BrazilFour new Middle East Partners for PwC Advisory and Strategy&
Global professional services firm PwC has at the start of its current financial year promoted four professionals in the Middle East to Partner level. Homyar Buhariwalla and Jawad Khan both sit within PwC Advisory, operating in the Consulting and Deals practices respectively, while Frederic Ozeir and Marwan Bejjani both serve Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting outfit.
The promotions of the four senior advisors are part of a wider promotion round at PwC Middle East, which saw 13 new Partners join its partnership, taking the total number of Partners in the region up to 220. Together, they lead a workforce of around 4,200 people across offices in Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
According to Hani Ashkar, a Senior Partner at PwC Middle East, the newly elected partners bring with them a broad range of skills and experiences, reflecting the firm’s commitment to meeting the ever-evolving needs of its clients. “Together, they reflect a new wave of dedication and commitment to delivering above and beyond results that will help us ensure continued success for our clients, our business and the wider Middle East economy.”
Among the new Partners are four professionals that serve PwC’s advisory and consultancy business.
Homyar Buhariwalla has been with the consulting arm of PwC since 2008, when he joined from Hewitt Associates (currently Aon Hewitt – the HR consultancy arm of Aon). At the Big Four firm, Buhariwalla, who is based in the UAE, ascended through the ranks from Manager to most recently Director. In the summer of this year he was promoted to Partner – he specialises in large scale business transformations, performance improvement, project management and digital, serving both the public and private sector in the MENA region.
After spending six years in London with, Jawad Khan relocated to PwC’s office in Dubai in 2011, at the time serving as a Manager in the firm’s Debt & Capital Advisory service. Following a one and a half year spell as Group Head of Finance at Bukhatir Group, with 5,000 employees one of the larger conglomerates in the UAE active in a variety of sectors, Khan re-joined PwC in February 2015 in the role of Director. Kan has over 15 years of experience capital advisory services including strategic and financial reviews, debt restructuring, refinancing, capital raising, as well as in the execution of turnaround management plans. Khan currently leads the PwC Debt & Capital Advisory offering (part of the Deals business unit) line across the MENA region.
Frederic Ozeir has been with Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company, since 2005, remaining faithful to the the strategy consultancy following the acquisition by PwC. He is a member of the firm’s Energy, chemicals, and utilities practice in the Middle East. Ozeir, who holds a master’s degree in management from HEC Graduate School of Management in Paris and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Saint-Joseph University, specialises in corporate strategy development, mergers and acquisitions, and operating model design.
Following roles at Goldman Sachs and Lebanese group Dar Al Handasah, Marwan Bejjani joined Strategy& in 2009. He is a member of the firm’s Engineered products and services practice. Bejjani specialises in the aviation, infrastructure and construction sectors. He holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the American University of Beirut, a post-graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University.
Leadership additions
Last year, PwC Middle East appointed a record number of 38 new Partners, of which nine were based in PwC Consulting (Ahmad AbuHantash, Bashar El-Jawhari, Hamish Clark, Hannes Reinisch, Karl Mackenzie, Michael H Burns, Mona AbouHana, Muhannad Alqadoumi and Tim Wilson) and seven in PwC Deals (Erwan Colder, Kenny Linn, Maria Lalousis, Martin Jacobs, Nick E Robinson, Romil Radia and Thomas Emmet).
Strategy&’s FY2016 intake of new Partners tallied nine: Amr Goussous, Hicham Fadel and Mahmoud Makki (all three focus on Communications, media and technology), Karim Abdallah and Marc-Albert Hamalian (both serve the Family businesses, investments and real estate practice), Fadi Adra and Karim Aly (focus on Public sector) and James Thomas and Raed Kombargi (both operate in the Energy, chemicals and utilities wing).
Earlier this year, strategy consultancy The Boston Consulting Group, one of Strategy&’s main rivals together with McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company, named four new partners in the Middle East: Shelly Trench, Giovanni Moscatelli and César Sánchez (all promoted) and Arun Bruce (relocated from BCG India). Meanwhile, Oliver Wyman poached Luis Cirne from Delta Partners to joins its Communications, Media and Technology (CMT) practice, based in Dubai.
Related: PwC Middle East grows revenue by 7% and headcount to 4,200.
