Senior Management

Mr. Michael began his career at CIBC World Markets, in Toronto, where he established and successfully managed the firm’s first commodity and foreign exchange proprietary trading desk. Subsequently, he held senior commodity and foreign exchange trading positions at Lehman Brothers, Standard Bank and Graham Capital Management. More recently, Mr. Michael acted as Chairman and CEO of a DIFC based investment banking firm. Mr. Michael has successfully founded and managed both investment firms and traditional companies. Mr. Michael holds an Honors in Business Administration (HBA) degree from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.

Mr. Shahin has 25+ years experience in the global physical and financial precious metals markets. He began his career at CIBC World markets in Toronto on the spot gold desk before moving to Republic National Bank (RNB) in New York as Chief Dealer; at the time, RNB had the largest gold desk in the world. Mr. Shahin then held a similar position at Lehman Brothers in New York prior to joining Rudolf Wolff and Co, in London, a founding member of the London Metal Exchange. In 2000, Mr. Shahin moved to Dubai with ARY Traders where his strong governance polices, risk management programs and hedging/trading strategies enabled ARY to become one of the major physical gold trading firms in the region. Mr. Shahin served on the DMCC Gold Advisory Board, 2002-2007; and holds a BSc. in Civil Engineering from University of Texas at Austin.

Jean-Paul Musicco (“JP”) is a capital markets leader and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience in investment banking, hedge funds, and FinTech solutions. Most recently, he was Board Member and CFO of Doran Jones, Inc., a software delivery company, which was sold to a P/E firm in June of 2021. Previously, Mr. Musicco was Founder of Trading Apps Limited, a Fintech software company providing technology solutions to the Securities Finance industry. In the seventeen years previous, Mr. Musicco was a Managing Director for three high-profile global firms including SAC Capital Advisors – a multi-strategy hedge fund, Deutsche Bank – as Global Head Securities Lending, and CIBC World Markets – as Global Head of Financing and Arbitrage. Mr. Musicco holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Mr. Courtright is a 30-year veteran of the financial services industry. He began his career at Accenture, a global management consulting and technology services company, as a Senior Program Manager. Mr. Courtright then joined St. Croix Asset Management as a Principal responsible for domestic and international hedge fund operations. Most recently, Mr. Courtright was President of a commodity pool operator/commodity trading advisor firm and President of a registered investment advisor firm. He has launched several investment funds including a gold bullion fund and a gold/silver mutual fund.

Mr. Alasmar began his career in the gold jewelry industry in Kuwait 30+ years ago after completing his metallurgical studies in Spain. Mr. Alasmar has extensive technical and regional experience in the gold trade developed while working in several middle-eastern countries. In 2000, Mr. Alasmar joined ARY Gold Testing Laboratory as Co–Founder and Chief Technician. Mr. Alasmar is an expert on regional regulations and legal requirements for establishing gold testing laboratories. He has set-up and operated the first ISO 9001 certified laboratory in Dubai.

Mr. King is a 25+ year veteran of the real estate industry with over 10 years of corporate finance and financial engineering experience. Mr. King began his career in real estate brokerage in the U.S. before returning to China in 2003 to advise Lehman Brothers on its first real estate development project in Shanghai. In 2005, he joined Willie International where he became a Managing Director and led numerous M&A transactions. Mr. King also served as an independent director for Glory Future Group and assisted with the takeover of Tack Fat Holdings where he served as Executive Director. Mr. King holds a B.A. Economics from Santa Clara University and M.S. International Finance from the University of San Francisco.

Mr. Zaman has over 30 years of experience in the international banking industry. He began his career at ANZ Grindlays Bank (now merged with Standard Chartered Bank) and held various senior-level positions at Bank of Credit & Commerce International (BCCI), RAK Bank, Mashreq Bank and Finance House. While at Mashreq Bank, Mr. Zaman pioneered bank financing for the UAE jewelry trade. In 2006, Mr. Zaman joined Damas Jewellery as CEO where he lead the company’s IPO and gained further insight into the jewelry and bullion trade in the Gulf. Mr. Zaman later joined Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank as the Head of Corporate Credit and most recently oversaw the bank’s credit risk management.

Mr. Hays began his career in the gold mining industry at Aruntani Mining Company in Lima, Peru, where he oversaw project finance and process optimization for large open pit mines. After several years of working on large mining projects, Mr. Hays opened his own small mining company, which successfully operated a few placer projects and as well as two hard rock mines. Mr. Hays has gained valuable experience in all aspects of the mining industry – from financing large multi-million dollar open pit projects, to the day-to-day running of smaller placer and hard rock mines, to helping artisanal miners optimize their production and work within environmental and international guidelines.

Mr. Shahin has 25 years of management experience in the petroleum, steel, and manufacturing industries. In particular, Mr. Shahin has significant expertise with regard to physical commodities in Middle Eastern and African markets. In his most recent position, Mr. Shahin managed a Sudan-based multimillion dollar petroleum company, where he turned around the company and brought it to profitability in less than two years. As General Manager, Mr. Shahin introduced professional management protocols, efficiently restructured the managerial team, and implemented new Finance department processes and controls. Previously, Mr. Shahin established, developed and managed a multimillion dollar steel company in Sudan and worked in various senior Sales and Finance management roles for a manufacturing firm in Jordan.

Mr. Paul began his career as an Accountant at the Nambiyattukudy Group of Companies, a manufacturing and trading company in Cochin, Kerala, India. In 2009, Mr. Paul moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he joined the firm of Manish Jewellers LLC, a gold & diamond jewelry company, as Chief Accountant. At Manish, Mr. Paul led a team of up to 10 accountants and assistants and was responsible for coordinating internal & external audits, controlling working capital & revolving trade finances, liaising with banking counterparties, monitoring bank transactions, projecting cash requirements, ensuring compliance with banking requirements, and developing and maintaining relationships with auditors and consultants. Mr. Paul also had management and supervisory responsibilities for the Accounting and Finance departments, where he assigned responsibilities to team members. While at Manish, Mr. Paul was trained in Forex bullion trading, including forward and futures contracts, swaps, spot trading, margin, hedging, and trade reconciliation. Mr. Paul holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce – Cost Accounting from Mahatma Gandhi University of Kottayam, Kerala, India.