ACIE Global Accelerator

attending law school. Together with his father he formed Guardian Title & Guaranty Agency while still a student. Guardian Title grew to be one of the largest title agencies in Greater Cleveland. Subsequently, Mr. Asher formed Weston Inc., an industrial real estate ownership firm that is the largest owner of industrial property in Northeast Ohio. Upon retiring in 1999, Mr. Asher passed the company on to his three sons Edward, James, and TJ, and two daughters Michelle and Suzanne. The company thrives under their ownership today, with Mr. Asher still serving as Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Asher is also the owner of Graystone Properties Inc., a real estate development company located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. His invaluable experience is an asset to the Board and the Audit and Compensation Committees he serves.

for the offline world.  Nagi Salloum is a growth expert in Silicon Valley, mentor, trainer and advisor to 300+ startups from several top global accelerators, including 500 Startups, YC, Techstars, Stanford, StartX and dozens more . He is a Global Full-Stack Growth Mentor for 500 Startups. His clients have exited or raised an estimated $90M+ in capitalNagi is also a serial entrepreneur, having launched and sold several startups, formerly the founder and CEO of Loomni.com, a global on-demand marketing platform based out of Silicon Valley. He’s also the lead trainer of Loomni Academy having taught more than 8,000 startups, both online and in dozens of cities around the world.
Prior to that he was the acting CMO at Tango, a unicorn and world’s largest video calling app. Before moving to the US, Nagi was the CMO at N2V, one of the largest tech investment group in the Middle East, the first regional marketing executive at Google handling 32 countries, and a regional brand manager at Procter and Gamble.
Nagi holds a BE in electrical engineering from AUB with emphasis in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, an MBA from Michael Smurfit business school in Ireland, and marketing executive education from Harvard.

in creating, building and leading ventures in industry verticals ranging from Human Resources / Employee benefits to business outsourcing, from food service to corporate payments and from digital health to nutrition. He has been involved in various mergers and acquisition, working towards integration of teams, bridging cultural differences and focusing on road map execution. Prior to coming to the United States in 1991, Gérard has worked in Europe, the Middle East and carried business projects in Asia.
At his last venture, Gérard created a digital nutritional platform where an ecosystem of stakeholders from different industries ( payers, employers, consumer goods, growers, associations, not for profits…) came together to help consumers become more aware of food purchases quality and their impact on health outcomes.

Gérard has served on board of directors of various groups including Group purchase organizations, Trade associations and is currently an adviser to start ups.

Gérard holds a Master of Science from the University of Montpellier (France)

Gérard lives in Newton MA with his family.

and MBA graduate from McGill University, Canada, having worked in systems design and project management before moving to Switzerland in 1999 and switching to a banking and finance career, earning the CFA qualification in 2003. In 2010, he returned to Lebanon as an independent business consultant and financial advisor, taking more and more of an interest in start-ups and early-stage ventures as an advisor, coach, and mentor, helping entrepreneurs preparing their journey from ideation to full-fledged commercial operation.  Today Raja is very familiar with the entire entrepreneurship, angel investing and venture capital ecosystem in Lebanon, also trying to bridge the gap between Lebanese and Swiss ecosystems as head of the Innovation and Technology Pole at the Swiss Business Council of Lebanon. Raja also manages a micro-credit institution in Lebanon, granting small loans to individuals and micro-entreprises under a BDL license.

change and growth in academic, corporate and technology innovative fast paced entrepreneurial environments.

experience with HighTech, Telemedicine and e-Health companies (Andries Tek, Nasa MCTTC, USIS, ARIG).  Director of product development and technology transfer for Telemedicine applications at Andries Tek and Nasa MCTTC. VP of Marketing and Business Development for Micro-chip based medical records with Vitalinx. Entrepreneur-in-residence at ARIG developed business model and launched medical software start-up in MENA region. Pierre holds several degree's including B. Eng (Electrical Engineering) and Masters in Engineering (Industrial) from Texas A&M University and Masters in Innovation Technology Management from Ecole Centrale de Paris in France.

