Nasser Marafih

Dr. Nasser Marafih is Member of the Ooredoo Group Board and Advisor to the Ooredoo Group Board‘s Chairman. He was Chief Executive Officer of the Ooredoo Group from 2006 until November 2015. He also served as Ooredoo Qatar CEO from 2002 until 2011.

Born in Doha, Qatar, Dr. Marafih holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, a Master of Science and a Ph.D in Communication Engineering, all from George Washington University, USA. Dr. Nasser started his career at Ooredoo in 1992 as expert advisor from the University of Qatar and was involved in the introduction of the first GSM service in the Middle East in February 1994. He joined Ooredoo Qatar in February 1994 as a Director for Strategic Planning & Development and led a number of strategic projects including the introduction of the Internet service in Qatar in 1996 and the privatization of Ooredoo Qatar from a government owned company to a publicly listed company in 1999.

In his role as CEO, Dr. Nasser has spearheaded Ooredoo's global growth in recent years to expand to 15 operations in Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia, including Ooredoo's acquisition of Wataniya Telecom, Ooredoo's strategic partnership with ST Telemedia in Singapore, as well as the company’s purchase of a controlling stake in Indosat of Indonesia.

In addition, Dr. Marafih serves as Chairman of the Board of the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation and as a member of the Board of GSMA. He also serves as a commissioner to the ITU Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development and he is a member of the World Bank Group Advisory Council for Gender and Development.

Dr Nasser ranked #41 among the 100 powerful Arab leaders in 2015 and he has appeared in the ranking since the launch of the list in 2013.