Arabian Business Qatar Power List 2012

1. Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani After the departure of Wadah Khanfar last September, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Jassim Al Thani stepped into the hot seat as the head of the Al Jazeera network. With the power of the station under him, he jumps straight to the top of our first ever Qatar Power List. And there can be little doubt about the influence Sheikh Ahmed now wields. Al Jazeera started out more than fifteen years ago as the first independent Arabic news channel in the world dedicated to providing comprehensive television news and live debate. Sheikh Ahmed now leads a global media network of over twenty channels – the network consists of Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Balkans, Al Jazeera Sport, Al Jazeera Mubasher, Al Jazeera Documentary, the Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Center, and the Al Jazeera Center for Studies. Al Jazeera’s indepth global approach to journalism, allied with a commitment to giving ‘voice to the voiceless’, has won it numerous awards and plaudits over the years. In the last year alone, Al Jazeera English has picked up the Columbia Journalism Award, a DuPont award, and Best News Channel for the third year running from UK’s Freesat. It was also nominated for the fourth consecutive year as RTS News Channel of the Year. The Al Jazeera Network has more than 65 bureaux across the globe. It has more than 3,000 staff members across the world, including more than 400 journalists from more than 60 countries. Al Jazeera English has more than 1,000 highly experienced staff from more than 50 nationalities, making AJE’s newsroom among the most diverse in the world. Sheikh Ahmed has significant international and business experience. Prior to taking up his post at Al Jazeera, he had been a member of the most senior decision making body at Qatargas, where he led an array of capital projects. His industrial background includes experience in France - with Total - and the US, and he holds degrees from numerous institutions worldwide including Imperial College (UK) and the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business (US).