Our Team

Vacant

President

Zaid is a Consultant in Deloitte’s Human Capital Consulting practice.  Zaid seeks to combine his passions and experience in engineering and business strategy to improve healthcare on a global scale.

Education: BS, Rice University

Outreach Director

Alvina works at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) within the Transaction Services Deals practice. She is a CPA who spent a number of years at Ernst &Young’s Assurance practice prior to her current role at PwC.

Education: MSA, BS, Kelley School of Business at Indiana University

Events Director

Rais is an Associate at BMO Capital Markets in the Fixed Income and Currencies Markets. Prior to joining BMO, Rais worked for U.S Bank in the Structured Products division as a Principal Modeler. Rais has lived in Nova Scotia, New York, and Ontario.

Education: BA, Ryerson University; MA, Ryerson University; Post-Baccalaureate in Finance, Northwestern University

President – Chicago

Ismail works in Data Operations at Lumere, a healthcare analytics company in Chicago. Prior to joining Lumere as employee number 42, Ismail was employee number 9,000 at Epic, where he worked on the Revenue Cycle implementation team.

Education: BS Economics, University of Michigan

President Emeritus

Samiah is a Senior Business Analyst in Accenture’s Management Consulting practice specializing in the Utilities industry. Prior to her current role, she interned with Accenture in their Management Consulting Development Program and with The Coca-Cola Company in their Global Marketing division.

Education: BS Business Administration, Georgia Institute of Technology

Chicago Social Chair

I graduated Northwestern with a degree in Economics. I interned in finance (hedge funds, investment banking, private equity), but ultimately decided I wanted to focus my time on organically growing companies, which is why I chose to join Accenture Strategy full-time. I have gotten to where I am with mentorship, so I am very passionate about passing along advice to those younger than me. NU, Economics, 2018.

Education: Economics Graduate, Northwestern University

President

Currently an Associate Lead Engineer at Booz Allen Hamilton, working on mobility within the federal arena. Prior to joining Booz, I worked in IT consulting at the Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, and ICO Global Communications to support the acquisition and merger by Dish Networks. I have had more free time and wanted to give some time back to support our community excel and advance in their careers. Muppies vision fit that.

Education: BS, Purdue University; MS, George Washington University School of Business

Executive Committee Member

Ibi Tayyab is a Senior Associate at Frontier Solutions, specializing in strategic communications and public affairs strategies. Prior to joining Frontier Solutions, Ibi was an Associate at Outreach Strategists where she supported over a dozen clients in coalition building, grassroots advocacy, and community outreach. Ibi also served in multiple roles on the Muppies Houston Committee before moving to Washington DC.

Education: BS, Texas A&M University – College Station

Executive Committee Member

Matthew is currently a Strategy & Operations Consultant at Slalom Consulting in Washington DC and has over 6-years of experience applying tactical implementation expertise in fast-paced, unstructured environments. Matthew is passionate about advising clients, across various industries, through major transformations by providing creative recommendations. Matthew graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School. After work, Matthew likes to surround himself with the outdoors as much as possible by either running, biking, hiking, paddle-boarding, or cafe hopping.

Education: BA, UNC Chapel Hill

Executive Committee Member

Aya is a Health IT Program Specialist with the American College of Ob/Gyn (ACOG), a medical professional society, where she oversees and manages the technical activities of partnering developers and educators. While helping to grow the team’s presence in the health informatics environment, Aya is looking forward to analyzing ACOG’s clinical project data. Aya has an undergraduate degree in Public Health with special interest in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has since taken course work learning data analytics, visualizations, and web design. Having served on multiple university executive boards, MUPPIES membership is clearly the next outlet to engage in community activities that promote career development.

Education: Undergraduate degree in Public Health, University of Maryland

Executive Committee Member

Saad is the Vice President of North America at Wahed Invest, a halal digital investment firm that specializes in providing Sharia’h compliant investment products. Saad brings with him over 10 years of experience in the Private Wealth Management space, having worked in UK, Switzerland, Spain and USA. Currently, Saad is involved in managing client relations and product development at Wahed Invest, as well as hosting educational workshops across the country on financial products. During his spare time, Saad likes to entertain family and friends by preparing savory and sweet crepes from recipes he learnt while working as a pancake chef during his college days.

