Jean-Francois Seznec
Dr. Jean-Francois Seznec is a founding member and Managing Partner of the Lafayette Group, LLC, a US based private investment company. Dr. Seznec has 25 years experience in international banking and finance of which ten years were spent in the Middle East, including two years in Riyadh at SIDF and six years in Bahrain covering Saudi Arabia. He uses his knowledge of business in the Middle East and the United States to further his analysis of the Arab-Persian Gulf.
Previously, Dr. Seznec served as a Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. His research centered on the influence of the Arab-Persian Gulf political and social variables on the financial and oil markets in the region. He focused on the industrialization of the Gulf and in particular the growth of the petrochemical industry. He is Senior Advisor to PFC Energy in Washington, DC. He holds a MIA from Columbia University [1963], a MA and his Ph.D. from Yale University [1994]. He has published and lectured extensively on Petrochemicals and energy based industries in the Gulf and their importance in world trade. He is interviewed regularly on national TV, radio and newspapers, as well as by the foreign media.