Our Founder & CEO

Salman Shaikh

In the last twenty years, I have witnessed and sometimes been directly affected by the outbreak of conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa regions in such places as Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, or in the last seven years by the conflict, in Syria.

Yet as these conflicts raged, and were joined by others, including in Yemen and Libya, the ability of regional leaders and the international community to resolve these conflicts seems to have diminished. So has the role and impact of our post Second World War international institutions, such as the United Nations or regional institutions such as the Arab League.

TSG was founded to innovate and re-energize our collective ability to resolve and build peace in the Middle East and Africa regions. That ambitious goal is built on the principle of empowering the people themselves to build a sustainable peace through inclusive dialogue and consensus. It is also dependant on bringing these voices and their ideas to the key decision-makers in the international community. It is an approach, which is uniquely “bottom up” and top down.” TSG is focused on peace-making and facilitation, as well as ensuring the conditions created to short-term achievements provide the foundation for what are almost always fragile and long-term transitions from war to peace.

Thank you for your interest in our work. I hope we can find ways to change things together.

Salman Shaikh

Before establishing The Shaikh Group (TSG), Salman Shaikh was the director of the Brookings Institution's Doha Center, where his research focused on conflict resolution, domestic policy, and geopolitics of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Levant (particularly Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

Shaikh has extensive experience working in the United Nations in a number of offices, including as Special Assistant, Middle East and Asia in the Office of the Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs, Political Advisor to the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for Lebanon during the 2006 war, Special Assistant to the Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process, and Programme Officer for the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict.
view full bio ...