Board of Directors

Mr. Abu-Dayyeh is the President of NET Tours with offices in Jerusalem, Amman, Istanbul, Athens and Rome. Mr. Abu Dayyeh initiated the establishment and has served as President, Board Member and Director of the Higher Council of the Arab Tourist Industry (HCATI), the Union of Arab Tourist Transport, the Palestinian Development Fund (PDF), Bethlehem 2000.
Mr. Abu-Dayyeh was a member of the Middle East group for Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation Hospital (BASR), Chairman of the Directors of Bethlehem Development Foundation (BDF) and the Bethlehem University Tourism Institute (BUTI). He has represented Palestine internationally and negotiated on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, including the Paris Agreement on Tourism and Transport.
Mr. Abu Dayyeh holds degrees in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, a BSc in Chemistry from Belmont University, Tennessee and an MA in International Affairs and Economics from School of Advanced Studies-SAIS, the Johns Hopkins University.

Hani Abu - Dayyeh

Chairman

With an educational background in economics and business management, Mrs. Khoury had a rich and diverse professional life and held responsible positions. She also served as the Ambassador of Palestine in France from 2006–2010 and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in 2005–2006.
Hind Khoury is a Palestinian Christian, an economist, a former ambassador, and served as the General Secretary of Kairos Palestine located in Bethlehem. She is also the president of the Bethlehem Rotary Club and an executive board member of Bethlehem Bible College. She is president of the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ), which is highly respected around the world for its meticulous research and mapping of the region. She is vice-president of the Arab Thought Forum and has served as vice president of Sabeel Ecumenical Palestinian Liberation Theology Center. She has spoken at many conferences and seminars locally and internationally, and she serves as a consultant to MASARAT, a research center on Palestinian strategic directives.
Hind Khoury

Vice Chairman

Dr. Fadi Kattan holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Bradford in the UK. He has been the Dean of the School of Business Administration at Bethlehem University since 2002. Dr. Kattan is a member of several international accounting professional bodies including the AICPA, the IIA, and the IMA. In addition to his expertise in the field of accounting and finance, Dr. Kattan has lectured in the field of development and sustainable development both in Bethlehem University and worldwide in universities in Italy, Nepal and Ethiopia. Dr. Kattan serves as a member of several boards of different institutions in Palestine.
Dr. Fadi Kattan

Treasurer

Dr. Kifah holds a Ph.D. from Moutha University, Jordan, College of Social Sciences. Dr. Kifah is a full-time lecturer at the college of human sciences, Istiqlal University (Palestinian academy for security sciences).
Dr. Kifah Manasra

Secretary

Dr. Jallad is a financial consultant at Consolidated Contractors Group CCC, Athens. He is holding a Ph.D. in Economics and Banking from University of Notre Dame USA, and a B.A. in Economics from the American University of Cairo.
Saleh Jallad

Head of Governance Committee

Nafez Husseini, is currently a retired CCC executive emeritus, serving as the Strategic Advisor to the BoD Chair of the Greece based Consolidated Contractors Company (www.ccc.net), a multi-billion dollar engineering group and the largest construction company in the Middle East.
Nafez focuses on ICT, Digital Business, and ESG topics.
Nafez is very active in promoting knowledge-based societies, advancing economies toward greater and well governed use of technology, information and the applying of innovative skills and solutions towards fair developmental access to all from both the business and public sectors.
Nafez has been a key founding member of many Palestinian education initiatives.
He is a strong advocate of the leading role leading of the Palestinian private sector in transforming and building sustainable capacities in the local economy. Nafez believes that well-designed economic development propagates integrally innovation and digital transformation.
A Palestinian native of Jerusalem, Nafez holds a bachelor’s degree from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s from California State University – Sacramento in Management & Information Technology.
Board member of Middle East Investment Initiative, Partners for Sustainable Development, Education For Employment, Arab AmeriCare Foundation, Hassib Sabbagh ICT Center at the Arab American University Jenin, Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS).
Nafez Husseini

Member

Ph.D. from the Jordanian University, Jordan, College of Educational Sciences, full-time lecturer at college of educational sciences, Jerusalem Open University (Palestinian Public University). Dr. Abdel Rahman is the Director of Orphan Care Association in Bethlehem, and the representative of the Palestinian Academic Council.
Nael Abdel Rahman

Member

M.A., Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies; the University of Michigan, 1995. Vice President for Development & Outreach, DIYAR Bethlehem, Palestine.
Rana Khoury

Member

Mr. Al Ama is a researcher on the Palestinian cultural heritage and contemporary art, and a collector of artefacts and artwork including traditional costumes, photographs, lithographs, manuscripts, maps, books, mother of pearl and olivewood relics, dead sea stone engraved items and Armenian pottery, in addition to a collection of Palestinian contemporary art pieces.
Mr. Al Ama is an expert and dealer of antique and modern icons for the past 16 years and worked as an exclusive importer and dealer of Silver Axion Icons Company in the Holy Land for a year in addition to working as an Assistant Manager in Lama Brothers Company in wholesaling and retailing souvenirs of the Holy Land for 15 years.
George Al’Ama

Member

Mrs. Kassis is a businesswoman with a passion for horses; member of the Federation of Chilean Horse Breeders; manages family ranch in the breeding of Arabian, Chilean and Frisian horses.
Director in several family businesses group companies; responsible for transforming her ancestral family home in Bethlehem into Dar Al Sabag Diaspora Studies and Research Centre.
Studied Business Administration and Visual Arts. Host of horse-related TV shows; Producedher film “Artax a new beginning”, which deals with the use of hippotherapy in the treatment of Asperger’s disease, was screened at the Palestinian Film Festival in 2018 in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus; her band, Diáspora Trío, which rescues traditional and ancestral Palestinian music and transforms it into contemporary music, performed 12 concerts in Palestine.
Elizabeth Kassis

Member

Founder’s Honor Circle

The late Mr. Said Khoury

Founder of Bethlehem Development Foundation (BDF)

H.E. Eng. Ziad Al Bandak

Served as the first Chairman of BDF Board of Directors.

Mr. Al Bandak served in the PA as Minister of Tourism, Minister of Local Governments, and Minister of Labor.

Currently he is the advisor to the President for Christian Affairs and head of the Presidential Committee for the Restoration of the Church of Nativity.

He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Dresden.

Eng. Mr. Mazen Karam

First Managing Director from 2013-2021.

Mr. Karam was responsible for the project and construction management of BDF interventions.

He came from CCC with over 45 years of experience in construction of heavy civil, petrochemical and general building projects. He is board member of Bethlehem Business Incubator, Bethlehem University Tourism Institute, and Hassib Sabbagh IT Center for Excellence at the Arab American University of Palestine. He will be assuming an outreach role in BDF Board of Directors.

He holds a Civil Engineering degree from Baghdad University, 1976.