Rushdi Siddiqui's passion for Islamic finance radiates through his columns, his conference speeches and his relentless pursuit to take the industry to its next level.

Having worked for two of the world's most well-known financial media giants Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones as their chief Islamic finance go-to guy, Rushdi Siddiqui has earned the stripes and experience to forge his own path.

As early as 1998, he introduced the concept of Islamic indices at Dow Jones, and has since pushed the idea of Islamic investing at the governmental level and with many stock exchanges across the Muslim world.

As global head of Islamic Finance and Organization of Islamic Countries at Thomson Reuters , he led the team that established the world's first Islamic equity index, first sukuk index, first Islamic sustainability index, first halal food index, and first Islamic interbank benchmark rate (IIBR).

He also participated in the world's first Islamic Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in Turkey and France, Malaysia and the US, led the index provider to be the first to have licensed Islamic assets under management of USD 7 billion, and led the team to establish the world's first comprehensive pre-trade, multi-asset Islamic finance platform.