Michael Muhanna

Michael is helping grow SYPartners' impact in the Middle East by working with leaders to shape purpose, strategy, and culture—pairing deep fluency in the region's creative and cultural landscape with SYP's belief in humanity, creativity, and transformation as engines of change. Michael is a leading voice at the intersection of culture, education, and strategic innovation in the Arab world.

He has built partnerships and worked directly with leaders from institutions including Google Arts & Culture, TED, Netflix, NYU Abu Dhabi, Northwestern, Qatar Foundation, Qatar Museums, Diriyah Biennale Foundation, Saudi Ministry of Culture, and the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth.

For more than a decade, Michael has built platforms and communities that bring people closer to the histories, ideas, and stories of the Arab world—helping envision and shape a better future for the region. He serves as an advisor and trustee for institutions across the Middle East on topics related to cultural production, education, and innovation.

In an earlier part of his career, he spent more than a decade at Morgan Stanley and PwC in New York City, and leading the MENA-based actuarial consulting firm Muhanna Group. He is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a graduate of Duke University, where he studied Economics and Jazz Piano. Muhanna also taught high-school Algebra in the New Orleans public school system as a Teach For America Corps member and launched the education nonprofit Positive Space NOLA.
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