Farouk Sheikh holds a Masters in Property Valuation and Law and a Bachelors in Accounting and Finance from London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE). Mr. Sheikh is the founder of US REO Fund (www.usreofund.com), a real estate investment & development company, and is the CEO of First Fidelity REO LLC a portfolio management company that handles all aspects of acquisition, sales, and disposition of distressed and other real estate assets. Prior to this, Mr. Sheikh headed Investec Corporation (www.InvestecPC.com) and SMB Properties also focused on the acquisition and development of distressed real estate assets. He previously held positions at Citibank NA, Allsop & Co., the UK's largest property auctioneers, and various property companies. He brings over 20 years of real estate investment and development expertise as well as a track record in banking and distribution of consumer goods and IT.He is a frequent speaker at national and international real estate conferences. Some past engagements include the Five Star Default Servicing Conference in Dallas; Distressed Asset Real Estate Conference (DARE) in New York City; Cityscape Global Conference in Dubai as well as New York University.Mr. Sheikh is an active community member and passionate about serving the community and giving back. He served for multiple years on the Teaneck Zoning Board of Appeals and as Trustee and Chairman of a not-for-profit parochial academic institution in Northern NJ.Mr. Sheikh is also passionate about entrepreneurship and has mentored entrepreneurs at various incubators and accelerators in the United States and East Africa such as the Unreasonable Institute. In pursuit of promoting entrepreneurship and the concept of angel/VC investing in the developing world, he advised on the launch of Africa’s first “Shark Tank” like TV show “Boiler Room” in which he was an active investor and participant.