President and CEO
Dr. Homaira Akbari is President and CEO of AKnowledge Partners, LLC, a global strategy advisory firm providing services to leading private equity funds and large corporations in the sectors of Internet of Things, Cyber Security, AI, and energy transition. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN), Babcock & Wilcox (NYSE: BW), Landstar System (NASDAQ: LSTR), and Telefónica Technology Advisory Board.
Since 2013, Dr. Akbari has served on eight public boards and fifteen private boards across five geographies, leveraging her strategic and operational acumen to ensure boards are equipped to navigate complex challenges and seize opportunities. She was a board member of Temenos AG (SWX: TEMN), Veolia SA (EN: VIE), Gemalto N.V. (EN: GTO), Santander Consumer USA (NYSE: SC), and Covisint Corporation (NASDAQ: COVS). She has extensive experience in committee memberships and was Chair of Compensation Committee at Temenos AG, and Chair of Safety and Risk Committee at Landstar System. She served as the non-executive Chair for WorkFusion, a cognitive AI company, and for Dauria Aerospace, a micro-satellite company.
Dr. Akbari has held senior management roles in Fortune 1000 companies including Microsoft, Thales, and Liberty Media subsidiary, Trueposition. She has served as the President and CEO of SkyBitz, Inc., a leading provider of remote asset tracking and security solutions. Under her leadership, the company had record performance. She successfully sold SkyBitz to Telular Corporation (NASDAQ: WRLS).
She holds a Ph.D. with honors in particle physics from Tufts University and an MBA with distinction from Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. She is the author of more than 50 scientific articles in international journals, has two patents in IoT/M2M, and is a frequent speaker in industry conferences. She is a cybersecurity faculty member at the DCRO Risk Governance Institute and a guest lecturer at ecoDa.eu. She has published numerous governance and technology Opinion Editorials and Podcasts, and most recently co-authored the book: The Cyber Savvy Boardroom.
Throughout her life, Dr. Akbari has been active in and a contributor to many non-profit organizations. She is currently a member of Business Board of Advisors for Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business, and Executive Committee Trustee Member and Chair of Events and Communications of L’Alliance New York, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting French language, culture and art.
Dr. Akbari was the inaugural Chair of the Johns Hopkins University Physics and Astronomy Advisory Council from 2013-2018, and a member since 2009. She has established Homaira Akbari Fellowship Endowment at Carnegie Mellon University and Akbari-Mack Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physics and Astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University.
