Dr. Armen Papazian is the 1st winner of the Alpha Centauri Prize, and the founding chairman and CEO of Keipr, a boutique financial modelling and consulting firm, and the founding CEO of the International Space Development HUB.
After earning his PhD in financial economics at the University of Cambridge, UK, he embarked on a career path that led him to achieve capital market history in the Middle East. As a former Managing Director of Innovation and Development at the Dubai International Financial Exchange (Nasdaq Dubai), Dr. Papazian led the launch of the Middle East’s first Structured Products platform with Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and Merrill Lynch. He has led the creation of the region’s first tradable bond and Sukuk indices with HSBC and the first fungible dual listing with a US exchange in the region. He then assumed the role of Head of Islamic Finance for UBS AG, with a global and cross business mandate, serving wealth management, asset management and the investment bank.
He acted as a Judge for the FT Investment Banking Awards in 2011. Previously, he held the honorary position of Fellow at the Cambridge University Judge Business School, UK. He has numerous publications in a variety of outlets, he contributes regularly to policy debates in various media globally, and is a widely sought after speaker, economist, and consultant.
