Career History
An experienced, high-caliber MANAGING DIRECTOR, with a record of over 23 years successfully growing the businesses of O&G and Industrial manufacturers in over 70 countries worldwide.
• Have had 300 multinational engineers reporting to me, as well as 12 Senior Managers.
• Have held high level positions with major British, American and European companies.
• Have doubled the Net Sales and / or Operating Profits of the last 5 companies in less than one year through specific techniques and actions.
• Had full Financial / P & L, Operations, HSE, Quality, Legal and Commercial responsibility of running Multi-Million Dollar companies, covering Middle East, Africa, Europe, Former Soviet Union and Brazil.
• Have a strong combination of business development, financial, technical sales & marketing experience in the Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Power, Water, Nuclear and Military industries.
• Achievements include winning major projects under my leadership and responsible for recruiting an additional 120 new staff within one year (with Gray Mackenzie).
• Was one of the youngest International Regional Managers at the age of 24 in the UK Oil & Gas industry.
• SALES: focused the sales teams to get the company and products REGISTERED, APPROVED and SPECIFIED with end-users (by name and design features). Also evaluated, appointed, managed and trained Distributors, Agents and reps. Proactive customer focus and TRAINING has been an important and major initiative.
• FINANCE: Directed my finance team to be more than just an administrative function, providing specific reports to help achieve growth objectives while keeping costs stable.
• OPERATIONS: With safety paramount, I’ve encouraged the use of the latest practices to reduce waste, save time and improve productivity.
• Have conducted feasibility studies on international office / facility locations; subsequently set up and ran regional offices.
• Used internationally recognized best practices in Sales, Finance and Operations (ie. Sarbanes–Oxley, LEAD, VOC, etc).
• Managed the successful integration of acquisitions.
• LEADER: A leader who trains, listens, empathizes and supports his team with what they need to succeed; this includes business strategy, long term planning, and continuous improvement.
2011 – Current
DIRECTOR
GLOBAL DESIGN & ENGINEERING SERVICES, UAE
GDES is a world leader in basic & detailed design engineering for Electrical, Controls & Instrumentation of advanced Process Control Systems, PLC, ESD, F&G & SCADA Systems.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Formed a new division of the company focused on Renewable Energy to diversify and expand from our traditional Oil & Gas, Water, Power and Aviation sectors.
• Developed business in South America and Former Soviet Union (based in Brazil and Russia), in highly difficult and bureaucratic countries with complicated tax laws, legal legislations and corporate structures.
• Implemented cost effective strategies to form a presence in the countries and develop business in the most effective way to comply with restrictive laws and regulations.
• Appointed consultants and agents hence developing our business in these Emerging Markets.
2004 – 2011
MANAGING DIRECTOR
ENERPAC MIDDLE EAST FZE, UAE
Enerpac (a US company) is one of the world’s largest, oldest and best known (featured on ‘Discovery Channel – Extreme Engineering’) high-pressure hydraulic equipment manufacturers. Parent company, Actuant, is listed on the NYSE.
ACHIEVEMENTS
• One of the best performing Directors of any region worldwide over 6 financial years.
• Turned the company around from a poor condition with negative growth and plummeting profits. Within 12 months increased sales, doubled OP, while reducing costs.
• Net Sales growth of 190% and OP growth of 490% in 6 years, while implementing a strict AR policy to protect the company from customer defaults. Moreover, keeping costs constant despite very high Dubai head office YOY cost increases.
• Best Sales Growth out of all ASIAN & EUROPEAN Enerpac entities in FY05 (30% growth), FY07 (46%), FY08 (45%) and highest US$ Growth in FY10.
• Responsible for all Sales, Technical and Financial (P&L) aspects of the company.
• Responsible for developing distribution, projects and growth in over 70 countries (Middle East, Africa and FSU), identifying and appointing numerous successful distributors.
2001 – 2003
GENERAL MANAGER
GRAY MACKENZIE OILFIELD SERVICES, SYRIA
Gray Mackenzie was the largest oilfield services company in the country.
DUTIES / ACHIEVEMENTS
• Full General Management responsibility for 4 Managers and 300 multinational staff (American, British, Indian and Arabic), mainly engineers working on specialized technical projects in the Oil & Gas industry.
• Responsibility for all Financial, Operations, HSE, QA/QC, Legal and Commercial activities.
• Drove revenue from $8M to $20M / year with full P+L responsibility.
• Won 3 of the largest Technical Manpower contracts in the country from SHELL (AFPC), TOTALFINAELF (DEZPC) and Conoco Oil Company.
• Negotiated and awarded the largest airline contract in the country to Emirates Airlines.
1996 – 2000
MANAGER – MIDDLE EAST
WHESSOE VAREC / ENDRESS & HAUSER, UAE.
World’s leading tank level gauging manufacturer, head offices in UK.
DUTIES / ACHIEVEMENTS
• Responsible for the Middle East operation including sales to clients throughout the region directly and via agents.
• Managing and spearheading projects; liaising/delegating actions of all relevant parties.
• Appointing and training agents. Presentation of technical seminars.
• Allocating commissions, setting price levels, profit margins & deciding product specs.
• Doubled the turnover of the region in 2 years. Appointed a System Integration and Training Center. Developed a strong network of agents. Won major projects at full profit margins, with newly introduced products, to new customers.
1995 – 1996
MANAGER – Reporting directly to the shareholders of this newly established company.
AUTOCHIM SYSTEM TRIZAC MIDDLE EAST (ASTME) – Jebel Ali Free Zone, UAE
Autochim is a leading French system integration company.
DUTIES / ACHIEVEMENTS
• Responsibilities included all aspects of establishing, running and developing the GCC region based from Jebel Ali Free Zone, UAE.
• Products and services: Supplying System Integration, Fire & Gas, PLC based Emergency Shutdown and Control Systems throughout the Middle East.
• Responsibilities included Marketing, Sales, Press releases, Literature, Engineering, Subcontractors, Quotations, Agents, Agreements, Market reports and Surveys.
1991 – 1995
INTERNATIONAL SALES ENGINEER
KEYSTONE MIDDLE EAST, UAE.
Keystone USA is one of the world’s leading Valve and Actuator suppliers.
DUTIES / ACHIEVEMENTS
• Winning the largest (profitable) order in the Middle East.
• Winning orders at substantially higher than competition prices with new customers.
• Specifying Keystone products by name and design features.
1990 – 1991
INTERNATIONAL SALES ENGINEER
ROTORK CONTROLS LTD, UK
World’s most successful and fastest growing actuator and control system manufacturer. Listed on the LSE.
1987 – 1990
SALES ENGINEER (SPARES & SERVICE)
LIMITORQUE INTERNATIONAL, UK
World’s largest and first major actuator manufacturer.
Education & Qualifications
SCHOOLS AND UK COLLEGES : 1974 to July 1981 – Grittleton House School, Sept 1981 to July 1986 – Swindon College, Swindon, UK Oct 1986 to June 1987 – Thames Polytechnic, UK
ONC/HND – General Engineering (Electrical and Electronic Bias)
BSc (Hons) Part Time – Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Third Year)
Languages
French (Basic), Russian (Inter) and Farsi (working knowledge).
OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
– Have studied and written articles on nutrition, natural medicines, fitness and environment.
– Working with charity organizations, i.e. “Dhaka Children Project” and “Detained in Dubai”.
– Sports: Playing most sports, including tennis, running, scuba diving, etc.
