General Support Committee

General Support Committee

o    Sharon Abercia, Houston, TX

o    George Akiki, San Francisco, CA

o    Mireille Eid Ayoub, Los Angeles, CA

o    Nada Nassar Baaklini, Washington, DC

o    Attorney Joey Chbeir, Birmingham, AL

o    Pierre Chelala, Cleveland, OH

o    Ray Hachem, M.D., Houston, TX

o    Nadim Haddad, M.D., Washington, DC

o    Amine Harb, Orlando, FL

o    Fredrick Hayek, M.D., Canton, OH

o    George Jabbour, Ph.D., McLean, VA

o    Karim Jaude, Los Angeles, CA

o    Attorney Richard Karam, San Antonio, TX

o    Adib Kassis, Manhattan, NY

o    Joseph Maroun, San Francisco, CA

o    Eunice Mazloom, Washington, DC

o    Imad Mufarrej, M.D., Washington, DC

o    Attorney Philip C. Nessralla Jr., Brockton, MA

o    Nick Shwayri, Richmond Hill, GA

o    Haleem Zihenni, Scarsdale, NY

Sharon Abercia, Houston, TX

Sharon Abercia is Senior Trader at Tri-Coastal Energy Partners, LLC, Houston, Texas area.

Former president and current board member of the Southern Federation of Syrian Lebanese American Clubs, Inc.

George Akiki, San Francisco, CA

George Akiki leads Strategic Planning and Operations for Cisco Services. George is a change agent whose 15-year career at Cisco spanned multiple leadership roles in areas facing rapid transformation. George held various roles in engineering with titles spanning from Technical Manager to Director of Program Management & Operations and acted as Chief of Staff on many leadership teams.

Akiki also led Strategic Planning for Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility and was sponsor representative for Cisco’s Impact investments in the MENA region. His stint in Corporate Affairs was triggered by initially being selected to lead “Partnership for Lebanon” initiated by the CEO John Chambers which later evolved into an International assignment to lead CSR for Middle East and Africa which included building scalable, replicable, & sustainable solutions to help the people of the region find the path to long term stability and economic growth.

This allowed for a firsthand experience of the human side of Cisco which has made him an avid believer in the power and importance of corporate social responsibility and the effect of Impact investment on economic development and job creation.

Prior to joining Cisco, George served as director of program management at Ramp Networks preceded by engineering management roles at Nortel (Bay) Networks. He received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Graduate electrical engineering degree from Ohio State University, and an MBA from Golden Gate University. 

Akiki is co-founder and President of LebNet, a Lebanese American high tech professional society in Silicon Valley. In 2011, George and his family relocated back to the USA following a 3-year assignment in Lebanon.

Mireille Eid Ayoub, Los Angeles, CA

Mireille Eid Ayoub was born as the youngest of 4 children to Maroun Eid and Rosette Farhat. Maroun Eid stemmed from Bikfaya, and Rosette had her roots implanted in Hammana. Although Mireille grew up in Achrafieh, she kept both Bikfaya and Hammana close to her heart.

Mireille attended Ecole Soeurs des Saints-Coeurs and later received her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from St. Joseph University. Mireille spent numerous years working with the St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Organization in Beirut.

In 1981, Mireille married Elias Ayoub, and emigrated to Cypress, California. They have 5 children: Rosana, Diana, Tamara, Nassif-Marc and Fahed-Noel. Mireille has been a strong driving force behind her childrens’ education; she has dedicated her life to ensuring that they were instilled with the same values she was taught by her parents: values of family, education, and faith.

Mireille has been very involved in chairing many church events, such as many Mar Maroun celebrations for the Our Lady of Mt Lebanon Cathedral and the NAM Regional Convention in Los Angeles in 2009. In 2011, Mireille and Elias were honored to receive the Knight and Dame of St. Gregory. Mireille loves participating in cultural events and enjoys spending summers in her hometown in Lebanon.

