Owais Aslam Ali has been chairman of the independent Pakistan Press International (PPI) news agency since 2000. PPI has eight bureaus throughout Pakistan with over 300 staffers and stringers. Mr Ali is also secretary general of the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a position he has held since 1992. Prior to entering the field of journalism, he studied electrical engineering at California State University – Fresno and business finance at the University of Oregon’s Charles H. Lundquist College of Business. From 1991 to 1992, he studied journalism at Cardiff University/Prifysgol Caerdydd in Britain. And from 2001 to 2002 he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Ali was also awarded the Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship (1998) and the Chevening Fellowship at University of Wales and Cardiff (1991-1992). Mr Ali is a member of the Executive Board of the International Press Institute as well as of the Board of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) and a former member of the standing committee for the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors.