Wa'il Ashshowwaf
Founder, Partner, and Consultant in Washington, DC
Wa’il Ashshowwaf is Partner and Business Director at Rooam, a socially connected mobile payment app that allows users to pay for a night out, explore events, and find friends.
Wa’il has a diverse professional career across a range of industries and geographies including roles at Pepsi, Walt Disney World, and HSBC with experience both domestically and aboard.
As Vice President, International Commercial Banking at HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations he helped US based companies with financial strategies and solutions to support operations, sales growth, compliance and expansion into international markets. Prior to that, he held the role of Regional Manager, Government and Institutional Banking at HSBC, responsible for embassies, not for profits and government owned corporates. During his tenure at HSBC, he built relationships with numerous government and business leaders worldwide.
Wa’il serves as co-founder and Board Member of MidEast Gateway, an international consulting firm that facilitates cross-border business alliances and transactions between companies in North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Middle East and North Africa. In this role, he works closely with US and international companies, including hospitality and tech startups to provide strategic counsel on funding, marketing, negotiations and international business development.
Wa’il has been a guest speaker at panel discussions and conferences on topics related to hospitality, business, banking, fund raising and more.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in marketing from California State University-Chico and a Master’s degree in business leadership from The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. He went on to receive certifications in Compliance from the University of Manchester and Business Strategy from Harvard Business School.
Wa'il is passionate about environmental issues and has partnered on education and research projects with the National Environmental Education Foundation, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and World Wild Life foundation.
He enjoys traveling and discovering different cultures and currently resides in the DC Metro Area and is blessed with his rambunctious son Danyal and amazing wife Sara.