Sadek Wahba

Sadek Wahba
Born	1965 Cairo, Egypt
Occupation(s)	Economist, entrepreneur
Known for	Founder and CEO of I Squared Capital; author of Build: Investing in America's Infrastructure; member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council

Sadek Wahba (born 1965) is a U.S. economist and entrepreneur, known for founding and leading the international infrastructure investment firm I Squared Capital, headquartered in Miami. He is the author of Build: Investing in America's Infrastructure and was named to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council by President Biden in 2022.

Early life and education

Wahba descends from prominent Egyptian figures, being the great-grandson of former Prime Minister and jurist Youssef Wahba and grandson of Supreme Court judge Mourad Wahba. Born in Cairo, he attended Collège de la Sainte Famille. He earned his doctorate in economics from Harvard University, where his advisors included Gary Chamberlain and Nobel Prize winner Guido Imbens. His doctoral work concentrated on causal inference within social science research. Additionally, Wahba holds a master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics and a bachelor's degree from the American University in Cairo.

Career

Wahba’s professional journey started at the World Bank as an economist, specializing in the social impacts of structural adjustment programs. He then transitioned to Lehman Brothers, focusing on structured finance, before joining Morgan Stanley in 1998. At Morgan Stanley, he established Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and acted as CEO of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure.

In 2012, Wahba launched I Squared Capital, a private equity firm based in the United States that invests in infrastructure projects throughout the U.S., China, India, and other emerging economies. The firm oversees assets exceeding $40 billion, including commitments from the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation targeting Southeast Asia. I Squared Capital’s investments span sectors such as energy, utilities, transportation, digital infrastructure, and social infrastructure across regions including the U.S., Europe, China, India, and Latin America. Collectively, its portfolio companies employ over 66,000 individuals.

Infrastructure advocacy

Wahba is a vocal proponent of enhancing infrastructure funding to promote long-term economic development and address public service demands. He points to examples like the 2021 Texas power crisis to illustrate the consequences of inadequate investment. He advocates for diversified capital sources including pension funds, infrastructure IRAs, foreign investment, and public-private infrastructure banks.

He regularly contributes articles on infrastructure finance and policy to outlets such as Forbes, Infrastructure Investor, The Hill, Miami Herald, and Pensions & Investments. His writings often stress the role of private sector participation in advancing green infrastructure projects and innovative financing strategies for U.S. infrastructure growth.

Wahba’s academic research has been published in journals including the Journal of the American Statistical Association and Review of Economics and Statistics. His book Build: Investing in America's Infrastructure complements his scholarly output, which includes a paper recognized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as one of its top 50 influential works over five decades. His Harvard studies also examined labor migration and remittances as sources of foreign capital for developing countries.

He frequently appears on financial news platforms such as Bloomberg, CNBC, Nasdaq, Yahoo! Finance, TD Ameritrade, and Cheddar to provide insights on economic trends and infrastructure topics.

Wahba serves as a member of the President's Infrastructure Advisory Council.

Awards and honors

Wahba holds the position of senior fellow at New York University's Development Research Institute and serves as a trustee for the American University in Cairo. He is also a foundation fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, part of the University of Oxford, and has previously been a member of the Brookings Foreign Policy Leadership Council. His expertise contributed to the World Economic Forum's first report focusing on global infrastructure investments. Additionally, Wahba is affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Wilson Center's Global Advisory Council, while also sitting on the board of directors for the Miami Cancer Institute.

In 2019, Wahba distinguished himself as the sole recipient to earn the "Global Personality of the Year" accolade twice from Infrastructure Investor magazine. That same year, Private Equity International (PEI) honored him as the Global Infrastructure Personality of the Decade.

The Wilson Center inaugurated the Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition in 2023, an initiative dedicated to advancing policy reforms that reinforce American leadership globally.