The MBI Al Jaber Foundation - Board of Trustees
The MBI Al Jaber Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees, each one chosen for their interest in education and development in the Middle East.
Board of Trustees
Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber is a self-made businessman and philanthropist dedicated to education, peaceful coexistence, tolerance and democracy in the Middle East.
During the mid-90s, Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber recognised the need for a high-profile international forum for the study and understanding of the Middle East.
Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber envisaged a centre of expertise and resources for academics as well as for the world of business, government, the media and NGOs. He set about the realisation of his aim by founding the MBI Trust at SOAS, where he initiated a scholarship programme aimed at nurturing leadership skills in young Arabs through studying at elite institutions in London.
After taking a law degree at UCL, Lord Young practised for a year as a solicitor and then joined Great Universal Stores as an executive. Five years later he left to found his first business and ran a number of companies until 1979 when he joined the new Thatcher administration as a Special Advisor.
In 1982 he became Chairman of the Manpower Services Commission, joining the Cabinet in 1984 as Minister without Portfolio. The following year he became Secretary of State for Employment and after the ’87 election Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
Retiring from the Cabinet in ’89 he became Executive Chairman of Cable & Wireless until ’95 when he retired and founded Young Associates which he still Chairs.
Lord Young’s interests continue to be wide-ranging with interests in the Prince’s Trust, UCL and Chichester Festival Theatre. He also is a keen photographer with a handful of exhibitions under his belt.
President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Sir Tim Lankester has been President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford since 2001. He started his career as an economist with the World Bank before joining the Treasury in London. He was private secretary to Prime Ministers Callaghan and Thatcher, and later became Britain's director on the boards of the World Bank and the IMF. Subsequently, he was permanent secretary of the overseas aid and education ministries. Before moving to Oxford, Sir Tim was Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London.
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
Peter Jones is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, and former Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh.
He is the author of a dozen books and over 100 articles on philosophical, literary and cultural topics, has held numerous Visiting Fellowships and professorships, and has served on the governing bodies of many organisations, including The Royal Society of Edinburgh, The University of Edinburgh, The National Museums of Scotland, and Fettes College. He gave the Gifford Lectures in 1994-1995, and has participated in many UNESCO meetings.
In 2000 he was appointed by HM Government as one of two philosophers on the Spoliation Advisory Panel, to consider claims covering cultural goods spoliated between 1933 and 1945.
Partner, Fulbright and Jaworski LLP
Steve Vogel has worked for Fulbright and Jaworski LLP for more than 25 years in Houston, Washington, London and since early 2007 in Hong Kong and Beijing. Mr. Vogel is an international transactional lawyer in the broadest sense and he advises on a diverse array of commercial and tax planning matters.
One-time Managing Editor of the Ohio State Law Journal, Mr. Vogel focuses on international tax planning, in-bound US investments and commercial transactions in the international market. Mr. Vogel also advises a number of Middle East-based investors regarding their legal affairs worldwide, and advised the preeminent Middle East-based accountancy firm on its merger with another firm in the region.
Mr. Vogel is a dual-qualified US and UK lawyer, being admitted in Washington D.C. and in England and Wales. He was based in the London office for 22 years, where he was partner in charge, and where he was active in various professional and community organizations, including having served in leadership positions with British American Business Inc. and as Chairman for a number of years of the Society of English and American Lawyers. He recently gave a speech entitled "PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law: Changes Affecting Foreign Invested Enterprises, and Special Economic and Technological Development Zones," China Corporate Tax Law Updates 2008 in Singapore on January 23, 2008.
Mr. Vogel has an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law, a J.D. from Ohio State University and a B.A., magna cum laude from the University of Kentucky.
Director of MBI International and Partners
Mashael Al Jaber is a Company Director within the MBI International & Partners group. She was educated in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia before attending the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. In 2008, she graduated from King’s College, London with a degree in Business Management. Currently, she is working at MBI International and with the MBI Al Jaber Foundation.
Former Minister in the Government of Syria
Dr Nihad Ibrahim Pasha holds a PhD in Economics and Finance from Columbia University, New York. His career has spanned government, academia and business.
A former Member of Syrian Parliament, he went on to hold the position of Minister of Finance and National Economy and was also Permanent Syrian Representative to the United Nations. He has been a member of Faculty of both the Lebanese American University, where he was Dean of the School of Business, and the American University of Beirut, holding a chair as Professor of Finance.
- ‘Economic Development of Syria’ (in English),
- ‘Foreign Trade and the Balance of Payments of Syria’ (in English)
- ‘The Ambitious Society, Economic Development and Social Change in a Moslem Society’ (in Arabic).
