Synergos Staff
Imran Riffat
Imran Riffat, Senior Director and CFO, reports to the President of Synergos; he leads a group of professionals responsible for the finance and administration functions of the organization.
Prior to joining Synergos Mr. Riffat completed twenty-five years with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. where, from 1995-2003, he worked for the Investment Bank covering international client management activities for the Europe, Africa and Middle East Group. His banking career includes two overseas assignments: from 1990-95 as Country Manager in Egypt and, from 1985-90, as the Vice President in charge of relations with financial institutions in Turkey. Earlier positions with the Bank included responsibility for business development in South Asia with particular emphasis on the client base in Iran, Pakistan and India.
After leaving J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2003 Mr. Riffat worked as a Senior Consultant with The Global Education & Enterprise Initiative, a project launched by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities to engage Arab and Muslim countries through education in science and technology. He also worked as a Senior Adviser to Acumen Fund, a global non-profit venture fund serving emerging markets that builds financially sustainable and scalable organizations through its philanthropic investments to deliver affordable, critical goods and services that elevate the lives of the poor. In April 2003 -- through a grant obtained from The Starr Foundation -- Mr. Riffat successfully implemented a 28-day camp in Kabul, run by the Jaipur-based Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti of India, to fit 850 amputees in Afghanistan with artificial limbs.
Mr. Riffat completed his undergraduate education at the University of Punjab in Lahore (Pakistan), and later obtained his MBA from Pace University in New York. He has attended Executive Development courses at The Wharton School of Business and obtained a certificate in Fundraising Management from Columbia University. Mr. Riffat is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he has served as a member of various study groups as well as a member of its Independent Task Force on India & South Asia. From 1990-2005 Mr. Riffat served as a member of the Board of Directors of Seeds of Peace, an internationally recognized organization dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence. He has also served as a Member of the Development Committee of the American University in Cairo (1991-95) as well as a Member of the Science and Technology Leaders Seminar of the Project on U.S. Policy Toward the Islamic World sponsored by the Brookings Institution. He presently serves on the Advisory Council of BRAC USA, an affiliate of the Bangladesh-based organization that works towards eradicating global poverty through its community development model. Mr. Riffat was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti of India, recognized for its Jaipur Foot, that provides low-cost artificial limbs to the economically-disadvantaged people in various parts of the world.
