Dr. Nawazish Mirza
Head of Quantitative Research
Dr Mirza holds a Ph.D in quantitative finance with concentration in financial markets from University of Paris Dauphine. Dr Mirza has diversified professional experience in UAE, France and Pakistan. He has worked as research consultant at Value Research – A UAE based research boutique, where his research advisory was focused on Petrochemicals and Financial sector of MENA region. Dr Mirza has also worked as financial analyst at Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) and was involved in rating assignments (entity and instruments) of Corporates, NBFIs and Commercial Banks. Prior to working for PACRA, he was investment analyst at BNP Paris Bas where he was involved in structuring exotic derivative instruments and arbitrage trading. Dr Mirza is on editorial advisory board of various academic journals of international repute including “The Journal of Portfolio Management, International Journal of Finance and Economics, Asian Journal of Accounting and Finance and Lahore Journal of Economics”. At present, he teaches courses in areas of Quantitative Risk Management and Financial Markets at Lahore School of Economics.
Dr. Syed Kumail Abbas Rizvi
Head of Risk Management
During his tenure at Sorbonne (University of Paris 1), Dr. Rizvi worked at CES Axe Finance (Formerly TEAM Laboratories) as a teaching assistant and researcher. He worked under the supervision of Prof. Christian Bordes (Member ECB Shadow Council) and has been affiliated with some of the leading Economists and Financial Analysts including Prof. Christian de Boissieu (Chief Economic and Financial Advisor to French Prime Minister) and Prof. Patrick Artus (Director Research at NATIXIS Bank and member of French Economic Think Tank).
Dr. Rizvi is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). He has presented his research work in several leading international peer reviewed conferences including 3rd Singapore Economic Review Conference (Singapore), 41st Annual Conference of Money, Macro and Finance Research Group (Bradford, UK), 26th and 27th International Symposiums of Money Banking and Finance (Orléans and Bordeaux, France) and 25th Congress of European Economic Association (Glasgow, UK).
Dr. Rizvi has more than ten years of teaching/research and professional experience in the domain of Finance, Investment Analysis, Risk Management and Monetary Economics and he has taught courses at several leading universities and institutes of Pakistan and France. His primary research interests lie in the areas of Investment Valuation and Portfolio Management, Risk Management and Hedging Strategies, Monetary and Financial Economics and Behavioral Finance.
Awais Iqbal
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Iqbal is the CEO of Synergistic Financial Advisors (“SFA”). He has completed all three levels of the CFA programme and is currently awaiting his charter. Prior to joining SFA, Awais has worked for prestigious financial services firms. Awais has previously worked for Fauji Foundation, one of the largest conglomerates of Pakistan. While working in different roles, he has acquired expertise in merger and acquisition deals, providing corporate finance advisory, designing training courses and preparing industry research reports. He has extensive experience with financial modeling, valuation and business plan implementation. He has participated in buy and sell-side mandates for leading companies. During his career, Awais has gained experience in all of the major sectors in Pakistan including the financial services sector particularly banking, fertilizer sector, power sector, textile sector and gas marketing sector. Currently, Awais is spearheading the recruiting efforts at SFA and is actively participating in expanding SFA’s Investment business.
Hussain Asghar
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Asghar is currently working as COO at Synergistic Financial Advisors (“SFA”). Prior to joining SFA, Mr. Asghar has worked for prestigious local and foreign clients. During his career, working in different roles, he has gained experience in capital sourcing, providing corporate finance advisory, designing and conducting training courses and conducting equity research. He has extensive experience with financial modeling, valuation and preparation of various investor documents. His recent transactions involve raising debt for Shafi Steel and raising equity through private placement for Faraz Foods.
During his career, Mr. Asghar has gained experience of conducting equity research for all the major sectors in both local and foreign markets including Financial Services Sector, Automobile Sector, Technology Sector and Textile Sector.
Mr. Asghar received an M.B.A degree from Institute of Management Sciences with concentration in Finance. He is currently pursuing his CFA charter and he is a CFA level III Candidate.
Usman Iftikhar
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Iftikhar is currently working as CFO at Synergistic Financial Advisors (“SFA”). Prior to joining SFA, Usman has worked for prestigious local and foreign clients. He has over 2 years of well-rounded experience of equity research in both local and foreign markets and conducting training courses. He has extensive experience with financial modeling, valuation and has developed in-depth understanding on functionality of both local and US markets.
During his career, Usman has gained experience of all the major sectors in both local and foreign markets including Financial Services Sector, Automobile Sector, Technology Sector, Textile Sector and Mining Sector.
Mr. Iftikhar received an M.B.A degree from University of the Punjab with concentration in banking and finance. He is currently pursuing his CFA charter and he is a CFA level III Candidate.
Afraz Zafar
Head of Business development
Mr. Zafar is currently the Head of Business Development at Synergistic Financial Advisors (“SFA”), Mr. Zafar is also serving as the Chairman of Horizon Securities Limited (“HSL”). HSL is a financial services firm providing financial management, advisory and brokerage services. HSL is the Corporate Member of the Lahore Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited. Mr. Zafar joined Horizon Securities Limited in 2007 as Chief Investment Officer and established Portfolio Management Services business for HSL; the first of its kind in Lahore, providing wealth management services to high net worth individuals and institutional clients with the total assets under management crossing USD 10 million mark within the first two years of its launching. Mr. Zafar joined SFA in 2011; currently working as Head of Business Development at SFA where Mr. Zafar plays an instrumental role in the business development of Outsourcing and Advisory Services. During his career at SFA, Mr. Zafar participated in M&A advisory, financial restructuring, growth equity and business planning projects.
Mr. Zafar has extensive experience in deal execution, valuation and business plan implementation. Mr. Zafar has extensive experience in carrying out cross border M&A transactions. Mr. Zafar has more than ten years of experience in the domain of Finance and Investment Analysis. Mr. Zafar has completed all three levels of the CFA programme and is currently awaiting his charter and also holds Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, and Mathematics with a concentration in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca NY, USA.