About Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Talal Abu-Ghazaleh (Arabic: طلال أبوغزاله‎) is the chairman and founder of the international Jordan-based organisation, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg). Dubbed as the godfather of Arab accounting, Abu-Ghazaleh has also been credited for promoting the significance of Intellectual Property in the Arab region. Biography Born on April 22, 1938 in Jaffa, Palestine, Abu-Ghazaleh moved to the Lebanese village of Ghazziyeh in 1948, two hours away from the port city of Sidon. After attending both elementary and secondary school(s) in Sidon, he later went on to pursue a higher learning at the American University of Beirut (AUB) after attaining a full scholarship. Whilst still an undergraduate, he worked as a teacher and translator. His first job after graduating was in an audit firm. In 1969, upon hearing a speech on intellectual property (IP) at a Time-Warner conference in San Francisco, USA, Abu-Ghazaleh decided to launch a career in the fields of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and accounting. In 1972, two firms - Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Company (TAGCO) and Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) - were set up, specializing in the fields of accounting and IP respectively. Since then, Abu-Ghazaleh founded a total of fourteen professional service firms specialized in various sector fields such as management, consulting, legal services, IT and much more. Over the years, Abu-Ghazaleh managed to establish close partnerships with global organizations such as the UN and the WTO. On April 4, 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon appointed Abu-Ghazaleh, as deputy chairman of the UN Global Compact during its second meeting held at the UN headquarters in New York. On October 24, 2007, Abu-Ghazaleh was inducted to the IP Hall of Fame in Chicago, USA, to become the first expert from outside the G8 countries to join the world's most prominent figures in IP. On June 17, 2009, UN appoints Abu-Ghazaleh Chair of UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development. After receiving a letter from the Under-Secretary General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) HE Sha Zukang inviting him to lead the Alliance, composed of representatives from public, private and civil society sectors as well as international organizations.