Trustees

Sakina Mohammed

Founder and Co-Managing Trustee

Sakin Mohammed, pictured above with her late husband Azizali Mohammed, co-founded the Zauqi Charitable and Educational Trust in 1993. Born and raised in Bombay (Mumbai) India, Mrs. Mohammed graduated with a First Class degree in philosophy and psychology from St. Xavier’s college, Bombay University in 1953. She moved to the United States in early 1956 to join her husband, who was then taking part in a one-year training program at the International Monetary Fund (Fund). During their early years in Washington, D.C. she worked as a statistical assistant to the Indus Water Delegation, a research assistant at the World Bank and as a receptionist at the Embassy of Pakistan to support her husband as he pursued his Ph.D in Economics at George Washington University. The family settled in Washington D.C. in 1960 and Mrs. Mohammed did extensive volunteer work, notably on behalf of children with special needs, while raising her four children: Zeba, Afroze, Arshad and Mehnaz Fatima (‘Mini’).

Azizali Mohammed (1928-2017)

Founder and former Managing Trustee

Azizali Mohammed, an economist, worked on the staff of the International Monetary Fund for more than 30 years, culminating as the first director of its Department of External Relations. Beyond working in the Fund’s European, Exchange and Trade Relations, Middle East and Research Departments, Mr. Mohammed served as Advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Senior Advisor in the Fund’s European Department and Economic Adviser to Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance. On retirement from the Fund staff, he was elected as an Alternate Executive Director on the Fund board. He began his career at the State Bank of Pakistan and earned a doctorate in economics from George Washington University (Washington, D.C.). Known for his courtesy, wit, kindness and generosity, he founded the Zauqi Charitable and Educational Trust with his wife, Sakina Mohammed.

Dr. Zeba Rasmussen

Trustee and Treasurer

Dr. Zeba Rasmussen is a physician researcher with 40 years of experience in the United States and Pakistan, where she currently lives. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College (1976, summa cum laude, biology), Harvard Medical School (MD 1981) and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (MPH 1981). She trained in medicine and infectious disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control. She helped establish the Department of Medicine at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi from 1985 and continued working with the University until 2004, including 12 years in a remote mountainous area, Gilgit, doing community-based epidemiological research. In 1998 she developed the Mehnaz Fatima Educational and Welfare Organization (MFEWO), a non-governmental organization for early childhood education and care of children with disabilities in the Karakoram Mountains. (MFEWO was a predecessor to the Mehnaz Fatima Foundation). Since 2009 she has worked with the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) as Senior Research Fellow and now Consultant, focusing on research as well as biological safety and security in laboratories in Pakistan. She is currently visiting faculty at AKU in Medicine and Pathology/Laboratory Medicine.  

Afroze Mohammed

Trustee

Afroze Mohammed serves as Associate Director for Strategic Alliances in Virginia Tech’s Center for Economic and Community Engagement and is based in Arlington, VA. She focuses on building strong partnerships between Virginia Tech and organizations in metropolitan Washington, DC to foster collaboration in research endeavors, entrepreneurial activities, and economic development. She works with a diverse group of companies, non-profits, and county, state, and federal organizations and collaborates closely with Virginia Tech faculty in areas including electrical and computer engineering, data analytics, space sciences, and semiconductor technology. 

Before joining Virginia Tech, Afroze directed successful product marketing and alliance development programs at leading energy, educational technology, and telecommunications software companies. At the CURRENT Group, an innovative smart grid company, Afroze developed a partnership program with complementary technology providers. Earlier, as Director of Product Marketing at Blackboard Inc., an educational software company that is one of Washington DC's entrepreneurial success stories, Afroze led marketing initiatives for Blackboard's flagship e-learning products. In the academic arena, she worked as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School, developing best-selling case studies in marketing, policy, operations, and international business.

Afroze has an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and a B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University.

Arshad Mohammed

Managing Trustee

Arshad Mohammed worked as a Reuters staff correspondent for 35 years with assignments in New York, Paris, Algiers and Washington, where he covered the White House, the State Department and served as diplomatic correspondent. His Washington assignments entailed extensive travel with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and former Secretaries of State Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. Born and mostly raised in Washington D.C., he graduated from Yale University in 1985 with a B.A. in History and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Stephen Rasmussen

Trustee

Stephen Rasmussen has 45 years of development and financial sector experience. He lives in Pakistan and is a board member or advisor for development, education, and financial services organizations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and several countries in Africa. Stephen previously worked for CGAP; a resource center housed in the World Bank Group and that is dedicated to empowering poor people through financial inclusion. Before that he founded and led several financial sector and development organizations in Pakistan and central Asia, including living in Gilgit, Pakistan for 15 years. Stephen is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and has a Master of Health Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University.