Amanda Malloy, ASA Director of Development

It isn’t often I get to visit with someone on the other side of the world, but thanks to Zoom and the good fortune of our schedules aligning, I had the opportunity to visit with and get to know Mohamed Al Lawati.

Mohamed Al Lawati

Al Lawati has been an ASA member and donor for several years. He was a principal sponsor of the Conference on Statistical Practice in 2019 and 2020, is a Helen Walker Society member (the ASA’s donor club for those who give $1,000 or more annually), and recently committed to help fund programs that focus on cultivating future leaders in statistics and data science.

After earning his high-school diploma in Kuwait, Al Lawati received a scholarship to study accounting in the Arab Republic of Egypt. Following graduation, he secured his first job as an employee in the Ministry of Finance in the Sultanate of Oman.

In 1990, Al Lawati was sent to the United States, where he studied at the University of Georgia and earned a master’s degree in statistics.

“I received a scholarship from my country, the Sultanate of Oman, to study a master’s degree in statistics because of the focus on the digital economy and that statistics has a distinctive role in this field,” Al Lawati told me. “I was also eager to study statistics and applied statistics, so I wanted to specialize in this field.”

This allowed him to advance professionally and go on to hold several more leadership positions at the Ministry of Finance, such as the director of planning and financial studies and the director of finance. Following his service in the Ministry of Finance, he opened a successful real-estate business in Oman, which is part of the main business sector there.

In 2018, Al Lawati earned a PhD in small- and medium-sized enterprises from the British International Institute and, in 2019, received a fellowship in business administration from the British Institute of Economics and Political Science. He is currently serving as the deputy chairman of the Omani Society of Certified Public Accountants.

At this point in his life, Al Lawati says it is important for him to be philanthropic. He has a strong desire to give back and help the next generation.

“My charitable activities and my social responsibility have not been limited to the Sultanate of Oman, but rather to neighboring countries, including African countries. My interest in the American Statistical Association started when I began my master’s degree in statistics and has continued since then and especially since we are now working under the digital economy system,” Al Lawati said. “In addition to my master’s degree in statistics at the University of Georgia and my relationships with the university administration there, I have a strong motivation to strengthen my relationship with ASA.”

Al Lawati was particularly inspired by the leadership challenge created as part of former ASA president Lisa LaVange’s leadership initiative and has partnered with the ASA to fund this program and ones like it that help cultivate the next generation of leaders in statistics and data science.

“I am inspired by ways of leadership in practicing my own work. For this reason, I have a strong desire to contribute to financing and sponsoring programs like the leadership challenge in 2021,” Al Lawati said.

About the ASA–Dr. Mohamed Al Lawati Leadership Challenge
The need for statisticians and data scientists to enter the workforce has never been greater. Likewise, the need for these professionals to present and communicate their work to colleagues is critical. Many times, students enter the workforce without having gained valuable 21st-century skills that are key to their success and critical to the advancement of their work. These include presentation and communication skills, working effectively in a team, and leadership skills.

The ASA–Dr. Mohamed Al Lawati Leadership Challenge is one example of the kind of innovative programs created to achieve these goals.

Teams with three to five members take on a leadership problem presented by the ASA such as building a plan to grow and sustain the ASA’s membership. At least two team members must be students during the challenge period. The remaining members of the team must have graduated within the last two years.

Team members participate in a leadership challenge orientation session and three virtual leadership development workshops designed to help them hone their presentation, leadership, and communication skills. The teams are then given the opportunity to present their plans to the ASA Board of Directors, giving the team members the chance to meet and network with some of the leaders in the profession and witness how a board meeting is conducted. Participants receive a scholarship to attend an ASA meeting (in person or virtual) and complimentary ASA membership for three years.