Ayman Asfari (born 8 July 1958) is a Syrian-born British businessman. He was the chief executive (CEO) of

Petrofac Petrofac Limited is an international energy services company that designs, builds, manages and maintains oil, gas, refining, petrochemicals and renewable energy infrastructure. It is registered in Jersey (number 81792), with its main corporate off ...

, a

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

-registered multinational oilfield services company serving the oil, gas and energy production and processing industries, from 2002 to 2020, and became a non-executive director.

Early life

Asfari was born in Syria, the son of a diplomat, but raised outside the country. His first job was in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, as a consulting engineer carrying out soil testing. He is a graduate of

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Penns ...

in Pennsylvania in the United States, and holds an MSc in Civil and Urban Engineering from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He attended the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

of the University of Pennsylvania for his MBA.

Career

Before joining Petrofac, Asfari served as the managing director of a major Oman-based civil and mechanical construction business. He joined Petrofac in 1991 when it had one plant in

Tyler, Texas Tyler is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the largest city and county seat of Smith County, Texas, Smith County. It is also the largest city in Northeast Texas. With a 2020 census population of 105,995, Tyler was the List of cities in Texa ...

. He bought out the company in 2001, and took it public on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

in 2005. In February 2015, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' calculated Asfari's net worth at $1.2 billion. Asfari won the UK category of the

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award The EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards previously Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is an award sponsored by Ernst & Young in recognition of entrepreneurship. Founded in 1986 in Milwaukee as a single award, as of 2016 twenty-five pro ...

s in 2011. In 2019, Asfari's paycheck from Petrofac was cut by 45% to £980,000, down from £1.8 million in 2018. He stood down as CEO on 31 December 2020, and became a non-executive director in January 2021.

Political and charitable donations

The Asfari Foundation was established in 2006 by Ayman and Sawsan Asfari and is based in London. It is funded by the Asfari family and has five trustees. The foundation supports projects that encourage the development of civil society and provide emergency humanitarian relief, and also offers academic scholarships. In May 2017, Asfari and his wife donated £100,000 to the British Conservative Party election campaign, days before Asfari was scheduled to be interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office relating to its enquiry into

Unaoil Unaoil is a Monaco based company which provides "industrial solutions to the energy sector in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa." Unaoil is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven with an opaque banking system. History The ...

. In total Ayman and Sawsan Asfari donated £794,000 to the party between 2009 and 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asfari, Ayman 1958 births Living people Syrian businesspeople British chief executives British corporate directors Villanova University alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Syrian billionaires British billionaires Syrian emigrants to the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) donors Syrian chief executives Carnegie Endowment for International Peace People from Idlib Asfari family