Board of Directors

Major General Md Wahid Uz Zaman, BSP (BAR), ndc,aowc,psc,te (Retired) is currently serving as the Managing Director of an AI solution developer private limited company and Senior Advisor of Centre for Advanced Computing and Research (CACR) in Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). Imbued with outstanding leadership capabilities, the General has vast experience in administration & management of the Government, Defence and Academic world. His principal expertises are in the arena of Information and Communication Technology, Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has specialization on large scale project planning, implementation and management.

He served 37 (thirty-seven) years of colourful active service in Bangladesh Army and held almost all types of command, staff and instructional appointments as appropriate to his level. Few notables are: Commandant (Vice Chancellor) Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), Director IT Directorate Army Headquarters, Director Trust Bank Ltd, Director General Bangladesh Telecomm Regulatory Commission, Commander 86 Independent Signal Brigade, Chief Communication and IT Officer at UN Mission in Congo and UN Observer in Croatia. He was awarded with the ‘Bishisto Seba Padak’ (BSP) twice from the Honourable President of Bangladesh for excellence in army service.

Graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India with First Class in Electronics and Communication Engineering, he has also earned three Postgraduate Degrees including a Gold Medal in Master in Information System Security (Cyber Security) from BUP. He has attended Higher Defence Courses like: National Defence Course (NDC), War Course and Army Staff Course. He received best research paper award in NDC, title “Bracing Artificial Intelligence for Socio-economic Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Bangladesh”, and has also received best research paper award in Staff Course at Mirpur. The General has published over hundred professional books, pamphlets, précis and articles to his credit.

He led number of teams to design and develop software including secured messenger mobile Apps for Bangladesh Army. He established the Cyber Gym at MIST, formulated Electronic Warfare and Cyber Security Policy for Bangladesh Army etc.

He has extensive overseas exposure in diverse international environment. In addition to service under Blue Helmet, he also has  visited more than 30 (thirty) countries to attend meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops, training etc; and as a technical expert he also led team to China, France, USA, Spain, Germany, Australia, UK, Czech Republic, Switzerland and South Korea.

An avid golfer, he lives a happy family life and blessed with a son and a daughter.

Mr. Habibullah N Karim is the founder and CEO of Technohaven Co. Ltd. an independent software company and IT solutions provider. 

Mr. Karim was a full member of the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s ICT Task Force between 2001-03 and 2008-10. He helped found the Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services, where he served as founding secretary-general and was elected president twice. Mr. Karim was the Convener of the Working Group of the national ICT Policy Review Committee and is the principal author of the Bangladesh ICT Policy 2009. He is a columnist for the most popular English dailies and has co-authored a book titled “Going Digital – Realizing The Dreams of a Digital Bangladesh for All” published by the University Press Ltd in 2011. Mr. Karim has a BSEE degree from Yale University (USA) and attended an executive program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Ms. Sultana Afroz is a former Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh, and former CEO of Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) in the Prime Minister’s Office. She began her journey in the Bangladesh Civil Service, Administration Cadre in December 1989, marking the commencement of her dedicated service to the nation.

Throughout her illustrious career, Ms. Afroz held several key positions. She served as Additional Secretary and Chief of the United Nations Wing and Nordic Wing at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in the Ministry of Finance. Her diplomatic experience included serving as the Economic Counsellor in the Bangladesh Embassy in Rome, Italy, where she also acted as the Alternate Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to Rome-based United Nations Headquarters, including FAO, IFAD, and WFP. Notably, Ms. Afroz’s exceptional leadership skills led to her election as a member of the UN FAO Programme Committee during the 138th and 142nd Sessions of the FAO Council in 2009 and 2011, respectively, representing Asia. These accomplishments marked Bangladesh’s significant role in this critical FAO governing body, with the nation assuming the Vice Chair position.

Ms. Afroz also made her mark on the international stage as an Executive Board Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Her dedication extended to the role of Charge d’Affaires at the Bangladesh Embassy in Rome, Italy.

In addition to her diplomatic roles, Ms. Afroz contributed to various capacities in field administration and government ministries, notably as a core group member of the Government of Bangladesh Private Sector Development Project (PSD), aimed at fostering private sector growth in the country. Her career path also included a consultancy position at the Small-Scale Water Sector Development Project (SSWSDP), funded by the Asian Development Bank, and roles as a Programme Officer at the Center for Applied Policy Research (CAPRE), funded by the Ford Foundation, as well as the Management Development Unit (MDU), administered by the World Bank and UNFPA.

Ms. Afroz’s educational background is equally impressive, with a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Harvard University, USA. She also holds MSS and BSS (Honors) degrees in Sociology from the University of Dhaka. She further enhanced her expertise through executive courses in Public Policy, Service Delivery, and Negotiation at Duke University, USA, and a Negotiation and Leadership Award course at Macquarie University, Australia.

A well-traveled individual, Ms. Afroz actively participated in numerous international conferences and served as a resource person both in home and abroad. Her commitment to knowledge sharing is evident through her roles as the Vice President of the Bangladesh Knowledge Forum, Vice President of the National Advisory Board for Impact Investment for Bangladesh. Ms. Afroz continues to contribute as Policy Advisor to the USAID-funded Ecosystems Protibesh project demonstrating her unwavering dedication to public service and international collaboration.

Dr. Mohammad Tareq is a Professor of Accounting & Information Systems at the University of Dhaka. He has worked for over a decade as a consultant in the areas of financial markets, mobile banking, small and medium enterprise development, project appraisal and implementation among others. He has worked as a consultant in projects undertaken by agencies including ILO, BGMEA, World Bank, FES (Germany), SME Foundation, Ministry of Labour and Employment of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Ministry of Industries of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Bank. He is an active researcher and has presented papers in conferences in the USA, UAE, Japan, Thailand, Azerbaijan among others. Two of his papers received best paper award, one from a conference in UAE and the other one from a conference held in Azerbaijan. His papers are published in reputed local and international journals e.g Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Japanese Journal of Administrative Science, Japanese Psychological Research, International Journal of Accounting and Information Management among others. He has also written several book chapters which are published by famous international publishers like Springer International Publisher, Routledge (a British multinational publisher) and so on. He has served in numerous academic and corporate committees.

Farhad Ahmed joined Central Counterparty Bangladesh Limited (CCB) as its first Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on January 3, 2021 after his retirement from Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).

At BSEC, he worked as a Departmental Head of Surveillance, Research & Development, Management Information Systems, Supervision & Regulations of Markets and Issuer Companies, Capital Issue, Enforcement, Central Depository System, Law, Administration & Finance, International Affairs and Supervision & Regulation of Intermediaries departments.

From the BSEC side, he was associated with the Central Depository project from inception up to its commercial operation. During his tenure as departmental head of the capital Issues department, Grameen Phone, a subsidiary of Telenor took listing at both Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) after its initial public offer of 70 million US$. He was also involved in Demutualization of stock exchanges, approval process of strategic investment of DSE with Shanghai & Shenzhen stock exchanges and signing of IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) as head of different committees created by BSEC for these purposes.

During 2015- 2017 he worked as an Enforcement and Cooperation Advisor of International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in Madrid, Spain on secondment from BSEC.

He was a part-time faculty member of American International University of Bangladesh (AIUB) in its MBA Program during 2007 – 2014.

After obtaining   graduation and post-graduation from the Department of Finance, University of Dhaka, he started his carrier with a private sector insurance company in 1986.