Nada Nassar Baaklini, Washington, DC

Attorney Joey Chbeir, Birmingham, AL

Pierre Chelala, Cleveland, OH
Born in Lebanon, arrived in Cleveland Ohio on January, 30th 1980. Graduate of Cleveland State University with a bachelor of science in business administration. Married with 3 children. Currently president and CEO of Global Financial Corp. specializing in sub-prime auto loans. Member of National Independent Dealers Association (NIDA), member of the (BBB), 2009 quality of the year dealer honoree. Board member of (HSUF) Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USA). Has been very active in the local community. Early on, he recognized that Northeast Ohio had a significant Lebanese Christian community who were members of one of the three churches in the area. Independently, the members of these churches did much to support the local community, recognizing that if the whole community could be brought together, they could form a more effective group and do more good work for the community. He helped form an organization to bring the community together so that all of the Lebanese Americans in the area could maintain, celebrate, and pass along their traditions and beliefs and offer their sons and daughters all of the positive aspects of their heritage, and perform civic and charitable works in the area. He served as the first President of NOLAA and continues to serve actively on the board of the organization.

Ray Hachem, M.D., Houston, TX

FIDSA. is a Professor of Medicine and Director of Extramural Education Program in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control and Employee health at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Hachem earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His M.D. was received from the University of Santiago, where he also completed his internship. Dr. Hachem joined M. D. Anderson in March 1988 as a fellow and currently he serves as Principal Investigator on a number of protocols. He has received numerous national scientific and professional honors. He is also a Co-Inventor on several U. S. patents which have been granted. Dr Hachem has authored over 150 peer reviewed articles published in prestigious journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, and Cancere. Dr. Hachem is currently examining new strategies for the management of device related infections by lock therapy or coating catheters with unique antiseptic combinations. Dr. Hachem served as the chairman of the Division of Internal Medicine Research Committee.The national president of the American Lebanese Medical Association (ALMA).The director of the World Institute of Medical Education (WIME). He also serves on the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Research Grant (IRG) Committee, and the Ad Hoc Committee of the Infection Control Committee for the Prevention of Fungal Infections. He is an active member of the Harris County Medical Society, Texas Infectious Diseases (TIDS), American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

Nadim Haddad, M.D., Washington, DC

Dr. Haddad completed his fellowship training at Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Haddad specializes in curative techniques for reflux disease utilizing the latest techniques in endoscopy including Endoscopic Ultrasound, Stretta, and wireless capsule technology. Dr. Haddad has completed research studies involving oncology and GI cancers. His experience includes teaching positions with Yale University and Georgetown University.

Amine Harb, Orlando, FL

Amine Harb, President of Harbco, has over 25 years’ experience in the Construction, Engineering and Land Development Industry. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil

Engineering, a Professional Engineer license and is a certified General Contractor.

Actively supporting both his profession and community, Amine has served as President of different non-profit organizations.

Because of his dedication, Mr. Harb has received several awards and recognitions, including The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Amine, along with his wife Paula and three sons, resides in Orlando Florida.

Fredrick Hayek, M.D., Canton, OH

Dr. Fredrick Charbel Hayek is a first generation Lebanese-American. He completed his primary education in Canton, Ohio.  However, he went to high school and University in Lebanon. He graduated from the American University Of Beirut in 1974.  He then went to France for his first year of Medicine at the University of Marseille, and completed his Medical training for the next five years at the University Of Rome, in Italy. After that, he returned to the United States for his residency and post graduate medical training at Youngstown, Ohio, and in Chicago, Illinois.

He has been a practicing physician in Ohio for the past 28 years. During this time, he was involved in numerous clinical and pharmaceutical studies, and participated in staffing medical practice improvement, and quality assurance committees, as well.

Having spent much of his formal education in Lebanon and abroad, he was increasingly aware of the important role Lebanon played in the Middle East. He believes the uniqueness of the country stems from the Christian presence there. If it were not for the Christian presence, the area, and Lebanon in particular would be a vastly different place.

We take it for granted the singularity of Lebanon. Dr. Hayek studied and read many books and anthologies about the history of Lebanon, and specifically those of mountains of Lebanon and came to realize early on that the aspirations and battles that were waged were those of freedom.

