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Board of Directors

Mohammad al-Asad is an architect and architectural historian, and the founding director of CSBE. He stepped down as director of CSBE in July 2006, and currently is a senior advisor with the center. He studied architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and history of architecture at Harvard University. He held post-doctoral research positions at Harvard University and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He also has taught at the University of Jordan, Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was the Alan K. and Leonarda Laing Distinguished Visiting Professor, and was an adjunct professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. He has published a number of books and articles in both Arabic and English on the architecture of the Islamic world, and also contributes a column on architecture and urbanism to The Jordan Times, Jordan’s English daily newspaper. The articles are available on the CSBE web site, in the Urban Crossroads section.

He served as a reviewer for a number of cycles of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture since 1989, and is currently a member of the Award's Steering Committee. He also has been a member of the board of directors for a number of Jordanian cultural organizations and commissions including the Jordan Museum, the Royal Society of Fine Arts – The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, and the Amman Commission. In addition, he has served as the Coordinator of the International Academic and Curatorial Committee of the Discover Islamic Art project of the Museum With No Frontiers, which has developed a virtual web-based museum of Islamic art in the Mediterranean.

Thamer Obeidat is an attorney at law and a partner with the law firm of Obeidat & Freihat in Amman, Jordan. He studied law at the University of Jordan and at Harvard Law School. Before returning to Jordan in 1992, he practiced law in the United States as an associate with the New York firm of White and Case and is a member of the Bar of the State of New York. He is also a founder and director of IP Matters, a Jordanian company concerned with the registration and protection of intellectual property rights inside and outside Jordan. He is a member of the board of directors of Arab Potash Company and of Jordan Training Technology Group/Rubicon. His public service activities include serving as a trustee, secretary, and treasurer for Turab, a Jordanian association that aims at preserving and promoting Jordan's Arab and Islamic cultural heritage. He is also a founding member and past member of the board of trustees of the Jordan Society for Quality, an association that aims at raising awareness and improving standards in Jordan regarding quality in industry and services.

Laith al-Qasem currently holds several positions. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Arabian Business Consultants for Development, the Vice-Chairman of RUBICON (Jordan Training Technology Group), the Vice-Chairman of the Amman World Trade Center, and the Chairman of Applied Engineering Ltd. He studied engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and holds an MBA from Georgetown University. His career spans both technology and investment. He was Chief Executive Officer of the Jordan Technology Group (JTG), where he was intimately involved in 16 technology oriented start-up companies. He also had served as an equity and fixed income investment manager at the Arab Jordan Investment Bank, and as the marketing and finance manager for Royal Jordanian’s Engine Overhaul facility. He also was an engineer with the Jordan Electricity Authority, and before that with Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group in Fullerton, California. He was a founder of the Young Entrepreneurs Association and its president from 1999-2004, and also a founder and board member of the Jordan Society for Quality.

May Shaer is a conservation architect and currently is working with the Department of Antiquities where she is responsible for international cooperation projects, as well as organizing and implementing training activities in coordination with international organizations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, a master’s degree in archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at Yarmouk University, and a PhD from Munich Technical University, Chair for Conservation at the Department of Architecture. She also received training at the Bavarian State Conservation Office in Munich and at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome (ICCROM). She has published several articles and conference papers relating to archaeology and conservation.

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