Who We Are

EEF Team

Shazia Khan
Executive Director

Shazia is EcoEnergyFinance’s Executive Director and staff attorney. Prior to founding EcoEnergyFinance, Shazia worked as a consultant at the Africa Energy Division of the World Bank and at the Global Environment Facility. While still an intern with the Global Environment Facility, she had the privilege of reviewing an extremely successful solar photovoltaic project in Bangladesh. She began researching the possibility of replicating this project in Pakistan and other countries where the potential for solar radiation is very high and access to electricity is very low. Shazia has also consulted in the general counsel’s office of the Grameen Foundation, the National Development Finance Corporation in Karachi, Pakistan and the Center for Human Rights Legal Aid in Cairo, Egypt. She is committed to providing clean energy, an enhanced quality of living and economic opportunities to the two billion people living in energy poverty around the globe. Shazia graduated from Smith College in 1998 with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science. In 2003 she received a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School where she studied environmental law with a concentration in energy issues. She currently lives in Washington, D.C. where she is a licensed attorney.

Jeremy Higgs
Director of Operations

Jeremy joins the EcoEnergyFinance team after working on the GreenRoshni initiative to explore models for the sale and distribution of renewable energy solutions in rural Sindh, Pakistan. He believes that renewable energy is a key factor in a sustainable future for Pakistan and other developing countries. He has spent the past 4 years in Pakistan, first working as the President of the Pakistan chapter of AIESEC and currently as the Executive Officer of the Network of Organizations Working for People with Disabilities, Pakistan (NOWPDP). At NOWPDP, he has focused on developing relevant business and funding strategies, and expanding NOWPDP’s impact through projects across Pakistan. He is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, with a Bachelor of Science (Business Information Technology) and First Class Honors from the Co-operative Scholarship Program.

Jazib Zahir
Project Director, Punjab Province
Jazib studied engineering at Stanford and is presently based in Pakistan. In addition to being EEF Project Manager for Punjab he is an Adjunct Professor at LUMS and Chief Operations Officer of Tintash, a startup focused on software for mobile platforms. He is also Dlight fellow for the year 2011-12. He is an active journalist, teacher and counselor in the Pakistani community.

Sadia Khurshid
Fellow

Sadia is a Fulbright Scholar currently pursuing a Masters degree in Energy Management at the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington DC. She has an undergraduate degree in Economics focusing primarily of development and finance from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan. After graduating from LUMS she worked with Barclays Bank in Pakistan mainly on energy/power sector analysis. Her research and experiences have given her insights into the gaps that exist in the electric power sector of Pakistan and she is very passionate about tackling the issue of energy poverty that engulfs a majority of the country’s population.

Ammar Ather Saeed
Fellow

Ammar recently graduated from Cornell Law School with a Masters in Law (LLM) and is currently based in Washington, DC. He did his BA/LLB from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan. Ammar is a Partner at Saiduddin & Co, a law firm specializing in Corporate and Tax laws in Pakistan. He has worked with other senior partners in the courts on a number of corporate, constitutional and tax matters for various multinational clients. He has facilitated incorporation of limited liability corporations for both domestic individuals and foreign corporations starting work in Pakistan and rendered legal opinions on their tax, banking and corporate structuring matters. Further he has made policy proposals to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for implementation of strategies to broaden the direct tax base in Pakistan.

Board of Directors

Ayesha Ahsan

Ayesha is currently at Engro Corporation Limited in Karachi. She is a former Fulbright Scholar who a Masters degree in Financial Engineering at Columbia University. She completed her undergraduate degree in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences. During her undergraduate program, she gained practical experience in the field of finance through an internship at CitiGroup’s Corporate and Investment Banking Division. After graduating, she worked with the Ministry of Finance of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank on a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Sector Development Project. She also helped run the Lahore Chapter of a volunteer-based NGO, Association for Development of Pakistan (ADP), which facilitates the operations and finances of development-related projects in the fields of health, education, shelter, drinking water, and sanitation all over Pakistan.

Jacqueline Murphy

Jacqueline is currently a consultant at Bain & Company. She has been with Bain for nearly 4 years, working in their Boston, South Africa, and now San Francisco offices. Her case work has ranged from developing and implementing a safety strategy at a platinum mine, to designing the sourcing strategy for a $2B women’s clothing retailer. Prior to attending business school, Jacqueline also spent six months at The Bridgespan Group where she worked to develop a growth strategy for a homeless children’s early childhood education provider. Jacqueline has a B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and recently received her MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Nushin Alloo
Nushin graduated as a Trustee Scholar from the Wharton School in 2003 and subsequently earned an MA in Arabic as National Security Education program fellow. Her experience includes consulting for healthcare and financial services firms, and helping launch Syria’s first public relations company. Most recently, she served as an American diplomat in Beirut and received the Meritorious Honor Award for outstanding performance during crisis. She also worked with NGOs across the Middle East and India to promote financial empowerment of women and refugees. Nushin is currently pursuing a MBA/MA degree at the Wharton School, and speaks Arabic and Indian dialects.

Sophia Omar
Sophia is part of GE Capital’s Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (ECLP), a GE leadership program which prepares experienced professionals for GE leadership roles in marketing and sales. Her current rotation at GE is in Strategic Marketing, Market Insights. Sophia graduated from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with an MBA in Strategic Management. Prior to business school, she worked at Deutsche Asset Management for five years. Her most recent role at Deutsche Asset Management was leading the Consultant Services Group within Business Development Services. Sophia is committed to being involved with delivering sustainable products and solutions to those around the world who do not have access to basic resources.