Winter 2009 Vol. VII, No. 2

Class Notes

1950s

Nasri Kawar
(BS ’56, MS ’59) recently established the WAAAUB Delaware Valley Alumni Chapter in the Philadelphia area. Contact him for more information about the new chapter at nskawar@yahoo.com

Antoine Manneh
(BBC [Brief Business Course] ’50) is a retired insurance broker. He can be reached at the following address: 205/2749 Chemin Ste-Foy, Quebec G1V4S2, Canada or at sato2610@hotmail.com

1960s

Raja Gabriel Khalifah
(BS ’62) recently moved with his wife Lilla to Princeton, New Jersey, where he earned his PhD in physical chemistry in the early 1960s. Besides pursuing his long-time research interest in drug development for diabetic kidney disease—he is currently VP of Research and Chemistry at NephroGenex, Inc—he is enjoying renewing old acquaintances and has resumed playing tennis and collecting tennis trophies and championships to match those from more than 40 years ago. Khalifah writes, “A large part of the nostalgia of returning to Princeton is that the university and town have extremely strong ties to AUB. Retired AUB stalwarts and related others (Dodges, Waterburys, Kerrs, and Blisses) always took care of AUB graduates that came to study at Princeton, and the connections and special bonds thrive to this day.” The Khalifahs have two sons, Peter (chemistry professor at Stony Brook University, Princeton PhD ’01) and Anthony, an MD in Dallas. (Raja.Khalifah@gmail.com)

Yusef Khalil Shalati
(BEN ’63) is general manager of OTIS, LLC. (yusef_shalabi@hotmail.com)

Usamah O. Farrukh
(BEN ’67) has a PhD in electrical engineering-electrophysics from the University of Southern California. He is currently an adjunct professor of communication engineering at Hariri Canadian University. (usamah2000@yahoo.com; Farrukh74@alumni.usc.edu)

1970s

Saadeh George-Azzi
(BS ’72, MD ’76) is a psychiatrist in Rotherham, Doncaster, and South Humberside, United Kingdom. He has earned several higher education degrees and certifications including the Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries (LMSSA); the Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London (LRCP); and the Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons (LRCS). He is also a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych).

Afnan Al Zayani
(former student, 1973–75) has been named one of the most accomplished women in the region in the latest issue of ArabianBusiness.com. She serves on the board of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(BCCI) and is also one of the founding members of the Bahrain Business Women’s Society. Since 1999, she has been president and proprietor of Al Zayani Commercial Services (ZCS), one of the leading family businesses in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The company covers the telecoms, information technology, and agriculture and food sectors. Al Zayani studied food technology.

Mohamed J. Medawar
(BEN ’76) is managing director of Medacom Development FZ-LLC in Dubai. (mjmedawar@yahoo.com)

Musa Ghannam
(BS ’77) is vice president of global technical services at Schering Plough Corporation. He lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with his wife Asma Farsh (BS, School of Nursing ’82) and their two teenage children, Ramzi and Nicole. (ghannam_musa@yahoo.com)

Tammam Farhat
(BS ’78, MD ’83) works in anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Tufts Medical Center. (tfarhat@tuftsmedicalcenter.org)

Saad A. Sanyurah
(BS ’79, MD ’84) has been an allergist in private practice in Ohio since 1991. He also serves as an educator at Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine. Sanyurah is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. His many research interests include latex sensitivity in children with myelodysplasia. (snyrh@yahoo.com)

When Imad Tabry (AUBMC resident, 1970-74) arrived at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza in 2005, it was his eighth trip since 2000. Dr. Tabry, currently a cardiac surgeon at the Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, donated his time and expertise to perform heart surgery on three patients a day during each of his missions. His work, which was carried out through the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) helped treat and save the lives of hundreds of Gaza residents. “There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people here who need cardiac care not currently available to them in Gaza,” said Dr. Tabry during his last trip. There is currently no cardiac surgery program functioning in Gaza, though heart disease is the number one cause of mortality. Since his trip in 2005, when all his donated surgical supplies were confiscated at the Tel Aviv airport, getting access to Gaza has been all but impossible. But he’s trying to return as soon as the situation allows.

