Aramex founder Fadi Ghandour to retire as CEO this year

Aramex founder and chief executive Fadi Ghandour is set to retire by the end of 2012, the global logistics and transportation group revealed at the weekend. Ghandour established Aramex along with William Kingston as the “Arab American Express” back in 1982, as an express wholesale partner for North American delivery companies.

The Jordan-based company listed on the Dubai Financial Market has since grown to an operation with more than 12,300 staff in 253 locations across 60 countries.

Revenues topped $701m USD in 2011, and in recent years the company has been embarking on an expansion within Africa and the Far East.

As he retires, Ghandour will be handing over day-to-day operations to his chief lieutenant Hussein Hachem, who has been the company’s CEO of the Middle East and Africa regions for the past two years, managing the largest revenue generating markets for Aramex.

Aramex Middle East and Africa CEO Hussein Hachem will take over from Ghandour

Ghandour has taken over as vice chairman of the Aramex board of directors, and making way for Hachem as CEO will allow the company founder to focus on strategic expansions, new investments and sustainability, the firm said.

“Astounding journey”

The announcement of Ghandour’s retirement came at the annual Aramex Leaders Meeting in Dubai on Friday and Saturday.

Ghandour said: “There is no better time than this 30th anniversary of Aramex, capping an astounding journey of challenges and achievements, to propose that you and I are ready for yet another leap.”

The outgoing Aramex CEO said he had built the company as a “platform for collective ambition and innovation”.

He said to his staff: “Looking at you and the team that has been helping me make Aramex the fantastic place it is today I know that I have fulfilled my promise and that the day-to-day running of the company, under the leadership of Hussein Hachem, is in very capable hands.”

In retirement, along with company strategy and investments, Ghandour is aiming to focus particularly on sustainability and entrepreneurship, which the company said were “two cases very close to his heart”.

The next Aramex chief executive has had a 20-year career at the company, starting straight out of college to work on re-establishing operations in Kuwait following the 1991 Gulf War.

Hachem then rose through the ranks, becoming general manager in Kuwait, Sri Lanka, then the United Arab Emirates, before being appointed vice president for the UAE and Oman in 2005, then CEO of Gulf Cooperation Council Countries.