Nadhmi Auchi - Founder, Chairman & CEO, GMHSA

Nadhmi Auchi owned and managed many companies in the construction and trading sectors in Iraq, which marked the beginning of his very successful career before leaving the country in 1980. These enterprises marked the beginning of a business that has grown into many important international ventures. General Mediterranean Holding (GMH SA) was established in 1979 in Luxembourg at which time a group of international business and world-known personalities joined the Board of Directors.

Since then GMH has expanded into many fields including Banking & Finance, Hotel & Leisure, Aviation, Industrial Trading & Pharmaceuticals, and Real Estate & Construction. Today the group has over 120 companies in its worldwide international portfolio.

On the 20th Anniversary of the founding of GMH, Nadhmi Auchi was presented with a painting of the Houses of Parliament signed by the Prime Minister, the Leaders of the Opposition parties and 130 Ministers & Members of Parliament in recognition of his outstanding achievements within and outside the United Kingdom.
He was elected in 2002 by influential members of the Arab and English communities in the UK to be the President of the Anglo Arab Organisation based in London.

In recognition of Nadhmi Auchi's extensive business, charitable and humanitarian activities across the world, numerous awards, honorary positions have been bestowed on him including a number of Royal and State decorations. Between1996 and 2000 Auchi was Vice Chair of the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1996, the President of the Tunisian Republic, His Excellency Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, decorated him as an Officer of the Order of the Republic. In 2002, he was also awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence by His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Nadhmi Auchi was honoured in 2003 by the Roman Catholic Sacred Military Constantian Order of St George with the honour and dignity of Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I in recognition of his major contributions to inter-church and inter-faith dialogue. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II granted him his Coat of Arms in 2004. In the same year the President of the Republic of Lebanon, His Excellency General Emile Lahoud, awarded Auchi with the First Grade of the Lebanese Order of Merit having already appointed him as a Commander of the National Order of the Cedar in 2000. He was knighted by the late Pope, His Holiness John Paul II with the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester in 2004.

In 2005 Auchi was made Grao-Mestre da Ordem do Merito Anhanguera in Brazil and was elected as an Honorary Member in the International College of Surgeons in Chicago, Illinois. In October 2007 he was awarded the "Presidential Prize" by the President of the American University of Cairo for his support to Education Programs and commitment to developing future leaders in the Arab World.