Executive Officers

Shahal Khan, 49
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors

Mr. Khan’s career as an investor, entrepreneur and social venture capitalist spans over 22 years, with investments encompassing telecoms, real estate, energy, natural resources, technology (specific emphasis on Internet-related communications technologies and advanced cyber security solutions) as well as various other industrial sectors. He has been directly responsible for syndication of over $5 billion in equity for projects as a principal through his family trust. Mr. Khan is the founder and since its inception in January 2021, serves as chief executive officer and as a director of Burkhan World Investments LLC, a holding company with diversified investments focusing on reinvesting gains from portfolio investments into companies that have the potential so accelerate sustainability. Mr. Khan is a shareholder of CYVOLVE, a pioneering Cyber security company based out of New York City and London with four patents in data security. Since 2019, Mr. Khan has served as chief exectuive officer and Chairman of the Board of Trinity Hospitality Group LLC based out of New York City, which is currently developing a hotel property in New York City which will be a fully tech-enabled live and work destination in New York City with WIRED, a Condé Naste company. Trinity is currently developing over two billion dollars of a pipeline of “Digital Nomad” properties. Mr. Khan was chairman of the board of directors for Global Data Sentinel, Inc., a data security company, from 2018 through 2019. He is also the founder of Trinity White City Ventures RAK UAE (“White City”), an advisory boutique and family office based in Dubai and was a director from 2012 until 2014. White City made a bid to buy the Plaza Hotel in 2018, closed the transaction, then agreed to the sale of the hotel to the Qatari SWF. Mr. Khan was the founding member of CRME (Colt Middle East) in 2012, a mining company which held gold, copper and lithium concessions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. From 2004 to 2008, he was a board member and shareholder of The Quimera Project, a research and development cluster based in Barcelona, Spain, comprised of over 60 technology companies as well as leading universities with the aim of commercializing technologies that have a positive impact on environmental sustainability. He also has a joint venture with American Ethane Corporation of Houston to invest in up to 6,000 megawatts of power projects in Pakistan in collaboration with General Electric. Mr. Khan was one of the founders of the tier one bank in Bahrain – Fortune Investment House and was focused on real estate investments in Bahrain and other countries in the Middle East. He was also founder of Global Voice Telecom, one of the first companies to receive a license for voice over the Internet in 1997 which subsequently merged into a Nasdaq listed company. Mr. Khan was the chief executive officer of Centile, a software company located in the South of France, which was sold to the European Development Bank in 2008. In 2009 Mr. Khan founded Zebasolar, one of the first developers of Solar power in India. Mr. Khan also served as a director on the boards of GD360 from 2017 through 2019, Mr. Khan is currently appointed senator of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (“WBAF”), as an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI). WBAF is committed to collaborating globally to empowering the economic development of the world. He is also a commissioner of the US Council on Competitiveness, which is a nonpartisan, leadership organization composed of CEOs, university presidents, labor leaders, and national lab directors committed to ensuring that the United States remains the world leader in innovation . The Council has one main goal: to strengthen America’s competitive advantage by acting as a catalyst for innovative public policy solutions. Mr. Khan was born in New York and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from American University and studied business management at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC.

Isaac Chetrit, 59
President and Director

Mr. Chetrit is a real estate veteran with a background in architecture and electrical engineering. Mr. Chetrit is currently the chief executive officer and a director of Monti Consulting Services, a real estate consulting firm, which positions he has held since 2015. Monti Consulting specializes in retail and hospitality real estate, property technology and management services. In addition, since 2019, Mr. Chetrit has been the president and a director of the Trinity Hospitality Group, a real estate management, consulting, and development firm. Mr. Chetrit began his real estate career under the belt of The Taubman Company, where he built a reputation across major cities in the US. He was instrumental during his career with Taubman in making Dolphin Mall an institution in the industry and led the expansion and business development of many other luxury high end brands, restaurants, and entertainment venues in the USA and overseas. He has cemented valuable credibility in the Real Estate industry through his continuous involvement in functional management areas, project development, and consistently developing projects and brands that have become staples and powerhouses, both in the USA and globally. Mr. Chetrit has also spent the last 20 years merchandising malls, shopping centers, hotels, and specializing in location assessment and negotiations. Later as the vice president of Westfield, Mr. Chetrit was solely responsible for high-end retail and entertainment development for the eastern U.S. During the last two decades, Mr. Chetrit has procured hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions across the U.S. and other parts of the world. For the past couple years, Mr. Chetrit has deep dived into the fintech and proptech space to develop the next generation hospitality and real estate industries, with the objective to leverage these innovations within these industries to address continuing technologically progressive market demands. Mr. Chetrit has a bachelor of science degree in architecture and electrical engineering from ORT Toulouse, France.

