Based in Houston, Jamal Daniel serves as chair of Crest Investment Company. In the course of his three-decade career, Jamal Daniel has founded a number of nonprofit, media, and film ventures, including Levantine Films, which co-produced the 2016 award-winning movie Hidden Figures.Hidden Figures is based on the true story of a team of African American women working at NASA in the 1950s, when the Space Race was in full swing. Known as the West Computers, these female mathematicians worked as human computers, relieving the engineers of tedious hand calculations and making significant contributions to aircraft design.The total number of women who worked as human computers at NASA is unknown; estimates range from a few hundred to several thousand. A number of West Computers eventually left the computing pool to work on specific projects such as supersonic flight and the Mercury and Apollo missions.
The chairman of Crest Investment Company, Jamal Daniel leverages his financial experience to ensure that Crest continues its strong market performance. Jamal Daniel also founded Levantine Films to fund and produce filmmakers whose projects involve unique cross-cultural experiences and perspectives. Levantine Films currently has a number of projects in development, including “Gun in My Gucci”.Based on Elaine Corbitt Smith’s autobiographical book of the same name, “Gun in My Gucci” tells the story of how ex-FBI agent Smith, alongside a veteran mobster named Ken “Tokyo Joe” Eto, helped to bring down the Chicago mob, from the outside, during the 1980s.The film will chart Smith’s evolution from teacher into crime buster, with her developing relationship with Ken Eto as a key plot point. After Eto’s arrest, the Chicago mob put out a hit that resulted in Eto being shot multiple times. Remarkably, he survived to provide Smith with the information she needed to take down his former organization.
Currently a resident of Houston, Texas, Jamal Daniel oversees the operations of Crest Investment Company as its chairman. A native of Syria, Jamal Daniel also serves as the founder of the Levant Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on expanding knowledge about the Middle East, its culture, and its history. In 2004, members of the Levant Foundation helped to create the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts (TFAA), alongside the French consul in Houston.The TFAA implements a number of initiatives with the aim of using the arts to bring people and cultures together. Among these efforts is the Once Upon a Hope program, which offers English students in Houston, Texas, the opportunity to exchange life stories with children in schools in Burkina Faso, a predominantly French-speaking country in Africa.The project’s goal is to create connections between children of two vastly different cultures, while also raising awareness for the children of Houston in regards to the situation of children who have taken refuge in Burkina Faso.
Jamal Daniel serves as chairman of the Crest Investment Company, managing investments in technology, manufacturing, oil and gas. In his free time, Jamal Daniel also founded the Levant Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the knowledge of Middle Eastern culture. The group promotes understanding of three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, originating from the Middle East.Judaism is known as the first monotheistic religion, coming about in the eastern Mediterranean when, as the story goes, Abraham made an agreement with God. Islam and Christianity soon followed, agreeing that Abraham was the world’s first prophet. As a branch of Judaism, Christianity didn’t really take off until Roman emperor Constantine converted to the religion in 324 C.E. Much like Judaism, many Middle Eastern Christians practice asceticism. Several groups including the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, and Protestants follow similar customs and rituals.Islam gained traction in the Middle East in the seventh century C.E. when a group of people who practiced Judeo-Christian traditions and integrated the values of Arabia’s Bedouin tribes settled in Mecca (now called Saudi Arabia). Islam spread into the Byzantine Empire, Europe, South Africa, and Asia, where it continued to grow. Although these three religions originated from the same place, in the following years, various conflicts have arisen over the interpretation of certain beliefs.
Based in Houston, Jamal Daniel oversees the Crest Investment Company as chairman and also guides the Levant Foundation. The nonprofit highlights monotheistic religions, history, and culture of the Middle East. Jamal Daniel additionally is the founder of Levantine Films, a New York production, financing, and development firm.A recent Levantine Films project, Hidden Figures explores the story of pioneering female African-American mathematicians who engaged with NASA in enabling key U.S. achievements during the Space Race. Working as "human computers,” the women were tasked with collecting and studying thousands of glass plates with images of stars. Since the 1940s, African-Americans had engaged in this work in a segregated situation and at less pay than their Caucasian counterparts. With unparalleled creative capacity, protagonist Katherine Johnson broke barriers in providing critical support that enabled John Glenn to complete his 1962 orbital mission around the globe. Released by Fox 2000 in late 2016, the movie earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture due to its accurate portrayal of the progressive efforts of scientists amid a broader landscape of racial unrest.
