Title Managing Director, Ventures Company BP Bio Issam leads BP’s corporate venture capital team (a global team in the US and Europe) and manages a portfolio of over $220m with an objective of creating financial and strategic values. Currently, Issam serves on the board of 5 portfolio companies either as a director or as an observer. Issam also serves as a Co-director of BP MIST Technology Acceleration Center in Abu Dhabi (the first technology accelerator focused on sustainability in the Middle East). Following a short period in academia, Issam joined BP in 1998. Over the past 17 years, Issam served as BP Chemicals Research Scientist and Commercial development manager. He then joined BP Group Technology as a Program Manager /Clean Energy and was promoted to a Technology Principal. Issam became head of BP Ventures in 2011. Impact Investing is near and dear to Issam’s heart. Issam is working on leveraging current experience to promoting entrepreneurship in the Middle East and bringing energy and water technologies to the bottom of the pyramid. Issam has undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. Issam also completed executive education courses at Imperial College, UC Berkeley and Harvard.