Board of Directors
Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha - Chairman
Occupation: Retired Civil servant and Economist
Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha is a retired civil servant and a leading economist with a PhD in Economics from Stanford University, and an M.A in Economics from University of Cambridge, U.K. He has held many notable national and international appointments including Advisor to the Prime Minister, Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Founder Chairman of the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, Vice Chancellor/President of University of Karachi, Director of the Institute of Business Administration, Assistant Administrator at the UNDP, Regional Director of Bureau for Asia and the Pacific for the UNDP, Member Board of Governors for the World Bank, and Managing Director at the Institute of Public Policy (IPP).
Ms. Rabia Khan - Director
Occupation: Gender Specialist
Ms. Rabia Khan is a lawyer by profession and also holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management from the Carnegie Mellon University, USA. Ms. Khan has worked in the field of Gender and Development for many years with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and has also worked with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Sustainable Development. Ms. Khan is based in Karachi, she retired from Development Consulting in 2018 and currently co-manages an organic farm which includes production, marketing, and sales of organic produce. Since 2004 Ms. Khan has served as Director of Kaarvan Crafts Foundation, Lahore.
Ms. Fatima Asad Khan - Director
Occupation: Chief Executive Officer Abacus Consulting
Ms. Fatima Asad Khan is an integral member of the top leadership at Abacus Consulting. Ms. Khan’s professional experience of over 24 years embodies thought leadership and delivering progressive solutions in Corporate Governance, Digital Transformation, Strategic Change, Human Capital Management, Enterprise Technology Solutions, and project leadership across multiple sectors and industries. An MBA graduate from LUMS, she started her career with Coopers & Lybrand International and then PricewaterhouseCoopers. Her leadership journey includes serving on various Boards as an independent director such as Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Faysal Bank, Kashf Foundation, Bata Pakistan, Abacus Consulting Technology (Private) Limited, Abacus ELS Pvt limited, Abacus Consulting (Private) Limited, Kaarvan Crafts Foundation and is also a member of YPO International and YPO Indus Chapter. She holds a Corporate Director Certification from Harvard Business School and is a member of the Harvard Corporate Directors, Diversity and Inclusion Hub Leadership Council, and Women Executives on Boards Ms. Fatima Asad Khan forums.
Mr. Arif Masud Mirza - Director
Occupation: Chartered Accountant
Mr. Arif Masud Mirza is a Chartered Accountant by profession and the Regional Head of Policy for ACCA MENASA (Middle East North Africa and South Asia) of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants since 2014. Mr. Masud has headed senior positions at various organizations; he was the Country Head of ACCA Pakistan of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and Manager Finance & company secretary at First International Investment Bank Ltd. He has rich experience as a technical advisor with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) South Asia Advisory, Group, and Multi-stakeholder Steering Committee looking at initiating UN SDGs in companies, Technical advisor on the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Professional Accountancy Organization Development Committee (PAODC), Editorial Board of Accountancy Futures ACCA’s international journal for business leaders, Editor of Policy and Insights Commentary ACCA’s the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia MENASA e-journal.
“Kashf’s Vocational Skills Program is a commendable initiative to equip young girls with the skill set to start their own enterprises, employ other women from the community and make themselves and their communities financially sustainable.”
Dr. Mehjabeen Abidi Habib - Director
Occupation: Consultant, Climate Change Specialist
Dr. Mehjabeen Abidi-Habib is a social ecologist and scholar of institutional innovations that change society based on social context, leadership, and adaptation in law and policy. Dr. Abidi-Habib has a PhD in Resilience from the Government College University Lahore, with a fellowship with the University of Oxford. The research emanating from this PhD was awarded the International 2007 Science and Society Award by the Resilience Alliance. Dr. Abidi-Habib has served on the Board of Directors of the Lahore Museum, Lahore Waste Management Company, Soan Valley Development Program, and the Lahore Zoo Advisory Committee. She has also served on the National Steering Committee on REDD+, and been an Advisor to the Pakistan Girl Guides Association.
