Nasser Beydoun is an American business executive and political candidate. He is the former chief executive officer of the Qatar-based Wataniya Restaurants group. Beydoun was the executive director of the

Arab American Chamber of Commerce The Arab American Chamber of Commerce, commonly known as AACC, is Non-stock corporation based in Washington D.C. The Chamber was established to advocate for the U.S. economy by furthering the trade surplus with the Middle East and North Africa. I ...

and chair of the

Arab American Civil Rights League The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...

. He was the first Arab American liaison to the

Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

. Beydoun is currently a Democratic candidate in the

2024 United States Senate election in Michigan The 2024 United States Senate election in Michigan will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect a Class I member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Michigan. It will be held concurrently with the 2024 United States presidenti ...

Early life

Beydoun was born in Beirut to Najla and Mohamed Beydoun. His family was from Bint Jbeil and his grandfather represented the town in Lebanon's parliament. Beydoun's great-grandfather had already immigrated to the United States and worked for Ford Motor Company in Highland Park, Michigan. Beydoun's grandfather remained in Lebanon but his father, Mohamed, immigrated to Detroit in 1969 when Beydoun was five years old. Mohamed worked at Ford and raised six children.

Education

In 1987, he moved to California. Beydoun completed a bachelor's and master's degree in business administration at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

. He tried opening several business including a tortilla factory. He returned to Michigan in 1999 and in 2000, be became the executive director of the

. In 2001, he was appointed by Amr Moussa as the first Arab American liaison to the

Career

By 2005, he was a construction company executive based in

Wayne County, Michigan Wayne County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States Census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the 19th-most populous county in the United States. The county seat is Detroit. The coun ...

. In 2005, he considered running as a GOP candidate in the

2006 United States Senate election in Michigan The 2006 United States Senate election in Michigan was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow won re-election to a second term. Candidates Democratic * Debbie Stabenow, incumbent U.S. Senator Republican ...

. He has a history of political donations to both Republican and Democratic officeholders. In 2007, he was hired by Wataniya Restaurants group as its chief executive officer and moved to Qatar. He worked on expanding outlets of Caribou Coffee,

Rainforest Cafe Rainforest Cafe is a jungle-themed restaurant chain owned by Landry's, Inc., of Houston. It was founded by Steven Schussler. The first location opened in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 3, 1994. By 1997, the chain co ...

, and Sbarro in Qatar, Dubai, and Egypt. He resigned in November 2009. He was later stuck in the country for 15 months after his employer and sponsor denied his exit permit. Beydoun has served as chair of the

. He is a former trustee of the Henry Ford College foundation. Beydoun was co-chair of BRIDGES, a federal law enforcement partnership with the Arab American and Middle Eastern communities in Metro Detroit. In December 2022, Beydoun established an exploratory committee ahead of the

. He formally announced his candidacy in April 2023. In November 2023, Beydoun alleged that former

Michigan Democratic Party The Michigan Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Michigan. It is based in Lansing. Lavora Barnes is the party's current chair. She was previously the party's Chief Operating Officer. The party currently con ...

chair Lon Johnson had approached him with an offer of $20 million from a pro-Israel lobbying group to drop out of the Senate race and primary United States Representative Rashida Tlaib, despite Beydoun's publicly pro-Palestinian stance. Johnson repeatedly denied the claims, saying, "that's just crazy. I didn't offer him $20 million, or any other amount of money, to run against Rashida. That's insane."

Personal life

Beydoun married Maysa Beydoun, a Canadian of Lebanese descent and had three children. He later married Nancy Jaafar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beydoun, Nasser Living people 1960s births Politicians from Beirut 21st-century American businesspeople University of San Diego alumni American chief executives Lebanese emigrants to the United States 21st-century American politicians Michigan Democrats People from Bint Jbeil District Businesspeople from Michigan Businesspeople from Beirut Arab League people