Saed Nashef is Co-Founder of Sadara Ventures, one of the first venture capital firms in the MENA region, and the first VC in Palestine. Sadara is backed by Cisco, European Investment Bank, and Soros Economic Development Fund, among other top-tier investors from the US and Europe. Before Sadara, Saed founded two companies and was a key team member in a third. Before that, Saed worked at Microsoft for 6 years in various software engineering and leadership roles. In 2010, the White House invited Saed to serve as a member of the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem. Saed is the first Kauffman Fellow in the Arab Middle East and the recipient of the "Class 14" Jeff Timmons Memorial Award.