Senior people, personally involved.

Rashad Khan founded Smarter Mergers, a brand of Smarter Investments Inc., and has led it since 2002, advising business owners, families and institutions on the transactions that shape their future. His career spans more than thirty years across the United States, the United Kingdom and the Middle East. Before founding the firm he was a Principal Consultant at PwC, where he helped build the SAP practice and ran multimillion-dollar enterprise programmes, and earlier he helped launch the SAP R/3 system in the UK at SAP. A serial entrepreneur, he has taken several ventures from inception to exit. He holds an MBA from Imperial College London. Rashad leads the firm's strategy and its senior client relationships, with a particular interest in large project finance for infrastructure, energy and mining. He also heads the wider 121 Group, whose technology runs the firm's secure client platform.

Mateen Ur Rehman leads Smarter Mergers' financial services practice. An independent financial consultant, his banking career includes corporate and commercial banking and investment management at ABN AMRO Bank and Citibank, where his performance was recognised with awards. He has advised clients on project finance and foreign investment, and his experience spans SME, commercial and corporate banking, structured finance and trade finance. Mateen is also experienced in alternative finance, including grant and donor funding, private equity, and raising or discounting financial instruments. Earlier, he headed the banking and finance division of Ale Imran & Co., Chartered Accountants. He acts as deal lead on the firm's project and trade finance mandates.

Syed Kashif Reza leads strategic projects for Smarter Mergers, with a focus on Pakistan and on investment between Pakistan and China. Based in Karachi, he has more than two decades of leadership in Pakistan's seafood processing and export industry, including as Chairman of Pak Fish Group and as a director of Pakistan and China fisheries joint ventures. His current work centres on large projects under the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Kashif also serves as President of United Hands Charitable Trust, a charity affiliated with the group, and brings clients a wide network across business and government in Pakistan.

Yasmine ‘Amira Ison is Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the technology behind Smarter Mergers and the wider 121 Group. She leads the architecture and security of the firm's client platform: secure registration with multi-factor authentication, electronic signature of confidentiality agreements, protected document exchange and the Deal Room used for due diligence. Her remit includes the principle the firm is working towards, in which each client holds the keys to their own data. Yasmine also oversees the governance of the firm's AI tools, including Aurelia, so that clients always know when they are dealing with an AI and people make every decision that matters.

Ahmed Daud Janjua leads Smarter Mergers' work across the Middle East and North Africa. An independent business consultant and entrepreneur, he has built businesses and advised clients in import and export trade, defence procurement, fast-moving consumer goods, manpower services, property development and construction. His operating experience covers Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the United States and Pakistan. Ahmed's long-standing relationships with business owners and decision-makers across the Gulf make him the first point of contact for clients raising capital, acquiring or partnering in the region, and for Gulf investors looking at opportunities in South Asia.

Syed Abdul Manan Shah advises Smarter Mergers on mining, minerals and gemstones. He joined his family's gemstone business early and has worked as a gemologist since 2013, grading and assessing ruby, sapphire, emerald, peridot, aquamarine and garnet. As a geologist, he has led regional surveys and field investigations across northern Pakistan, and as a mining lease holder in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa he has secured exploration permissions for gemstones and for industrial, dimensional and metallic minerals. He has structured joint ventures following feasibility work on deposits, and markets mined output locally and internationally. He holds a BSc from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad.

Alan Carter advises Smarter Mergers on institutional finance and transaction execution. A seasoned business professional, financial adviser and M&A intermediary, he has spent his career working directly with business owners and senior leadership teams on sales, acquisitions and capital raises across a wide range of industries. Clients value his calm, practical approach at the negotiating table and his ability to build trust quickly with every party. At Smarter Mergers, Alan helps prepare transactions for institutional capital, supports deal structuring and negotiation, and brings a steady, experienced voice to complex mandates.

Jeff Brouse advises Smarter Mergers on business development in the Washington DC area and on hospitality. For more than twenty years he was Senior Membership Sales Director at Tower Club Tysons Corner, one of the leading business clubs in Northern Virginia, and he is now Membership Director at the City Club of Washington. Through these roles he has built one of the widest professional networks in the region, across business, government and the nonprofit sector. His background covers sales management, marketing, corporate communications and business development, including work with the Association for Enterprise Growth and as a co-founder of Bizgravity. He holds a BA in Political Science and International Relations from UC Santa Barbara.

Nadeem Nasir Syed advises Smarter Mergers on retail, food and franchise businesses. An independent consultant and entrepreneur, he has owned and operated multiple franchised businesses, which gives him first-hand knowledge of franchise models, brand standards, supply chains and multi-site growth. He is equally at home with the financial performance of a business and with its operations and technology. Nadeem helps owners in retail, food service and franchising prepare for a sale or a new investment, and helps buyers judge what a business can realistically become under new ownership.

Ch. Moazzam Anwar is Senior Legal Advisor to Smarter Mergers. An advocate of the High Court in Pakistan, he combines legal practice with an active business career, with real estate and technology projects in Pakistan and China and business interests in the Gulf. He advises on the legal and practical side of cross-border transactions involving Pakistan, from structuring and documentation to local regulatory questions, and helps clients and counterparties work through the differences between jurisdictions. His network across business and government in Pakistan and the wider region is a valuable asset for clients investing into, or out of, South Asia.