1980s

Saab Jannoun
(BBA ’80) is president of Integrated Medical Diagnostics, which is based in Tampa, Florida. The company specializes in cardiovascular disease risk assessment and e-medicine. (saeb@integratedmd.org)

Michael Boufarhat
(BEN ’81) is CEO of James Williams, a mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services contractor in the Middle East. He lives in Dubai. (michael.boufarhat@jlw.ae)

Hala Nasser Haffar
(BBA ’82) moved from Dubai to Oakville, Ontario, Canada in July 2006. After teaching business and computer studies at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Sharjah, she changed careers and is now a certified Body Harmonics Pilates instructor working in a Pilates studio in Oakville and loving it.

Sonia Nader Sayigh
(MD ’82, Pediatric Residency Certificate ’84) completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Stanford University and has been a practicing partner at Welch Road Pediatrics in Stanford for several years. Her husband Basim Sayigh (BE ’71, ME ’74) was awarded his PhD in civil/environmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977 and is currently president and CEO of AMERICEC Inc, a general engineering and GIS services firm with offices in Redwood City and Tarzana, California. (nadersayigh@yahoo.com)

Iffat Adnan Saadah
(BA ’84) recently moved from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to Jeddah. She is a student adviser at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). (iffatsaadeh@gmail.com)

Edgard G. Kazan
(BEN ’85) is project director of Al Fara’a General Contracting. He can be reached at PO Box 94610, Abu Dhabi, UAE. (raghas9497@yahoo.com)

Dan Azzi
(BS ’86) lives in Milton, Ontario, Canada where he is managing director of fixed income trading at the Standard Chartered Bank.

Hilal Karkouty
(BBA ’86) has the distinction of being the very first legal publisher in Qatar. He owns and manages E-Book Publishers Ltd, a leading company in specialized electronic publishing, with a focus on legal material. His publication, “The Legal Counselor,” received the personal recognition of HH the Emir of the State of Qatar. Karkouty is married to Hana Adra, who owns and runs “Winks,” a gallery of fine accessories for women. They have four children. Their eldest daughter Carine is currently enrolled in the Lebanese American University, but hopes to move to AUB some day. (http://www.ebookqatar.com; hkarkouty@hotmail.com)

Leena El-Ali
(BA ’87) grew up in the Middle East, West Africa, and Europe and studied economics at AUB and Oxford University. For the past 20 years, she has been living in the United Kingdom and the United States where she spent over a decade as a fund manager and debt strategist before turning to an entrepreneurial career. El-Ali is senior program director at Search for Common Ground, an international non-profit organization in the field of conflict transformation with offices in 18 countries. She manages the organization’s Partners in Humanity program. She also runs a program for Lebanon, working through the Ministry of Education as well as the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation television channel.

Mohamed A. Bitar
(BS ’88, MD ’92) After completing his subspecialty training at the Children’s National Medical Center and the George Washington University School of Medicine, Bitar established the Pediatric Otolaryngology Section at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery–AUBMC in 2002. In 2006, he was elected an active member of the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology (ASPO), which rarely enrolls members practicing outside the United States. In 2007, Bitar became a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP) and was recently elected a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) during a large ceremony in San Francisco where 1,189 surgeons from around the world, including three from Lebanon, were honored. (mb36@aub.edu.lb)

Samer Zein
(BS ’89). Hewlett-Packard has appointed Zein director of technology services for the Middle East. Before joining HP in 2003, Samer held a variety of technical, business, sales, and management positions in the Middle East and the United States.

1990s

Zahia Ghossaini
(BS ’92) lives in Manhattan with her husband Raja Tarie and their 19-month old daughter Yara. In December 1995, Zahia moved to Venezuela and started her IT career at Escuela Bella Vista (EBV), an international school where she built the school’s presence on the web. While in Maracaibo, Venezuela she earned her master’s degree in educational technology specializing in e-learning. In 2002, Ghossaini moved to New York City where she founded a web design and consultancy company RZ Web Design and developed websites for various clients/industries until she joined the luxury retail e-business for Saks Fifth Avenue in 2006. Zahia enjoys her work as a member of a diversified IT team for Saks Direct and her life in the Big Apple. (zahia_ghossaini@s5a.com; ztarie@aol.com)

Nada Jaber
(BS ’92, MS ’96) will host a new weekly television show on diet and nutrition on RAI TV in Kuwait. A dietician by training, Jaber will discuss the essentials of food and health with leading doctors and nutritionists.

