I was born in Syria. I have a B.A. in accounting from Damascus University (1966) and an M.A. in Applied Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (1968). At New York University, I completed the course work for a Ph.D. in Economics (1974). 

I worked in New York and Philadelphia for 10 years before moving to London in 1977 with my employer, Philadelphia National Bank. I provided correspondent banking services to banks in the Middle East. 

Among my customers in Saudi Arabia was the Alrajhi Company for Currency Exchange and Commerce. In 1980, I established and managed for Alrajhi an investment advisory company in London, Alrajhi Company for Islamic Investments Limited. The mission was to create and introduce to the market an Islamic finance instrument. This was the most intellectually exciting opportunity of my career, a truly unique privilege.

Seven years later, I returned to conventional banking at Arab Bank in London, then in Riyadh as Chief Executive of its 40% owned Saudi subsidiary, Arab National Bank.

Upon early retirement from banking in 1998, I became a student again at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where I was awarded an M.A. in History and a Ph.D. for my work on water politics in Saudi Arabia and Syria (2005).