Education: BA, London School of Management

Executive Committee Member

Amal Baig holds a B.S Finance from Northeastern University and has over five years of experience consulting for large financial services institutions. Amal has helped many of her clients assess and develop their market risk strategies. Amal also has a strong background in business transformation and corporate strategy. As the next generation of Muslim leaders, we need an organization that can connect us and help grow talent. MUPPIES as an organization is not has the potential to do this, but is doing this today. I want to help shape this mission.

Education: B.S Finance, Northeastern University

Executive Committee Member

Hira is an Editor for FiscalNote, a software, data, and media company focusing on global legislative and regulatory tracking. Prior to joining FN, Hira worked on the eCommerce team at Luxottica Retail Group, where she helped grow the Target Optical online platform and customer experience. Hira joined Muppies to continue her philanthropic work, which she was actively involved with during undergrad. She hopes to bring the community closer together while making new friends.

Education: BA in Economics, Miami University.

President

Sarah Kirmani is currently a Sales Operations Manager at a healthcare company, LivaNova in Houston, which manufactures Cardiac and Neurology medical devices across the United States. She currently has 10 years experience in Finance and Marketing, and supports the Neuromodulation franchise for the company. Prior to that, she was a Business Analyst at Comcast. Sarah has a background of working with different industries throughtout her career gaining expertise in the Finance and Marketing field. Even though Sarah grew up in Africa, for her, Houston is home.

Education: B.A, Bauer College of Business- University of Houston

Advisor

Sania is a Senior Analyst at Accenture, where she works on product and marketing strategy, change management, project management, and digital marketing. She is originally from the Bay Area and has prior experience at PwC and Nutanix.

Education: BA, Santa Clara University

Executive Committee Member

Jihad is the founding President of Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School, the nation’s first Muslim graduate seminary to offer accredited Master’s degrees in the fields of Islamic Studies, Education, Chaplaincy and Leadership. Jihad previously served as the Imam/Director of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California, LA’s oldest and largest mosque. He is a sought after national speaker on issues related Islam, Muslims in America, Muslim Reform Movements, Ethical Leadership, and Spiritual and Identity Formation of Youth. Additionally, Jihad has committed himself to building bridges across faith communities to collaboratively address issues of homelessness and poverty.

Education: BA, UC Berkeley; MA, University of Texas at Austin

Executive Committee Member

Ahmad is a Certified Public Accountant and a Partner at White Huns. He started his career at Deloitte where he specialized in the healthcare and legal industries. He serves clients throughout Southern California and some of his current and prior clients have been DLA Piper, WellPoint, Inc. Cedar Sinai Medical Center, and Health Net, Inc. Amgen, Inc., and many local law firms and healthcare practices. Ahmad is the Co-Founder of Al-Rasool Masjid, Inc. and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board.

Education: BS, Pepperdine University; MBA, Pepperdine University

Executive Committee Member

My name is Elyas Andkhoy and I’m from Los Angeles. I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2014 with a degree in Business Administration. I spent 2 years as an investment banking analyst at Bank of America and a year and a half at Brentwood Associates, a consumer / retail private equity firm. I’m currently a financial analyst in the M&A group at Radiology Partners, the largest radiology practice in the U.S. I chose to volunteer with Muppies because it’s a great way to network with like-minded, career driven Muslim professionals. Muppies helped me early on in my career and I want to use this as an opportunity to contribute and help in any way I can, whether it’s by offering advice or any sort of guidance. It’s also a great network to have in the Muslim community and an opportunity to make new friends.

Education: Business Administration, UC Berkeley.

President

I graduated with an Economics major and an Entrepreneurship Minor from the University of Southern California. I am a relationship manager within the Asset Based Lending Group at PNC Bank. I also work as a business consultant for a telemedicine healthcare company. I chose to get involved with Muppies because I wanted to be part of an organization that was building a professional network for Muslims globally. This platform has helped many people I know get jobs, start careers, and network with like minded individuals within business. After going to the global conference in Toronto where I developed relationships with industry professionals I knew i wanted to be a part of this network.

