CHAIRMAN – Dr Hisham Dafterdar

Dr Hisham Dafterdar is an Australian finance expert based in Middle East. He graduated from Curtin University, Australia and is a member of CPA Australia.

Dr Dafterdar is an experienced Islamic banker with more than 20 years practice. He served the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia as Business Development Manager in the Islamic Financial Services Department, where his responsibility included Management of the Awqaf Investment Fund, and development of Awqaf commercial projects and investments. He represented IDB on the board of banks and investment companies, and served as a member of the Product Development Committee of the International Islamic Financial Market in Bahrain. He was also a Senior Advisor at Bank Al-Khair, Bahrain, leading a team on the development of Awqaf properties and advising on all matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, product development and endowment funds.

He is also a consultant with the International Institute of Islamic Waqf. He is also the Middle East Regional representative of the World Zakat Organization, Malaysia, and a founding member of the Ummah Development Waqf, Bahrain.

Dr. Dafterdar authored and delivered a number of research papers and speeches at conferences and served as panelist and discussant at international seminars and roundtables on awqaf and Islamic banking