14th Mar 2005 11:14
WPP Group PLC14 March 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14 March 2005 WPP GROUP PLC ("WPP") WPP appoints eminent Saudi businesswoman Lubna Olayan as non-executive director WPP announces the appointment of leading Saudi businesswoman, Lubna S. Olayan, aprincipal of The Olayan Group and CEO of Olayan Financing Company, asnon-executive director. She joins the Board of WPP with immediate effect. Ms Olayan is a distinguished business figure in the Arab world and beyond. AsCEO of Riyadh-based Olayan Financing Company, she is responsible for The OlayanGroup's operating businesses and investments in Saudi Arabia and the MiddleEast. These include some 40 companies engaged in product distribution,manufacturing, and services, often in partnership with leading multinationals.Olayan Financing is a major investor in the Saudi economy, and it isconsistently ranked in the top echelon of Saudi and Gulf companies.Internationally, The Olayan Group is a leading private investor with emphasis onpublic and private equities, particularly in Europe and the US, and on fixedincome securities. Ms Olayan is a member of the Board of Directors of Olayan Investments CompanyEstablishment, the Group's parent entity. She also holds other executivepositions and board memberships in several Group-related entities. In December 2004, Ms Olayan was elected to the Board of Saudi Hollandi Bank,becoming the first woman to join the board of a Saudi listed company. Sheserved on the Board of Chelsfield, the UK property developer, from 1996 to 2004.She is a member of INSEAD's International Council and the World Links AdvisoryCouncil, World Bank. She is active in the World Economic Forum, serving on itsArab Business Council and Women Leadership Initiative and as co-chair of theForum's January 2005 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. She is also atrustee of the Arab Thought Foundation. Named by Fortune magazine as one of the50 Most Powerful Women: International Power 50, Ms Olayan is the recipient ofnumerous business achievement awards and is an outspoken advocate of progressivebusiness practices in the Middle East. Prior to joining The Olayan Group - founded in 1947 by her father, Suliman S.Olayan - she worked for Morgan Guaranty in New York after an Americaneducation, obtaining a BSc in agriculture from Cornell University and an MBAfrom Indiana University. For further information please contact: Feona McEwan, WPP 44-20 7408 2204www.wpp.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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