Hadi M. Jaroudi
(BEN ’93) is senior vice president for Technology and Engineering Development at Future Pipe Industries LLC, Future Plastrex LLC, and Future Investment Ltd, all headquartered in Dubai. (jaroudi@gmail.com)

Philip Elie Cortas
(BEN ’94) recently moved to Westmount, Quebec, Canada. (philipcortas@hotmail.com)

Walid S. Uthman
(BBA ’94) has been appointed chief financial officer for medical affairs at AUB. Uthman received an MBA from Loyola University Chicago in 2000 and has more than 14 years experience in corporate accounting, financial planning, and analysis. Uthman joined AUB in 2005 as the deputy director of the Office of Financial Planning and Budgeting. Prior to 2005, he was the head of finance and accounting at Averda, the holding company of Sukleen, a major Lebanese manufacturing and services company.

Nadine Jbeily Chamseddine
(BA ’95) is president of the WAAAUB Atlanta Chapter. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia and works for RE/MAX Executives, Inc. (nchamseddine@yahoo.com)

Chadi Chazbek
(BEN ’96, MEN ’00) is project manager for URS Corporation in San Jose, California. (chadi_chazbek@urscorp.com)

Rabih El Rouwadi
(BE ’96, PMP ’08) is a construction manager at Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) in Qatar working on oil and gas projects. (rrouwadi@ccc.com.qa)

Bachir El-Saghir
(BS ’96) is currently working as a landscape architect on the Pearl Project in Doha, Qatar for Dar Al-Handasah (Shair & Partners) as a member of their project management team. El-Saghir would love to hear from old classmates and fellow AUB alumni. (Bashir.El-Saghir@dargroup.com)

Adham Bassam Al-Hariri
(BS ’97, MD ’01) is a clinical fellow at the University of Cincinnati. (adhamalhariri@hotmail.com)

Christine Mady
(BAR ’97) is an associate tutor at the School of City and Regional Planning at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom where she has been teaching since 2005. Mady expects to complete her PhD in 2009. (christomady@hotmail.com)

Fadi Majzoub
(BE ’97) With his degree in civil engineering, Majzoub went to work as a sales and marketing manager at Profiles RH Group—Industries and Contracting. (fadimajzoub@gmail.com)

Rada K. Dagher
(BS ’98, MPH ’00) holds a PhD and is an assistant professor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida. (rdagher@phhp.ufl.edu)

Hasan Abdessamad
(BS ’99, MD ’03) has received two awards from the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics/Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology and from the Cleveland Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology for his recent research. Abdessamad lives in Cleveland, Ohio. (hasan.abdessamad@gmail.com)

Karma Nazih Al Kadi
(BBA ’99) is happily married to Maher Sangid Aboul Hosn. They live in Vienna, Virginia with their three children. (sangid.family@gmail.com)

2000s

Ziad Malek Hamoui
(BS ’00, BBA ’02) After graduating with degrees in biology and business administration, Hamoui moved to Ghana to run his fourth generation family owned business, Tarzan Enterprise, Ltd. The company specializes in road transport, warehousing and container-handling (www.tarzan.com.gh). In 2005, Hamoui completed his master’s degree in port management at the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. He then married his college sweetheart, Dalia Mansour (BS ’03, MS ’05). They have a baby girl, Elsa Hamoui. To keep up with the scholarly world, Hamoui gives lectures at a local business school, GIMPA (www.gimpa.edu.gh; ziad@hamoui.com)

Ali Itani
(BA ’00) married Ghena Hariri (BA ’00) in October 2008 in Lebanon. Even though they were both at the University at the same time, and there was only two rows separating them at their graduation, they never bumped into each other on campus. (ali.ghena@gmail.com)