Roman Livson, 51
Chief Financial Officer

Since February 2021, Mr. Livson has been the Chief Financial Officer of Burkhan World, a family office investment company. Mr. Livson is also the Managing Member of BurTech LP, LLC, our Sponsor. Since July 2014, Mr. Livson has been serving as the Chief Compliance Officer at Katalyst Securities LLC, an investment banking firm. Mr. Livson started his professional career in the corporate finance department of PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London and Moscow where he focused on real estate, energy, metals and mining, shipping and logistics and telecommunications sectors. He subsequently worked in the investment banking department of Hagstromer and Qviberg, a leading Swedish brokerage firm. After moving to the US in 2000, Mr. Livson established an investment banking advisory firm to assist companies from Europe and BRIC countries in going public in the US, raising capital and engaging in cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions. Mr. Livson served as Chief Financial Officer of a US public company where he was responsible for raising capital, structuring acquisitions and divestitures and financial reporting. Mr. Livson raised over $100 million for Oil & Gas, technology and biotechnology companies. Mr. Livson holds Series 7, 24, and 63 registrations with the FINRA. Mr. Livson has a Master’s degree in Mathematical Finance from Columbia University, a Masters in Physics from Moscow Institute Of Electronics Engineering, and a Banking and Financing Degree from The London School of Economics.

Payel Farasat, 42
Chief Investment Officer

Since December 2020, Ms. Farasat has been the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Burkhan World Investments LLC (“Burkhan”) and the Co-founder and Managing Partner of V4 Capital LLC, a bespoke consultancy and private equity firm that specializes in investing with purpose, impact and heart. Since December 2017, Ms. Farasat has been the Managing Principal of Farasat Consulting Group LLC (“FCG”), a business and management consulting firm. Ms. Farasat is also the Founder & Master Coach of Project Me Coaching, a transformational coaching and advisory organization which she founded in June 2017. Ms. Farasat has over 20 years of experience, intuition, and conviction in asset management and financial advising. This combination enables Ms. Farasat to quickly capture data, patterns, and themes that shape her views on sentiment and positioning, as well as, inform her vision about the future relative to global economics and changing demographics. Consistently searching for new ways to interpret capital market dynamics, Ms. Farasat chairs Burkhan’s Investment Committee and curates investment policy and portfolio management for Burkhan’s global ecosystem of group companies. Deploying modern academic thinking that strives to improve expected returns, manage risk, and reduce costs, Ms. Farasat researches and analyzes the landscape of rapid growth companies in the InfraTech/PropTech/FinTech, Artificial Intelligence/Quantum Computing, MediaTech/eSports/eGaming, BioTech, Healthcare, HospitalityTech, Alternative Energy, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency sectors – searching for exceptional businesses to invest in and grow. Ms. Farasat guides the process of infusing capital into innovative ventures that bring revolutionary technologies and experiences expected to have long-term positive impact on the world and our future. In this process, she creates custom capital raise solutions for Burkhan’s portfolio companies. Ms. Farasat is passionate about enabling democratized access to private equity investments and tailors custom participation strategies for institutional and accredited investors interested in co-investing in companies that Burkhan is taking public. “See the entire landscape with a diverse set of eyes within an endless feedback loop – Iterate, Rinse, Repeat.” is Ms. Farasat’s mantra for financial consciousness, profitability, growth, and sustainable global impact.  Prior to Burkhan, from February 2015 to November 2017, Ms. Farasat was the Chief Investment Officer of Loring Ward Securities Inc. (“Loring Ward”), a Turnkey Asset Management Provider and The SA Funds, Loring Ward’s proprietary mutual fund family with over $16 Billion in assets under management. Payel chaired Loring Ward’s Investment Committee (that included Noble-laureate Dr. Harry Markowitz) and led the investment division. On the executive team, she was directly responsible for the firm’s investment philosophy, policy, portfolio management, and messaging. She also managed the development of all investment strategy, methodology, performance, risk attribution analysis, 3rd party manager oversight, board reporting, fintech solutions, public relations, and public commentaries. Prior to Loring Ward, Ms. Farasat was at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”) from September 2007 through February 2015, as the Regional Vice President of Charles Schwab Investment Management (“CSIM”), and earlier as Senior Manager of the Strategic Trading Group (“STG”), where she specialized in complex hedging and advanced trading strategies for ultra-high net worth investors and financial advisors. Before joining Schwab, Ms. Farasat was an independent Advanced Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. (“Ameriprise”) where she provided comprehensive financial planning and asset management to clients, businesses, and 401(k)s from July 2002 to September 2007. Ms. Farasat earned a Bachelors in Economics from University of California at Berkeley, with a double minor in Computer Science and Business Administration, from the Haas School of Business, Summa cum Laude, and a Master’s of Science in Financial Analysis (MScFA) from University of San Francisco, Magna cum Laude. Ms. Farasat is also ICF Certified Coach and a PHI Certified Pranic Healer.

