Ossama is a veteran of the communications industry, having played active and diverse roles for over 35 years in the industry as an educator, entrepreneur, corporate executive and venture investor.

Early in his industrial career, he spent several years with Nortel, initially as a member of Scientific Staff and later as vice president of marketing. By 1990, he became a serial entrepreneur, acting as chairman of a number of successful international companies including ACC in Santa Barbara (acquired by Ericsson ), nCipher plc (listed on the LSE), Echovox in Switzerland, Algety Telecom (acquired by Corvis and now Broadwing ), Highwave Optical Technologies (listed on EURONEXT) and High Deal in France and BDNA in California. He also held a number of non-executive appointments with Newbridge Networks (now Alcatel) including president of Newbridge Networks Holding and member of the Chairman's Executive Council. He served on the Board of Advisors of Harvard University Center for ME Studies, and is currently member of the Board of Trustees of UCSF Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine in San Francisco.

Ossama began his venture capital career in 1980 with Nortel as director of venture capital and then joined Berkeley International in San Francisco as executive vice president. In 1997, he joined Newbury Ventures and the same year became founding Chairman and director of Technocom Ventures, a seed financing venture capital company managed jointly with France Telecom in Paris. Ossama is a co-founding investor of several companies spun out from Newbridge Networks and France Telecom, and holds or has held board seats with Broadwing Corporation (Corvis), and NetCentrex.

Ossama received his B.Sc. in electrical engineering (distinctions, first class honors) from the University of Alexandria, his M.Sc. in electrical engineering and M.B.A. from the University of British Columbia. He completed his Ph.D. program in electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia, and also holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the California Coast University.

Ossama was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt were he still maintains close family ties and enduring friendships. He's an avowed fan of Mediterranean history, cuisine and culture. Ossama is married and has two children.

These days he spends much of his time commuting between Paris and Silicon Valley, acting as Newbury's ambassador to the European portfolio companies, incubation centers, and financial community.