Consultant / Researcher
Class of 2010

Council Affiliation:

Middle East Regional Advisory Board

Location:

Qatar

Bio

His Excellency Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed Jassim Al Thani is a former Minister of Qatar’s Economy and Commerce from December 2003 until March 2006.

Prior to that, Sheikh Mohamed spent a significant part of his career (17 years) in the oil and gas industry, mainly with Qatar Petroleum, RasGas, and QatarGas, during which he occupied several senior posts specifically in marketing of gas, refined products and petrochemicals for Qatar Petroleum. He was the lead negotiator for the long-term liquid natural gas (LNG) sales contracts with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Italy and Spain. Through his writings and papers presented, he brought a wealth of insight into many oil and gas conferences based on his global experience in this field in which he is still active as an international consultant.

During his tenure as Minister, he had an active leading role in several domestic and international issues pertaining to trade liberalization within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the free trade negotiations with several bilateral Qatari partners. Domestically, he initiated and executed a program of economic and trade reforms that included the production and monitoring of economic indicators for the country, balance between the fiscal and monetary policies, reforms within the monetary and operational aspects of the Qatari Stock exchange, revamp of the main Qatari commercial laws, and restructuring the Ministry to operate electronically. Lastly, he managed to certify the Ministry with an ISO certification, the first within the Qatari public sector to receive such accreditation. Moreover, Sheikh Mohamed initiated two major projects: the Qatari free zone legislation and the formation of Qatar Financial Centre to its full operation. While at the Ministry he held several positions including the Chairman of Qatar Financial Centre Authority, Chairman of the Doha Securities Market, Chairman of the Measurement and Specifications Authority, Chairman of Qatar International Exhibitions Centre and a board member of the Supreme Council of Economic Affairs and Investments.

Sheikh Mohamed spends most of his time consulting along with conducting research in energy and GCC politics. He is a visiting fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He is a board member of Qatar Foundation Endowment Fund and Chairman of Qatar Foundation Al Khor Academy. Additionally, he is a member of the London Business School Global Advisory Council board as well as The Fuqua School of Business Middle East Regional Advisory Board at Duke University.

His academic studies include a BAA in Industrial Management and Supervision with a minor in Public Administration from Central Michigan University, a senior executive program from London Business School, and a Global Executive MBA 2010 from Duke University.