| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Lubna Suliman al-Olayan |
| Profession | Businesswoman |
| Physical Stats | |
| Height (approx.) | 5' 5" (165 cm) |
| Eye Colour | Dark Brown |
| Hair Colour | Black |
| Career | |
| Award | 2010- Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 4 August 1955 (Thursday) |
| Age (as of 2025) | 70 Years |
| Birthplace | Khobar, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabian |
| Zodiac sign | Leo |
| Nationality | Saudi Arabian |
| Hometown | Khobar |
| College/University | • Cornell University, New York • Kelley School of Business, Indiana University |
| Educational Qualification(s) | • BSc in Agriculture from Cornell University • MBA from Indiana University • King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia |
| Social Media | • Facebook |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Family | |
| Husband/Spouse | John Xefos (Attorney) |
| Children | Daughters- 3 |
| Parents | Father- Suliman S. Olayan (Businessman) (Deceased) Mother- Maryam (Deceased) |
| Siblings | Brother- Khaled Olayan (Businessman) Sisters- Hayat Olayan (Businesswoman), Hutham Olayan (Businesswoman)  |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Lubna Olayan
- Lubna Olayan was born into a very prominent Saudi family, and her father was a successful businessman who contributed to Saudi Arabia’s prosperity in the 1960s and 1970s when he founded the multinational enterprise named ‘Olayan Group’ in 1947, which quickly became a major conglomerate.
- In the 1970s, she moved to the United States to live with her American husband. In 1979, she also started working as an analyst at the American multinational finance corporation named ‘JPMorgan Chase & Co.’ in New York.
- In 1983, Lubna returned to her native Saudi Arabia after nine years in the United States. One day, she and her father, Sheikh Sulaiman Al-Olayan, sat at the dining table to have dinner together, and that is when her father asked her what she was going to do in Saudi Arabia.
- Lubna told her father that she would look for a job at a bank in her hometown, to which her father told her that there is no need for her to work at a bank, as his executive assistant had just submitted a resignation, and Lubna could fill in the role at her father’s company. That is how her journey in her father’s business began.
- In 1986, Lubna Olayan started working as the Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Chairman of the Olayan Financing Group. The company began as a shipping company and expanded with the oil boom to include restaurants, food processing, paper, and plastics.
- She often speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and has been named one of the most influential business leaders by Forbes, Fortune, and Time.
Lubna Olayan during a conference, alongside then-CEO of pharmaceutical company Novartis, Daniel Vasella, during the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
- Lubna Olayan has broken the common stereotypes of Saudi women, who are often seen by outsiders as restricted and oppressed. In a country where women have had limited freedoms and strict separation from men, she’s viewed as a trendsetter.
- In 2001, Lubna Olayan hired her first female employee, Hana alSyead, to help bring more women into the company. Soon, 40 women were working in a factory making disposable medical gowns.
- In 2002, Lubna was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Thought Foundation, which is an independent and non-governmental organisation based in Beirut focusing on issues facing the Arab world.
- From 1996 to 2004, Lubna Olayan served on the Board of the UK-based real estate and property development company named ‘Chelsfield PLC.’
- In 2005, she became the first Saudi woman to be elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Hollandi Bank (now Alawwal Bank), which was a publicly listed company in Saudi Arabia.
- In the same year, Lubna was appointed as a non-executive director to the Board of WPP.
- In 2005, she became a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations.
- In the same year, Lubna joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit business school named ‘INSEAD,’ and she has also been a member of its international Council since 1997.
- In 2005, she was elected to the Board of the Down Syndrome Charitable Association, which is a not-for-profit organisation based in Riyadh that focuses on supporting individuals with Down syndrome and their families through various services and advocacy efforts.
- In 2006, Lubna Olayan joined the International Advisory Boards of the British multinational aerospace and defence company named Rolls-Royce.
- In the same year, she joined the advisory board of Effat College, which is a private and non-profit girls’ college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- In 2006, Lubna joined the Board of Al Fanar, which is a non-governmental, non-profit venture which helps local organisations in the Arab world.
- In 2007, she joined the International Advisory Boards of an American multinational investment bank and financial services company named Citigroup Inc.
- In the same year, Lubna was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees for Cornell University, New York.
- In 2014, Forbes ranked her as the 86th most powerful woman in the world.
- Before 2018, driving a car was something even Lubna Olayan had not been allowed to do in Saudi Arabia, despite her power and prestige.
- In 2018, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
- In the same year, Lubna was elected as a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts, United States.
- Lubna Olayan served the position of the holding entity for The Olayan Group’s operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East until May 2019. She was replaced by Jonathan Franklin.
- In 2019, Lubna Olayan announced her retirement as CEO of Olayan Financing Company.
- She stated in one of her interviews that for her first 18 years at Olayan Financing Company, she was the only woman who worked there. Mentioning the difficulties of the same, Lubna was quoted as saying that
There was no ladies’ room. I would travel to go visit many of our factories. I mean absolutely no woman in any of the factories, no women in the boardroom, so there is no need for the facilities.”
- During her time there, she felt pressure to prove she wasn’t given the job just because she was the boss’s daughter.
- In 2019, Lubna was elected as the chairwoman of the Riyadh-based Saudi joint stock company named ‘Saudi Arab British Bank’ (SABB). Lubna was the first Saudi woman to head a bank.
- She was reappointed in 2020 for another three-year term and continued in her role after SABB merged with Alawwal Bank.
- In 2022, Lubna Olayan was elected to the Board of Trustees of the ‘World Economic Forum’ (WEF), which is an international advocacy non-governmental organisation and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.
- In 2023, Lubna Olayan was once again chosen as Chair of the Board of ‘Saudi Arab British Bank’ (SABB) for another three years.
- As of 2025, Lubna is on the board of the Olayan Group along with her brother Khaled and sisters Hayat and Hutham.
- It was stated by various media houses that Lubna’s family has accumulated a fortune that tops $10 billion.
- As of 2025, Lubna serves as the president of the Suliman S Olayan Foundation.
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