Khalid Azim is the director of the MENA Futures Lab at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. The Lab serves as a collaborative hub and intellectual engine, driving innovation, entrepreneurship, private-sector engagement, and the creation of transformative knowledge capital and connectivity across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In addition, Azim is an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on leadership, ethics, and communications. He previously served as president of ABANA and the ABANA Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to business and finance professionals with ties to the MENA region. Earlier in his career, he was a global capital markets banker at Morgan Stanley, based in New York and Hong Kong, where he raised billions of dollars for financial institutions, emerging market issuers, and supranationals.

Azim began his career as an officer in the US Navy, serving aboard a fast-attack nuclear-powered submarine and a surface ship during the First Gulf War. He was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and two Navy Achievement Medals for his service. He is also a former White House fellow and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

His prior board service includes the executive committee of ABANA and the board of trustees of the Cathedral School of St. John the Divine. He holds a BA in English from Pitzer College (Claremont Colleges) and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.