Our trustees

Dr Hany El Banna, Founder and President

Dr Hany El Banna has founded several charities including The Humanitarian Forum, Islamic Relief, and the Muslim Charities Forum. He is also a board member of the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA). He has visited over 60 of the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries on behalf of these organisations.

Dr El Banna originally trained in Medicine, both in Egypt and the UK. Amongst his many achievements, he has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE), the Ibn Khaldun Award for Excellence in Promoting Understanding between Global Cultures and Faiths (UK) and the UK Muslim Power 100 Lifetime Achievement award.  

Visit The President's Pages blog for Dr El Banna's recent activities and thoughts

Sir Nicholas Young, Trustee

Sir Nick Young is Chief Executive of the British Red Cross, the UK's leading voluntary crisis response organisation, and part of the worldwide Red Cross & Red Crescent Movement. As well as having an active international role in the Movement, he is also a key player in various strategy and operational reviews both nationally and internationally.

Originally a commercial solicitor, Sir Nick worked with various charities before his current role. He is a member of the Office for the Third Sector Advisory Body, a Trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee, and Chairman of the Monte San Martino Trust. He was knighted in 2000 for services to cancer care and made a Freeman of the City of London in 2007.

Mr. Adam Leach, Trustee

Adam Leach has had a distinguished career in sustainable development, at both operational and strategic levels with a number of international development NGOs. Adam has been Chief Executive of the International Business Leaders Forum, working with over 100 of the world's major companies to put business at the heart of sustainable development. Previously, Adam was Regional Director at Oxfam for the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Adam is an MBA graduate and has led humanitarian and development programmes working with a wide variety of civil society organisations, cross sector collaboration between civil society organisations, government institutions, private sector and inter-community outreach.  Adam has promoted civilian protection in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, been a public advocate for action on the humanitarian crises in Iraq and Lebanon, and worked to increase access to water and health services in a number of countries.

Mr. Ibrahim Hassaballa, Treasurer

Mr Ibrahim Hassaballa has been the Director General of the International Islamic Charitable Organisation (IICO), Kuwait for 14 years. He oversees activities in several poor countries, providing communities with basic human needs. Mr Hassaballa was previously a Director and Managing Director of several investment and industrial corporations, in countries as diverse as the USA, Malaysia, Egypt, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Mr Hassaballa studied in the U.S. and Egypt, and has an MBA in business administration, an MA in History, and a diploma in Islamic Studies. He is passionate about empowering poor communities, and has worked with multilateral, international, and regional agencies in relief and humanitarian activities.

Dr. Abdul Wahab Noorwali, Trustee

Dr. Abdul Wahab Noorwali has been a trustee of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (Saudi Arabia) for 12 years, administering and operating the WAMY offices in three major cities in Saudi Arabia with a strength of 300 employees, as well as running and supervision of 23 overseas bureaus some of which have more than 200 employees. He is also a member of Executive Committee and founder of International Trust Organization and a member of the Hope Charitable Association.

Dr. Noorwali has a Ph. D in Clinical Biochemistry awarded by the University of Sheffield and has a wide range of experience with regards to research in coordination and integration of voluntary charitable organizations and the effect of that on the growth and promotion of charitable activity.

Mr. Huseyin Oruc, Trustee

Huseyin Oruc was born in Malatya, Turkey in 1969. He gained diplomas in Tourism Management in 1991 and Public Management in 1996 from Boğaziçi University. He worked in the tourism sector as a tour operator and hotel manager in Istanbul. He is one of the founders of The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, IHH, a Turkish NGO based in Istanbul. For 8 years, he managed various international projects of IHH, such as the Banda Aceh tsunami relief effort in 2004, the Pakistan earthquake relief effort in 2005, the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2010, the Haiti earthquake relief effort in 2010, the Qurbani Project 2010 in 126 countries, the Pakistan flood relief effort 2010, the Cataract Project (2007- ongoing, more than 43.000 cataract surgeries are completed) in 10 African countries etc. He is a founding Trustee of The Humanitarian Forum, UK, and founding member of UNIW (the Union of NGOs of Islamic World) on behalf of IHH. He was head of the Preparation Committee of Code of Conducts for Islamic NGOs for OIC. He is a delegate for UN and OIC on behalf of IHH. Mr. Oruc is currently deputy president of Board of Trustees. He is married with 3 children.

Dr. Sulaiman Shamsaldeen, Trustee

Dr. Shamsaldeen is the Director General of the International Islamic Charitable Organisation (IICO), which counts with branches in the Middle East, Africa, Switzerland, and the U.S. Dr. Shamsaldeen has been a board member of several academic and financial institutions in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, such as the College of Technological Studies and the Islamic Development Bank. Dr. Shamsaldeen has extensive experience in education and training in diverse fields ranging from chemistry and engineering to management, leadership, and organizational development, both in Kuwait and the U.S.  

Dr Shamsaldeen originally trained in Engineering in the U.S., where he was awarded a M.A and a Ph.D. in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering by the Pennsylvania State University.