Ziad Hayek is Secretary General of the Higher Council for Privatization of the Republic of Lebanon. Mr. Hayek has worked on reforming the country’s power and telecoms sectors and has championed the enactment of Private-Public Privatization (PPP) legislation, and is currently negotiating with the United Nations to establish an International Center for PPP Excellence in Lebanon.

Mr. Hayek is the Chairman of Alephbet Foundation, which aims to establish the Museum and Institute of the Alphabet in Byblos. He is a partner of Hayek Associates, a boutique investment banking advisory firm. Mr. Hayek serves on the boards of CAT International Ltd., and of Sté. des eaux de Tarshish, SAL, a bottler of mineral water. Mr. Hayek is the representative of the Fundación Carlos Slim in Lebanon and, as result, is a member on the boards of numerous Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) financed by the Foundation. He is responsible for various projects from sports facilities to the development of the Beirut Karantina Hospital wing for premature babies.

Before coming to Lebanon, Mr. Hayek was Chief Executive of Lonbridge Associates Ltd., a telecom and technology investment banking firm; Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co.; President of Banque Indosuez Mexico, S.A. (Mexico City); Vice President at Salomon Brothers in charge of investment banking for northern Latin America (New York); and Vice President of Citibank, NA (New York).

Between 1984 and 1997, Mr. Hayek served on a number of corporate boards in the US, Mexico and Switzerland. He was a consultant for the U.S. State Department and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1995 to 2010.

Mr. Hayek has an MA in International Management from the University of Texas at Dallas, a BBA from the University of Houston, and has studied business administration at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, in Mexico. He has taught International Finance at Université La Sagesse and has spoken extensively at professional, academic and political conferences, seminars and workshops – in Lebanon and internationally. Mr. Hayek speaks 11 languages.