George Jabbour, Ph.D., McLean, VA

Dr. George Jabbour is the Associate Dean for Executive Education and Professor of Finance at The George Washington University School of Business. He has been a consultant and conducting professional training for the World Bank Group in Washington DC (USA), Vienna (Austria) and Islamabad (Pakistan), for The International Training Banking Center in Budapest (Hungary), the Center of Excellence in Management in Kuwait, and for Kipco Asset Management Group (KAMCO) in Kuwait. He was a Visiting Professor at Franklin College in Lugano (Switzerland), Dongseo University (South Korea), Holy Spirit University-Kaslik, and Sorbonne University in Paris (France). He developed curriculum for BBA and Msc degrees in business and finance. He has several publications in professional refereed journals. He co-authored “The Option Trader Handbook” for trade adjustments. His research papers were presented in the US and around the world. He is a member of several leading professional finance organizations He is a member of the editorial advisory board of two journals. Four of his co-authored papers won the best paper award. He has received several Teaching Excellence Awards. He participated in the Forum for Democracy and Development in Doha (Qatar), in the Education without Borders and the Festival of Thinkers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai (United Arab Emirates.) In addition to his academic career, Dr. Jabbour is very active in equity and derivatives trading. He was Senior Financial Analyst at Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and a consultant to several American corporations and international organizations. He is Managing Director of Global Asset Management Inc., President of Global Finance Associates, Inc; Advisor to the CEO of NGP V Real Estate Fund, and a Board member of Energy Research Solutions. He has a Ph.D. in Finance, an MBA in Finance, a BBA in Marketing, and BS in Mathematics.

Karim Jaude, Los Angeles, CA

Founder, President/ CEO at KAJ Financial Corp/ Dynamics Capital Group.

Karim Jaude, your partner in real estate, has founded and operated 19 successful companies in 8 countries. He made his first million by the age of 26, buying and fixing up distressed properties and businesses.
For over 40 years, Karim has developed, invested, financed, brokered, managed, and consulted in real estate properties in 8 countries.
Karim enjoys tennis, skiing, reading, traveling and is passionate about helping others.
Most importantly, for almost 40 years, Karim has committed—and never failed—to help at least one person every single day.

Attorney Richard Karam, San Antonio, TX

Birth: 5-31-43, San Antonio; 2nd generation Lebanese-American; Ancestral Village, Father, Mazaraat Et-Toufeh; Mother, Beirut and Amchit. Education: Rice U., Houston 1961; U. of Houston, B.S. In Pharmacy 1967; St. Mary’s U. School of Law, JD 1973 - Magna Cum Laude. Licensed: TX State Bar, 1973. Admitted: TX state courts, U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th and 11th Appellant Circuits; U.S. District Court, Western District TX; U.S. Tax Court; TX; TX Board of Pharmacy, Inactive status. Legal Memberships: Fellow, TX Bar Foundation; Member, San Antonio Bar Foundation, San Antonio Bar Assoc.; Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity; State Bar of TX; Board of Director, St. Mary's University School of Law Alumni Assoc. 1985-1988; Recipient, AV Rating by Martindale-Hubbell, 15 consecutive yrs. Legal Practice - San Antonio: King, Joseph & Bacuum 1973-1975; Nicholas & Barrera 1975-1980; Karam, Naranjo & Kruger 1980-1992; Law Office of Richard J. Karam 1992-Present. Family: Married 1975 to Peggy Bahia Anawaty, Houston; 2 children: (1) Jessica, 36, Attorney, married to Brian Thomas Oley; 2 children, Jude Thomas, age 4, and Margaret Brin, age 7 mos.; & (2) Joseph R. Karam, M.D., 35 single, completing 5th year surgical residency, UAB. Religious: St. George Maronite Catholic Church, San Antonio; Parish Council & Stewardship since 1973; Member, Eparchial Stewardship Council, Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, 2001 - present; Legal counsel, St. George Maronite Church (since 19750), Eparchy of Our Lady Of Lebanon & Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn. Recipient of the Maronite Patriarchal Award, 1999, Silver Massabki Award, 2002. Organizations: ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, National Committee Member, 1999-2002; Board of Directors/Governors, 2002-2012; Emeritus Director/Governor, 2012-Present. Southern Federation of Syrian Lebanese American Clubs: Executive Board, Vice-President, 1991, President, 1992. Southern Federation Foundation, Inc.; Trustee/Governor, 2003; President, 2008-Present. President and Director of several business and nonprofit corporations, including: Maronite Research Institute, Director 1996 - 2005; International Maronite Foundation, 1997 - present.

