chapters

The Saudi Chapter is one of the earliest Chapters of ASHRAE, formed in 1993. The chapter was supported by Saudi Aramco Management led by the Chief Engineer in Engineering Services. The Saudi Arabia ASHRAE Chapter is supported by Consulting Services Department in Saudi Aramco.

Mr. Khalid Al Mulhim, Mr. Samir A. Al Umair and Hussain M. Afifi have been key leaders of the Chapter for a long period of time. The leadership of the Chapter has been active in Region at Large and has held several noteworthy International Conferences.

The membership committee, with support of the Society Officers, worked hard to increase chapter members by contacting local societies, organizations, and companies to encourage their members and staff to join the local Chapter and attend the monthly dinner meetings.

The Saudi chapter is unique, as it has a non-homogeneous membership comprising different nationalities. Saudi Expats who are members are responsible for the turnover of membership.

The local chapter operation and activities are supported by local companies, consulting offices and contractors via sponsoring technical dinner meetings. The effort had been extended to bring the monthly technical dinner meetings to the membership throughout the Kingdom, principally to the main cities of Dhahran/Dammam in the Eastern Province, Riyadh in the Central Provence and Jeddah in the Western Province.

The Cairo chapter was established in 1995 with the collective efforts of elite group of HVAC consultants, contractors and suppliers. The first inauguration was held at Dar ElHandasa office in Mohandseen, Cairo. The First Chapter president was Engineer Mohamed Salem. Following him were elite eminent HVAC pioneers such as Prof. Dr. Hany Olama, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Fouad, Dr. Alaa Olama, Eng. Fouad Hamad, Eng. Alaa Kamal and many others. The chapter continues to expand including membership from industry and academia.
The Cairo Chapter proudly organized the 2003 CRC, chaired by Dr. Alaa Olama and the 2010 CRC, chaired by Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Fouad. They are keen to host another one soon. The 2010 CRC was a joint meeting between ASHRAE and UNEP with extensive technical meetings and the attendance of 23 Chapters.
Members from the Chapter are very active in Regional and Society level committees and posts. They have few students’ chapters in Cairo, Tanta and Alexandria. The Chapter Historian has successfully interviewed pioneers of the HVAC industry and Academia and kept a record on CD.
The Chapter has very strong links with Governmental organizations and other institutions active in the HVAC, such as the Syndicate of Engineers and the Society of Engineers. On the International levels they collaborate with UNIDO and UMDP.

The Official Chartering ceremony of the Lebanese ASHRAE Chapter was held in Cairo, Egypt, on October 9, 1995, going down in ASHRAE’s history as the first Chapter after the Centennial of ASHRAE. The Ceremony was held in Cairo due to the unsafe travelling
conditions in Lebanon. ASHRAE Society President Richard B. Hayter, Mr. Sukhdev Mathaudhu, Region X director and regional chairman, and a delegation of 33 members, including Chapter Officers, Board of Governor members, Committee Chairs and Student Branch Officers and Advisors, attended the event held at the Intercontinental Hotel, on the banks of the River Nile.
ASHRAE President Richard Hayter gave the Keynote Address which emphasized “seize the initiative and embrace the vision”. Hayter also presented the charters to the Lebanon Chapter and Student Branches. The speakers also included Samir Traboulsi, the first president and founder of the Lebanese Chapter. He expressed the importance of ASHRAE after a 20 year period of war in the country. He elaborated on the Chapters goals and objectives, which included the recognition of members, inducting new membership, training, excellence in HVACR Design and Maintenance, timely transfer of technology and information.

The Kuwait Chapter was one of the earlier Chapters to be established within the Region, on th 13th April 1996.
The people who were instrumental in the formation of this Chapter were Prof. Walid Chakorun, Prof Moustafa Elsayed, Dr. Nawaf Al Mutawa, Dr. Asad Al Ebrahim and Dr. Sorous Alotaibi.
The Members of the Kuwait Chapter have been very active in ASHRAE, some for over 30 years. The most prominent member has been Prof. Walid Chakorun. He has held several Regional and Society positions including RVC, SRC, DRC RAL, ASHRAE DAL and is currently Vice President of ASHRAE. He is recipient of the John F. James Award and Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Walid is an ASHRAE Fellow and has served on the Publication and Education council, CEC, and Planning committees.
Ali AlMutairi from Kuwait Chapter served as the treasurer of the region from 2008-2011. He worked on setting the first financial policy for the region.
The Chapter has most recently worked with the Kuwait Government and adapted ASHRAE Standard 90.2 to develop the ASHRAE Standard for Energy efficiency for Residential Buildings for Kuwait.
They have successfully hosted the 2009 RAL CRC.
The Chapter annually hosts the International Conference on Energy Research & Development for the
last six years and organized a Forum on District Cooling with The Kuwait Foundation for the
Advancement of Sciences in March 2016. They are also active in arranging Technical Seminars and
Conferences and training courses regularly.