Christopher Schroeder, 56
Chief Marketing Officer 

Over the last 30 years, Mr. Schroeder has also been an interactive media pioneer, visionary resort developer, brand creator and marketing leader for globally recognized brands. He brings and award-winning background in creating and implementing large scale marketing, branding, and development projects for globally recognized organizations including American Express, California Tourism Commission, UMUSIC Hotels and MGM Resorts. Since November of 2019, Mr. Schroeder has served as the chief executive officer of Experiential Ventures, LLC, a leading experiential hotel brand development company, where Mr. Schroeder manages all aspects of the business. From February 2016 through July 2019, Mr. Schroeder served as the managing partner and a director of Dakia Entertainment & Hospitality. He was a founding partner of the UMUSIC hotel and entertainment center concept that is a partnership with the world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group. He is also a key player in its expansion, creating iconic projects. Mr. Schroeder is also leading the creation and expansion of the WIRED Hotel brand, having an exclusive license to the brand. Mr. Schroeder is also leading the creation and expansion of other major projects with legacy brands including Sports Illustrated, Condé Nast, Authentic Brands Group and Emmitt Smith. From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Schroeder previously served as chief marketing officer for Veremonte, a multi-billion-dollar investment company based in London, where he worked to create the largest leisure development in Europe, bringing partnerships with Hard Rock Hotels and Cirque du Soleil. He also worked to incubate and launch Formula E, the first fully electric racing championship in the world, with such notable partners as Leonardo di Caprio, Michael Andretti, Alain Prost, and Virgin Racing. Races are held in iconic cities including Paris, London, and New York. As an interactive media pioneer, in 1995 Mr. Schroeder founded Reservation, the world’s leading internet development company for the hospitality industry at the time. From 1995 through 2003, he led the development of the first online reservation system of its kind in the travel industry for MGM Resorts and Hilton/Park Place Entertainment. During this time Mr. Schroeder also played a lead role in creating and implementing the largest rebranding and redevelopment campaign in history for MGM Resorts, which included developing multimedia roadshow to present to stockholders and Wall Street investors to secure funding to implement the massive project. Mr. Schroeder also served as president of the interactive division for Custom Marketing Group, the exclusive destination marketing group at the time for American Express, where he developed and managed digital media campaigns for over 20 leading tourism boards. Mr. Schroeder has also been a leader in travel marketing, incentives, and loyalty, having created a patented rewards system and founding a leading incentive company that created proprietary products and long-term marketing campaigns for companies including Capital One, American Express, Bank of America, Samsonite, and Ford Motor Company. Many of his programs were ongoing and included massive cooperative marketing initiatives incorporating local tourism boards, corporate partners, attractions, media, airlines, and hotels. Schroeder also created the first custom travel offers for the Today Show, the #1 morning show in America, in addition to Fox and Friends, CBS, and others. Additionally, Schroeder, in partnership with Steve Burks, created a proprietary travel rewards system that multiple companies used including the world’s largest online travel company, Priceline/booking.com. During college, Mr. Schroeder founded one of the largest college travel and marketing companies in the country, with clients including Ocean Pacific, Miller Beer, Hawaiian Tropics and Ujena Swimwear. This led to him being hired directly out of college to serve as the National Marketing and Retail Director for the company owning Ujena Swimwear, Swimwear Illustrated and Runner’s World Magazines. Mr. Schroeder attended Texas State University, San Marcos.

