Pre 2014 Blogs

Innovyze President Dr. Paul F. Boulos to Chair AMIDEAST Lebanon Advisory Board 

Broomfield, Colorado USA, October 11, 2011 — Innovyze, a leading global innovator of business analytics software and technologies for wet infrastructure, today announced that its President and COO, Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D., Hon.D.WRE, F.ASCE, has been elected Chairman of AMIDEAST Lebanon Advisory Board (ALAB). AMIDEAST is a private, nonprofit organization focused on strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Dr. Boulos was selected by the ALAB Nominating Committee to assist the organization in its pursuit of excellence and propel it to greater achievements. Dr. Boulos has served since 2008 on the AMIDEAST Board of Directors (Washington, D.C.), which is responsible for governing the organization. Also elected as Vice Chairmen were Salim Sfeir, Chairman and CEO of Bank of Beirut, one of Lebanon’s leading commercial banks, and Anis Nassar, Chairman of Anis Nassar Group of Companies.

AMIDEAST’s President and CEO Ambassador Theodore H. Kattouf said, “AMIDEAST is pleased and honored to have at the helm of its Advisory Board in Lebanon a man of Dr. Boulos’s vision of expanding educational and professional opportunities for Lebanon’s young people. Since Dr. Boulos joined the AMIDEAST Board in 2008, the entire organization has greatly benefited from his proven leadership in technology, business, and philanthropy, as well as his extensive knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa. His energetic commitment to our educational mission is reflected in the prodigious amount of time and effort he has devoted to forming and now leading this Advisory Board. We are fortunate that he is willing to bear such heavy responsibilities.”

Dr. Boulos will draw on a distinguished career and vast leadership experience in his new role. A renowned international authority on water resources engineering, he is noted for his practical and scientific expertise and his extensive experience in both academe and the corporate world. He has been invited to speak at many noted organizations focused on science, entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and featured in many business and professional magazines and newspapers. He is the co-author of nine authoritative books and more than two hundred technical articles on water and wastewater engineering.

A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Dr. Boulos has received many industry honors, including awards for excellence in scholarship from national and international scientific and engineering societies and accolades from government and research organizations and NGOs. Among these acknowledgements are notable technical awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Water Works Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2008, he received the Ray R. Irani Pride of Heritage Award (fourth recipient) from the Lebanese American Foundation (House of Lebanon) and the Alumni of the Year Award from the Lebanese American University for extraordinary professional achievement. He was awarded Honorary Diplomate status (Hon.D.WRE) by the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers, the academy’s highest honor, for attaining a position of eminence in the water resources engineering profession. In 2009, he was presented the distinguished U.S. Ellis Island Medal of Honor, one of America’s highest honors. In 2010, he was inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Hall of Distinction, the most prestigious honor given by the university to its alumni.

Dr. Boulos serves on the Board of Directors of Innovyze and MWH Global, the Board of Trustees of the Lebanese American University, and the Dean’s International Council of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. He has been a member of the advisory boards of many organizations, including the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI), the Civil and Environmental Engineering School of the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), the Buck Institute for Research on Aging (Novato, CA), the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board and the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (Washington, D.C.).

“Serving as chair of the AMIDEAST Lebanon Advisory Board is an important responsibility and a great honor,” said Boulos. “Despite exceptionally challenging economic, social, institutional and political conditions in the MENA region, AMIDEAST has remained steadfastly committed to promoting progressive education and enabling people in the region to gain access to the best of U.S. education and expertise. I look forward to working with the advisory board members and the administration in preserving that legacy and improving the educational systems and cross-cultural understanding in this important world region. By widening the vision of life’s potential among the youth of Lebanon, many of whom will become future leaders of their society, we can make meaningful strides toward building a better world for the greater good.”

Former U.S. Ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State Robert H. Pelletreau added, “Dr. Boulos, through his dynamism, vision and deep concern to improve educational opportunities for Lebanon's youth, was the unanimous choice to head the ALAB. AMIDEAST is grateful for his leadership, commitment and support.”

Founded in 1951, AMIDEAST (America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc.) provides English language and professional skills training, educational advising, and testing services to hundreds of thousands of students and professionals in the Middle East and North Africa every year. It also supports numerous institutional development projects in the region and administers U.S. scholarships and educational exchange programs such as the flagship U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Foreign Student Program.

The organization is headquartered in Washington, DC, with a network of field offices in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank/Gaza and Yemen. Its Lebanon Advisory Board, launched in 2010, is composed of prominent American and Lebanese business and civic leaders who help guide AMIDEAST strategy and outreach in Lebanon. A complete list of both AMIDEAST and ALAB board members can be found on the organization’s website, www.amideast.org.