George Boutros is Chief Executive Officer at Qatalyst Partners, having joined as a Partner in 2010. Prior to joining Qatalyst, George was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse where he most recently served as Chairman of its Global Technology Group and Chairman of its Global Healthcare Group, and also served as Vice Chairman of its Corporate and Investment Banking department. Prior to that, George held a number of positions with Credit Suisse, including Co-Head of Global Technology Banking and Co-Head of Global Mergers and Acquisitions. Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 1998, George was a Managing Director with Deutsche Bank Securities and Head of its Technology Group's Global Mergers & Acquisitions activities. Prior to Deutsche Bank, George was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, heading M&A activities in the western United States. George received his B.S. in Civil Engineering and M.S. in Structural Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and his M.B.A. from UCLA's Anderson School of Management.
Raymond Debbane is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Invus Group LLC, a multi-billion New York-based investment firm active in LBOs, venture capital, hedge funds and public stocks. Prior to forming The Invus Group in 1985, he was a manager for The Boston Consulting Group in Paris, France. Raymond holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, an M.S. in Food Science and Technology from the University of California, Davis and a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences and Agricultural Engineering from the American University of Beirut. Raymond is the Chairman of WeightWatchers International, Inc.
Fuad Sawaya is a Managing Director and co-founder of Sawaya Segalas & Co LLC, a New York-based investment banking firm focused exclusively on the Consumer Products industry. Prior to co-founding the firm in 2001, he was head of the middle market Consumer Group at J.P. Morgan and head of the Consumer Products Group at PaineWebber Incorporated. In the last twenty years, Fuad has provided M&A advice and overseen the completion of over one hundred and forty M&A transactions. He holds a B.S. from the American University of Beirut, and an M.B.A from Columbia University.
Dr. Rami Zurayk is a Professor at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and director of the Interfaculty Graduate Environmental Sciences Program at the American University of Beirut. Having graduated from AUB and Oxford University, he has extensive experience of rural development in the Arab World and specializes in smallholder agriculture, food security and sovereignty and landscape analysis. Rami is a founding member of the Lebanese Organic Agriculture Association, Slow Food Beirut and the Arab Food Sovereignty Network. He has published over a hundred articles and monographs and his latest book, Food, Farming and Freedom, was published by Just World Books.