H.E. Minister Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi

Chairman, Board of Trustees
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

His Excellency Minister Al-Naimi has been minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources since August 1995. Mr. Naimi has been involved with KAUST since its inception in 2006.

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His Excellency Minister Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in Saudi Arabia, has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology since 2006.

H.E. Minister Al-Naimi has executed the vision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for a world-class research institution that convenes great minds in pursuit of solutions to mankind's most pressing problems.

As Chairman, he heads the independent 20-member Board of Trustees that appoints the president of KAUST, approves rules that regulate academic, financial, and administrative affairs at the University, and provides support to the officers who manage its day-to-day operations.

Minister Al-Naimi has devoted his career to energy exploration and production.

He joined Saudi Aramco in 1947, at the age of 12, and rose through the ranks, serving as a foreman, assistant superintendent, superintendent, and manager, before moving into the Exploration Department in 1953 to work as a geologist and hydrologist.

Minister Al-Naimi studied at the International College and the American University in Beirut before receiving a bachelor's of science in Geology from Lehigh University, in the United States, in 1962 and a master's of science in Geology from Stanford University, in the United States, in 1963.

Minister Al-Naimi worked in the Economics and Public Relations Department and Abqaiq Producing Division at Aramco from 1967 to 1969. He was appointed vice president of Aramco in 1975, senior vice president in 1978, and was elected an Aramco director in 1980. He became executive vice president of Operations for Aramco in 1982, and then company president in 1984.

He was named Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Aramco in 1995. After seven years of distinguished service as head of the world's largest oil company, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud appointed him Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in 1995.