The ASHRAE Pakistan Chapter was petitioned at the 1st RAL CRC in Reading UK. Mr. Farooq Mehboob travelled to the UK and handed the petition to President Don Colliver.
The Chartering Ceremony was held at the Avari Towers, Karachi, in September, 2003. Members of the
Pakistan HVACR Society alongwith leading personalities from the HVACR Industry were present.
Mr. Ainul Abedin was inducted as the founder President of the ASHRAE Pakistan Chapter. The other
members of the Board were: Mr. Farooq Mehboob, Mr. Fahim Siddiqui, Mr. Muhammad Abbas Sajid, Mr.
Lawrence Harrison, Mr. Fahim Khan and Mr. Farhan Mehboob.
A media campaign on Print and Electronic Media was launched to promote ASHRAE and the Pakistan Chapter in Pakistan. Mr. Richard Rooley, the then President of ASHRAE, and his wife Ruth, had come to Karachi for the Chartering of the Pakistan Chapter of ASHRAE. Such was the celebrity status of the Rooleys that the Chapter accepted substantial contribution from people who wanted to have their pictures taken with them. Mr. Sameer Traboulsi the then DRC of RAL had also accompanied the ASHRAE President to this ceremony. After the formal Chartering and Oath Taking of the ASHRAE Pakistan Chapter a grand dinner was hosted followed by a Variety program featuring some leading artists of Pakistan showing off the rich culture of the land.
The Pakistan Chapter members have served ASHRAE in many positions including RVC, SRC, ARC,
DRC etc. The Chapter collaborates with the Pakistan HVACR Society for holding conferences alongside the Annual Expo of the PHVACR Society.

In the known history of this region, we have had Professional Engineers who joined ASHRAE membership since 1975. However, this region did not have any formal chapter in those days as the region was not developed and much of it remained as empty sand dunes. Later in the years when Oil started bringing money to the region, the construction industry started to pick up. This movement generated the requirement of professionals in the field of HVAC as Cooling is an inevitable part of any building design in the region. In the year 2003, some of the engineering professionals who were members of ASHRAE decided to take the lead and establish a local chapter to provide support to HVAC engineers in the region. As the region was still in the early developing stage, this chapter was formed to provide technical and professional support to Mechanical Engineers in UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
The Founding members of the chapter are Mr. Basam Al Elassad, Mr. Vijay Kumar, Mr. Bassel Anbari, Mr. Girish Hira and Mr. Mohsen Abu Naga. The chapter was inaugurated on December 7th, 2003 by Mr. Samir Traboulsi, the then RAL DRC who supported the whole idea. The chapter was named “Emirates Falcon Chapter”.
We are all familiar with the rest of the history; the gulf regions drew unprecedented growth in wealth and construction activity and eventually Qatar and Bahrain developed their own local Chapters and Emirates Falcon Chapter became ASHRAE Falcon Chapter to serve engineering professionals in UAE. Falcon Chapter still supports engineering professionals in Oman as Oman does not have a local chapter yet. Falcon Chapter became a very important player in the field of HVAC, Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency. ASHRAE Falcon Chapter is currently involved with various Ministries, ESMA, MOEW, UNEP, UNIDO and other International
Bodies. ASHRAE Falcon Chapter plays an integral part in assisting these bodies in organizing International Conferences in UAE.

