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Sharia Supervisory Board

View details in the Sharia Board section of the website.

Executive Chairman
Mohamad L. Hammour

Executive Chairman

Mohamad L. Hammour – Executive Chairman, Guidance Financial Group. In the past decade, Dr. Hammour has been active in various capacities in the fields of investment and business development. He is a Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and was previously on the Economics faculty of Columbia University and on the visiting faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University, as well as a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Senior Management

George S. Anderson – Head of Capital Markets, Guidance Financial Group, Ltd. Mr. Anderson has over 30 years of professional experience in the financial services sector. Mr. Anderson served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer of Ginnie Mae, a wholly-owned US government corporation, from July 1996 to October 2004. Mr. Anderson was the acting Chief Executive Officer of Ginnie Mae from May 1998 to July 2001. In recent years, Mr. Anderson has been called upon to advise numerous foreign governments in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, seeking to develop their primary and secondary mortgage markets. In his 26 years with Ginnie Mae, he has had extensive experience in areas of asset management, customer service, structured securities, security issuer and document custodian approval, and strategic and corporate planning. From 1971 to 1979, Mr. Anderson was a Financial Analyst for the New Communities Administration in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, responsible for underwriting applications for loan guaranties for large-scale, mixed-use land development projects. Mr. Anderson is a Year 2000 recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award, the highest award given to members of the Senior Executive Service. Mr. Anderson is a native of Jackson, Mississippi. He attended St. Ignatius H.S., Chicago, IL; Loyola University of Chicago, Bachelor of Business Administration; University of Chicago, MBA in Finance; and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he completed course work for a Ph.D. in Management Science, majoring in economics and finance.

Alison C. Beckner – Senior Vice President, Director of Production Operations, Guidance Residential, LLC. Ms. Beckner has over 20 years of diversified experience in the financial services arena. She has held senior management positions in both retail and mortgage banking in the areas of operations, production, sales and marketing, and technology solutions for the secondary market. Immediately prior to joining Guidance Residential, Ms. Beckner was Vice President of Operations and Marketing for Synergy One Federal Credit Union. Previously, she was a Director of Technology Solutions at Freddie Mac’s headquarters office in McLean, Virginia. Ms. Beckner has managed production operations at The Huntington Mortgage Company and Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation, both national players in residential mortgage banking. She began her financial services career at Citizens Federal Bank in Richmond, Virginia. Ms. Beckner majored in Business Administration at the University of Richmond.

Prabir Datta – Prabir Datta, Head of Investment Management, Guidance Financial Group has an extensive background in investment and risk management. Dr. Datta has previously worked at Lazard Asset Management, GE Capital and JP Morgan. He has taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona. Dr. Datta holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Illinois, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, India and a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India.

Thomas Gainor – Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Guidance Financial Group and Guidance Residential, LLC. Mr. Gainor has over 20 years of diversified professional experience. Mr. Gainor has served as Managing Partner in the London office of The International Investor (“TII”), a prominent Islamic investment bank. Prior to London, he spent four years in TII’s Kuwait based corporate headquarters where he founded that company’s fund administration unit, chaired its product development committee and had primary responsibility for its wholesale distribution strategy. Mr. Gainor is a regular speaker and author on Islamic finance. He also worked in a strategic tax planning position with FPL Group, Inc. (a Fortune 100 Company) and spent ten years in public accounting with Touche Ross & Co. Mr. Gainor is a licensed attorney in Florida, a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant. He earned his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Rhode Island and both his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from The University of Miami School of Law.

