Forbes Middle East Magazine recently released the twelfth edition of the Top 100 executives list “Global Meets Local” in the Middle East region report for the year 2024. The magazine screened companies appearing on this year’s Forbes Global 2000 list then selected those with significant operations in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), and then looked at the top executives at said companies. The magazine commented that the ranking of the executives was based on the following criteria:

• The impact that the executive has had on the region and the markets the company he represents serves;
• The achievements and performance of the executive over the last year;
• The number and extensiveness of the sustainability and CSR initiatives;
• Their designation and the geographical area that they oversee;
• The size of the business;
• The number of years of industry experience and the time the executive served in their current role; and
• The rank of the executive’s organization on the Forbes Global 2000 list

The report revealed that Lebanon was the most decorated country on the list with 12 executives, followed by India (8) and each of the U.K. and France (7 each), bearing in mind that a total of 40 nationalities appeared on the list. From a sectoral perspective, the telecom sector was the most represented with 19 companies, followed by the pharmaceutical sector (9 companies) and the automotive industry (7 companies). The bulk (~55%) of the companies that employed the top 100 executives were based in the U.S, with the rest being spread over 15 countries.

Mr. Samer Abou Latif (Lebanese), Corporate Vice President & President—Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa at Microsoft topped Forbes’ list, followed by Mr. Andrew Torre (American) Regional President, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Visa and Mr. Dimitrios Dosis (German), President—Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa at Mastercard.

Other Lebanese appearances on the list include Mr. Yaser Abdul Malak (executive at Nestlé Middle East, ranked 7^th), Mr. Naji Skaf (executive at Xylem, 51^st), Mrs. Elda Choucair (Omnicom, 73^rd), Mr. Nadim Najjar (London Stock Exchange Group, 74^th), Mrs. Olfat Berro (Roche, 75^th), Mr. Khaled el Dabag (Barclays, 77^th), Mr. Ahmad Nasser (The Hershey Company, 85^th), Mr. Hussein Freijeh (Snap Inc., 90^th), Mr. Ronald Boueiri (Olympus MEA, 91^st), Mr. Joe Naoum (Stryker, 95^th) and Mr. Rawad Sarieddine (CrowdStrike, 99^th). The following table sheds light on the role occupied by mentioned executives in their respective companies: