Walid Chiniara

Walid S. Chiniara is a third-generation lawyer and a recognized thought leader in governance, its history, and its philosophical foundations.

His career spans more than 45 years and covers Tier-1 law firms in the United States and Canada, a CAC40 multinational, and a Big-4 advisory firm. For more 30 years, he has advised families in business on the preservation, deployment, and transmission of wealth across generations.

Walid is a pioneer in family, corporate, and financial governance. He introduced dialogue-based governance to the Middle East and has worked with more than two hundred family enterprises worldwide. His work includes family-office design, conflict management, and the development of tailored governance frameworks for founders, principals, and the Next Generation.

He is widely recognized as the advisor of choice for complex succession mandates. His proprietary 7-Step Methodology™ is considered a sector-benchmark and is regarded as a transformative contribution to the field.

Walid is an accredited mediator and a member of the Quebec Bar. He serves as a Professional Associate Member at Outer Temple Chambers in the United Kingdom, a fellow at the Institute for Corporate Governance at ESCP Business School in Paris, a lecturer at ESA Business School in Beirut, and a faculty member at GCC-BDI. He is also a member of the UHNW Institute and The International Academy of Trust and Estate Law.

He is a published author and the recipient of multiple professional distinctions. In 2024, following a global survey of more than one thousand family offices, Family Capital ranked him the leading family-business advisor in the Gulf region and among the top five worldwide. In October 2025, the publication named him Person of the Week.

He is the author of Dynastic Planning: A 7-Step Approach to Family Business Succession Planning and Related Conflict Management, which consolidates three decades of work with enterprising families around the world.