financial, marketing, and
technological matters for 25 years.
Ziad advises emerging companies on strategic planning, expansion tactics, and capital raising.
He also works with entrepreneurs and investors on launching and growing new ventures. Ziad
has specific expertise in high growth and innovative companies and in helping companies scale
beyond their original geographic borders.
Ziad advises public and private companies as well as investment groups on a wide variety of
transactions and projects which include mergers and acquisitions, venture capital / private equity
investments, business expansion, joint ventures, and strategic partnerships. He is also a
recognized turnaround and restructuring expert who has revived distressed companies and
brought them back to profitability.
Ziad advises governments and international organizations on economic/cluster development,
innovation, entrepreneurship, and issues relating to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In
Lebanon, he ran the SME Programme, which was an EU-funded program with the Lebanese
government to improve the environment for SMEs through financial, service, and legal
initiatives. Ziad helped put together and launch incubators/accelerators (e.g. Berytech MatHaf,
BIAT, SouthBIC) and financing programs (e.g. Kafalat Innovative & Plus) for startups and
SMEs. Additionally, with the Partnership for Lebanon, which included Cisco Systems, Intel, and
Microsoft from the United States, Ziad was in charge of a Cisco-led venture capital fund. He also
created a microfinance program for ICT companies in remote, underserved areas.
In Lebanon, Ziad co-founded and served as Vice-Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum for the
Pan Arab Region, which promotes entrepreneurship in the Arab World. The organization
launched the MIT Arab Startup Competition.
Ziad started his career as an IT and business consultant for some of the largest companies in the
United States.
Ziad has a MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, with a concentration in corporate
finance and macroeconomics. He also received a B.S. with distinction in Computer Science (and
mathematics) from Virginia Tech University.

privacy-first ad-supported web. He previously worked on optimizing Google Cloud reliability and bridging digital advertising with the physical world.Before Google, Sami started two companies: Palette Ventures, a hands-on technology accelerator for seed-stage startups, and Ocorant, which developed a medical device for non-invasive heart disease prediction.Sami began his engineering studies at AUB and continued them at Queen's University, where he earned a PhD in Computer Science. When he is not making things for business or pleasure, you can find him with his wife on their bikes or skis trying to keep up with their two daredevil kids!

involved in sourcing and selecting the finest products and processes which has allowed us to succeed as an innovative, self-made company.
Times have certainly changed, but our promise to continue to deliver state-of-the-art goods, efficient processes and unrivaled service to all stakeholders remains strong.
As we continue to grow our operations offshore, we have fostered valuable partnerships with global networks which has given us the competitive advantage of being at the forefront of the industry when it comes to supply and distribution.
As Australia’s youngest creator of aluminium systems and manufacturing, my passion for designing exclusive aluminium profile systems and accessories has seen prosperity and continued growth for A-Tech Australia. With a team as passionate I am, we anticipate continued success for the company with rapid evolution of the industry.

and Engagement in the Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University. In her capacity as Senior Director, she is responsible for designing and developing innovative interdisciplinary programs and outreach initiatives that serve students, faculty, alumni and the Northeast Ohio business community. Colette played a leadership role in establishing the Global Business Center, Sustainable Business Center and the Professional Development Center.

world through innovation.He believes that technology can change every facet of life from education to the ways in which businesses are run. As the TMT M&A Sector leader and Partner at PwC, Marc brings a creative approach through innovative thinking by providing better solutions for his Tech clients.

Marc is passionate about helping clients in delivering shareholder value through deals, including realizing new revenue generation and cost savings, while protecting core value. He has advised corporate and private equity clients on over 50 deals in M&A diligences, integrations and divestitures.

Prior to PwC, Marc was a member of McKinsey’s Technology Accelerator practice. He has built businesses from the ground up and has co-founded and sold two internet ventures. He frequently publishes papers on M&A in the Technology sector, is a regular speaker at conferences, and organizes round table events for Corporate Development Integration leaders.

