Lubna Olayan

Lubna Olayan is one of the most influential businesswomen in the world. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Olayan Financing Company (OFC), the holding entity for the Olayan Group's operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Founded in 1947 by Suliman S. Olayan, The Olayan Group is a private multinational enterprise engaged in distribution, manufacturing, services and investments. OFC operates or actively participates in more than 40 companies, often in partnership with leading multinationals. OFC is also 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.

Mrs. Olayan served on the Board of Chelsfield plc from 1996 to 2004. In February 2005, Ms. Olayan was appointed as a non executive director to the Board of WPP, and in December 2004, she was elected to the Board of Saudi Hollandi Bank, a publicly listed company in Saudi Arabia – she was the first woman in Saudi Arabia’s history to do so. In September 2006 Ms. Olayan joined the International Advisory Board of Rolls-Royce plc.

Mrs. Olayan is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, which she joined in November and December 2005 respectively. Ms. Olayan joined the Board of Directors of INSEAD in December 2005, and has been a member of the International Council of INSEAD since March 1997. In April 2007 she was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees for Cornell University. Ms. Olayan also joined the Advisory Board of Effat College, a private and non-profit girl’s college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in April 2006.

Mrs. Olayan is on the Board of Trustees of the “Arab Thought Foundation,” a think tank based in Beirut focusing on issues facing the Arab world, since January 2002. In May 2006, Ms. Olayan joined the Board of Al Fanar, a non-governmental, non-profit venture philanthropy fund based in London, which supports grass roots organizations in the Arab world that promote social change. Ms. Olayan was elected to the Board of the Down Syndrome Charitable Association in June 2005, a not-for-profit organization based in Riyadh.

She has also acted as a spokesperson for women's rights in the Middle East. She was the first woman to speak at a "mixed" conference in Saudi Arabia -- the Jeddah Economic Conference in 2004 -- attended by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Queen Rania of Jordan and others. According to the "Arab Business Magazine", "Olayan was indirectly blasted by the grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, who also denounced all calls for greater women's rights, declaring the mixing of unveilled women with men at the Jeddah Economic Forum as a violation of Islamic teaching. Still this has not belittled her power or influence."

From her speech: "My vision is of a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender who is serious about finding employment can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified. Leading to a thriving middle class and in which all Saudi citizens, residents or visitors to the country feel safe and can live in an atmosphere where mutual respect and tolerance exists among all, regardless of their social class, religion or gender."

Olayan co-chaired the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005. She received her B.S. degree in agriculture from Cornell University; later she received an MBA from Indiana University.

She is married to Mr. John Xefos, a senior partner in the law firm Baker & McKenzie. They live with their three daughters in Riyadh.