Talat M. Othman (born April 27, 1936, in

Beitunia Beitunia ( ar, بيتونيا), also Bitunya, is a Palestinian city located west of Ramallah and north of Jerusalem. The city is in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau o ...

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

) is a

Palestinian-American Palestinian Americans ( ar, فلسطينيو أمريكا) are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian immigrants arrived in the United States, but it is believed that they arrived d ...

businessman and investor. He is the president of Grove Financial, Inc. and the founding president of the Arab-American Business and Professional Association. In 1973, he founded the Midwest Chapter of the Forex Association of North America. He serves as senior advisor of McKinley Reserve. On July 31, 2000, he opened the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

session with a ''dua'a –'' or Muslim

benediction A benediction ( Latin: ''bene'', well + ''dicere'', to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the exposit ...

– marking the first time a Muslim had addressed a major US political gathering.

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

governor

Jim Edgar James Edgar (born July 22, 1946) is an American politician who was the 38th governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999. Previously he served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1976 to 1979 and as Illinois Secretary of State ...

proclaimed Nov 1, 1997 Haj Talat M. Othman day in Illinois. On April 4, 2002, Othman joined Islamic Institute head Khaled Saffuri in a meeting with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill (arranged by

Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the prima ...

) as representatives of the Muslim-American community, to voice complaints about the March 20 raid on the

International Institute of Islamic Thought The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) is a privately held non-profit organization in the United States founded by Ismail al-Faruqi and Anwar Ibrahim. It was established as a non-profit 501(c)(3) non-denominational organization in P ...

and 19 related entities. In 2006, Othman received an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters from

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a private Roman Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world and trains men and women for lay and orda ...

Career synopsis

In 1947, Othman emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

with his family. From 1956 to 1977, Othman served as an executive in the International Banking Department at Harris Trust and Savings Bank in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois, as vice president and division administrator of the International Money Management Division, including the International Economic Research Unit. From 1978 to 1983, Othman was general manager and chief executive officer of the Saudi Arab Finance Corporation,

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

, and general manager of the Saudi Investment Group, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. From 1983 to 1995, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dearborn Financial Inc.,

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a municipality in Cook County with a small portion in Lake County in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 77,676. Per th ...

. In 1987, he joined the board of Harken Energy to represent the interests of

Abdullah Taha Bakhsh Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Paki ...

. Served as chair of the three member Audit Committee of which

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

was a member. In 1990, he was among 15 Arab-Americans invited to

the White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

after

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

's invasion of Kuwait. In 1995, Othman established Grove Financial, Inc. of Chicago and currently serves as its chairman and CEO. It is an international investment management firm located in

Long Grove, Illinois Long Grove is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, approximately away from and a northwest suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,366. The village has strict building ordinances to preserve its "country atm ...

, specializing in managing investment funds and U.S.-Middle East business. He opened the July 31, 2000 session of the RNC with a Muslim benediction. Othman is president of Crescent Capital Management, LLC. Chicago, Illinois, and chairman of the board of trustees of

Amana Mutual Funds Amana may refer to: Places * Amaná, a village in La Rioja Province, Argentina * Amana River, in northeastern Venezuela * Amanã River, in northwestern Brazil * Mount Amana, mountain described in the Bible, or an adjacent river * Amana Colonies, ...

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (lo ...

Other affiliations

He is on the board of Bank One Wisconsin Corp,

Dansk International Designs Dansk Designs (also known as Dansk International Designs starting in 1954) is an American distributor and retailer of cookware, tableware, and other home accessories based in Mount Kisco, New York. , the brand was called Dansk and was a wholly ...

, Hartmarx Corp, Tejas Power Corp, PathoGenesis Corp, and

Amana Mutual Funds Trust Amana Mutual Funds Trust (Ticker symbols: AMANX, AMAGX, and AMDWX), headquartered in Bellingham, Washington, is a mutual fund company offering investment products consistent with Islamic banking principles.Kathman, David. “Heavenly Returns.” M ...

. He is advisory board member of

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, p ...

. He is on the Dean's Council of Advisors of

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

. He is a member of the

Chicago Council on Foreign Relations The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is a global affairs think tank, describing itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing knowledge and engagement in global affairs and empowering more people to help shape our glob ...

Independent Task Force. He is a board member of the

Middle East Policy Council The Middle East Policy Council (MEPC) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization that produces analysis and commentary on issues impacting U.S. national interests in the Middle East. It was founded in 1981 under the stated miss ...

. He is the founding chairman of the American Muslim Council. He is chairman of the Islamic Free Market Institute founded by Khaled Saffuri. Othman served on the board of trustees for the Illinois

State Universities Retirement System The State Universities Retirement System, or SURS, is an agency in the U.S. state of Illinois government that administers retirement, disability, death, and survivor benefits to eligible SURS participants and annuitants. Membership in SURS i ...

and the Illinois State Finance Authority. Othman is a former board member of the Illinois Finance Authority.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Othman, Talat 1936 births Living people Mandatory Palestine emigrants to the United States American bankers People from Lake County, Illinois