About Us
Unlike larger business consulting firms, Global Business Associates Inc. provides quality personalized service with great attention to detail. Our fee structure is designed to make our services attractive to all customers, especially medium and smaller-sized companies. We have a team of highly effective professionals with broad and deep experience in international business who understand the issues that your business faces. We are ready to help you expand your market horizons to compete effectively in the global marketplace!
GBA's Leadership
Edward H. Trager
Edward H. Trager is co-president of GBA. Ed brings a wide variety of international and domestic experiences to GBA. Ed attended Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) program in Nanjing, China. After a number of years in Asia, including three years in Thailand, he returned to the U.S. where he worked as a business IT consultant on projects in the health care, energy, and automobile industries for the global consulting firm, Arthur Andersen. His recent work has focused on bioinformatics data management systems in the health care industry and the localization and internationalization of the Open Source Linux platform. In addition to being fluent in Thai and Chinese, Ed also maintains two highly-ranked web sites related to Unicode technologies on Linux and related Open Source computing platforms.
Dr. Ahmed Sultan
Dr. Ahmed Sultan is co-president of GBA. He is also the founding director of the Arab American Cultural Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Trained as an economist with extensive experience as a professor and economic researcher, Dr. Sultan is also a former parliamentarian and Director of the Economic Affairs and Investment Department, Yemen. He now lives with his family in the U.S., where he works to promote peace, cultural awareness, and economic cooperation between America and the Muslim world. GBA represents an expansion of his vision to connect North American companies with global opportunities, especially inside the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.
Jason Blankenship
Jason Blankenship brings a wealth of experience in business law to GBA. Jason graduated from Michigan State University in 1994 with a degree in International Relations and French. After graduating from the University of Michigan law school in 1997, Jason worked as a criminal defense attorney for a time prior to focusing on medical malpractice defense for hospitals and doctors and products liability defense for large manufacturing firms in the state of Michigan. Jason is licensed to practice law in the states of Michigan, New Hampshire, and in the Eastern District of Michigan (Federal Court).
Linda Najar, MSW
Ms. Najar understands both American and Arab cultures. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern studies from Eastern Michigan and a Masters in Social Work from Wayne State University, in addition to graduate work in Cultural Anthropology focusing on the Middle East. She is currently teaching Modern Middle Eastern History and Introduction to Sociology at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her passion is to promote peace in the Middle East. She is currently involved in a number of activities that promote peace and justice.
Dr. Bob Rabbo
Dr. Rabbo is currently the Director of the Foreign Affairs Institute of Michigan (FAIM). He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics and African Studies from Howard University and has taught courses on African political systems for two decades at a number of universities, including Central Michigan University, Wayne State University, and the University of Michigan - Dearborn. He has published numerous textbooks and articles on international issues, and has worked actively on civil liberties and anti-discrimination.