KING ABDULLAH APPOINTS WORLD CLASS BOARD OF TRUSTESS FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 001504 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD (WDOUGLAS, PAGNEW, DBENZE),NEA/ARP (HARRIS),ECA/A/E/NEA (DIVES),ECA/A/S/A (AFOREST) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO PGOV ENRG PINR OEXC SCUL SA SUBJECT: KING ABDULLAH APPOINTS WORLD CLASS BOARD OF TRUSTESS FOR HIS WORLD CLASS RESEARCH UNIVERSITY REF RIYADH 1479 ¶1. Summary. On October 3 King Abdullah decreed the appointment of the first Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The King intends that KAUST be a world-class, co-educational research institute at the graduate level, with English as the language of instruction, and he has reportedly given KAUST a $20 billion endowment. His twenty trustee appointments show that he knows that more than money is necessary for success in this endeavor. All are major figures either in business (chiefly oil, no surprise in a project entrusted to Aramco) or the academic world. At least fourteen have degrees, almost all of them advanced degrees, from U.S. institutions. Three are path-breaking women: the former President of Ireland, the current President of Princeton, and Saudi Arabia's most influential businesswoman. Ten are Saudis, four Americans, two Singaporeans, one each from Ireland, Britain, Korea and Germany. Notably absent from the board are any Saudis connected with the country's conservative Islamic religious establishment. At the KAUST ground-breaking ceremony, the King recalled "the golden age of Arab Muslim civilization," and expressed his hope that KAUST would deliver "its humane and noble message in an ideal environment...without discrimination." With his appointments, the King has taken a major step toward realizing that hope. End Summary ¶2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) released the names of the twenty members of the KAUST Board of Trustees. They are: 1- Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi; Chairman 2- Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud; member 3- Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud; member 4- Prince Mansour bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud; member 5- Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali; member 6- Dr. Khalid bin Salih Al-Sultan; member 7- Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabia; member 8- Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Faleh (aka Falih); member 9- Lubna bint Suleiman Al-Olayan; member 10- Mohammed bin Abdul-Latif Jameel; member 11- Prof. Choon Fong Shih; member 12- Prof. Frank Rhodes; member 13- Dr. Tony Tan King Yan (sic - Tony Tan Keng Yan?); member 14- Mary Robinson; member 15- Shirley Tilghman; member 16- Elias Zerhouni; member 17- Jang Jee (Jae Jung?); member 18- John Brennan; member 19- Andrew Gold (sic); member 20- Rolf Dieter Heur (sic); member -------------- Biographic information about board members -------------- ¶3. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi; Chairman, has been the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, since August 1995. Prior to being named minister with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he had served as chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco for seven years. Minister Al-Naimi studied at the International College and the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, received a BS in Geology from Lehigh University (1962),and a MS in Geology from Stanford (1963). 1963.Prince Khalid, Prince Abdulaziz and Prince Mansour are sons of King Abdullah. 5.Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali is presumably Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, the first President of the Islamic Development Bank. He has served in this capacity since 1975. He holds a B.A. degree in Commerce and degree in Law from Cairo University, Egypt. He earned his M.A. and PhD degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and State University of New York (SUNY),Albany, USA in Public Administration in 1962 and 1967, respectively. ¶6. H.E.Khalid bin Salih Al-Sultan, the rector of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, and previously a member of the KAUST International Advisory Council. He is a former Deputy Minister for Educational Affairs. Dr. Al-Sultan received a Ph.D. in Industrial and Operations Engineering (Operations Research) and a M.S. in applied mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1990. He has a M.S. in systems engineering from KFUPM (1987),and a B.S. (with highest honors) in systems engineering, KFUPM (1985). He is also a member of Saudi Aramco Board of Directors. ¶7. Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabia (or Rabih or Rabeeah) is the chief executive officer of King Abdulaziz Medical City and Executive Director of National Guard Health Affairs; he is an internationally recognized expert on separating conjoined twins. RIYADH 00001504 002 OF 002 ¶8. Khalid A. Al-Falih is executive vice president for Operations for Saudi Aramco, and a member of the Board of Directors. He also serves as chairman of the board of the newly formed South Rub' al-Khali joint venture between Shell, Total and Saudi Aramco. He was previously a member of KAUST's International Advisory Council. Mr. Al-Falih is a 1982 graduate of Texas A&M University in mechanical engineering. He received a master's degree in business administration in 1991 from the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. ¶9. Mrs. Lubna S. Olayan is the CEO of Olayan Financing Company, one of the largest investors in the Saudi and regional stock markets. She was listed as one of the world's 100 most influential people of 2005 by Time magazine and one of the world's 100 most influential women in 2005, 2006 and 2007 by Forbes magazine. She was previously a member of the KAUST Presidential Search Committee. She received her B.S. degree in agriculture from Cornell University and an MBA from Indiana University. ¶10. Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel is the president of Abdul Latif Jameel Co. (ALJ),a conglomerate involved in imports, retail, real estate, etc., and Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs. Known as a philanthropist, he is behind the Grameen Jameel Pan Arab Initiative, which aims to reduce poverty through micro credit. He received his BS in civil engineering from MIT in 1978. ¶11. Professor Choon Fong Shih is the President of the National University of Singapore, and was recently named the President Designate of KAUST. He received his PhD from Harvard University in ¶1973. Thereafter, he worked for GE, and in 1981 he joined the faculty of Brown University, ecentually becoming Brown University. He spent some 30 years in the U.S. studying, working and teaching. ¶11. Frank (H.T). Rhodes is the president Emeritus of Cornell University and a member of the KAUST International Advisory Council. ¶12. Tony Tan King Yan is presumably Tony Tan Keng Yam, the former Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Security and Defence of Singapore. He is also the Executive Director of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC),and Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH). GIC is a global investment management company established in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves. Its Chairman is former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and its Deputy Chairman is the current Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong. He has a MS from MIT. ¶13. Dr Mary Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland (1990-1997) and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002),is now the Chancellor of Trinity College/University of Dublin ¶14. Shirley M. Tilghman, is the first woman president of Princeton University. She is a world-renowned scholar in the field of molecular biology. ¶15. Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni is the Director of the NIH. ¶16. Post believes Jang Jee is actually Jae Jung, former Harvard Medical School microbiologist, who is now professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Jung also serves on a large number of review and advisory panels, including scientific committees for the Korean Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Science and Technology. Jung received his Bachelor of Science in food science at Seoul National University in Korea and his doctorate in microbiology from the University of California at Davis. ¶17. John Brennan is president and CEO of The Analysis Corporation (TAC) of McLean, Virginia, and chairman of the board of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA). He is retired from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He has specialized in Middle Eastern and terrorism issues throughout his professional career. ¶18. Mr. Andrew Gold is presumably Andrew Gould, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Schlumberger Limited Houston and Paris and a member of the KAUST Presidential Search Committee. ¶19. Rolf-Dieter Heuer has been named as the new Director General for CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). He will assume office on 1 January 2009. Rolf-Dieter Heuer is currently Research Director for particle and astroparticle physics at the German research centre DESY. FRAKER