His Excellency Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair is the CEO of Mashreq Group and the Chairman of Abdulla Al Ghurair Group, one of the biggest and most successful business groups in the UAE, which employs more up to 65,000 employees.

H.E. also held dignitary positions, which had its impacts both regionally and internationally, lastly being elected as The Speaker of the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council (UAE Parliament) for tenure of four years, which ended in February 2011. This included sitting on the Board of Directors of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Emirates Foundation and Dubai Economic Council.

Al Ghurair is a member of the Board of Trustees of the UAE Higher Colleges of Technology. He is also the Chairman of Masafi, and Co-Chairman of the Arab Business Council – World Economic Forum. He previously sat on the Board of Directors of companies such as Emaar, Dubai Investments, Visa International and MasterCard and Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also was member of the Constitutive Council for GCC Leaders and the President of Knowledge Fund.

His Excellency is a continuous supporter of many charitable organizations in the local and international arenas.

Al Ghurair trained as an industrial engineer and gained honors degree from California Polytechnic State University.

His endeavors have earned the bank many international accolades, such as Best CEO Award from CEO Middle East magazine 2008, Lifetime Achievement Award from The Arab Bankers Association of North America (ABANA) - USA in 2008, Best CEO Award for supporting Emiratisation initiative in UAE from the National Career Fair - Banking and Finance in 2008, Lifetime Achievement Award from Euromoney 2008, Lifetime Achievement Award from Banker ME of 2009 and Best banking contributing personality Award of 2011.

Al Ghurair’s wise leadership has led Mashreq to win several accolades, recently from Global Finance magazine for Best Trade Finance Provider Award in the UAE, Best Consumer Internet bank Award.

His Excellency played a pivotal role during the last period in providing substantial advice and suggestions to the UAE’s financial & banking industry and Arab countries to allocate suitable and appropriate solutions to confront the implications of the global financial crisis, which affected all sectors.

Al Ghurair is known for his boldness to address issues of the financial sector and he constantly provides well-studied and logical solutions, which is taken into consideration by senior officials.