Dubai, UAE - Greenstone Equity Partners, the largest fund placement firm based in the Middle East, announced today that it has hired Sean Kearney, as Chief Operating Officer, and Khalid Alkelabi as Managing Director, Investor Relationships.
Sean Kearney is a seasoned emerging markets banking professional with a 23-year career devoted to identifying and managing risk. His key responsibilities will include Operations team leadership, lead-managing the implementation of internal control framework enhancements, running regulatory processes and overseeing strategic change management.
Prior to joining Greenstone, Mr. Kearney worked for a decade at UBS AG, in London and Dubai. In his last position with the firm, as Group COO, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Mr. Kearney held the regulatory appointment of Senior Executive Officer (SEO) for the regional hub, UBS Dubai Branch, in which capacity he fostered and sustained excellent relations with the DFSA and the DIFC Senior Management team. He was also heavily involved in the management of relations with the many other financial regulators throughout the region with jurisdiction over UBS's offices or operations.
Throughout his career at UBS, Mr. Kearney built an impressive track-record of successfully leading complex, multi-disciplinary, cross-divisional business development projects, across a diverse range of initiatives, in very challenging global emerging markets environments. Reflecting his academic and professional qualifications in law, he also dealt extensively with legal and compliance work and policy formulation, as well as with litigation and audit matters.
Mr. Kearney holds a UK honors degree in Law and was called to the Bar by the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn. He also holds an MSc (with Distinction) in Air Safety Management from City, University of London.
Alex Gemici, Chairman of Greenstone, stated, "Sean's wealth of experience and industry knowledge have already made him a key addition to Greenstone. We view his appointment as a sign of our commitment to being the leading fund placement firm in the Middle East. I'm confident that Sean will play an important role in providing and implementing high quality solutions for Greenstone."
Khalid Alkelabi will be responsible for enhancing Greenstone's investor relationships as well as contributing to improving Greenstone's marketing capabilities.
Prior to joining Greenstone, Mr. Alkelabi worked at AL FOZAN HOLDING GROUP, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate and family business office, as the Chief Administrative Officer where he had multiple responsibilities, including the creation and development of various business units.
Prior to working at Al Fozan, Mr. Alkelabi worked for MBC GROUP, a regional media company, where he was appointed Country Marketing Manager in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alkelabi was responsible for creating and maintaining relationships with local corporate clients.
Between 2001-2007, Mr. Alkelabi worked for SAUDI ARABIAN MONETARY AGENCY (SAMA) - INSTITUTE OF BANKING as a Faculty Member, where he was responsible for preparing bankers in Saudi Arabia for the TADAWUL (Saudi Stock Exchange) system by training and certifying them to get their brokerage license.
Mr. Alkelabi is a Saudi Arabian national and holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alkelabi also holds an MBA degree, MSIT degree and a Diploma in Data-Warehousing and Business Intelligence from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA.
Omar Al Gharabally, the President of Greenstone, stated, "We are very excited to welcome Khalid
to our team at Greenstone. He brings years of experience dealing with the most demanding, sophisticated and discerning investors in the region. Not only will he bring a tighter focus and discipline to investor relationship development and management within our fund placement team, he will also be a great role model for our employees and a tremendous ambassador for the firm with investors who come into contact with him."
Greenstone Equity Partners
Greenstone is the largest fund placement firm in the Middle East, with a team of industry professionals fully dedicated to raising capital from MENA-based investors. Since its inception, Greenstone has raised $2.5 billion dollars for its clients across a variety of mandates and strategies and prides itself on fostering deeply rooted relationships with key institutional and family offices across the region to include corporate entities, family offices, ultra-high net worth individuals, financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds.
Greenstone has built over 4,000 MENA investor relationships and works with investment managers across various asset classes including private equity, real estate, private debt financing and hedge funds in both primary and secondary placements.
Greenstone's business growth success stems from its approach and commitment to providing institutional grade service to its clients with a concerted and relentless desire for excellence coupled with continual investment in operational development.
© Press Release 2017
