Mazen Skaf
Mazen Skaf is managing director of the Europe and Middle East Practice. He specializes in strategy, financial risk management, negotiation analysis, and deal structuring. He has advised clients in a variety of industries including consumer goods, financial services, telecommunications, energy, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. In the public sector, he has advised government authorities in the EMEA region on economic development, knowledge-based industries and infrastructure, and public-private partnerships.
Mazen Skaf, Managing Director, Europe and the Middle East
- Led SDG's entry into the Middle East beginning in 1997.
- Received INFORMS award for practice of decision analysis at Shell
- MS, PhD, Stanford University
Dr. Skaf’s career at SDG has enabled him to work closely with clients on strategy development and implementation and to support his clients through major industry transitions. In 1999, Dr. Skaf and his client Donald W. Spillman from Shell Offshore, Inc. received the first INFORMS Decision Analysis Society Practice award for their work in portfolio management.
Before joining SDG, he was a member of the start-up team and a senior director of product marketing at Rapt Technologies, a leader in web media price optimization (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to that, he worked at General Motors in the Decision Support Center where he led the development of the product portfolio strategy for GM’s largest division. Most recently, he was the Chief Business Officer of TRACON Pharmaceuticals where he directed business development activities and overall corporate strategy.
He holds a B.S. summa cum laude in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas and an M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation was on the use of financial engineering and real options in the design of negotiated agreements. In 1998, he was elected Fellow of the Stanford Center on Conflict Resolution and Negotiation.