Education: Graduate Economics (major) and Entrepreneurship (Minor), University of Southern California

Marketing Director

Raahima serves as a Communications and Marketing Manager at the Muslim Public Affairs Council where she creates and executes a comprehensive communications and marketing strategy. Her tenure at MPAC started in 2014, as a Communications and Government Intern and continued in 2016 when she joined the staff as the Development Coordinator. Her goal at MPAC is not only to communicate the impact of the organizations work but to help build a movement for American-Muslims to become more engaged in civic affairs. Raahima was born in Lahore, Pakistan and raised in Simi Valley, California. She is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego where she received her degree in International Studies with an emphasis on Political Science. During her time at UCSD, Raahima focused her research on South Asian history and political affairs. She also entered for Representative Scott Peters (CA-52) and for Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES), an on-campus center that served under-represented communities. In addition to her work at MPAC, Raahima serves as the Logistics Chair on the Executive Board of SoCal MIST, a non-profit organization that works to bring High School students from around Southern California together for an inter-disciplinary tournament. She also serves on the board of the Los Angeles chapter of Muslim Urban Professionals (Muppies).

Education: Graduate in International Studies, University of California

President Emeritus

Rabia is a serial entrepreneur working on her third company. Previously she co-founded Tizaro, a B2B ecommerce startup based in London, that was acquired in 2014 and an e-learning startup focused on providing English language education through the web. Rabia has held multiple roles in the startups she has co-founded including product management and development, content creation, operations and marketing. Rabia has been running the London Committee of Muppies since 2010.

Education: BSc, University of Illinois at Chicago

Executive Committee Member

Hiba works as a junior consultant in the Environmental Policy and Economics team at Wood. The work she is involved in contributes to the development and implementation of environmental policies at the EU and UK government level.

Education: MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London (UCL) and a BEng in Chemical with Environmental Engineering from the University of Nottingham.

President

Ahsan is an Associate at McKinsey & Co in the Strategy & Corporate Finance practice. Here, he focuses on projects in the private equity/asset management, automotive/industrial and consumer/retail/luxury goods spaces. Prior to joining McKinsey and before business school, Ahsan worked at AllianceBernstein in fixed income and asset allocation/global macro investing.

Education: BA, Grinnell College; MBA, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Senior Advisor

Marketing Director 

A native New Yorker, Sami is a Project Engineer at LTK Engineering Services of New York LLP and does engineering consulting for NYC Transit to modernize rail vehicles and infrastructure. Previously, he was the Project Engineer for the $2.2 billion-dollar Hudson-Bergen Light Rail project for Kinkisharyo International LLC. His experience is in light rail vehicle design, heavy rail vehicle overhauls, and managing various vehicle upgrade projects. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in the state of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and a Project Management Professional (PMP). In his free time, he likes to ski, play tennis, and archer.

Education: BS, Columbia University

Events & Community Director 

Huda is a Cognitive Consultant with the Watson Analytics team at IBM. Here she uses Machine Learning, Deep learning, and Cognitive Computing to create digital assets specific to enterprise use cases. Huda is driven by growth and has a passion for community building which lead to her involvement with Muppies NYC. As she grows professionally she wishes to use the Muppies platform to connect ideas across the diverse representation of industries. Huda completed her undergraduate degree in 2017 from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in Mathematics and Statistics.

Education: BA, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Engagement Director

Amer is a Senior Consultant at EY and is based in the New York office. He has over 3 years of combined consulting experience including consulting large insurance companies on machine learning and business process transformation projects; and as an in house management consultant for a real estate company. He has as a Master’s degree in Management from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University. Amer chose to volunteer with Muppies due to his interest in community development and develop relationships with others Muslim professionals across the globe.

Education: MS, New York University

Executive Committee Member

Ihsan Erman Saracgil is a data scientist for a prominent FinTech startup, leading the firm’s data science and quantitative research practice. Previously he worked as a litigation consultant focusing on complex financial lawsuits. He holds PhD in Economics from University of Michigan and held dissertation internship at the Federal Reserve Board.

