Ahmass Fakahany is an Egyptian-American businessman. He is the chief executive of the Altamarea Group, an American restaurant company he started in 2008 with
Michael White. He had previously worked for
Merrill Lynch
Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...
for twenty-one years where he was ultimately made President and COO.
Early life and education
Ahmass Fakahany was born in
Cairo, Egypt
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. He left Egypt at the age of four, growing up in Switzerland and England. He moved to the United States at age 17 for college.
[ Fakahany received his Bachelor of Science from the ]Questrom School of Business
The Questrom School of Business (formerly, the Boston University School of Management) is the business school at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1913 as the College of Business Administration, the school offe ...
at Boston University (Summa Cum Laude) in 1979.
Career in finance
A Wall Street executive for twenty-one years, Ahmass Fakahany worked for Merrill Lynch, holding the positions of COO Global Markets and Investment Banking, Chief Financial Officer, and then Vice-Chairman. Fakahany was ultimately President and Chief Operating Officer for the firm before he retired in 2007, overseeing 63,000 employees during his career.
Restaurant business
After retiring from Merrill Lynch, Fakahany founded the restaurant hospitality firm, Altamarea Group. In 2017 it was named as one of the fastest-growing companies in America by Inc. Magazine
''Inc.'' is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events y ...
. The group now operates 20 restaurants worldwide, including a signature restaurant Marea in New York City. Marea Dubai was opened at the DIFC in 2019 and recently included in Michelin’s first guide for Dubai. The company also runs Ai Fiori and Osteria Morini in New York City and operates convivial, quality-casual Italian restaurant concepts, Nicoletta and Morini in Washington DC, Miami, New York, and New Jersey. Altamarea operates the Ristorante Morini brand in Istanbul and Riyadh. Internationally, Altamarea also developed Mohalla, an elevated regional Indian Street food brand, and recently Michelin-starred 11 Woodfire in Dubai.
In 2022, the group also opened restaurant 53, a new Contemporary Asian restaurant in midtown New York, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art.
Fakahany started Atelier House Hospitality, a consultancy
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servic ...
subsidiary of Altamarea, in 2017; it has offices in New York and Dubai.
He also sits on the Board of Trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of Boston University.
Awards
* Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award
* 2014 Restaurateur of the Year
* 2015 Richard Melman Award
* Ellis Island Medal of Honor
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fakahany, Ahmass
American chief operating officers
People from Cairo
American chief executives of travel and tourism industry companies
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)