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SUMMER
2012
31
School District of New Rochelle, New
York (USA), in June. Dr. Magnotta has
spent the last 25 years as a District Direc-
tor in New York State.
‘85
Fouad Hamiyeh
graduated with a BA in
Business Administration from AUB. He
left Lebanon in 1989 to start his banking
career in London, where he also obtained
his MBA. Fouad is currently heading the
Credit Agricole (Suisse) office in Dubai
after previously living in London, Riyadh,
Bahrain, Geneva, and Doha. In 1996, he
married Rima Younes, with whom he has
three children: Dalia (14), Tamara (12),
and Adel (9).
Ali Siblani
is the President and Chief
Executive Officer of EnvisionTEC. In
2012, he received the American Arab of
the Year in Technology Award. Envsion-
TEC is a global leader in innovative 3D
printing technology and materials.
‘87
Dina Abou-Ayache
married Kamal
Khodr in 1985. She is living in Beirut and
is a Managing Partner at an advertising/
graphic design company. She has three
daughters.The eldest, Suraya, graduated
last year from IC French Bacc/S and is
currently in the UK studying Biomedical
Sciences/Genetics at U.C.L. Zein is in
9th grade and Loulwa is in 8eme.
Rima Nasser
lived in the US for 20 years
before returning to Beirut a year ago to be
close to her family. She is an orthopedic
surgeon, currently at Rizk hospital.
Zeina Annan
left Lebanon in 1983 for
Geneva, where she acquired her MBA
and carried out her professional career in
marketing. She has been married for 10
years to Wassim Kabbani, who despite
the name is a “Manchester Lad”, as he
would put it.They have been blessed with
two lovely girls, Aya (9) and Zea (6), who
are both flourishing at IC. Zeina is the
Marketing Director of CHRONORA.
Based in Downtown Beirut, CHRO-
NORA is the exclusive representative in
Lebanon for several luxury watch and
jewelry brands including Rolex, Tudor,
Girard-Perregaux, Ralph Lauren, and
Mikimoto. “Many continue to ask me
why did we choose to come back after all
these years (from Switzerland en plus)?
Unfortunately, most Lebanese find any
other country a better option than their
own and my answer is that one must
experience immigration to know that the
feeling of “belonging” is a luxury that is
not acquired easily, not even after years,
decades. With all the diversifications
and instabilities, Lebanon will always
be home no matter what; a legacy to be
proud of, fight to keep, and pass on to
my – strangely enough – non-Lebanese
children (as of course a Lebanese mom is
still not entitled to pass on her national-
ity!). This summer will be our Class’s 25
year Reunion (for me it will be 29 since I
last saw most)!! At the time we could’ve
never even imagined it...an occasion
worth the wait!”
Jihad Srage
serves as the Senior Vice
President and President for Qualcomm’s
Middle East and Africa operations. In
this role, he leads Qualcomm’s business
operations in the region and manages the
company’s strategic relationships with
regional customers, including network
operators, infrastructure equipment
providers, mobile handset vendors, and
value-added service developers.
‘88
Nada Cheaito
is married to Ali Sabbah
and has three beautiful children: Sevine
(15), Sara (13) and Malek (7). Nada and
Ali have been married since 1995 and live
in Beirut. Ali works in the movie industry.
Nada would love to get in touch with her
old classmates. “My years at IC were the
best years, lots of beautiful memories”, she
recalls. Nada’s email is nada@sabbah.com.
Karim Sarkis
recently started a new
company in Dubai Media City after
several years of management consult-
ing and running television channels.The
company, called Sync Media, produces
video content for television, web, and
mobile in collaboration with advertisers
and broadcasters. “On a personal note, my
baby daughter Yasmina turns 1 on May
19th!”, he writes.
‘89
Mazen Damiani
relocated to West Africa
in April 2011. At the beginning of the
following scholastic year, his wife and
four kids followed him to Dakar, Senegal.
Mazen continues to work with Transmed
and is now the General Manager for their
West African business that encompasses
nine markets in the region: from Senegal
all the way to Cote D’Ivoire.
Despite the significant cultural differ-
ences with the last assignment in Jordan,
the Damianis are making the best out of
Africa. Newly developed interests, such as
surfing on the Atlantic, deep sea fishing for
blue tuna and swordfish, kayaking next to
mangroves, or camping in the baobab trees
“make all part of our vacations and week-
ends”, he writes. “We tremendously miss
Beirut and IC.The search for IC graduates
and Alumni in Senegal continues…”
Nada Ghazal
is a Designer, Founder, and
Managing Partner at Nada G jewelry.
Jewelers Circular Keystone ( JCK), one of
the most respected voices in the jewelry
industry, has chosen Nada Ghazal to be
featured as a Rising Star at the 2012 Las
Vegas jewelry show, the biggest and best
jewelry convention in the world. Nada
G™ will be taking this opportunity to
officially launch a distinctive collection to
the most desired audience in the business
at the incredible Design Center from the
1st until the 4th of June 2012.
Albert Khoury
is the Deputy General
Manager of the Electrical Utility of Aley
(a private power distribution company),
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