Education: University of Michigan, Ph.D.; Bilkent University, BS and MA.

Executive Committee Member

Noor is a CPA in the public accounting sphere and is a senior manager at Friedman LLP. Noor primarily focuses on audits of commercial/residential real estate and investment companies. Noor is a Baruch graduate and a New York native.

Education : Graduate, Baruch College, The City University of New York

Executive Committee Member

Shaista Mallik is a Product Manager at Emerson Automation Solutions, focusing on new product development, strategic alliances and long term growth opportunities for Combustion products and systems. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and is a professional member of AIChE, SWE, API and ABMA.

Education: BS in Chemical Engineering, The Ohio State University

Executive Committee Member

Zara Merchant is an Australian lawyer and has spent the last 5 years working for leading global investment banks in Risk Management, Compliance. She currently is an Associate at Goldman Sachs – NY, moving here end 2018. Zara’s passion lies in creating and supporting a platform for Muslim professionals, providing them an avenue for networking, ideas and thought leadership.

Education: Bachelors of Commerce (major in finance)/Bachelor of Laws at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia)

Executive Committee Member

Haroon is an analyst at Third Point, a hedge fund in New York. Previously, he worked at Viking Global Investors and Moelis & Company. Haroon graduated with a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia in 2014. As a NYC Committee Member, Haroon plans to organize events on careers in investing.

Education: B.S. in Commerce, University of Virginia

Co-President

Mahrukh works in the Assurance practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a multinational professional services network, where she works with clients primarily in the Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment industries.  Prior to PwC, Mahrukh interned at the Western United States Agricultural Trade Association, where she spent three years assisting small- to medium-sized U.S. businesses expand to international markets using government funding to meet federal export initiatives.

Education: BA, Washington State University

Events Director

Azima Mansuri is currently a UX Designer at Microsoft with a background in data visualization, design research, interaction and visual design. She graduated from Rutgers University with degrees in Information Technology & Informatics, Public Health, and Psychology in 2015 and is currently pursuing a Masters in Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington! I found Muppies three years ago through an event in NYC before moving to Seattle and it’s been an incredibly valuable asset that gave me an opportunity to meet so many new people and learn a new city. Last year, I joined the Seattle board to help connect other young professionals to resources, mentorship opportunities, and people!

Education: BS, Rutgers University

Events Director

I am a Product Manager at Amazon, working with technology and science to prevent unsafe and counterfeit products from being shipped to customers. I graduated from University of California Davis in 2015 with degrees in Economics and Political Science. I am passionate about giving back to the Muslim community. Upon moving to Seattle 4 years ago, I was fortunate to receive a supportive professional network from the Muppies community. Being able to speak with individuals with a similar professional and cultural background as myself helped me pursue the career path I wanted. Now as a board member, I am passionate about providing new members opportunities to speak with more seasoned professionals.

Education: BA, Economics and Political Science, University of California Davis

Events Director

Alishba is a Technical Product Manager at Microsoft in Cloud and Enterprise Group, specifically working on solving problems in big data and analytics space.

Education: BS, Computer Science, University of Maryland College Park

Co-President, San Francisco

UC Berkeley graduate in Computer Science. Tech industry professional. Involved in multiple organizations in leadership roles. Passionate about software engineering, business/product development, working with people. Enthusiastic about leadership, personal growth, and taking on new challenges. Looking to continue community involvement after college, want to grow my leadership skills and social impact.

Education: BA, UC Berkeley

Events Director

I completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Malaysia and then began working full-time at an early-stage, yCombinator-backed education tech startup called Cambly. As Operations Manager, I work on solving lots of different problems, from setting up our recruiting process to managing all of our international AP requests to establishing and improving our student support team. I chose to volunteer with Muppies because I wanted to be more involved in the Bay Area Muslim community. Right when I moved to the Bay in 2014, I attended a Muppies picnic and appreciated meeting different people and expanding what I knew of the professional world.