Mira Kaddoura
(BGD ’00) continues to enjoy a successful career in advertising. During the last year she produced a television spot for Coca-Cola at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and worked on a special ad campaign with Don King for Nike that intensified the rivalry between tennis stars Nadal and Federer at the US Open. In addition Kaddoura worked on two public service announcements through Nike for the non-profit organizations Ninemillion and World Wildlife Fund. Her graphic design talents also include branding for companies and restaurants, such as the logo below for ilili restaurant, a Lebanese restaurant in New York City. (mira.kaddoura@wk.com)

Abdo Maroun Saad
(BS ’00, MD ’04) is a geriatrics fellow at the University of Wisconsin. (ASaad@uwhealth.org)

Ghada Salameh
(BBA ’00) is manager of mergers and acquisitions at PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York City.

Osama Sweidan
(BBA ’00, MBA ’05) is a consultant for HNC in Saudi Arabia. (osama.sweidan@gmail.com)

Nader Daou
(BS ’01) works in Integrated Solutions for Business at E-Learning Consultancy. (nader@the-dome.net)

Joumana Medlej
(BGD ’01) is an illustrator who just published the second volume of her graphic novel Malaak: Angel of Peace, featuring Lebanon’s first superhero(ine). Volume 1 was published a year ago and has since attracted a good deal of attention both locally and internationally. Both volumes can be read online at http://www.malaakonline.com

Sara Tedmori
(BS ’01) After completing her computer science degree at AUB, Tedmori joined Loughborough University, United Kingdom where she earned her MSc and PhD degrees. She was then appointed assistant professor of computer sciences at Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Jordan. Tedmori is an active researcher and is widely published in the field of knowledge management and information technology. (s.tedmori@psut.edu.jo)

Salem F. Adra 
(BS ’02) is a research associate in computational systems biology at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom where he earned MS and PhD degrees. Visit Adra’s personal homepage for a full update: www.dcs.shef.ac.uk\~salem. (salem_adra@hotmail.com)

Karim Yehia
(BEN ’02) worked in New York between 2004 and 2008 as a software engineer for Deutsche Bank in equities sales and trading. Yehia recently decided to pursue his interests in finance and investment banking by enrolling full-time in the MBA program of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He is active in the Wharton Arabia Club and is working with the other Arab MBA students to expand the presence of Wharton in Lebanon and the Arab World. (kyehia@wharton.upenn.edu)

Christiane Antoine El Hakim
(BBA ’04) writes: “As an AUB alumna, I would like to express my appreciation for the associations and gatherings connecting AUB graduates and many Lebanese all over the world.” El Hakim founded Lebanese Estate, a comprehensive real estate company offering brokerage, market studies, financial modeling, site analysis, and architectural consultancy. The company is dedicated to meeting the real estate needs of Lebanese expatriates, as well as real estate developers interested in the Lebanese market. [www.lebaneseestate.com;(c.hakim@lebaneseestate.com)]

Anwar Marafie
(BBA ’05) lives in Dhahya, Kuwait. He recently founded Marafie Works Group for Restaurants and Foodstuffs, and opened Saso Restolounge,
www.saso-lounge.com, (website under construction), and facebook group, Saso Restolounge. Marafie is a credit officer at the Ahli Bank of Kuwait. (anwar@mwgfood.com)

Chahin Saadeh Chahin
(BBA ’06) moved to Shanghai after graduation and studied Mandarin for one year at Fudan University. He soon landed a job as general manager of the Cixi City Fangyi Import/Export Trading Company. Chahin attended the final week of the Olympics in Beijing, and was impressed by the magnitude, sophistication, and high level of organization of the event. He believes that China is on the ascendant as a world power and hopes that AUB will develop more programs and courses in sinology. (chahinsc@gmail.com)

Dolly Dahdal
(BA, TD ’06) lives in Los Angeles and works as an administrator for RAND Corporation. (dolly_dahdal@hotmail.com)

Mounir M El Asmar
(BEN ’07) is pursuing a PhD in construction engineering and management at the University of Wisconsin. (elasmar@wisc.edu)

