The Experience Behind the Thinking
The philosophy comes from experience, not theory.
Walid Hamzeh, founder of Before the Numbers, is a CFO and operations leader with more than 25 years of experience across the Middle East and Europe. His career spans Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, SJ Berwin (later King & Wood Mallesons) and Grant Thornton, alongside senior leadership roles across multiple industries and founder-led businesses. A graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Certified Management Accountant, he combines strong financial foundations with the commercial judgement that comes from leading beyond the finance function.
The institutions built the standards. Operating roles built the judgement.
Finance may have been in the title, but the spreadsheet was never the boundary of the job. Walid’s remit has spanned strategy, operations, risk, governance, people and transformation, because businesses rarely organise their challenges by department.
Walid works with businesses that refuse to stand still: growing, restructuring, transforming or becoming more complex. He brings clarity without theatre, governance without red tape and commercial discipline that moves the business forward rather than stifling its potential.