Shadi A. Karam

Who is Shadi A. Karam?

Shadi A. Karam is a graduate of the American University of Beirut, Columbia University, and Harvard University. In his primary professional capacity, he is known as a specialist in the restructuring of distressed companies and banks Karam occupied the post of Financial Adviser to the Director General of UNESCO and served as a Chairman and CEO of several major companies in Europe and the Middle East in various sectors, ranging from Industry to Real Estate development, Hotels, Trading and Financial Services.

Karam was the lead principal in the restructuring and modernization of the Real Estate Bank of Syria, a State-owned bank, and the dramatic turn around of Lebanon's BLC Bank, one of the major commercial banks of Lebanon which had to be taken over by the Central Bank of Lebanon in 2002. He has also played a key role in the modernization of the banking sector in Syria in general, its liberalization and its opening to international financial markets - an effort he was able to press further as CEO of Souria Holdings, the largest holding company in the country and the first in Syria to implement the Public Private Partnership model. Some critics have argued, however, that despite the multiple efforts of Syrian, Lebanese and foreign institutions like the EU, the economic reforms introduced by President Bashar Al-Assad since his ascension as head of state in 2000 have had a far more limited impact than promised.