In memory of Suleiman Bakhit: 'A hero in his own right'
Last week, the Young Global Leaders (YGLs) of the World Economic Forum lost a prized member of its community; Jordanian YGL Suleiman Bakhit.
In 2022, Mr. Nasser launched Ambit Advisory, focusing on cross-sectoral and cascading risks impacting issues at the nexus of security and development in the Middle East. At the start of 2022, he was also appointed as Senior Advisor to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), where he leads research relating to the impacts of ballistic missiles, drones, disruptive weapon systems and weapons of mass destruction on Middle East security and stability.
In 2023 Mr. Nasser became a member of World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Complex Risk, an interdisciplinary invitation-only community that works to identify long term global risks for stakeholders in the World Economic Forum and develop appropriate mitigation efforts.
From 2010 until 2021, Mr. Nasser served as the Managing Director of the Middle East Scientific Institute for Security (MESIS) based in Amman, Jordan. In this position, he focused on addressing chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) risks across the Middle East region. During the same period, he also headed the Middle East Regional Secretariat, the first of eight secretariats to be established globally under the European Union’s Centres of Excellence initiative on CBRN issues.
Previously, Mr. Nasser worked in the office of His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, where he last served as Senior Analyst in the Foreign Affairs Directorate. During that time, he managed several bilateral and thematic files and led analytical studies on Jordan’s regional and international relations.
Mr. Nasser is also involved with numerous organizations. He served as the Chairman of a leading insurance company in Jordan and currently serves as the Vice Chairman of a public national commission offering support to injured and disabled veterans. He received his master’s degree in Near Eastern studies from Princeton University and his undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Policy and Business Management from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts (2001). Nasser is also the chair of the Princeton alumni committee in Jordan since 2004 and mentor for Middle East alumni committees for two terms (2017-2023).
In 2015, Mr. Nasser was selected by the World Economic Forum as a “Young Global Leader,” along with 187 candidates globally and served as Member of the Advisory Group for the Forum of Young Global Leaders between 2021-2022. Between 2018-2020, he was a non-resident scholar of the Washington-based Middle East Institute and in 2021 joined the English-language daily, Jordan News Daily, as a regular columnist.