Farid Al-Ghadry (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: فريد الغادري) (born June 18, 1954) is the

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n-born co-founder and current president of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

-based

Reform Party of Syria The Reform Party of Syria ( ar, حزب الاصلاح السوري ''Ḥizb Al-Iṣlāḥ Al-Sūrīy''), or RPS is a secular Syrian political party and lobbying, lobby group based in the United States that was active in the mid to late 2000s. Its l ...

, a party lobbying for regime change in Syria. Al-Ghadry has been compared to

Ahmed Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi ( ar, أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of ...

, the Iraqi exile who lobbied the US government to liberate his home country from

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

Personal life

Ghadry was born in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, Syria, but in 1964 his family emigrated to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

because of political turmoil. There he attended the Maristes Brothers School (Champville - Deek-el-Mehdi). In 1975, the Ghadry family emigrated to the U.S. and settled in the suburbs of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Ghadry graduated from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

in Washington D.C. in 1979 with a degree in finance and marketing. Ghadry, because of his father's work, was granted Saudi citizenship. In September 2007, Ghadry's Syrian citizenship was revoked by Syrian president

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

after Ghadry appeared before Israel's

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Ghadry has four children. He is also known in the U.S. as "Frank Ghadry." He has served on the Board of Trustees of Norwood School in Bethesda,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and headed the Capital Campaign for Crew at St. Albans and National Cathedral Schools.

Career

Ghadry worked at EG&G Intertech Inc., a subsidiary of

EG&G EG&G, formally known as Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier, Inc., was a United States national defense contractor and provider of management and technical services. The company was involved in contracting services to the United States government ...

, a

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

U.S. defense contractor, for two years before starting his own business, International TechGroup Inc., in 1983. This company was Washington-based and produced software for the U.S. Navy to digitize paperwork on aircraft carriers. He sold this business in 1989. In 1990, he began buying antiquated Soviet computers and stripping them for gold plating. Other businesses have included Hannibal's Coffee Company, a chain of coffee shops that went bankrupt in 1996.

References

External links

From Hama to Hamas: Syria's Islamist Policies
Farid Ghadry, ''

Jewish Policy Center The Jewish Policy Center, founded in 1985 and located in Washington, D.C. is a 501c(3) non-profit think tank providing perspectives and analysis by leading scholars and academics on fields such as "American defense capability, U.S.-Israel relations ...

Quarterly'', Sprint 2009 *
A Syrian Chalabi?
Gary Leupp, Professor of History at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, 24 December 2005
Exiled Syrian opposition leader to visit Knesset next month
''

Ha'aretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'', 27 May 2007
Arab MKs attack visiting exiled Syrian leader
Amnon Meranda, ''

Ynetnews Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

'', June 11, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghadry, Farid 1954 births Living people American lobbyists Syrian emigrants to the United States Syrian exiles Syrian Muslims Syrian democracy activists People of the Syrian civil war