John has spent more than 25 years in the securities industry as investment strategist, stockbroker and merchant banker, with a track record of successful financial services business creation.
He has recently led Chescor Capital projects including a US$1 billion privatization in Kuwait and a business planning project for a major regional reinsurance.
John has worked with a variety of major international firms including Banque Nationale de Paris and Daiwa Securities of Japan, where he was responsible for substantial equity raisings and / or foreign listings for several insurance groups, including BAT / Eagle Star (UK), GIC (Australia) and Mapfre (Spain). He was also actively involved in several major UK and European privatizations.
Between 1997 and 2002 he was President of Heritage International, the Africa / Asia holding company of Raymond James Financial, Inc. a US$1.5 billion US investment banking business with operations in Mauritius, Mumbai, Istanbul, and Johannesburg.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and a Member of the Securities Institute (UK). He has an M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University
Bachir is a senior adviser to the up stream oil and gas industry in which he has more than 30 years' of experience. He is well connected at all levels of the oil exploration and production divisions of the regional oil ministries and national oil companies.
With over 25 years with the Schlumberger Group, Bachir was Vice President & General Manager – Middle East & Far East, of the Schlumberger Integrated Project Management (IPM) and successfully led over a dozen high visibility projects for Saudi Aramco (Shaybah Fast Track Field Development), for Cairns India (Ravva Offshore Field Development), for British Gas Egypt (Rosetta Offshore Field Development), for Conoco Indonesia (Offshore Gas Development Project), for Marathon Sakhalin Island (Oil Development Project), and for Pedco's Iran Project.
He later became Vice President Industry Affairs for Asia & the Middle East and played a key role in the integration of Camco International (newly acquired completion company) into the Schlumberger Oilfield Group.
Bachir is currently Director Energy Consulting services and part owner of Applicom at Dubai Internet City. He is involved in several consultancy agreements with international oil and oil service companies, and addresses several regional energy conferences organized by OAPEC and other national ministries.
He graduated from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1974.
Allan has acquired an in-depth knowledge of reputation management and communication in the commercial and political worlds spanning more than two decades.
Beginning his career as a political campaigner, Allan has managed and served as strategic adviser to politicians, political campaigns and issues-specific assignments at a senior level in Europe and the Middle East. After joining Burson-Marsteller, the world’s leading public relations consultancy in the mid 1990s, he served as head of their Middle East operations, went on to head Burson-Marsteller’s Brussels office and European Public Affairs businesses, then on to a distinguished career as CEO of Burson-Marsteller’s flagship London office and subsequently as CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe. He stepped down as Global Chairman of the Corporate and Financial Practice, as a member of the worldwide Board of Directors and as Chairman of Burson-Marsteller UK in 2005.
In addition to his public affairs activities, Allan led and managed brand building and reputation management engagements for many of the world’s major brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, Dow Chemicals, Shell and Visa International. He led the award winning communication team promoting the Dolphin gas pipeline initiative on behalf of the UAE Offset Group. Working with the government of Kuwait during the first Gulf war, Allan led the campaign to highlight the tragic issue of Kuwaiti nationals who were thought to be held by Iraq. He also masterminded the USAID communication programme under the Partnership In Development initiative which aimed to kick start Egypt’s privatisation programme.
He is the founding CEO of International Insights, a strategic communication consultancy with wholly-owned offices in Brussels, Washington and Central Europe. He is also Chairman of Brand Faith, a design-based branding consultancy, the CEO of ALL ABOUT BRANDS plc, a newly founded media holding company, a non-executive Director of CTN (Corporate Television Networks) and of the BADR Group with interests in investment banking, construction and financial services.
Allan broadcasts and writes regularly on CEO issues, branding and public affairs. He is Chairman of the Manchester Business School Corporate Communications department – the only post-graduate facility for Corporate Communications in Europe. He is also a pro-bono communications advisor to the European Commission and founder of the European Communications Academy, offering strategic communications training to senior EU government officials.
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