Education: BA in Spanish Language with Economics minor, Smith College

Toronto Executive Committee Member / Event Director

Hassan Bhatti is technology entrepreneur with broad technical and business knowledge along with proven ability to take incredibly hard technical ideas and commercializing them. He is currently co-founder of CryptoNumerics, a venture backed start-up helping organizations do privacy protected analytics across independent decentralized datasets in a secure fashion.

Education: BSc in physics and economics from University of British Columbia.

Toronto Executive Committe Member / Event Director 

Eiraj Sohail is currently an investment professional who works for a large canadian pension plan within the private equity group. Eiraj is one of the co-founders of Muppies Toronto.

Education: BA, Honours Economics and Finance, Wilfrid Laurier University

Toronto Executive Committe Member / Event Director

Ali Ladha is an investment professional who works in sell side-equity research covering Canadian media and telecom at BMO Capital Markets. 

Education: CPA, CA, CFA

Toronto Executive Committee Member / Event Director 

Summaiya Shaikh is a marketing specialist for Xtalks, the leading provider of webinar production and news publication for the life industry. She manages market strategy, media campaigns and client support. 

When she’s not working or spending time with her family, Summaiya enjoys reading, travelling, and being involved with initiatives that empower and educate individuals.

Toronto Executive Committee Member  / Event Director 

Jibran is currently an investment professional working in the real estate investment analysis department at Walmart Canada, overseeing the portfolio of stores. 

Education: Honours Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting, McMaster University 

President

Tasawar runs a growth strategy and advisory platform, and also holds the responsibility of being the board advisor to Eminence Investments, an Abu Dhabi based family office and MI Ventures, a New York based private equity venture firm. Tasawar was formerly Founder and Managing Partner of Basirah, a boutique consulting firm, where he successfully executed third party business development, placement and consulting services. Prior to establishing Basirah, he set up the Middle East desk of CF Consulting, where he successfully worked with major financial institutions, family offices and sovereign wealth funds across the GCC. Tasawar established his career in London working as a highly technical derivatives consultant to quantitative analyst and financial engineers at leading hedge funds and financial institutions across United Kingdom and Europe.

Education: MEng, University of Bristol

Vice President

I am a dynamic leader with 12+ years of experience in the clean energy and technology space, currently serving as the Managing Director in the MENA region for the clean energy consultancy, Energetics. I led the launch of Energetics’ first international office in Dubai in late 2015, and previously was based at the company headquarters in the Washington DC area. My background includes 12+ years of experience supporting the development of a variety of clean energy technologies, programs, and best practices. In the United States, I provided strategy, project management and technical analysis consulting support to mostly U.S. government clients. More recently in the MENA region, I have have led projects working with clients in the GCC. I am an engineer by training, with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. I am also certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Energy Manager (CEM), and Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP).

Education: BS, University of California, Davis; MS, University of California, Santa Barbara

Events Director

Daniel is a Senior Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Office – UAE and works for the world’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence. He was previously part of the FinTech team at Deloitte UK, where he advised financial services clients on the impact of exponential technologies to their businesses. Daniel is a co-founder of the Islamic Finance & Ethics Society at the University of London, and is currently working with Finocracy to explore and develop solutions that will disrupt the Islamic finance industry.

Education: BSc, King’s College London

Membership Director

Nadia is a Finance Controller for DNA Health Medical Center LLC. Previously, she worked in Bank of America’s distressed assets group.

Education: BS, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; MS, DePaul University

Community Director

Waseem is a Senior Manager, Fixed Income and Structured Products at Ajman Bank’s Treasury & Capital Markets Division focusing on fixed income, investments, capital market activities, and structured products. Previously, Waseem was an Investment Analyst at Barwa Bank in Qatar.

Education: BS, DePaul University

Marketing Director

Farida is a Public Relations and Marketing professional. She started her career with Burj Al Arab in Dubai and from there moved into PR and Communications. She worked with multinational WPP agencies H+K Strategies and MSLGROUP where she consulted on a number of public and private sector clients. Afterwards, Farida was the PR and Social Media Specialist for Canon ME, managing the brand’s communications function across two geographical regions. Her love for philanthropy saw her elected twice as the Secretary General of an NGO in Dubai.

Education: The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, World Media Academy – EMDI Institute of Media and Communication