Dr. Rukhsana David – Director
Occupation: Principal of Kinnaird College for Women
Prof. Dr. Rukhsana David has been serving as Principal of the prestigious Kinnaird College for Women Lahore since 2010. Dr. David’s notable teaching career also includes being the Head of the Fine Arts Department at Kinnaird College, an Assistant Professorship at the College of Art and Architecture at Al-Khair University Lahore, and a Lecturer for the Fine Arts Department at the University of Punjab. Dr. David serves as a Member of multiple Boards such as the University of Punjab, Lahore College for Women University, and International Council of Museums. Dr. David holds a PhD in the History of Art from the Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, as well as a Master in Fine Arts from the University of Punjab where she was also awarded a Gold Medal in Graphic Design.
Dr. Ali Cheema – Director
Occupation: Associate Professor, Economics, LUMS
Dr. Cheema holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge, U.K. He has remained associated with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) as Associate Professor in Economics and Political Science since 2008. In addition, some of Dr. Cheema’s notable professional affiliations include his positions as Director at the Mahbub ul Haq Resource Center, Member of the Board of Trustees at the Institute of Development Studies Sussex U.K., Member of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee, Member of the Board at the Punjab Population Innovation Fund and Member of the Board at the International Growth Centre (IGC). He has also served as a technical member of the Government of Punjab’s Working Group on Smart-Testing and Smart-Containment of the COVID-19 outbreak. Dr. Cheema has been awarded with numerous honors, awards, and fellowships including Harvard South Asia Initiative Fellow, the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Bursary, and The Cambridge Journal of Dr. Ali Cheema Economics Political Economy Society Fund Award. He is also a serving director of the State Bank of Pakistan.
Ms. Maliha Hamid. Hussain – Director
Occupation: Independent Development Consultant
Ms. Maliha Hamid Hussein works as an independent development consultant with a broad range of development experience in diverse sectors. Ms. Hussein has extensive experience of working with all the major multilateral and bilateral agencies including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Program. She has also been career diplomat with the Pakistan Foreign Service (1978-82). She currently serves as a Director of Sahil and previously held directorships in Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and Enterprise & Development Consulting (Pvt.) Limited. Ms. Hussein obtained her M.Sc. in agricultural economics from Michigan State University and a certificate in international law, economics and politics from Oxford University, UK.
Ms. Ameena Saiyid - Director
Occupation: Managing Director, Lightstone Publishers Pvt Limited
Ms. Ameena Saiyid is the Founder and Director of the Adab Festival and Founder and Managing Director of Lightstone Publishers (Pvt) Ltd in Pakistan. She served as the Managing Director of the Oxford University Press for 30 years, becoming the first woman in Pakistan to do so. In 2005, she became the first Pakistani woman to be awarded the Order of the British Empire for her services to women’s rights, education, and intellectual property rights in Pakistan, and to Anglo-Pakistan relations. In 2018, she was awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan. She has held many notable positions including Secretary General of the Jinnah Society, Board Member of Habib University Foundation, Board Member of the Institute of Art and Culture, Lahore, President of the Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Member of the federal education minister’s Search Committee for the selection of scholars on Pakistan. Ms. Saiyid is also Trustee of the Vicky Noon Education Foundation, UK.
Sadia Khan- Director
Occupation: Fintech Expert
Ms. Sadia Khan is a seasoned fintech executive with over twenty years of industry experience, 12 of which have been in C-suite roles with the last appointment being CEO of AutoSoft Dynamics. She has led several successful core banking and lending system migrations (Faysal Bank, Al Baraka Bank, Sindh Bank, PMRC), mobile wallet implementations (Finca Microfinance Bank, Allied Bank), and treasury system installations (Bank of Punjab, National Bank of Pakistan, Askari Bank). Before joining AutoSoft Ms. Khan worked with Deutsche Bank New York, NY. Ms. Khan completed her Bachelors in Computer Science from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She is currently also a member of Board of Naseeb Online Services (Pvt.) Ltd.
