Dr. Mary Gray is the author of books and papers in the fields of mathematics, mathematics education, computer science, applied statistics, economic equity, discrimination law, and academic freedom. She has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Her current research interests include applications of statistics in litigation, ethical issues in statistics, intellectual property and academic freedom, and language and gender issues in mathematics. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P.

Dr. Mondher Ben Ayed is a Tunisian entrepreneur, engineer, and academic. He is the president and CEO of TMI, a leading company in the field of information and communication technologies, and Oradist, a distributor of Oracle products and services in Tunisia. He is also a former professor of computer engineering at the University of Rochester, where he obtained his PhD in 1990. He holds an MS and a BS in electrical engineering from the same institution.

Mr. Kutayba Yusuf Alghanim is currently the Executive Chairman at Alghanim Industries, where he leads one of the largest privately owned companies in the region. Since the early 1970s, when he was appointed to lead the company, Mr. Alghanim introduced contemporary business culture and modernized the organization. He is also the largest shareholder of one of Kuwait’s leading conventional financial institutions, Gulf Bank – which he also chaired in 2008. 

Dr. Odeh Aburdene is President of OAI Advisors, which provides advice and consultancy on Middle East business, energy, and private equity. Before OAI, he was a Managing Partner of CT Capital International, Inc. Dr. Aburdene received his PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, specializing in oil economics. His thesis analyzed the impact of Middle East oil on the U.S. balance of payments.

Mr. Ayad Zein has been supporting the Fulbright Program in different capacities for 16 years. As Director of the Fulbright Program, he oversees Amideast staff at our Washington, DC headquarters and in the MENA region who support the Fulbright Foreign Student program and Amideast’s administration of the program.  

Ms. Oliver serves as Amideast’s Director of Advancement. In this role, Ms. Oliver manages the planning and implementation of a comprehensive advancement plan, including major and planned giving programs, foundation and corporate support, and donor relations.

As the Director of Risk Management, Assets, and Facilities, Mr. Jay Makdissi is responsible for all aspects of risk management, including physical and technical security and safety at our U.S. and international facilities. 

As Director of Finance, Rashid Khalfallah manages the regional finance function and overseeing the work of the field accounting staff to ensure accurate, timely and efficient processing of financial transactions and effective controls that prevent or timely detect errors and fraud. In addition, he is responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring Amideast’s annual budget and periodic forecasting and providing critical analysis that supports major corporate decisions of the CFO, Senior Leadership Team, and the Board of Directors. Mr.

Ms. Juleann Fallgatter serves as Amideast’s Senior Director of Advising and Testing Services. She oversees the organization’s EducationUSA, career advising, and standardized testing activities. 

Ms. Elisabeth Dahl joined Amideast in 2006. In her current role as Senior Director of Business Development, she leads the proposal development process for Amideast’s HQ and field offices. In this role, she leads Amideast’s Business Development efforts and processes across Headquarters and Amideast’s eleven field offices.  

Previously she served in Business Development roles at Amideast and CARANA Corporation, K&M Engineering, and PADCO, Inc., focusing on United States government, donor, and private sector work.