Mr. Mubesher Ahmad, currently President of the Pakistan HVACR Society was the driving force behind the creation of the ASHRAE Northern Chapter in Pakistan.
In early 2005, he approached Mr. Farooq Mehboob to commence activities leading to the creation of the Northern Pakistan Chapter. Mr. Farooq Mehboob set up a Steering Committee comprising of Engr. Fahim A. Khan, Chairman, Mr. Lawrence Harrison, Vice Chairman, Mr. Azim Ashraf, Secretary, Mr. Arshad S. Sheikh, Treasurer, Mr. M. Ashraf, Member and Mr. Mubesher Ahmad, Member. On June 14, 2005, Mubesher Ahmed handed over to Farooq Mehboob a petition signed by 52 members for forwarding to Society.
The ASHRAE Board of Directors approved the Charter in the Annual Summer Meeting in June 2005. ASHRAE President, Mr. Richard Rooley, chartered the Chapter on March 15, 2006 with a grand event held at the Serena Hotel Islamabad.
On July 18, 2005 the first meeting of the Steering Committee was held at Islamabad, where a Nominating Committee was formed. The Committee also reviewed and adopted the Chapter bylaws as per ASHRAE Pakistan Chapter. The 1st Chapter meeting was held on 1st September 2005, at the Islamabad Hotel, chaired by Mr. Arshad S. Sheikh and 24 members participated. The 1st Officers installation ceremony was held at the Serena Hotel, Islamabad on December 16th, 2006 where Mr. Mubesher Ahmad was elected Chapter President for 2006-2007.
The Chapter has a long record hosting hugely successful family get togethers and training programs. The ASHRAE Northern Pakistan Chapter collaborate with the Pakistan HVACR Society for holding an Annual Conference alongside the Annual expo of the Society.

Before the formation of ASHRAE Bahrain Chapter, the ASHRAE members in Bahrain were facilitated by the Falcon Chapter, Dubai. Their emails related to seminars and other activities were a constant source of inspiration to establish a Chapter in Bahrain.
For this purpose, in March 2006, Mr. Tariq Malik traveled to Dubai to attend a seminar and to discuss with Mr. Bassel Anbari, then Falcon Chapter President, the possibility of forming an ASHRAE Chapter in Bahrain.
Mr. Bassel Anbari was pleased and encouraged the idea. He arranged a meeting with Mr. Ayman Altonany, Program Officer UNEP Bahrain, where initiating members met and formed a steering committee. The members of the steering committee were Mr. Tariq Malik, Mr. Ayman Altonany, Mr. Bader Salmein, Mr. Alan Millin and Mr. Gareth Brown.
The steering worked hard under the guidance of Samir Traboulsi – then Director and Regional Chair, Region-at-Large; Dr. Walid Chakroun – then Sub-Region-A Chair; Bassel Anbari – then President ASHRAE Falcon Chapter; Jeanie Kirksey – Regional Activities Coordinator at ASHRAE headquarters and the support of fellow engineers in Bahrain to make this dream come true.

The Qatar Oryx Chapter saw the light in late 2007. It is soon to celebrate a decade of its existence. The Chapter received its name and first BOG on December 10, 2007 after the initiative of Mr. Imad Mobayed and Mr. David
Brown, Mr. Hassan Sultan, Mr. Hani Hawamdeh, Mr. Kamal Taj, and Mr. Subrata Kar.
The first BOG team members were not only the founders of the Chapter, but have proven to be mentors
and visionaries, essential to the Chapter’s guidance towards its own subsistence.
The Chapter has developed to become an innovative and adaptive group that interacts with the local Qatari Engineering Community and organizations. It is also constantly adapting to a changing Expat Engineering Community ensuring that every incoming member is welcomed and introduced to the local community, and keeps his ties after he leaves. This is achieved by extensive personal communication, backed by the creation of the website launched in 2011, www.ashraeqatar.org. The website makes available information related to technical seminars, a newsletter, social events, technical support and job information.
In 2016, the Chapter began to develop its own Oryx Application where chats between ASHRAE members are made available, and notifications of seminars and new papers on the website reach all members instantaneously.
The Chapter has been socially active throughout, combining the ASHRAE’s bylaws as main guidelines and the cultural nature of its people.
The Oryx Chapter has been consistent in organizing regular monthly innovative Technical Seminars, with local and international speakers. This has enabled them to maintain connections with the engineering community and local suppliers of major HVAC and Refrigeration companies, ensuring their innovations are properly and technically introduced to the local engineering companies.