About LAU

Governance and Administration

Dr. George K. Najjar

Senior Advisor to the President for Special Projects

Starting January 2023, Dr. Najjar moved on to a new role as Senior Advisor to the President for Special Projects. In this capacity, he will be assisting the president on a number of major planning projects of strategic importance to the university. His expertise and long experience as a Professor of Management and Senior Academic Administrator make him amply fit for this new role. In his new capacity, Dr. Najjar will play a pivotal role in a number of key initiatives related to institution-building envisioned and directed by the president.

Between September 2018 and December 2022, Dr. Najjar served as Vice President to University Advancement. In this role, Dr. Najjar was in charge of the Advancement Division in its four key units namely Strategic Communications, Development (Fundraising), Alumni Affairs, and Advancement Services. Beyond maximizing the performance of all four departments, Dr, Najjar focused on LAU’s Strategic positioning locally, regionally and globally.

Dr. Najjar, who is a professor of Strategic Management, also served as LAU’s Provost from October 2012 until August 2018, during which time he worked with the President’s Cabinet and Council of Deans to strengthen the academic division of the university, implemented LAU’s strategic Plan II (SPII), and, with the help of the Steering Committee, initiated and developed SPIII.

In addition, during Dr. Najjar’ s term as Provost, the university doubled the number of graduate programs, increased the number of graduate students by 50 percent, almost quadrupled the research output of the university, and instituted interschool graduate degrees.

He also takes pride in having created with the President’s Cabinet and his colleagues “a culture where we are very mindful of the importance of strategic positioning, competitive profiling, and the fact that LAU is not about a proud past but is also about a challenging future that we must be prepared to deal with.”

Dr. Najjar brings to all positions he occupies an enterprising outlook forged over decades of academic and administrative experience as a faculty member, vice president and dean at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

During his 12-year tenure as Founding Dean and Professor of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (2000-2012), Dr. Najjar led the school to AACSB accreditation regional preeminence, at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive education levels.

From 1997 to 2006, he doubled as Vice President for Regional External Programs at AUB. Prior to that, he headed the teams that developed feasibility studies for several educational institutions, among them the University of Sharjah and the University of Bahrain. At the latter, he went on to serve as Founding Dean of its School of Business (1987-1997) and Vice President for Planning (1991-1995).

Dr. Najjar is widely published in peer-reviewed management journals as well as edited academic volumes. He has excelled at designing and delivering executive education programs at universities and other venues in the Middle East, taught a number of business courses, and served as a consultant to many businesses.

Throughout his rich career, he has distinguished himself for his strategic vision covering areas such as research management, fundraising, institution-building, institutional and professional accreditation, and international networking.

He was the first awardee of the International Academy of Strategic and Entrepreneurial Leadership’s John J. Fernandes Strategic Leadership Award in 2012, and the pestiferous Achievement Award of the Academy of International Business (AIB) in 2017.

Dr. Najjar received his education at the American University of Beirut, and the University of Southern California where he also served early on in his career as assistant professor.
 

Contact

Dr. George K. Najjar
Senior Advisor to the President for Special Projects
Lebanese American University
Tel: +961-1-786456, Ext. 1110
Fax: +961-1-867098/+961-9-944851

gnajjar@lau.edu.lb