Simon Kachar
About Dr. Simon Kachar is Executive Director of the Office of Communications, the official spokesperson at the American University of Beirut and a Lecturer in Political Science at the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration at AUB. He is an experienced communications strategist professional whose previous experience was in the Office of Public Relations and Media at the Lebanese American University where he served for four years. Before that, he worked in strategic communications consultancy in the private sector with Dubai-based Eurocom Worldwide Network operating in the GCC for almost ten years, and later headed the communications and public relations department of Grey Worldwide Group in the MENA region in Beirut. Dr. Kachar has 18 years of work experience acquired in the private sector as well as in academic administration and policy research. He was a columnist in the leading Lebanese newspaper, Annahar, writing and commenting on public policy development and public reform. He also worked for the public sector as a consultant advising on the Expanded Administrative Decentralization project proposal and all what was done as preparatory work such as workshops, roundtables, policy papers and policy briefs. Additionally, Dr. Kachar has published analytical articles on public administration reform and the Lebanese economy in different media outlets. He has also contributed scholarly and practically on governmental policy development, strategy design and operational excellence in his capacity as an expert in public governance efficiency and public administration reform. He is a previous member of the Lebanese Red Cross First Aid teams and former member of the Scout du Liban – Group St. Joseph. Currently, he serves on the administrative committee of the Fouad Chehab Foundation as an elected member, and was the head of the Studies and Research and External Affairs Committee in the foundation. Dr. Kachar has a BA and MA in Public Administration, and a PhD in Political Science, having won the USJ Michel Eddé Prize for the best PhD dissertation on good public governance (second place). Issues of Expertise Strategic communications, public governance efficiency; public administration reform; planning of governance models; e-governance; administrative decentralization; restructuring of public administration processes and procedures Countries of Expertise Lebanon, GCC and Western Europe Languages Native: Arabic. Fluent in English and French. Basic: Latin |