Meet our leadership
Dr Charles Gurdon
Managing Director
Charles Gurdon joined what was then Menas Services Ltd in 1980 as a senior researcher, initially working on international border disputes and other arbitration cases. When Menas diversified into consultancy work for corporate clients and newsletter publishing in 1988, Charles helped found the Menas Associates subsidiary. Since then he has run the company’s consulting portfolio and publication stable, and he oversaw the restructuring in which Menas Associates become the parent company of the Menas group. He holds a BA, MSc and PhD from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he specialised in the Middle East and Africa. He is the author of two books and numerous reports on Sudan, and has also been a political commentator on radio and television.
Noel Brehony
Non-executive Director
Noel Brehony joined Menas Associates after a career with the UK Foreign Office and as director of Middle East Affairs for Rolls Royce. Noel sat as Chair of the Council for British Research in the Levant, and was former chair of the British Society for Middle East Studies, the British Yemeni Society; the Anglo-Jordanian society and the Middle East Association. He co-edited “British-Egyptian Relations from Suez to the Present Day” published 2007, was author of “Yemen Divided: the story of a failed state in South Arabia”, published in March 2011. Noel is also co-editor of “Reconstructing Yemen”, which was published in 2015.
Phillip Griffin
Non-executive Director
Phillip Griffin was appointed a director of Menas at the beginning of 2002. A consultant with extensive knowledge of banking and advisory services in the Middle East, he started his career in general banking in 1984. He has focused on emerging markets, trade, and corporate finance, earning the Citibank GAMS award in 1992. Mr Griffin has considerable experience in advising Western corporations on particular regions or on their country strategies. He has also provided expert advice on the structuring and execution of export credit, commodity, and structured trade finance business in the Middle East.
Bijan Khajehpour
Senior Associate
Bijan Khajehpour is a Senior Associate of Menas Associates and is also the editor of its Iran Strategic Focus reports which have been published every month since October 1988. He is also Managing Partner at Atieh International, the Vienna based international arm of the Atieh Group of Companies, a group of strategic consulting firms based in Tehran co-founded by Bijan in 1994. Bijan has been instrumental in advising numerous international companies on their Iran strategy. He is also a frequent speaker at international conferences on Iran and the Middle East and also a contributor to international publications. He completed his graduate studies in management and economy in Germany and the UK and his Doctorate of Business Administration at the International School of Management in Paris.
Tarek Kassem
Senior Associate
Tarek Kassem joined Menas as a Senior Associate in 2003. His background is in the financial sector, with a banking career stretching back some 35 years in the City of London. He has extensive experience of investment banking, including capital markets, structured finance, corporate finance, private equity, venture capital and project financing. Tarek also founded and ran a London based international investment bank, and set up a property investment company. His investment banking career has been based around his relationships in the Middle East, especially the Gulf. He has an extensive client base including the ruling families of several Gulf states and the major merchant families and industrial groups.