An Unparalleled Journey of Continuous Challenges and Learning

Dr. Amer Al Rawas is an award-winning Omani leader, business consultant, executive coach, and public speaker who thrives on helping others to reach their goals while leading fuller, richer, more fulfilling lives.

Born and raised in Salalah, Oman’s third largest city, he has traveled extensively in pursuing his own work, study, and personal objectives. He sees each new experience as an opportunity to learn and teach, develop his emotional intelligence, gain new perspectives, and build mutual understanding by appreciating the particulars of different sectors, subjects, and cultures.

Dr. Rawas began his overseas education by earning a Higher National Diploma in Software Engineering from the University of Brighton in the United Kingdom.

He also obtained a BS in Computer Science and a PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI), both from the UK’s University of Sussex, and was a Visiting Scholar and Researcher at the NASA-West Virginia University Software Research Laboratory in the United States.

Working to live is normal and healthy; living to work is neither.

Evolution of a Transformational Leader

Even before completing his PhD, Dr. Rawas had worked for several years at the Omani Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, serving as Personal Assistant to the Minister. As his formal studies came to a close, he returned to his homeland determined to help it navigate the challenges of comprehensive modernization. He returned to the ministry as Planning Advisor and helped reorganize it under an Oil & Gas mandate, but his early grasp of technologies – especially artificial intelligence – and their implications soon attracted him to new opportunities in sectors across the economy. Thus began a remarkable journey that has made Dr. Rawas one of Oman’s most respected business figures, a can-do leader, speaker, coach, and consultant who gets transformational things done by bringing out the best in those around him.

I learned so much from my mistakes that I am planning to do some more.

His background and education have helped, of course, but it’s the journey that provided the experience, exposed him to leading minds in multiple fields, accelerated his own evolution, and forged his outlook.

And it’s the outlook that has allowed him and his colleagues to succeeding so many different settings, and to do so without sacrificing other facets of their lives. It’s also what makes him such a versatile and compelling speaker, easily making connections with local, regional, and international audiences alike.

His journey has included the digitization of an entire university campus, a massively successful startup at Oman Mobile, a rapid transformation and reinvigoration at Omantel, and a visionary strategy that made Tasneea Oil & Gas Technology a model for industrial innovation and diversification.

More recently it sees him leading development of renewable energy, helping industry harness the power of AI, pioneering new approaches in higher education, and consulting with organizations seeking transformations of their own. All while continuing to run Concordia Group, the holding and investment firm he founded in I997.

Educational Achievements

PhD in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

University of Sussex, UK

BS in Computer Science

University of Sussex, UK

HND in Software Engineering

University of Brighton, UK

Milestones

Leadership & consultancy

Diplomacy

Investment

Oil & gas

Telecommunication

Education policy and management

Energy, technology & innovation

Leadership & consultancy

2019-Present

Senior Advisor, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

2018-Present

Consultant and Executive Coach to local and international companies and NGOs

2016-Present

Board Member and Chairman (2016-2018), Middle East Leadership Association (MELA)

Diplomacy

2020 - Present

Honorary Consul of Estonia in Oman

Investment

1997-Present

Executive Chairman, Concordia Group (formerly Themar Group)

Oil & gas

2019-Present

Board Member, Abraj

2017-Present

Chairman, Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL)

2015-2017

Vice-Chairman, Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL)

2014-2018

Group Executive Officer, Tasneea Oil and Gas Technology

1997-1998

Planning Advisor, Omani Ministry of Oil & Gas

1983-1986

Personal Assistant to the Minister, Omani Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals

Telecommunication

2009-2014

Chief Executive Officer, Omantel

2004-2009

Managing Director, Oman Mobile, and Chief Commercial Officer, Omantel

2002-2004

Executive Vice President, Omantel

Education policy and management

2018-Present

Non-Resident Dean, Business and IT School, New Vision University, Georgia

2011-2013

Chairman, Education Restructuring Committee

2001-2002

Dean, Educational Services, Sultan Qaboos University

2001-2019

Board Member, Oman Academic Accreditation Authority

1998-2020

Board Member, Oman Education Council

1998-2002

Director, Sultan Qaboos University Center for Information Systems

Energy, technology & innovation

2018-Present

Chairman, Solar Wadi

2019-2021

Chairman, Industrial Innovation Center

1997-1998

Visiting Scholar and Researcher, NASA-West Virginia University Software Research Laboratory

See All

Sampling of Notable Awards

1990

Best Software Engineering Graduation Project

University of Brighton

2008

Business Leader of the Year

NTI BizPro

2012

Best Asian Business Leader (Sustainable Growth Category)

Asian Business Leadership Awards

2012

Best Human Resources Focused CEO

4th GCC HR Excellence Awards

2013

Best Pioneer Leader in South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa (SAMENA)

SAMENA Council Awards

2014

2013 Best Transformation Leader

Alam Al- Iktissaad Wal A’mal (AIWA) Magazine

2015

Lifetime Achievement Award

Beyond Borders (within Star Business Awards)

The biggest commitment you’ll ever make is to yourself.

Everywhere his journey has taken him, this instinct to lift up others has had a positive influence on people and organizations alike.

Of all the awards and accolades he has received over the years, none is more special to him than “Leadership Excellence”, the book commissioned by Omantel to document the “great legacy of unforgettable memories about countless contributions by Dr. Amer”. Fittingly, the volume consists of testimonials in which his former colleagues – from the most junior employees to the highest-ranking executives – describe the profound impacts he had on their personal and professional lives alike.

Reflecting on his own achievements, he credits the good fortune of having been exposed, so early and so often, to so many cooperative people from so many fields of expertise. And now he helps people from all walks of life to develop the same evolved mindset that allows him to connect so well with – and learn so much from – family, friends, colleagues, and partners.