ABSTRACT
Strategic Session #1
AUTHOR

Aali M Al-Zahrani
VP, Safety & Industrial Security, Saudi Aramco
Aali Al-Zahrani began his career at Saudi Aramco as an engineer in Maintenance Engineering and Fault Analysis in 1991. He spent 1992 as an engineer at Abqaiq Utilities Maintenance Division and Abqaiq Plants Utilities Division.
• In 1994, Al-Zahrani was selected for an internship development assignment for 18 months working with Emersson in the USA - specialists in manufacturing electronics/control systems.
• Al-Zahrani joined the Abqaiq Plants Maintenance Services Division where he served as an engineer until 1996.
• Thereafter, he completed several assignments as an engineer before becoming an acting Supervisor of the Operations Engineering System Support Unit. He carried out Supervisor and Superintendent duties until he became the Assistant To the Vice President of Southern Area Oil Operations.
• In 2012, he became the Superintendent of Sea Water Injection Maintenance and progressed to be the Manager of Sea Water Injection and then the Manager of Abqaiq Plants Maintenance up until 2014, when he completed an acting assignment as General Manager of Public Affairs.
• In 2015, Al-Zahrani took on the role of General Manager of Industrial Security Operations and was in 2017, promoted on permanent basis.
• In 2019, Al-Zahrani was promoted to Executive Director, Safety and Industrial Security, where he is overseeing several corporate functions to promote and enable the protection of company’s assets and to provide employees with a secure and safe environment.
• In 2020, Al-Zahrani was promoted to Vice President, Safety and Industrial Security.
• In Al-Zahrani’s capacity as Safety and Industrial Security Vice President, he is the Secretary of Saudi Aramco Corporate Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Committee which is the highest-level venue for governance of mentioned topics in Saudi Aramco as well as addressing critical corporate-level issues and improvement opportunities. The committee is chaired by the CEO with members from corporate and executive management.
• Al-Zahrani is the Champion of the Corporate Industrial Incidents’ Risks and Co-Champion of the Corporate Non-Industrial Incidents’ Risks in Saudi Aramco which are part of the Top Corporate Risks that requires corporate-level oversight. He is responsible to monitor, advice and report to corporate management on the Company’s industrial incidents’ risks exposure, effectiveness of controls, treatment strategies and their implementation status.
• Al-Zahrani has a B.S. degree in Systems Engineering from KFUPM. He also has a varied leadership and training history and participated in the Asia Business and Culture Program.
• Al-Zahrani attended the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD Business School in 2011 and he attended the Asia Business and Culture Program in China in 2012. He also attended the Saudi Aramco Management Development Seminar in Washington, D.C., and New York in 2014.
• In 2018, Al-Zahrani, attended the 40th Oxford Energy Seminar at St Catherine’s College in the UK. This seminar is widely recognized as an important international forum for government officials, industrialists, managers and other professionals involved in corporate decision making in the field of energy.
• In January 2017, ASIS International, the preeminent security society for security professionals with approximately 38,000 members in over 100 countries worldwide, selected Al-Zahrani as Senior Vice President for the Middle East Region. As such, his primary focus has been to elevate the level of competency of security practitioners through implementing professional training, development and certification programs throughout Gulf, North Africa and Southern Asia.
• In 2019, Al-Zahrani was approached to become a Vice Chairman of the Saudi National Security Services Company, which develops a security business to serve the growing security demand.