Board of Directors

Leon Golden, 59
Director

Mr. Golden is a chartered public accountant and has worked as an accountant at ARG Associates, Inc. an accounting firm in Brooklyn, New York since 1996. Mr. Golden has also been serving as a director for ARG Associates, Inc. since 1996. Mr. Golden has spent the past 25 years representing public and private companies in all areas of accounting practices. Through his expertise as a financial accountant, and his experience working with publicly traded companies, qualifies Mr. Golden to act as our financial expert. Mr. Golden has a CPA and a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College.

Scott Young, 63
Director

Since January 2010, Mr. Young has served as a Senior Advisor and director of Dial Partners LLP, And advisory firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Mr. Young was one of the three founding board members of Cambridge Quantum Computing Ltd, in Cambridge, England (“Cambridge”), serving from April 2015 through October 2017. After the recent announcement of a merger with Honeywell Quantum Solutions, Cambridge has become a leading integrated quantum computing company, incorporating quantum software, Honeywell’s quantum hardware, and a quantum operating system which was developed by Cambridge Quantum. Key attributes of the combined entity are quantum-enabled cybersecurity solutions, quantum chemistry for accelerated drug discovery and securities and commodities trading enhancement, all with the incorporation of artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technologies. Mr. Young also served as a director of Globomass Holdings Ltd. from January 2012 until October 2016. Mr. Young has served as a director of Omnicyte Limited since November of 2003 and is currently a member of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Young provides strategic advice to a wide range of entities, including private businesses, multinational companies, family offices, private equity groups and sovereign wealth funds. He is particularly focusing on companies that have developed technologies that are scalable on a worldwide basis, have strong management teams, and supported by solid commercial business models. Mr. Young was previously with Morgan Stanley & Company in New York in the International Capital Markets group where his responsibilities included assisting sovereign governments in raising debt on the international capital markets, working with large investment groups such as Templeton, JP Morgan Investment Management, Fidelity and Soros in providing investment advice and hedging strategies. He worked closely with Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management group worldwide in identifying international investment strategies for its clients. Earlier positions include Corporate Finance, Fixed Income and Equity Sales and Syndication with the securities trading and merchant banking firm LF Rothschild & Co in New York providing financing, stock exchange listings and mergers & acquisitions advice to companies primarily in the Technology and Biotech sectors. Mr. Young worked with the U.S. office of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in New York, providing guidance to the U.S. Government as well as a wide range of multinational companies with inter-European and EU policy and regulations governing financial services, labor practices, information sharing between police forces and security-related issues, space cooperation and other key areas. Mr. Young has a Bachelor of Science in Economics and International Studies, as well as a Juris Doctor degree and Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joseph A. Porrello, 50
Director

Mr. Porrello has been practicing law in South Florida for over twenty four years, representing the needs of physicians, high net worth individuals and their families, including founding his own law firm, Joseph A. Porrello, P.A., in 2002. Prior to founding Joseph A. Porrello, P.A., Mr. Porrello was a member of the Tax, Trusts & Estates and Corporate Departments of Bilzin Sumberg, LLP, a South Florida law firm. Mr. Porrello has extensive experience in designing and implementing sophisticated strategies to protect business assets from creditors and the effects of income, estate and other taxes. Mr. Porrello has been a director of Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, since November 2021. Mr. Porrello has served as a director of Compass East, LLC, an accounting and financial planning advisory firm, since 2010. Mr. Porrello received a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Florida, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver and a Master of Laws degree in taxation from the University of Florida.