A former student of Pepperdine University, where he earned his bachelor of arts in business, Jamal Daniel serves as chairman of Crest Investment Company. Additionally, Jamal Daniel founded and leads the Levant Foundation, a not-for-profit organization focused on enhancing the visibility and acceptance of the Levant region’s culture.Between 2011 and 2014, the Levant Foundation partnered with Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service to create the Jamal Daniel Fund for the Study of the Levant. During its three years, the fund offered three scholarships to graduate students whose focus was on the Levant region. Further, it aimed to create a minimum of one postdoctoral fellow whose work centered around the study of Levant countries.In addition to this work, the fund also allowed Georgetown to invite a visiting professor in 2011, who taught classes on the Levant region. This work was later assumed by the postdoctoral fellows that the fund helped to create.
An investment management professional with more than three decades of experience, Jamal Daniel serves as the Chairman of Crest Investment Company in Houston, Texas. In 2012, Jamal Daniel founded the American news website Al-Monitor, which publishes articles from Middle Eastern perspectives. Al-Monitor is a 2014 recipient of the International Press Institute’s (IPI) Free Media Pioneer Award. The IPI praised the news outlet for its “unrivalled reporting and analysis...in times of change and upheaval.”Established by the IPI in 1996, the Free Media Pioneer Award celebrates news organizations that work tirelessly toward the free and independent distribution of news and information. The award places an emphasis on access and quality. The institute distributes the award on an annual basis at the IPI World Congress. The 2017 event is scheduled to take place on May 18-20 in Hamburg, Germany. In addition to Al-Monitor, past winners have included Radio Okapi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Novaya Gazeta in Russia, and Radio Free Sarawak in Malaysia.
Serving as the Chairman of Crest Investment Company, Jamal Daniel draws on his experience of investing in a range of industries, including real estate, oil and gas, manufacturing, and technology. A native of Syria who spent some of his childhood in Lebanon, Jamal Daniel heads the Levant Foundation, a nonprofit that is focused on developing greater understanding about the Levant region and the three religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, that are prevalent in the countries that make up the Levant.The foundation has made a number of grants to support this cause, including a 2014 gift to the American University of Beirut. The grant contributed to the expansion of the institution’s medical center. Supporting the AUBMC 2020 Vision, which aims to improve the standards and delivery of medical care throughout Lebanon, the gift was used in the building of the Halim and Aida Daniel Academic and Clinical Center. Upon its completion in 2016, the building became one of the most modern medical facilities in the country. It houses academic centers focused on clinical research in a range of medical and health areas, including heart disease and psychiatry. Further, the 14-story building plays host to a number of outpatient centers serving patients in Lebanon.
A graduate of Pepperdine University with a bachelor of arts in business, Jamal Daniel went on to complete a master of business administration at the University of Texas at Austin Business School. The chairman of Houston-based Crest Investment Company, Jamal Daniel leveraged his training and experience to establish the Levant Foundation.The Levant Foundation seeks to promote an understanding of Middle Eastern cultures, specifically the relationship between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The foundation accomplishes this goal by collaborating with universities, religious institutions, and fine art institutions to fund artistic and educational programming. Initiatives funded by the Levant Foundation include the Jamal Daniel Fund for the Study of the Levant, which supports students at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. In addition, in 2006, the foundation created an endowment for the University of Texas Press to publish up to three books per year on the three aforementioned monotheistic religions or on issues affecting the people of the Levant region.
With a passion for the Levant region, Jamal Daniel founded the Levant Foundation to increase understanding of the history of this area and create awareness of issues affecting its people. To this end, Jamal Daniel, who is chairman of Crest Investment Company, leads the foundation in collaborating with universities and research organizations, including the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue (FIIRD). In 1999, the Levant Foundation helped establish FIIRD, which created a program in conjunction with the University of Geneva in Switzerland to improve understanding of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. To this end, FIIRD funded several postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Geneva in the 2015-16 academic year. The fellowships were awarded to students with a background in one of the above religions and a desire to specialize in dialogue to foment peace among the people who practice these religions.The postdoctoral fellows form part of an exclusive alumni group of fellows and commited to take part in forums and exchanges to expand interfaith understanding.