Hasnita Hashim – Head of Institutional Business at Guidance Financial Group. Dr Hashim has fourteen years financial management experience in the field of asset management, structured finance and asset securitisation. In 1998 she founded IslamiQ, the world’s first online Islamic finance portal. Dr Hashim was one of the pioneers in Islamic investment banking. From 1994 to 1998 she was the CEO of Commerce MGI Sdn Bhd (CMGI), Malaysia and a Member of the Management Committee and Relationship Director of First Islamic Investment Bank, Bahrain. CMGI successfully closed mandates of USD1 billion in Islamic financing under her leadership. Earlier, from 1992 to 1994, Dr Hashim was a senior portfolio manager with Rashid Hussain Asset Management, a premier asset management company in Malaysia where she had funds under management of US$ 200 million and where she was also actively involved in product development including Islamic equity products. She started her career with Coopers and Lybrand, London from 1988-1992 in the Actuarial Consultancy Division where she was involved in the structuring and management of pension funds and investment funds for major corporations in the UK. Dr Hashim has a BSc. In Physics from Surrey University and a Doctorate in Nuclear Physics from Oxford University. She is also an associate of the Institute of Actuaries, Staple Inn, London.

Larry M. Kershner – Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. Mr. Kershner has over 30 years experience in the financial services industry with a primary focus on secondary and capital marketing, risk management, finance and operational development. He has held executive positions with several national institutions in this arena, including Fannie Mae, PNC, KeyCorp, and Union Planters National, and has been an active senior consultant to the industry. Mr. Kershner is a past chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (“MBA”) Secondary and Capital Markets Committee, and served on the MBA’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Liaison Committees. Mr. Kershner, a Certified Public Accountant, holds a BS in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University, studied at American University Kogod Graduate School of Business and graduated from the Mortgage Banker Association of America’s School of Mortgage Banking.

Management

Haresham Baharum – Vice President, Product Development and Institutional Business, Guidance Financial Group. Mr. Baharum specializes in the development of Sharia compliant investment instruments and other capital market products. For several years prior to joining Guidance he has been involved in a close working relationship with Sharia scholars and converting Sharia decree and principles into functional and commercially viable solutions. This included leading the Sharia structuring of a US$150 million private equity fund focusing on dynamic and undervalued Asian companies in growth industries. Mr. Baharum was trained as an equity investment analyst at Prudential Portfolio Managers, London before moving into fund management with Prudential Corporation in Malaysia. He later joined the equity research team of a Kuala Lumpur stockbrokerage firm, specializing in telecommunications, media and transportation. Mr. Baharum later expanded his horizons with a boutique financial advisory firm where he was involved in several corporate finance and restructuring exercises of various multinational companies. Mr. Baharum holds a B.A. in Accounting & Finance from Lancaster University, UK.

Umar Malik – Assistant Vice President, Fulfillment, Guidance Residential, LLC. Mr. Malik is an engineering graduate having 10 years of solid experience working with the fortune 500 companies. Mr. Malik gained valuable experience at Cable & Wireless in managing activities to meet turn around time for greater customer satisfaction. He possesses strong analytical skills to seek solutions and improvement in quality control and service levels. In all of his assignments he has worked closely with senior management and customers. He was also a co-founder of a global textile business consultancy, building it from ground zero, conceptualizing and realizing successful strategic plans to generate high volume sales. Mr. Malik served as President of the International Association of Northern Arizona University and was actively involved in intercultural activities.

Hussam A. Qutub – - Director of Communications, Guidance Residential, LLC. Mr. Qutub has over five years of experience in developing effective communications strategies. Prior to joining Guidance he was a Senior Manager for the Didion Group where he provided public relations counseling to a broad range of domestic and international clients, including multinational corporations, industry associations, nonprofit organizations, emerging technology start-ups, universities, celebrities, authors, and political candidates. Mr. Qutub was successful in developing and implementing strategic communications campaigns for several American Muslim organizations including the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Islamic Free Market Institute. Prior to the Didion Group, he was a Senior Group Leader with Johnson, Tyler & Purvis PC, a strategic counsel for Phillip Morris, where he led a group of research associates in analyzing external corporate communications and marketing. Mr. Qutub is a graduate of George Mason University where he earned a B.A. in International Relations.