across precision exposures. His team also drives content strategy for GPS EMEA. Karim works with clients across segments, including Wealth, Asset Management, Family Offices and Institutional. He is an investment voice for the firm externally, commenting on market views and industry trends on broadcast and print media including Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Alarabiya, Asharq News and others. He joined BlackRock in January 2013 from Nomura where he was an Equity Derivatives strategist. Mr. Chedid holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from the American University of Beirut (AUB), with a minor in Political Science. He also holds an MSc in Urban Economic Development from University College London (UCL). Karim is an advisor to the 'Culture Club', a DEI taskforce for BlackRock. He also sits on the Out & Allies Committee and the Asian and Middle East Professionals Network Global Exco. In 2022, Karim was featured on Empower's Top 100 Executive Role Models List for his work on DEI. Karim is a founding board member of Bedayati, a Lebanon-based NGO focused on inclusive employment. In his free time, Karim enjoys long-distance running having completed multiple marathons and trail runs, and reading and writing fiction.

Mark Abssy​

Mr. Abssy founded All You Can ETF LLC in 2019 after 24 years in the financial services industry. He is currently Head of Indexing at Tematica Research, focusing on index and ETP development. His career began in 1995 at State Street Bank, progressing to roles at Loomis Sayles, Fidelity Investments, and Morgan Stanley, where he managed closed-end funds and helped launch $3.2 billion in AUM. Since 2008, he has worked in capital markets at the International Securities Exchange (ISE) and NYSE/ICE before starting his own firm. Abssy has extensive experience in developing ETFs, ETNs, mutual funds, and listed derivatives, having contributed to multiple innovative investment products. He has created indices for ETFs across various sectors, including cybersecurity, digital payments, wind energy, and gaming. Additionally, he played a key role at ISE ETF Ventures, evaluating ETFs for investment viability. His insights have been featured in publications such as Nasdaq, ETF.com, Bloomberg, and TheStreet.com. He has also guest lectured at Rutgers and the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut .​

Naji Nehme​