Ahmed Attiga: The Enviable CV and Impressive Performance of APICORP Chief

Ahmed Attiga is CEO of a multilateral financial institution established in 1974 by the 10 Arab oil-producing countries.

The goal of the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation was to finance and support energy and petroleum industries in the region, and in emerging markets.

Attiga was unanimously selected for his first term as chief executive by APICORP’s member states in September 2017. The post comes with responsibility: APICORP is the only Arab financial institution enjoying two AA credit ratings from Fitch and Moody’s in the MENA region.

Attiga has proven more than up to the task. He has a distinguished career spanning more than 25 years in investment management, development finance, private equity, research and teaching.

Before Joining APICORP, he was the regional director at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. He was responsible for investment and advisory services activities in the Middle East, overseeing an investment portfolio of over $2.7bn and an advisory programme of some $200m.

Attiga also served as a senior advisor on the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group in Washington, DC.

Prior to his service at the World Bank Group, Attiga managed a private equity fund for the State of Wisconsin in the US. He also advised Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) on privatisation and restructuring strategies.

In his early career, Attiga held teaching and research positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR).

Doctor Attiga is currently a board member at the Industrialisation & Energy Services Company (TAQA) in Saudi Arabia, and at the Alkhorayef Petroleum Company in Kuwait. He is also a trustee of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies at the University of Oxford, and a member of the International Studies Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In 2013, he was appointed by His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan to serve on the Royal International Commission to evaluate Jordan’s Privatisation Programme. From 2016-2020, he served as a board member of Emirates Development Bank in the UAE.

Attiga has also served on boards, task forces and committees at national, regional and international level. The Libyan national was selected in 2019 and 2020 to be among the Power 50 CEOs in oil and gas in the MENA region by OilandGas.com.

He has also received Princeton University Leadership award (2003) and KISR’s National Academic Achievement award (1988).

Attiga received three graduate degrees: Ph.D. in Finance; MBA, and M.S in International Economies, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his Bachelor in Economics, Summa Cum laude, from Kuwait University.