Firoz Rasul

Mr Firoz Rasul joined Aga Khan University as its President on May 1, 2006. Prior to this, he was involved with the building of several business enterprises and the development of social and community institutions.

Mr Rasul served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ballard Power Systems, a world leader in fuel cell technology, from December 1988 until June 2003 and served as Chairman of the Board from June 2003 until May 2004. Before that he was the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Mobile Data International (MDI) from 1981 until its takeover by its largest competitor, Motorola, in 1988. He has also worked with Black and Decker and General Foods Corporation in Europe.

His leadership of enterprises in the technology sector has allowed Mr Rasul to gain extensive experience in the management and oversight of research and development, the protection of intellectual property and forging of productive collaborations with universities in the United States and Canada.

Mr Rasul's voluntary contributions include serving as the Chairman of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance Canada, member of the University of British Columbia's Board of Governors and Director of Science World, British Columbia. He was also on the Boards of TELUS, a national telecommunications company in Canada, and the Royal Bank Capital Corporation. Mr Rasul was President of the Aga Khan Council for Canada for six years and led the development of various high level projects for the Aga Khan Development Network, including the development of the Global Centre of Pluralism and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

Mr Rasul has a Bachelors in Industrial Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK and a Masters in Business Administration from McGill University, Canada. Simon Fraser University in British Columbia conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, on Mr Rasul in 2001.