Ali Rashid Lootah


Ali Rashid Ahmad Lootah is the Chairperson of Nakheel, a development company in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. He managed Nakheel during challenging times, as Nakheel was undergoing financial restructuring of its debts. He was appointed to lead Nakheel after the economic crisis has caused financial problems for Nakheel. He receives no salary from the company. His managing style is known to be under the iron grip.

Biography

Ali was born in 1960 in Dubai, and pursued his education in civil engineering at Clarkson University in the United States. When he came back to his hometown of Dubai, he had aspirations to improve the engineering discipline in the UAE. He wanted to form an engineering society in the UAE that would act as a licensing and regulatory body for engineering practice. He was successful in establishing with a group of other Emirati engineers the UAE Society of Engineers, in which he became a member of founding board.
He started his career working in the UAE's Ministry of Public Works, where he was later appointed as Assistant Under-secretary of the Ministry. While working for the ministry, he oversaw the development projects of the booming years of the UAE, changing its desert landscape to a modern development. In his years with the ministry that has given him a great amount of experience in the construction industry in the UAE.
Ali also holds other posts, such as being the vice-chairperson of Mashreq Bank. He revamped Nakheel, restarting some of its development projects.