When Suliman Olayan died in 2002 at age 83, his only son, Khaled, was named Olayan Group chairman. Lubna has headed up its Middle East division, OFC, for more than a decade.
Their sister Hutham is Lubna’s counterpart in the U.S., overseeing the group’s investments in North and South America, including multifamily properties in Maryland and Virginia. In 1987, she became the first Saudi woman to join the board of a major U.S. public company, Thermo Electron Corp., now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. A director at Morgan Stanley, she’s based in New York, where Olayan America has a Park Avenue office.
The Olayan sisters have been quietly supportive of discussions in Saudi Arabia about the role of women and their limited freedoms. The family funds several organizations in Saudi Arabia focused on health care and education.
“Make no mistake -- I am neither a radical feminist nor a proponent of artificially putting women in positions,” Lubna said in a 2004 speech to the Arab Bankers Association of North America in New York. “I am a proponent, though, of a system in which opportunities are ‘gender neutral’ and of a true meritocracy that sees the right person in the right position for the right reasons, regardless of gender.”