Author Bios

Walid S Chiniara is the founder of SHOORA – Family Business Advisors LLC, the first virtual multi-family office in the Middle East.

He is a counsellor-at-law, a family business advisor, and a mediator, with over 30 years experience serving families in business, financial institutions, and multinational corporations across the five continents.

Walid started his career in private practice (first at Sidley & Austin in Chicago and then at Stikeman Elliott in Montreal) and later in-house as Deputy-General Counsel at Alcatel in Paris, with a special emphasis on project financing, investment banking, and transfer of technology.

In 1997, Walid joined his first family office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and spent the last decade serving families in business and HNW family entrepreneurs, building family offices and implementing family governance systems.

He intends to spend the next decade devising region-specific tools and building platforms that ensure “his families” can become more competitive in an increasingly global world.

Walid is a member of the Quebec Bar, the Family Firm Institute (FFI), and the Society of Trust and Estate Planners (STEP). He holds a Bachelor of Law degree from St-Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon and a Master of Comparative Jurisprudence degree from New York University in the US. He is also an accredited Mediator specialized in managing inter-generational conflicts within family firms.

Walid regularly contributes papers and articles to a number of legal and other professional publications. He was recently appointed the UAE correspondent to Trust & Trustees. Also, he is an active member of the Family Office Channel and the Family business Wiki.

Over the years, Walid lived and practiced in New York, Chicago, Montreal, Paris, Dubai and Jeddah. He sits on the advisory board of a number of family controlled businesses. He is based at the Dubai International Financial Centre and may be reached at walid@shoorafba.com or at + 971 4 401 9559.