Name: Asad Abdulla
Position: National EPB Board Member for IPN & Alliances
Professionally, Asad’s experience spans private equity, product management, consulting, and entrepreneurship. Asad graduated from Emory University, where he double-majored in Business & Religion and got his MBA from Columbia University. For fun, Asad loves to browse IPNonline.net profiles, watch documentaries, and connect with others in the community!
Name: Afroze Ali
Position: National Program Advisor
Afroze is a strategy and innovation professional with undergraduate degrees in Political Science and International Studies from Loyola University Chicago and a Master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. Afroze is the founder of an online brand to empower South Asian women called Memsaabs. She is also the author of “In Power to Empower: 6 Entrepreneurial Leadership Principles” which is a book about anchoring your leadership style in your authentic self and not mimicking others you perceive to be good leaders. Afroze is the National Program Manager for the Ismaili Professionals Network (IPN) in the United States, overseeing national programming and collaborating on best practices internationally. In her free time, Afroze enjoys reading, writing, spending time with family, doing yoga, cooking new dishes (her favorite foodie blog is Food52.com), playing word and board games, visiting new coffee shops, and being near waterfronts (oceans, lakes, rivers).
Name: Faizan Ali
Position: Central Region Lead
Faizan is an experienced Finance and Accounting professional. He is currently working as a Director at Regions Business Capital. His experience includes Asset-based Lending, Leveraged Finance, Energy Lending, and Middle Market Lending. Prior to entering the banking industry, Faizan worked with PriceWaterhouseCoopers where he gained experience in the Oil & Gas, Healthcare and Manufacturing Industries. Faizan is a licensed CPA and graduated with a Masters in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Faizan is passionate about traveling, sports, and volunteering. In his past seva, he has served in various programs including Quality of Life, Al-Ummah, and Religious Education Center. He is looking forward to expanding the IPN Brand and Network in the Central Region.
Name: Sameer Chagani
Position: Florida Region Lead
Sameer is currently serving in his second year as the IPN Lead for Florida. Professionally, he works in the Energy industry. He serves as the EVP for Smart Energy Solutions; they provide LED Lighting, Solar and Signage products and services to a variety of different segments including commercial, educational, government and industrial sectors. He attended the University of Miami and completed his degree in Political Science and Economics. He is also an avid football fan and likes to keep active in local and State politics.
Name: Farah Manjiyani
Position: Midwest Region Lead
Farah currently works professionally at Financial Health Network, a non-profit with a mission to improve financial health for all, especially those most vulnerable. She has previously worked as a tax consultant at Deloitte after getting her undergrad and grad degrees in accounting. Her quarantine binge has been Money Heist and Schitt’s Creek, and her pandemic stress relievers are painting, jamming to 90s Bollywood, and baking desserts.
Name: Shamim Noorani Gilano
Position: Northeast Region Lead
Shamim holds a Masters in Public Health and has spent most of her career at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Currently, Shamim serves as a Principal of Product strategy within IBM’s Watson Health vertical and is focused on driving impact for Life Sciences customers with platform scale and real-world-data and insights. Shamim’s past seva related work includes serving in various leadership roles within the Jubilee Monuments Corp umbrella of camps and being a local volunteer supporting the Ismaili Community in Boston.
Name: Ali Jamal
Position: Regional Southeast Region Lead
Professionally, Ali owns and operates a real estate investment firm called Stablegold Hospitality that acquires and operates extended-stay hotel properties, event facilities, vacation rentals, and residential housing. He graduated with an MBA in International Business from Northeastern University and has a Certificate in Executive Leadership from Stanford University. His hobbies include spending time with family, fitness, and reading.
Name: Salima Kassam
Position: Southwest Region Lead
Salima is currently serving as the IPN Lead for the Southwest region. She works in a General Management Rotational program for an Oil & Gas company and has prior experience working in Investment Banking. Salima has her MBA from Harvard Business School and her Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Emory University.
Name: Naveed Lalani
Position: Alliances Lead
Previously, Naveed lead the EVA Alliance starting IPN LaunchPad, BootCamp, and Build. Professionally, Naveed runs Marketing Partnerships for Trilogy Education and is a Franchisee of Code Ninjas.
Name: Alykhan Samji
Position: Career Services Lead
Alykhan strives to help with job placement and has grown the career coaching and development team to more than 30 people.
Professionally Alykhan is an entrepreneur and more recently works in the healthcare software industry as a director of business development. Fun fact: Alykhan is a French trained chef and loves to experiment with new foods.