Meet our judges

Javid Gouliyev

Javid Gouliyev graduated from the Azerbaijan University of Languages and from the Azerbaijan State Economic University majoring in Finances and Credit. In 1999, he also graduated from the Higher School of Management of the HSBC Group (HSBC Group Training Management College).

Javid Gouliyev began his career in 1996 as Head of Clients Department in British Bank of the Middle East, a subsidiary of HSBC, and in 1999, he served as Head of Financial Control Department of the bank.

In 2003, J. Gouliyev joined Unibank first as advisor to the Board, and later, in 2004, he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the bank. During the period between 2005 and 2012, Javid was First Deputy Chairman of Bank Standard.

In 2012, Mr. Gouliyev was appointed Executive Finance Director at Capital Resources Advisors, Azerbaijan Branch. In 2014, he joined PASHA Holding as Chief Advisor.Javid Gouliyev began his career in PASHA Bank in 2015 as Business Development Advisor to the Chairman of the Bank's Board. On 22 February 2016, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of PASHA Bank, 1 March 2018-was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Commercial Officer of the Bank.

On 12 April 2022, he was appointed Acting Chairman of the Executive Board of PASHA Bank.

According to the decision of the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Bank, Javid Gouliyev was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board of PASHA Bank on June 9, 2022.

Zarina Zeynalova

CEO of Azercell Telecom.

Zarina Zeynalova holds post-graduate diploma in People Management & Development from Nottingham Trent University in the UK. She is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of People Management and Development (CIPD). She is a graduate of Executive Management Development Program at Texas A&M University, USA. She holds a B.Sc. degree from Azerbaijan Medical University.

Z. Zeynalova has over 25 years of professional experience in management and organizational development across multiple geographies of the world. For 20 years she has held various management positions in BP offices in Azerbaijan, UK, and the US. She also held senior management positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Pasha Construction Group.

Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli

BP Vice president communications and advocacy, Caspian region.

Bakhtiyar has been with bp for 20 years and has held number of leadership roles ‎across communications and external affairs, tax and customs, ethics ‎and compliance as well as business services. 

In addition to professional activities, Mr. Aslanbayli is also a visiting lecturer of Baku State University, ADA University and Baku Higher Oil School. He is the author of one book and more than 50 professional articles and commentaries. He holds bachelor's and master’s degrees in International Relations from Baku State University. 

In 2017, Bakhtiyar was awarded the ’Progress’ medal by the President of Azerbaijan for his significant contribution to the development of the oil and gas industry in the country.

Nargiz Nasrullayeva - Muduroglu

Ms. Nargiz Nasrullayeva-Muduroglu is a Harvard Kennedy School of Government graduate of Masters of Public Administration with over 20 years of experience in the private sector. In 2017 she joined the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ), the sovereign wealth fund of Azerbaijan, as the Advisor to the CEO.  From 2004 to 2015 she was the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan, the largest international business association in the country. Prior to that, she headed the Regus Business Centre Trading Ltd in Baku.  Ms. Nasrullayeva-Muduroglu started her career in the Baku Branch of HSBC Bank Middle East in February 1997 in the Personal Banking Department moving on to the Trade Finance and Loans Department in 2000. Ms. Nasrullayeva-Muduroglu is a Fellow of the Central Asia - Caucasus Young Leaders Program of Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC.

Currently, she also serves as the Advisor to CEO of the Landmark Business Centre, a Board Member and the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan, a Board Member of the "100 Business Women of Azerbaijan" and a member of several corporate boards. Since the end of 2020 she is the Azerbaijan Chapter Lead of HKSWN and W3D Network.She is married and has 3 sons.

Khayyam Mammadov

Deputy CEO of Azerbaijan Investment Holding. 

Khayyam Mammadov was born on 31 March 1975 in Moscow, Russian Federation. In 1992-1997, studied at Baku State University, and received Bachelor’s in Law.  Currently he is a candidate for Public Administration Degree at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.  

In 1997-2020, was the head of Dutch International Trade and Exhibitions Worldwide B.V. Company affiliate in the Republic of Georgia, worked as a leading specialist at the Apparatus of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan, held the positions of Contracts Officer and Lawyer-Contracts Officer at Star-Gulf FZ-LLC/BosShelf Company, worked as the Head of Law and HR Department, Head of Administrative, Law and HR Department, and Deputy CEO at British ITE (JV) Limited/Iteca Caspian, was the Deputy CEO of Caspian Event Organisers. Headed the HR Management and Public Service Unit of the Apparatus of the State Service on Property Issues under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 

According to the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated 5 November 2020, is a member of “Port of Baku” Supervisory Board.

Osman Khaliyev

Osman Khaliyev has been the deputy chairman of the Fund’s board since June 2021. Before that, he was the adviser of the board chairman.

Osman Khaliyev was born in Sumgayit in 1985.
In 2007, he graduated from the faculty of ‘Economic cybernetics’ of the Azerbaijan State Economic University

University, and in 2010, he obtained a Master’s Degree in Information Technology in Management. In 2012-2014, he received an MBA degree at Brandeis University in the United States.In 2010-2012, Khaliyev worked as an expert at Access Bank and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. In 2014-2015, he was a consultant at Global Atlantic Partners LLC.

Fariz Ismailzade

Dr. Fariz Ismailzade is Vice Rector at the ADA University (since 2006), Board member of the State Examination Center (since 2016), and former visiting research fellow at Princeton University (2021). He is also the Director of the Institute of Development and Diplomacy (IDD) and Editor-in-Chief of Baku Dialogues, ADA University’s flagship English‑language quarterly journal. 

Mr. Ismailzade has a Doctoral Degree at the Maastricht School of Management. He holds an Executive MBA from IE Business School (Spain), and a Masters Degree in Social and Economic Development from Washington University in St. Louis, and a BA in Political Science from Western University in Baku with one-year interim studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.