Zalmay Khalilzad
President
From 2007 to 2009, Amb. Khalilzad served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Prior to that, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (2005-2007) and U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan (2003 to 2005). He also served as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan (2001 to 2003).
Amb. Khalilzad sits on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, America Abroad Media, the RAND Corporation's Middle East Studies Center, the American University of Iraq in Suleymania, and the American University of Afghanistan. He is also a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He maintains close ties with high-level leadership throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, and is regularly called upon to provide strategic advice to numerous heads of state. He appears frequently on US and foreign media outlets to share his foreign policy expertise.
Amb. Khalilzad earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the American University of Beirut, as well as a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Eli Sugarman
Senior Director
Mr. Sugarman focuses on the company's consulting and advisory activities. Since 2009, he has counseled leading international businesses and non-profit organizations on strategic opportunities, market entry, major investments, dispute avoidance and resolution, and communication with senior business and political leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the broader Middle East. He previously served as a foreign affairs officer in the Department of State, where his portfolios covered regional security matters in the Middle East and Western Hemisphere. He has also worked in the Department of Commerce and in the Office of Senator Christopher Dodd. Mr. Sugarman is the co-author of multiple texts on law and business dealings in Afghanistan and co-founder of the Afghanistan Legal Education Project. He earned his B.A. from Middlebury College and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Noor Zahid
Associate
Mr. Zahid works on the company's consulting activities with a focus on Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries. He previously served as General Director of Legislation for the Afghan Senate (Meshrano Jirga) and as Director of the Department of Parliamentary Committees within the General Secretariat of the Afghan Parliament (National Assembly). He also worked for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan. He is fluent in Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, and Hindi. He earned his B.A. from Cairo University (Egypt) and M.A. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Omar al-Nidawi
Associate
Mr. al-Nidawi works on the company's consulting with a focus on Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. He is a highly regarded Iraq analyst and frequent contributor to the award winning blog, Iraq the Model. In his native Iraq, Omar was a pioneer of Internet journalism and a strong advocate for freedom of expression ,earning recognition by World PC Magazine in 2007 as one of the "50 most important people on the web." He is the author of numerous articles and reports on Iraq and is regularly published in the Wall Street Journal and other major newspapers. He is fluent in Arabic. He earned his B.S. from Baghdad University and his M.A. from Columbia University.
Benar Azez
Senior Associate & Regional Director
Mr. Azez manages GP’s activities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Previously, he held several positions with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) focused on foreign investment, economic development, and anti-corruption, including with the KRG Cabinet of Ministers. He also has extensive experience working for the US Agency for International Development in Iraq. He is fluent in Kurdish, Arabic, English and Assyrian. He earned his B.A. from Salahaddin University (Iraq) and M.A. from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University as a Fulbright Scholar.
Advisors
Alexander Benard
Senior Advisor
Mr. Benard is Chief Operating Officer of Schulze Global Investments, an investment firm focused on emerging and frontier markets. From 2010 to 2013, Mr. Benard was managing director of Gryphon Partners, where he oversaw the firm's investment and joint venture activities. Mr. Benard has also worked as an attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, a top-ranked international law firm headquartered in New York. At Cleary Gottlieb, Mr. Benard advised clients in connection with cross-border mergers and acquisitions, including Barclays Capital in its $1.75 billion acquisition of Lehman Brothers Inc. and Nortel Inc. in its $900 million asset sale to Avaya Inc. Mr. Benard is an active commentator on business strategy in growth markets. His has published articles in Foreign Affairs, World Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, and Christian Science Monitor, among others, and has appeared on CNN and Voice of America. He serves on the board of directors of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. Mr. Benard earned his B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and his J.D. from Stanford Law School.