Board of Directors

Founder and President

Viktoria is an international entrepreneur and an expert in communications and private-sector development in emerging market countries. Her areas of expertise are in post-Soviet states, Europe, and Asia. She has extensive experience working on international development projects funded by multilateral donor organizations.

In 2006 she started and has been successfully managing a company in Kazakhstan, which exclusively sells the Dutch professional hair cosmetics brand KEUNE.

In 2010 she lost her husband, Gabriel Al-Salem, in a tragic accident. She started the Gabriel Al-Salem Foundation as a US public benefit corporation to continue Gabriel’s work in the fields of economic development and creating sustainable growth in emerging market countries.

Viktoria also serves on the Advisory Board of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Kansas, where Gabriel received his Bachelor’s degree. She focuses on the School’s relations to international partners. She holds an MA in English from St. Petersburg State University as well as an MA from the Ohio State University and JD from Concord Law School.

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Gulsum is Chair of the Kazakhstan Chamber of Management Consultants (CMC Kazakhstan) and a Member of IMC USA. She is a management consultant with 25+ years of experience specializing in the area of strategic management, finance, restructuring, market research, and business planning.

Gulsum met Gabriel and Viktoria in early 90s in Kazakhstan, where they came to assist with the country’s economic reforms. Gulsum worked on projects funded by international donor agencies helping governments in Kazakhstan and all of Central Asia in accounting reform, privatization and private sector development, pension reform, higher education reform, and regional economic development. Gulsum also has extensive experience working with private businesses in Central Asia and other countries.

Gulsum is an active business trainer specializing in business ethics, core consultancy skills, financial and management accounting, auditing, and strategic and business planning.

Gulsum serves as Chair of the International Committee judging applications for the annual International Award for Excellence in Consulting “Consulting without Borders,” which has been run by the Foundation since 2011.

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Stephen Tupper has a background in finance, taxation and law: he has worked as a consultant for almost thirty years, performing assignments for major donors and international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, EBRD, ADB, European Union and USAID. His consultancy work is closely linked to development of a positive entrepreneurial environment with a concentration on fiscal and regulatory issues, but he has also managed projects and programs related to poverty reduction. These have been located in most states of the former USSR, as well as China and South East Asia.

Apart from these professional activities, Stephen has an ongoing interest in social enterprise and also in work with non-commercial bodies and NGOs. He recently assisted a UK-based charity in its localisation program in Russia and sits on the Board of Trustees as adviser to the Russian localised charity, advising on fund-raising and other sustainability issues.

Stephen joined Gabriel Al-Salem Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2015 and is focusing on fund-raising.

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Anya is a Master's of Science student of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University (the Netherlands), specializing in Energy and Materials. Her academic fields of interest include degrowth, circular economy, and deep decarbonization. Anya has receively joined the Board to lead the Foundation's activities in the area of sustainability.

Anyaʼs hobbies include musical theater, singing, reading, and spending time in nature. She has lived all over the world, in countries including Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and currently the Netherlands.

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Ron has worked as an environment consultant for over 18 years on industrial, commercial, residential and local authority projects, contaminated sites, marine and foreshore construction and restoration projects, habitat compensation projects, down-stream oil and gas projects, and many others. Since 2018, Ron has been working in Kazakhstan supporting a major capital project with the Environment, Labour and Community management and Compliance Assurance in alignment with the IFC lender obligations. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, he has been supporting the Emergency Management Response Team as the COVID-19 Response Advisor.

Ron has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Calgary (2004), Bachelor of Technology in Environmental Engineering (Honors) from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Environmental Engineering (2014), and a Certificate in Emergency Management from the Justice Institute of British Columbia (2018).

Ron has an interest in mentoring and capacity building and since 2014 has been a guest lecturer at the British Columbia Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering program. In January 2022, Ron joined the Gabriel Al-Salem Foundation's Board of Directors.

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Zhanibek Suleimenov, Gabriel’s long-standing colleague and friend, is one of the initiators of the Award for Excellence in Consulting and the Conference “Consulting without Borders.” He was instrumental in launching the first Award and organizing the first Conference in Kazakhstan. 

Zhanibek has made substantial impact on the development of business advisory services sector in Kazakhstan while managing the largest Business Advisory Services (currently Small Business Support) operation of the EBRD, which implemented over three hundred market development activities and facilitated over one thousand consulting projects. He has 20 years of international experience in management consulting and small & medium enterprise development.

Zhanibek joined Gabriel Al-Salem Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2014 and has been focusing on donor relations.

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