New CEO at Drik

Dear Friends,
Thank you for the incredible support you have provided over these years. We have for a long time been exploring ways to take this remarkable organisation to the next level and ensure its sustainability. Finding the right person has not been easy. We needed someone who would be able to deal with the creative and social aspects of Drik, but also able to steer it towards financial viability. This has been a tall order. But we have finally found someone to take over this challenging job.

Saiful Islam. New CEO of Drik

Saiful Islam is one of the most successful CEOs in the history of Bangladesh. While he comes from a very different sector, I am convinced that Saif himself has both the business skills as well as the vision and social ethos necessary to guide this organisation. He has also been a long time friend and supporter of Drik. As such we have decided to offer him the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Drik starting the 1st April 2012. He will be shuttling between London and Dhaka and will also look after our interests in the UK, in the form of Drik UK and Majority World. I will continue as managing director, but will have a somewhat altered area of responsibility.
Change is never without problems. I hope you will provide him the same generosity that you have provided me over the years. With your support and with the experience that Drik has on the ground and the excellent goodwill we have generated, I am sure Saif will help Drik reach greater heights.
Shahidul Alam

Author: Shahidul Alam

Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018. A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry before switching to photography. His seminal work “The Struggle for Democracy” contributed to the removal of General Ershad. Former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the Drik agency, Chobi Mela festival and Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world. Shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern, Alam has been guest curator of Whitechapel Gallery, Winterthur Gallery and Musee de Quai Branly. His awards include Mother Jones, Shilpakala Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dali International Festival of Photography. Speaker at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge universities, TEDx, POPTech and National Geographic, Alam chaired the international jury of the prestigious World Press Photo contest. Honorary Fellow of Royal Photographic Society, Alam is visiting professor of Sunderland University in UK and advisory board member of National Geographic Society. John Morris, the former picture editor of Life Magazine describes his book “My journey as a witness”, (listed in “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo), as “The most important book ever written by a photographer.”

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