Nour Dandache
(BEN ’08) is currently working for Dar Al-Handasah’s (Shair & Partners) Project Management and Contracts Department, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Construction site in Beirut’s Central District. (ndandash@gmail.com)

Rana Ghantous
(BBA ’08) is now based in Qatar, but travels to London and Paris regularly for work. (rgg07@aub.edu.lb)

Recently Honored

What’s Right about L.E.FT

Makram el Kadi (BAR ’97), Ziad Jamaleddine (BAR ’95) and Naji Moujaes (BAR ’96) are the dynamic trio that keep their innovative architecture firm
L.E. FT in the news. In 2009, this New York City-based, internationally recognized, and award winning design collective will be lecturing at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, competing as finalists once again for the New York Museum of Modern Art’s Young Architects series, and exhibiting a speculative urban project on Lebanon, entitled "Offshore Urbanism" at the 4th edition of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam and at the Design Museum in Barcelona, Spain—which will be published in Yale University’s prestigious PERSPECTA. They are also designing a printing press factory in Kuwait. [www.leftish.net] [left@leftish.net]

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appoints Zeitlian to the Architects’ Board

Hraztan Zeitlian, AIA, LEED (BAR ’88) was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the prestigious Architects’ Board. Since 2007, he has been vice president of design at Leo A. Daly’s Los Angeles office. He is also the founder of STRUERE, an architectural think tank. In 2006 and 2007, Zeitlian received two prestigious American architecture awards from the Chicago Athenaeum. The international design magazine L’ Arca dedicated a section of its December 2007 issue to his work. Zeitlian’s award winning entry to the Prague National Library Competition may be found at www.domusweb.it. (hszeitlian@leoadaly.com)

FEA alumni awards

The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture recognized six of its alumni with awards during the seventh FEA student conference in mid October. “Our alumni are very dear to us,” said FEA Dean Ibrahim Hajj, “and their success is testimony to ours. For this reason, we believe it’s important to recognize their achievements.” The faculty presented Distinguished Alumni Awards to six alumni, including two Young Distinguished Alumnus Awards, to Taha Mikati (BE ’67), Karem Sakallah (BE ’75), Fadi Kurdahi (BE ’81), George Berberi (BE ’85), Mohammad Moghrabi (BE ’95), and Obeida Sidani (BGD ’97).

MainGate Summer 2009: AUB Traditions
In summer 2009, we’ll be exploring some of AUB’s finest traditions—the inaugurations, big games, student clubs, activism on campus, festivals, graduation, even a few graduation parties. What do you remember? Send us your favorite memories for this issue.

maingate@aub.edu.lb

Connecting the Dots

Abdullah Jum’ah (BA ’68), once named one of the most powerful businessmen in the world by Fortune magazine, is a tireless advocate for education, who, in his spare time, recently finished translating the Penguin edition of Gilgamesh into Arabic. The former Saudi Aramco president and CEO insists that part of the secret of his success lies in lessons learned during his undergraduate days at AUB.

When Abdullah Jum’ah graduated from AUB in l968, his first choice was to continue his education, earn a PhD, and become an academic. Instead, circumstances dictated that he join Saudi Aramco and the rest, they say, is history. He went on to become president and chief executive officer of the company (the first non engineer to hold the position) and was later described by Fortune magazine as one of the most powerful businessmen in the world outside the United States. With a CV that reads like an encyclopaedia and an impressive clutch of international awards, Abdullah Jum’ah sounds like the quintessential businessman jetting from place to place securing deals—and so he was. Yet at the same time, this academic manqué remained dedicated to his love of learning and education.

Asked how he feels looking back over what he has achieved since he graduated from AUB 40 years ago, Jum’ah’s first response is, “I feel very good and I feel good for my children….for what I have done. I look at it as good for my children, for my family, that I have been a good role model.” He then proudly lists the academic achievements of his four children and expresses his regret that his younger daughter was unable to fulfil her wish to attend AUB in summer 2006.