Marc is an advocate of community services and regularly volunteers for youth education. He sits on the Board of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation and leads its Innovation Committee. He has worked in Venture Philanthropy launching education and health focused initiatives and is now publishing a paper on the benefits of technology in education.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Management in Accounting and Finance from McGill University.

product that extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

He received the Agripreuneur of the year 2017 title, has been in more than 10 local and international competition, graduated from Agrytech accelerator and incubator, has experience in the food sector and food tech industry, did leadership in agriculture and economy with the IVLP program in the US, was the science union president at USEK, and worked with different research institutions abroad.

& growth strategies, speaker, advisor, 33 yrs as top executive & CEO with Reuters, Orbit-OSN-Mediagates, Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership - in 22 countries.

Chairman, Board Member, and senior member of several organizations in the US, Asia, Middle East and Central Eurasia.

Former Reuters war journalist covering various wars, writer, and scholar of leadership, strategy, policy-making and international business at Harvard, Princeton and other universities.

Currently the President and CEO of Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership (CIGL) - an advisory body and Think Tank that grew out of the study and research of its founders at Harvard and Princeton universities.

Advisor to heads or states, governments, and boards of directors.

Grand Juror at UAE President’s Government Excellence Award for top government officials. Grand Juror at Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Leadership Excellence Award.

, until recently, been Chief Technology Officer of the UK Lebanon Tech Hub, one of the leading startup accelerators in Lebanon, based in BDD.
Rawad boasts 14+ years of experience in software engineering spanning various technology leadership roles at the heart of leading enterprise software companies and advisory roles in startups at various levels.
He is a prominent panelist and judge in local startup competitions and has strong relations within the digital ecosystem in Lebanon.
Rawad is a lecturer in Software Engineering at the University of Saint Joseph in Lebanon and a certified Agile coach.
Rawad has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Saint Joseph where he graduated in 2006 at the top of his class.

and Business Professionals in the Arab World. Thousands of decision makers from different industries, including non-tech companies, connect with various opportunities inside the community on www.entreprenergy.com/fb
Since 2008, visited 20 countries as a Motivational Speaker and Trainer empowering aspiring entrepreneurs, to start their business using the Lean Methodology and bootstrapping strategies. (More than a thousand entrepreneur joined The Entrepreneurial Growth Series on www.100Days.email)
Founder and CEO of Digital Smarter, a company specialized in Customer Acquisition using Digital Marketing strategies, operating in Lebanon, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Canada. We help coaches, consultants and service providers to increase their sales by 20% in the first 3 months with a double bulletproof guarantee.
Trainer and consultant in Business Growth and Scaling Strategies.

Business (OSB), American University of Beirut and the Director of
Samih Darwazah Center for Innovation Management and
Entrepreneurship.
Dr. Azad teaches in OSB’s Executive MBA, Executive Education and
MBA programs. Bijan pioneered the popular experiential Startup
Acceleration Practicum graduate course at AUB (modeled after
Steve Blank’s Lean LaunchPad). In 2016 he designed AUB’s Scale-Up
Readiness Program that focuses on overcoming scale-up challenges
of companies wanting to exceed $5 million revenue—supported in
part by USAID. Bijan is also very active in the startup ecosystem
serving as bootcamp mentor/instructor at Flat6Labs and SPEED
accelerator, also as a mentor at the IM-Capital MIT Venture
Mentoring Service. Bijan, in 1988 was co-founder of a successful
map technology startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, GIS/Trans,
was acquired later by Google Maps. In 2001 he co-founded another
successful map technology startup International Land Information
Systems bv (acquired by ARCADIS bv 2003), in Arnhem, Netherlands.

Under his leadership, in 25 years, The Net grew from an express courier company representing SkyNet Worldwide Express into a regional group specialized in global express courier deliveries; first mile to last mile domestic & international e-commerce solutions; air, sea & ground freight-forwarding; warehousing; and other logistics services, covering the entire supply chain across various sectors and industries in the MENA region.
Besides, Mourad has been the president of the Air Express Association in Lebanon (AXAL) since 2002. He is also a member of the board of the Lebanese Businessmen Association (RDCL) and SkyNet Worldwide Express Global Board of Directors since 2007.
www.thenet.group