Who is Ashok Aram, Deutsche Bank's new man-in-charge for the MENA region?

Ashok Aram has taken the helm at Deutsche Bank's MENA operations, replacing Henry Azzam who moves into the role of non-executive chairman for the region.

This is no easy task - Deutsche has one of the biggest investment banking presences in the region and also offers asset management, private banking and transaction services. He'll oversee nearly 200 staff across MENA, 160 of which are located in Dubai.

Who is Aram, and what can we learn about his career that could offer tips to success?

1) He was educated in both India and Japan

Aram is Indian, so it makes sense that his under graduate degree - a BS in Electronics & Communication Engineering from the Anna University of Technology, Chennai - was gained on home soil. However, like any good internationally mobile student, he spread his wings; taking a Masters in International Business & Comparative Culture at Sophia University in Tokyo.

2) He has spent a lot of time at Deutsche Bank

Nearly 15 years, to be exact. Although he was most recently a managing director at Middle East private equity firm Abraaj Capital (from July 2009), Aram has spent the remainder of his career - from 1995 onwards - at Deutsche. He was head of global capital markets CEEMEA, based in London, at the time of his departure.

3) He has been around

Such a long time in the same company might suggest a lack of wanderlust, but this is not the case. Aram started in Deutsche's Asian operation, where he helped found its telecoms advisory team, before moving to Frankfurt in 1997 to focus on corporate strategy.

London beckoned in 1999, where he was initially COO of global banking, before being bumped up to head of global banking - focusing on building out corporate banking and structured finance. In 2005, he shifted across to the global markets team, with responsibility for developing structured credit trading and global principal finance. He took charge of the capital markets business in 2007.

4) He is something of a boy wonder

As the above suggests, Aram's career has progressed fairly rapidly. He's still fairly remarkable in that - in 2000 at the tender age of 29 - he became the youngest managing director in Deutsche Bank's history. This was largely down to his contribution to its acquisition of Bankers Trust in 1998. This year, he was also among the 'Young Global Leaders' honoured by the World Economic Forum.

5) He remains connected to his roots

Aram has held a number of board level positions in India - including ones at Indian companies Nitesh Estates and Soliton Technologies. He is also a trustee at Shanti Ashram, which looks to tackle issues affecting India's poorer communities.

6) He speaks a number of languages

English, German, Japanese, Hindi and Tamil. Presumably, he may wish to learn Arabic...