Esam Y. Janahi (Chairman of the Board)
Mr. Janahi is one of the main founding members of Gulf Finance House and has successfully led the organization as Chief Executive until August 2007 when he was elected Chairman. He has been instrumental in the strong growth and success of the organization and continues to play a key and active role in driving the business forward.
Mr. Janahi’s experience and successful leadership of GFH has been recognized as follows:
• Honoured by the Prime Minister of Bahrain for contributing to ‘Excellence in the region’.
• Voted ‘The Top CEO in the GCC’ and ‘The 5th Most Powerful Arab’ by the Arabian Business Magazine.
• Awarded by the Rafiq Hariri ‘Leadership in Investment’ award at the 12th Arab Economic Forum.
• Listed as the ‘Gulf Power 25’, by the Times London.
Peter Panayiotou (Acting Chief Executive Officer)
Mr. Panayiotou is responsible for recommending and executing the Bank’s strategy.
Mr. Panayiotou is a Director of Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company; Vice Chairman of Bahrain Aluminium Extrusion Company; Chairman of Injazat Capital; Chairman of Jordan Gate; and Chairman of Royal Village Company Jordan.
Mr. Panayiotou joined GFH in May 2003 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed Acting CEO in July 2007. Previously, Mr. Panayiotou spent 17 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in London and Birmingham in the UK and in Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, he also holds a degree in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford.
Mr. Salah Rahimi (Deputy CEO)
Salah Rahimi is the Deputy CEO for Gulf Finance House Investment Bank with over 20 years of finance and banking experience. Salah held several key positions with GFH including Chief Financial Officer. He assumed the current role of Deputy CEO in July 2008 and will be continuing his previous role as CFO. Salah was responsible for organization, restructuring and stream lining of the bank’s operations. He also has taken several strategic decisions for the development of the Bank.
Salah is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from USA, and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from University of Southern California. Prior to joining Gulf Finance House he held positions in the area of internal audit in Deloitte & Touche, Al Juraid & Company and United Gulf Bank.
Mr. Mehran Jamsheer (Deputy CEO)
Mr. Jamsheer is responsible for acquisition and capital transactions, sourcing, sponsoring and executing transactions, consultancy and management on a variety of deals, and taking the lead in originating and driving business development at GFH.
Mr. Jamsheer first joined Gulf Finance House in August, 2003, initially heading the Private Equity group in Bahrain, and went on to become Junior Partner in early 2008.
Alongside other roles, he is currently Vice Chairman of Injazat Technology Fund and sits on the Boards of Injazat Capital limited, Gulf Holding Development Company, Gulf North Africa Holding, Capital Real Estate and Balexco. In 2008, he was appointed to the Board of First Energy Bank. Prior to joining Gulf Finance House he worked as Manager of Assurance and Advisory at Arthur Andersen, and is currently holder of the (CPA), Chartered Public Accountant.