Associate Professor Dr Suraya Hanim Mokhtar is the Director of AIU Centre of Excellence in Socio-Economic and Innovation (ACE-SEDI). She was the former Dean of the AIU School of Business and Social Sciences (SBSS) from July 2020 to July 2023 and the AIU Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Innovation (DVCRI) from July 2023 to July 2025.

Dr Suraya is a finance specialist in academia. She obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in Finance, and her Master of Science in Finance from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), with a concentration in behavioural finance.

Her PhD is also in Finance, awarded by Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011, and the research focused on the performance of microfinance in Malaysia. In the context of a social business framework, her PhD research fueled a dynamic collaboration with a Malaysian software developer to design and successfully commercialise innovative financial management software specifically tailored for micro-entrepreneurs.

Since 2012, she has been delivering financial management and business development courses to the micro-entrepreneurs, particularly in rural communities. Dr Suraya has over 15 years of experience teaching at the university level and teaches Social Business courses at Albukhary International University (AIU).

Her research interests encompass social finance, social business, and impact investing. She is committed to promoting social entrepreneurship among young people, encouraging their involvement in addressing social issues through sustainable business ventures.