Iyad Malas, a director since July 2021, is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in various senior roles, spanning many countries and industries, including real estate, retail, leisure and entertainment, financial services, Industrial businesses and investments. Since August 2020, he has been the Chief Executive Officer of Al Ghurair Group, one of the largest family conglomerates in the UAE focused on businesses spanning manufacturing, real estate and banking. From May 2015 to May 2020, Iyad was a partner at Gateway Partners, a PE Fund focused on investing in East Asia, South Asia, Middle East and Africa. From April 2009 to May 2015, he was CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Group, one of the largest family conglomerates in the Middle East operating extensive businesses in real estate, hospitality, retail and leisure & entertainment in 15 international markets including the iconic Mall of the Emirates and the Carrefour franchise and from 2007 to 2009 he was Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim Trust. Mr. Malas served as Regional Director, South Asia for the International Finance Corporation from 2004 to 2007. Mr. Malas is currently a board member of three listed companies, Mashreq Bank and National Cement Company in the UAE and BinDawood Holding in Saudi Arabia. He has lived in Lebanon, the United States, India, Egypt and the UAE. He is a CFA charter holder and holds an MBA from The George Washington University School of Business and a BA from the American University of Beirut.
Richard Berman, a director since July 2021, has a career spanning over 35 years of venture capital, senior management and merger and acquisitions experience. In the past five years, Mr. Berman has served as a director and/or officer of over a dozen public and private companies. From 2006-2011, he was Chairman of National Investment Managers, a company with $12 billion in pension administration assets. Mr. Berman currently serves as a director of four public healthcare companies: Cryoport Inc., Advaxis, Inc., BioVie, Inc. and BriaCell Therapeutics. Recently, he became a director of Comsovereign Holding Corp, a leader in the drone market. From 2002 to 2010, he was a director at Nexmed Inc. (now Apricus Biosciences, Inc.) where he also served as Chairman/CEO in 2008 and 2009. From 1998-2000, he was employed by Internet Commerce Corporation (now Easylink Services) as Chairman and CEO and served as director from 1998-2012. Previously, Mr. Berman worked at Goldman Sachs, was Senior Vice President of Bankers Trust Company, where he started the M&A and Leveraged Buyout Departments, created the largest battery company in the world in the 1980s by merging Prestolite, General Battery and Exide to form Exide Technologies (XIDE), helped to create what is now Soho (NYC) by developing five buildings, and advised on over $4 billion of M&A transactions (completed over 300 deals). He is a past Director of the Stern School of Business of NYU where he obtained his B.S. and M.B.A. He also has US and foreign law degrees from Boston College and The Hague Academy of International Law, respectively.
Gavin Teo, a director since July 2021, has been a General Partner at Altara Ventures since September 2020, where he focuses on early-stage investments in Southeast Asia technology. From May 2016 to April 2020, he served as General Partner at B Capital Group, a global venture growth fund where he led the firm’s investment committee and managed investments in digital health and consumer internet. Earlier in his career, from February 2012 to May 2016, Gavin was an investor at Comcast Ventures, and earlier a product manager at Zynga and a management consultant at Bain & Company. Gavin currently serves on boards of Sampingan, a blue-collar job platform in Indonesia, Clevai Edtech Group, an education technology company in Vietnam, and Galen Growth, a global healthcare technology incubator. He previously served on the boards of Atomwise, AImotive, Bright.md, Fishbrain and SilverCloud Health. Gavin earned his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar, and holds a B.A. in Economics from Claremont McKenna College.
Number and terms of office of officers and directors
Our board of directors may be divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being appointed in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Gavin Teo, will expire at our first general annual meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Iyad Malas and Richard Berman, will expire at our second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Julie Abraham and Asar Mashkoor, will expire at our third annual general meeting.
Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.
Our Sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for appointment to our board of directors, as long as the Sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.