Adib C. Kassis, Manhattan, NY

An MBA graduate from St. Joseph’s University in Lebanon.

Recipient of the following honors:

- Ellis Island Medal of Honor 1997

- St. Gregory the Great Commander title in 1997, awarded by His Holiness Pope John Paul II

- Cross of Jerusalem 1997 by Patriarch Hakim

- Lebanon Presidential Order of the Cedars 2004 

And many more…

Adib serves on the following boards:

-National Ethic Coalition of org. sponsor of Ellis Island Medal of Honor

-St. Nicholas Home –New York

-Rene Moawad Foundation –Washington

-American Arab National Museum – Michigan

And others.

Joseph Maroun, San Francisco, CA

• Lives in Menlo Park, California

• Presently manager of 4 LLCs: Dough Ave. LLC, Azour LLC, Sfaray LLC, Harissa LLC

• Thirty-eight years in the baking industry with three major plants on the West Coast

• Was on the advisory board of the JFK School of Government, Harvard for 8 years

• Was on the Board of Trustees at LAU in Lebanon for 13 years

• Presently on the advisory board of the Buck Institute (Research on Aging), Novato, California

• Began as an aviator with the FAA (Federal Aviation Agency) and Pan American for eight years

• Majored in Aeronautical Engineering at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics

• Studied at the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics and graduated with a commercial pilot, instrument rated, multiengine and air transport rating.

Eunice Mazloom, Washington, DC

BS in Facilities Management from Cornell University, 1990. Lives with husband and three children in Arlington, VA. A Volunteer for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for 18 years. Serves on the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) Leadership Council for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Imad Mufarrij, M.D., Washington, DC

Dr. Imad Mufarrij is a clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and co-director of the minimally invasive surgery fellowship at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is also the director of OB/GYN education and clinical clerkships at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is active in the field of women's health and lectures nationally and internationally on a host of subjects in the field.

 Dr. Mufarrij is past president of the Washington Chapter of the American University of Beirut Alumni Association. He co-founded and co-chairs "Min Ajl Lubnan" at the University of Maryland, an organization focused on the dissemination of the works of such masters as Khalil Gibran and Amin Rihani in the United States. He also serves on the board of directors of the American Foundation for Saint George Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. Dr. Mufarrij served on the governor's commission for women's health in Maryland. He is the recipient of several excellence in teaching awards. In 2007, he received the Montgomery county executive's community service award. He is listed among the top doctors by Checkbooks magazine, among America's top OBGYN's by The Consumer Research Counsel of America and as one of Washington's top doctors by Washingtonian Magazine.

Attorney Philip C. Nessralla Jr., Brockton, MA

Philip Nessralla resides in Brockton, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the New England School of Law and maintains a private practice in the Boston area. He is also the City Solicitor of Brockton, the chief legal advisor of the fourth largest municipality in Massachusetts. He also serves on several boards of charitable groups and is a member of various Lebanese organizations.

Nick Shwayri, Richmond Hill, GA
Nick was born and raised in Senegal until the age of 8 when his family moved to Lebanon.

In 1983, he came to Boston where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management. After a career of 10 years in the electric power industry in Massachusetts, he moved back to Lebanon in 1995 with his wife and children where he worked with a general contractor for around 3 years, and then joined the paper industry and managed a paper mill for over 10 years. In 2007, he and his family returned to the USA to work with the INDEVCO Group in Savannah, GA. He currently holds the title of Vice President of Global Commerce, where he manages much of the company’s Corporate Procurement and Mill Sales operations.

Haleem Zihenni, Scarsdale, NY

Haleem Zihenni received a papal award from Pope John Paul II for his support for St. Ignatius Maronite Church in Dayton Ohio.

He is president of the building fund committee (from its inception in 2008 to present) for the Maronite Mission in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York.

Haleem raised $1.5 million for the acquisition of the Immaculate Conception Church in Sleepy Hollow; anticipated to close on said purchase in June 2014.

Mr. Zihenni personally funded and built a brand new church: Mar Abda Church, in Toula, Batroun, at a construction cost of $3 million. The construction started in 2005 and was completed in 2010.

Back to All Bios