There is absolutely no doubt in Jum’ah’s mind that AUB played a seminal role in shaping his life. Asked to what he attributes his success he replies without hesitation, “I must say that the liberal education at AUB provided me with a lot of strength… people looked at my liberal education as a weakness. I found it was a strength…‘Connecting the dots’ is what the late Dr. Sayegh taught us…don’t look at the problem from only one aspect; there is a spectrum of ideas to look at. I think that gives you confidence when you want to face a problem and solve it.” It is a piece of advice, he says, that has never failed him.

AUB’s famous Cultural Studies (CS) program also had a profound effect on the young Jum’ah: “I became an avid reader. Probably I have the biggest library in the province of Eastern Saudi Arabia,” he says. “That helped me a lot in interacting with people, my interpersonal skills. When I go to the Japanese, I have read a lot of their literature; I go to the Chinese and I know a lot about their culture; I go to the Philippines…my reading opened a lot of doors for me and that is what I am encouraging people to do now.” So important was the impact of CS that after graduating from AUB, Jum’ah set about translating the Penguin edition of Gilgamesh into Arabic, a task he put aside when work took over his life but that he has recently managed to complete.

Though he formally relinquished education for business, in reality he remained deeply involved in many aspects of education throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and regionally. In March 2007, he was elected vice chairman of the International Advisory Board of the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and plays an active role in shaping the university’s future. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo, which he attended prior to studying at AUB.

Investing in education is a key part of Saudi Aramco’s brief and its achievements in this area are clearly as important to Jum’ah as Aramco’s stellar record as the world leader in crude oil production. Every year the company sponsors hundreds of Saudi students studying overseas. Over the years Aramco has built many schools and financed a wide range of educational programs.

In more recent years, Jum’ah and Aramco have faced a new educational challenge: to develop the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) from scratch. “This is a graduate school, the first one in the kingdom, I dare say in the Arab world, in science and technology, and it is an international, not a local, university. The idea is to concentrate on areas of research that will help the national economy of Saudi Arabia—to transfer research and ideas into practical business enterprises. We have a team reporting directly to the minister of petroleum who is the de facto chairman of the Board of Trustees. We have created the program, structure, research, and so on, and we have a team building this university on a fast track because we started mid 2006 with nothing and are expecting to make it operational in September 2009.”

At the same time, to mark its 75th anniversary, Saudi Aramco is building the King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture, which will be known as ITHRA. It will include a large computer library, education center, children’s center, theaters, spaces for performing arts, artist workshops, venues for exhibitions, lectures and conferences, as well as house the company’s archives. Jum’ah describes ITHRA as a “dynamic, state-of-the-art institution designed to inspire a passion for learning, creativity, volunteerism and cross-cultural engagement.” In his July l, 2008 speech at AUB’s Class Reunion, he compared ITHRA’s mission to that of AUB which he describes as “…a bastion of civilized discourse, of intellectual inquiry and of the primacy of peace over war and of mind over might.” Speaking recently of ITHRA Jum’ah said, “ITHRA is my baby, and I have already made a commitment to donate my personal library to it. The first books in the library will be mine.”

As much as he is passionate about creating ITHRA in the spirit of AUB, he is just as committed to supporting his Alma Mater. In his speech in July 2008, he called on his classmates to lend their support, financial and otherwise to the University saying, “…each and every one of us is a walking testament to the benefits of an AUB education, and we can set an example for others by demonstrating the value of education and a lifelong pursuit of knowledge in our own lives.” Abdullah Jum’ah is clearly a man who practices what he preaches.

Recently retired, Jum’ah is determined to dedicate some of his newfound spare time to education. He is already a regular speaker on the oil industry, sharing his knowledge with audiences around the world. At the same time he is determined to remain active in educational circles through his work on the Advisory Council at KFUPM and as a trustee of AUC. That wisdom speaks volumes for those who are concerned by the recent recession. As Jum’ah explains, “In the early years I saw oil as low as $10, so today seems not so bad. The oil business is long term; people should not panic. There can be opportunities. This is a time to assess, wake up, and even take advantage. It is not all bad. It is exciting.” He used the same word to describe his new retirement, “exciting!”

—M.A.