Press Release

Press Releases

Anera Names New Board Members

October 4, 2010 l Washington, D.C. Anera is pleased to announce the election of Ambassador Skip Gnehm as the new chair of the board. Dr Alfred Khoury of Fairfax, Virginia and attorney Judith Judd of Denver, Colorado were elected vice chairs. Mike de Graffenried of Doha, Qatar, serves as treasurer/secretary.

Ambassador Gnehm is currently director of the Middle East Policy Forum and Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. Mr. Gnehm had a distinguished diplomatic career, during which he served as US ambassador to Kuwait, Jordan and Australia and also as director general of the US Foreign Service.

Alfred Khoury is director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at INOVA Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia. He also teaches in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was born in Bethlehem and received his BS and MD at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Judith Judd practices law in Denver, Colorado where she started one of the state’s first women-owned law firms. She graduated from the University of Denver, College of Law. Before her law career, Ms Judd worked in education and journalism in the US, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and India.

Mike de Graffenried is currently CEO of Qatar First Investment Bank. He previously served as CEO of Saudi Arabian Bank after a 30 year career in general management and financial services with Citibank in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

Anera’s Board also welcomed new members at its semi-annual meeting on October 2:

  • Teresa Barger, Founding Chief Executive Officer/Chief Investment Officer, Cartica Capital
  • Sandra Charles, Founding President and CEO, C&O Resources, Inc.
  • Kenneth Close, Founding Partner, Rock Point Partners
  • Mazen Farouki, President, UniTrans International, Inc.
  • Larry Hamdan, Executive Chairman of Mergers and Acquisitions, Barclays Capital
  • Joseph Saba, former World Bank executive and currently Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University
  • James Sams, Cross-Border Tax Consultant and Principal, KPMG LLP
  • Murad Siam, CEO and Managing Director of IDS Real Estate Group
  • Ann Van Dusen, Professorial Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University and former COO of Save the Children
  • Marcelle Wahba, Retired Diplomat and President, DerMar International