Fardad Zand

Fardad Zand has a diverse work experience spanning various industries and roles. Fardad co-founded Wisdomise in December 2021 and holds the position of CEO. Prior to that, from 2018 to 2022, they worked at Careem, where they held multiple roles including Head of Platform Strategy & Careem Incubator, Head of Strategy & Customer Growth and CEO's Chief of Staff, and Senior Director of Strategy & CEO's Chief of Staff. Before joining Careem, Fardad served as the CEO & Managing Partner at Amin Advisor from 2016 to 2019. Fardad also worked as a Partner at Iratel Ventures from 2016 to 2018 and as an Adjunct Professor & Head of the Platform Business Models Group at Sharif University of Technology from 2016 to 2018. Additionally, they worked as a Freelance Senior Advisor at Arthur D. Little in 2016. Fardad also has experience at McKinsey & Company as an Engagement Manager and Consultant from 2013 to 2016. Fardad started their career as a Researcher and PhD Candidate at TU Delft, where they participated in various European projects and conducted joint research with the Central Bureau of Statistics. Fardad Zand also worked as a Visiting Postdoc Researcher at MIT Media Lab and as an Assistant Professor and Deputy Manager MSc Program in Management of Technology at TU Delft.

Fardad Zand has a strong educational background with degrees and certifications in various fields. Fardad completed their Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Polymer/Plastics Engineering and later obtained another Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree, this time in Computer Science, both with honors, from Amirkabir University of Technology - Tehran Polytechnic.

Fardad then pursued their Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Management of Technology, graduating cum laude from Delft University of Technology in 2006. Fardad furthered their education by pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Information Economics and Innovation Management at the same university, which they successfully completed in 2010 with the highest distinction of Cum Laude.

Following their PhD, Fardad undertook a Postdoc position at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010, focusing on Information Economics. Fardad continued to expand their knowledge and expertise by acquiring several certifications. These include Advanced Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) from the University of Vienna in 2012, Experimental Methods from ECPR in 2011, and Panel Data Regression Analysis from Tilburg University in 2007. Fardad also holds an MCSE+I certification from Microsoft, obtained in 2003.

In addition to their formal education, Fardad possesses skills in various programming languages, including Visual C++, Pascal, Lisp, and Prolog, as well as proficiency in statistical and mathematical software packages such as Matlab, MPlus, Stata, and SPSS.