Nassir Al-Ajmi: ‘The Legacy of a Lifetime’

“I wasn’t looking for a career. I was looking for a living”, Nassir Al-Ajmi says in a 2007 interview about his 42 year experience with Aramco. Al-Ajmi represents a remarkable story of a humble teenager who started his path at Aramco as an auto-mechanic trainee in Dhahran in the 1950s. Eventually, Al-Ajmi grew to occupy the role of Executive Vice President, leading the company through its evolution to a state owned enterprise in 1988.

Al-Ajmi is honored as one of the most successful leaders in Saudi Arabia, in transitioning a company and a Kingdom from the pre-oil discovery era to industrialization and growth. With his leadership skills shining through at an early age, Al-Ajmi was selected by Aramco for an out-of-Kingdom education in Lebanon and the United States. He completed a high school degree in Beiruit, and a University degree at Milton College in Wisconsin. Upon returning to Aramco, Al-Ajmi took on several leadership roles within the company and was ultimately sent for further advanced education at Columbia University and Harvard University. With his education, ambition and determination, Al-Ajmi served in the roles of Vice President, Senior Vice President and an eventual election to the Board of Directors. Colleagues describe Al-Ajmi as hard working and always available.

Al-Ajmi is currently retired, and is a published author of “The Legacy of a Lifetime”. In a 2007 interview, Al-Ajmi recounts his experience in the early days of Aramco. He provides thoughts on the future of Aramco and says he hopes to see managers who are able to grow and learn beyond what the founders were capable of. In speaking to a group of new engineers at Aramco, Al-Ajmi tells them he is glad to not be competing with them. “That’s the kind of organization that we hope to maintain in Aramco”, Al-Ajmi says, “…as a generation leaves, they leave people better than themselves”.