Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi
Sheikha Lubna Khalid Sultan al Qasimi was appointed Minister for Economy and Planning of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November 2004. Lubna holds the distinction of being the first woman to hold a ministerial post in the United Arab Emirates. She is a member of the ruling family of Sharjah and the niece to His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi. Lubna graduated from the California State University, Chico with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, and has an Executive MBA from the American University of Sharjah.
History
Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid bin Sultan al Qasimi, before returning to the UAE to work as a programmer for software company Datamation in 1981. Lubna acted as the Dubai branch manager for the General Information Authority, the organization responsible for automating the federal government of the United Arab Emirates. After this posting, she took up the position of senior manager of the Information Systems department at the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA), the largest port in the Middle East, and worked in this role for seven years.
Lubna Khalid Sultan al Qasimi's work at the DPA led His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Ports and Customs, to award her the “Distinguished Government Employee Award” in 1999 and appoint her as Chief Executive of Tejari, the first Middle Eastern Business-to-Business Marketplace. Lubna established the governmental organization in Dubai in June 2000 to promote e-business between organizations. Under Lubna's leadership, Tejari has won the awards for the World Summit for Information Society’s "Best e-Content Provider in e-business" (Geneva) and the UAE Super Brands Council "Super Brand of 2003".She is really popular in the UAE and admired by most women in the country, who consider her a role model
Other organisations
Lubna Khalid Sultan al Qasimi sits on various boards at organisations aside from responsibilities as UAE Economy and Planning Minister and Tejari CEO.
- Board of Directors for Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry
- Board of Trustees for Dubai University College
- Board of Trustees for Electronic-Total Quality Management College, Dubai
- Board of Trustees for Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, Phoenix Arizona
- Board of Trustees for Zayed University
- Board of Directors for the Dubai Autism Center
- Board of Directors for Simsari.com
- Board of Directors (Honorary) for National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce [1]
Awards
- Dubai Quality Group — for Support to Leadership, Quality, and Change, 2000
- ITP Best Personal Achievement Award, 2000
- Datamatix IT Woman of the Year 2001
- Business. Com Personal Contribution Award, 2001
- Datamatix Outstanding Contribution, 2002
- Commonwealth of Kentucky Honorary title — Kentucky Colonel, 2003