Elie Khouri

Elie Khouri
Born (1962-05-08) May 8, 1962
Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality Lebanese-French
Education MBA
Alma mater American University of Beirut
Occupation CEO, Omnicom Media Group, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Religion Christianity[1]

Elie Khouri (born May 8, 1962 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese-French marketing and communications executive. He currently is the CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA (the media services division of the Omnicom Group)[2] and is regarded as one of the most influential marketing executives in the Arab world.[1][3]

Khouri has worked in the marketing industry for over 25 years, at creative and media agencies BBDO, OMD and Omnicom.[4] Under his stewardship the agencies developed campaigns for several multinational clients such as Pepsi Co., Dubai Holdings, Jumeirah, Emirates Airlines, Nissan, Beiersdorf, Kellogg’s, DaimlerChrysler, Arla Foods, Qatari Diar and GE.[5]

Throughout his career, Khouri has received several prestigious awards and honors for his contribution to the industry. Notably, he has been featured in Forbes’ Middle Easts’ Global Meets Local list (2013, 2015 and 2016) and has also regularly appeared in Arabian Business’ list of Most Powerful Arabs.[6] The latter title has recognized Khouri for his ability to forecast, identify and capitalize on marketing and communications trends in the region.[7]

Early Life

Born on May 8, 1964, Khouri lived on the east side of Beirut, where his father worked as a chef.[8] He was 10-years-old when civil war broke out and consequently spent most of his childhood against a backdrop of internal conflict.[9][1] Khouri has credited these harsh conditions to be responsible for sparking a spirit of entrepreneurism within him at a young age. At first, he started making pocket money by buying firecrackers from a wholesaler and selling them at a higher price on the side of the street. Soon afterwards, he began selling canned tuna and beef in the neighborhood during the raids when there were food shortages.[1] He used the money he made through his endeavors to indulge his love of fashion by buying clothes for himself – which he later sold for double the price.

At the age of 16, he connected a local garment manufacturer in Beirut with one of his contacts based in Kuwait. Together, the trio created a profitable and successful children's clothing brand. He used the profits he earned from this venture to fund his university education and to take care of personal expenses for the years that followed.[10]

Career

Between 1986 and 1988, while he was doing his MBA in Business & Finance at the American University of Beirut, Khouri worked full time as a currency trader, at the financial brokerage firm La Societe Financiere Du Liban. During this time, he worked with banks who traded US dollars against the Lebanese pound. It was a crucial era for Lebanon as it was the beginning of the dramatic devaluation of the currency. Khouri credits his job at the firm to be the reason he was able to pay his MBA tuition fees.[1]

Following his masters, aged 24, Khouri decided to pursue a career in advertising. He went to Cyprus to work for Lance de Masi at BBDO, an advertising agency which is part of the Omnicom Group.[1] As an account executive trainee, he travelled frequently between London, New York and Los Angeles, working on TV commercial shoots. In 1992, Khouri moved to Dubai, where he worked in a more senior capacity for his former boss de Masi at Impact BBDO. He returned to Beirut in 1996 and for the next four years served as the associate managing partner of Impact BBDO.[1]

In January 2001 Khouri oversaw the unification of the media arms of Omnicom Group's three global advertising agencies: BBDO, DDB and TBWA, which formed OMD (Optimum Media Direction) in Dubai.[1]

The global roll-out of Omnicom Media Group’s other media brand, PHD, at the end of 2005, saw the addition of an office in Dubai to the existing ones in the UK and North America. It also led to the creation of Omnicom Media Group MENA (Middle East and North Africa), a regional holding company reporting to its counterpart in London. In 2006, Khouri moved from his regional managing director role at OMD to assume the leadership of the Omnicom Media Group MENA and was subsequently made its CEO.[11] He continues to be one of the leading media executives of the Middle East.[12][13]

Since 2012, Omnicom Media Group MENA has ranked highly on the annual listing issued by the Great Place to Work institute (GPTW) in the United Arab Emirates. The company has maintained its ranking as the third best place to work for every year since 2014. The company's policies towards women were especially commended by the GPTW Institute – something Khouri is a strong advocate of. In a LinkedIn blog post (later republished by Communicate Magazine), he criticised the disproportionately low ratio of women in leadership roles in marketing and communications industry and advocated hiring women at every level of the industry.[14]

In addition, Khouri has developed an award-winning sustainability and CSR program for the group through which he has extended his support to several arts and educational institutions.[15] The company received the Best First Time Sustainability Report award for its inaugural GRI report at the recently held at the Asian Sustainability Reporting Awards in 2016.[16]

Not for profit work

Khouri has served as a board member of the UAE Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and was a founding member of the Media Agencies’ Council in Dubai, the trade association formed by the five leading media agency groups in the Middle East. He currently serves as a board member of Injaz-UAE, an organization dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. He also supported the Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon (APEAL), a non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing and encouraging Lebanese artists.[1] He was a member of START’s honorary committee, a non-profit organization established by Art Dubai and the Al Madad Foundation to bring enrichment opportunities to under-privileged children in the Middle East through art.[17]

Personal life

Khouri is a known and established art patron. His 300-strong collection features a selection of contemporary paintings, sculptures and design objects.[18] He displays his collections across his homes and at Omnicom Media Group MENA headquarters in Dubai. He is known to have said: "My job is to offer 250 employees a happy atmosphere filled with beautiful artworks; we are a creative environment after all (which ultimately means) beauty, connectivity and happiness."[19] Khouri also harbors an interest in real estate and architecture.[20][21]

Awards and Honors

References

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