Nasser Lama started his career in Silicon Valley, where he spent the first 19 years working for public, private, and startup companies in the high-tech industry. In his last job there, Nasser spent four years as Vice President of U.S. Operations at Southwall Technologies. During his tenure, improvements in the company’s operations led to a seven-fold increase in the value of the company’s shares.

Prior to working at Southwall, Nasser worked for 10 years with Japanese companies Kubota, Kobe, and Sanyo, running high-tech operations in Silicon Valley. He gained extensive knowledge and experience in lean management concepts that he built upon with a Six Sigma Black Belt degree. Prior to that, Nasser held various leadership positions in the computer disk drive industry.

Using the education and experience he earned in the United States, Nasser helped turn around industrial companies in developing countries by assisting them to improve efficiency, revenue, and profits. Between 2005 and 2007, he guided the largest Syrian confectionary company with 1,500 employees, Katakit Food Manufacturing, to improve its operations that led to significant improvements in quality, capacity, and profitability. Following this success, Nasser turned around the operations of an Egyptian confectionary company, MisrFoods.

In 2009, Nasser began working for donor-funded projects focused on economic development in Lebanon and Tunisia. Using his strong managerial and technical background, Nasser was able to guide farmers and companies in implementing targeted solutions that led to economic opportunities and job creation in agriculture as well as food and textile industries.

Before joining the Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) Activity, Nasser worked for DAI from 2012 to 2020 on the Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD) project in Lebanon and on the Regional Agricultural Development Program (RADP–East) in Afghanistan.

In his most recent work before joining TIF, Nasser consulted for Lebanese and Jordanian industrial companies to assist them in increasing productivity, revenue, profitability, and sustainability.

• B.S., mechanical engineering, University of Houston
• M.S., mechanical engineering, Memphis State University