Abdullah S. Jum'ah

After his graduation in 1968, Jum'ah joined Aramco (presently, Saudi Aramco), initially in the government affairs department and later in the public relations department as the general supervisor of publications. He was promoted to department manager in 1975.[1][3]

He moved to Aramco's Power Systems department in 1977, where he began a series of leadership assignments and worked closely with the development of the Saudi Consolidated Electric Company (SCECO) for the Eastern Province - SCECO-East. He was appointed to his first executive position at Aramco in 1981 as vice president of the power systems division and concurrently served as the first Saudi Managing Director of SCECO-East.

In 1984, he became Aramco's vice president of government affairs and then promoted to senior vice president of industrial relations in 1988. That same year the company's name was changed to Saudi Arabian Oil Company (or, Saudi Aramco) to reflect a formal shift in management and operation's control of the company to the Saudi government. In 1991, he moved to Saudi Arabian Oil Company's International Operations and was named its executive vice president a year later. In this capacity, he gained considerable experience in marketing, industrial relations, and negotiations on an international level.[5]

He led the company's downstream expansion, or international distribution of Saudi Aramco's products; his stated goals were to "protect and potentially increase the market share of Arabian crude, maximize the revenues from the sale of Arabian crude, and provide secure outlets through strategic alliances with refining companies in our major markets" . He was instrumental in the creation of joint ventures with international firms in the United States (1988), South Korea (1991), the Philippines (1994), and Greece (1995). He was named to the company's board of directors in 1994.[5]

In December 1995, by a royal decree, Jum'ah was named President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, when the then CEO - Ali Al-Naimi, was appointed minister of petroleum and mineral resources for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In his new role, Jum'ah retained the American style of management, with a focus on innovation, and effectively tackled the challenges that the world witnessed post 9/11.[1][3]

After four decades with Saudi Aramco and almost 14 years as its president and chief executive officer, he decided to retire from the company effective 1 January 2009.[6] He was by succeeded by Khalid A. Al-Falih.