• Technology specialist with 12 years of experience
• Expertise in implementation of integrated systems on a large scale
• Experience with large organizations including Goldman Sachs, Hewlett Packard (HP), and The National Investor
• Expert in all aspects of systems integration, trading platforms, business continuity programs, technology infrastructures, audio-visual distribution systems, and back and front office systems

Farouk brings to Keross a wealth of experience helping financial services firms develop and implement their ERP systems, trading platforms, business continuity programs, and technology infrastructure.

Farouk spent 9 years based in Paris, France in charge of Goldman Sachs systems in continental Europe, most lately as Head of Information Technology. He managed the technical and operational activities in Paris, Milan, Madrid, and Monaco, reporting to management and senior partners in Europe.

While at Goldman Sachs, Farouk developed and implemented a business continuity program for the Europe and Middle East offices, conducted business impact analysis, surveyed all critical functional areas of the organization’s data centers, service centers, and corporate headquarters. He also project managed the fit-out of Goldman Sachs across the divisional offices in Paris, including fixed income, equities, and investment banking. Farouk also project managed the implementation of the trading turrets, audio-visual distribution systems, and back office and front office systems. He was also responsible for the planning, development, and management of the new offices in Madrid and Milan, liaising with regulators to ensure regulatory compliance.

In early 2006, Farouk was commissioned by The National Investor, a UAE-based investment banking firm, to implement a firm-wide ERP system and to integrate TNI’s systems and processes across three offices and four business lines: investment banking, private equity, asset management, and real estate management. Farouk successfully managed the design and implementation of the project, implementing the front-, middle-, and back-offices of the firm across all four business lines and integrating them into the enterprise-wide ERP system.

Farouk has a BSc in computer science and an HND in data communication and networks. He is fluent in English and French.

Sami is a veteran of the UAE investment banking sector and brings to Keross a practitioner's perspective in corporate finance, venture capital, and business development. At Keross, Sami structured, negotiated, and closed the first round of financing in April 2007. Sami negotiated and closed a partnership with a Canadian technology company providing remote management technology and built the Keross Network Operations Center (KNOC) in Kolkata, India, recruited its staff, and structured the legal and financial structure of the Indian subsidiary.

Prior to Keross, Sami helped close UAE investment banking transactions worth 2.3 billion dollars and was instrumental in structuring and executing the retail tranche of the Kingdom Hotel Investments initial public offering on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) in March 2006. Sami’s work enabled an issuer for the first time to tap the local UAE retail investor market from the Dubai International Financial Centre, a wholesale jurisdiction.

Sami was a key member in successfully closing the Aabar Petroleum Investments IPO, a 245-million-dollar transaction that raised a record 108 billion dollars. Sami was also a key team member of the UAE’s largest IPO at the time, the 680-million-dollar IPO of Sorouh Real Estate Co.

Sami has a thorough, hands-on understanding of the UAE’s capital markets and has worked extensively on helping commercial banks, law firms and financial consultants adapt to the changing nature of public offerings and private placements in the UAE. Sami is also familiar with the UAE’s regulatory environment through his interaction with the Ministry of Economy, the Securities and Commodities Authority, and the UAE’s three equity exchanges: the Dubai Financial Market, the Abu Dhabi Securities Market, and the Dubai International Financial Exchange.

Sami holds an MBA (Finance) from Duke University, North Carolina and a BSc in Construction Engineering from the American University in Cairo. He is a member of the Arab Bankers’ Association of North America (ABANA) and is a licensed civil engineer in Egypt. Sami is fluent in English, Arabic, and French.

Khaled brings to Keross over 12 years of experience in technology, investment banking and private equity. Prior to joining Keross, Khaled was a Senior Vice President at Abraaj Capital, one of the leading private equity firms in the MENASA region. As part of the senior management team at Abraaj focusing on the financial services sector, Khaled led the firm’s efforts in managing Amwal, a leading investment and asset management firm in Qatar.

Khaled helped Keross structure, negotiate, and execute the staged exit of its institutional investor in September and November 2007, realizing to our investors a return on investment of over 12% in 6 months.

Prior to Abraaj, Khaled was a Senior Vice President, Investment Banking, at The National Investor where he led TNI’s efforts on regional landmark transactions such as the structuring and execution of the US$ 273 million IPO of Aramex on Dubai Financial Market, the US$ 245 million IPO of Aabar Petroleum on Abu Dhabi Securities Market, and the US$ 397 million IPO of Kingdom Hotels on Dubai International Financial Exchange. During his tenor at TNI, he acted as the executive chairman of NAS, a leading third-party administrator for the insurance sector.

Prior to that, Khaled spent three years at the Corporate Finance Division at KIPCO Asset Management of Kuwait, where he was involved with the origination and execution of over 21 transactions totaling over US$ 2.5 billion covering mergers, acquisitions, and public and private placements of equity and debt for a diverse set of companies across the Middle East in such sectors as commercial banking, insurance, financial services, healthcare, media, oil and gas and logistics.

Khaled has an MBA (Strategy and Finance) from Cranfield School of Management in the United Kingdom and a BS in Telecommunications from Cairo University in Egypt. Mr. Fouad has worked out of the GCC, North Africa, Germany, and the UK and speaks and writes Arabic, English, and German fluently.

Cyril Simonnet is a Board Director and shareholder, with executive responsibilities in Sales and Marketing.

Cyril is a veteran of managed services, having been Managing Director at Qualys Inc., a leading provider of on-demand vulnerability management and policy compliance solutions. At Qualys, Cyril was responsible for the operational management for Sales, Pre-Sales and Marketing of the international business operations in Southern Europe, including responsibility for France, Benelux, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Middle East and French speaking Africa.

Cyril was also a security expert at Symantec, where he was in charge of pre-sales, consulting and project management of major deals. Cyril also served at INTRINSEC and Netsecure, where he built there Canadian operations.

Arup is the General Manager of Kolkata System Support Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Keross providing remote network monitoring and management services to our clients under the Vision 24/7 service line. Arup is in charge of a team of experts in network management, database administration, system administration, Windows administration, and Exchange server. Arup is an alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), where he graduated in 1967 with a major in Electrical Engineering.

Prior to Keross, Arup successfully built new business units from inception in 3 different companies, having been responsible for recruitment planning, development of infrastructure and delivery methodology. Arup led companies thru the entire journey of Quality Track in obtaining ISO 9000 and CMM accreditation.

Arup held several senior positions in major technology companies in the UK and India, where helped build several technology startups into successful enterprises: he helped SkyTech grow from 1 to 150 employees in less than two years and successfully executed projects using TPF, PeopleSoft, and Internet enabled application front ends.

Arup built Birla Horizon (BHI) from inception to an annual turnover of nearly USD 17 million in five years as the head of its technical function.