DEARBORN, MI – With international growth a goal for the coming year, Ghafari Associates, LLC has chosen Brent Sather to serve as Managing Director of Middle East Operations. In this role, he is responsible for business development, resource and project management as well as financial and contract management for Ghafari’s work in the Middle East.
Mr. Sather joins the company with more than 25 years of experience leading international business efforts for other well-known architecture and engineering companies. For the past several years, he has lived in the Middle East and served as the Chief Operating Officer for Tameer Holding Investments and Chief Executive Officer for Tameer Project Management. While with Tameer he served on various boards for other companies in the group. Previous experience also includes a position as Director – Middle East with the Atkins subsidiary Faithful+Gould, where Mr. Sather established offices in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
“We are proud to have Brent leading Ghafari’s growth in the Middle East,” said Ali Solaksubasi, Chief Operating Officer, Architecture & Engineering Practice. “His years of experience in our industry, and his strong connection to the region are already proving valuable as we look to build upon our experience there.”
Mr. Sather holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and a Diploma in Construction Engineering and Management from Niagara College, Ontario.
Ghafari’s presence in the Middle East includes offices in Doha, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Offices will also open in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Muscat, Oman in the coming months. Staff in these offices, as well as staff in Ghafari’s domestic offices, are supporting several large projects in the region.
Among these projects is the design and construction of 16 buildings at the New Doha International Airport, Doha, Qatar, totaling more than 4 million square feet (more than 345,000 square meters). This includes design of one of the largest aviation Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) centers in the world, which will house Qatar Airways’ line and heavy maintenance operations incorporating state-of-the-art material handling and docking systems.
Ghafari is also providing planning, programming, architecture / engineering and construction administration services for the Saudi Arabian Airlines Jet Propulsion Center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This 60,000 sq. meter state-of-the-art jet engine maintenance and overhaul facility is being developed to handle the carriers’ existing and new aircraft engines. In addition, Ghafari is planning and designing two new MRO centers for Oman Air to support the national airline’s future internal fleet and third party businesses.
