Salma Dannawi Oueida is associate vice president for development, alumni relations, and university events at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and an AUB alumna with both an Executive MBA and a bachelor of electrical and communication engineering.

She began her career at AUB in 2003 as associate director of development. Since then, she has been steadily promoted and taken on additional responsibilities. She was appointed senior director of development in 2015; associate vice president for development and alumni relations in 2016; and, most recently, associate vice president for development, alumni relations, and university events in 2022. She has extensive experience in organizational management, fundraising, business development, alumni relations, and event planning and a proven track record at establishing and building relationships with high-net-worth individuals, corporations and foundations, alumni, and volunteer groups.

During her career, Ms. Oueida has set records in fundraising and alumni engagement and launched new fundraising and alumni engagement programs and initiatives for AUB’s seven faculties and the AUB Medical Center (AUBMC). She manages the university’s relationship with its alumni community outside North America and works closely with some of AUB’s most successful volunteer groups to develop valuable and mutually rewarding partnerships. Oueida played an instrumental role in both AUB’s Campaign for Excellence (2002-07) and in AUB’s current $650 million fundraising campaign: BOLDLY AUB: The Campaign to Lead, Innovate, and Serve.

Oueida has consulted about establishing offices of development and alumni relations with many educational institutions in the Gulf and MENA region including Ahfad University in Sudan and Mohammed Al-Mana College for Medical Sciences in Saudi Arabia.

She is a two-time member of the Planning Committee for the CASE Advancement Committee in Middle East that took place in Dubai in February 2020 and the upcoming conference in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. Oueida is on the board of several NGOs including “Nusaned” and is a member of “the Lebanese League for Women in Business”. She is also a member of the 2023 Takreem Selection Board and a member of the Lebanese Order of Engineers and Architects.

In 2010, Ms. Oueida received the President’s Service Excellence Award, a prestigious distinction which is given to a select number of AUB staff members each year “who have shown continuous outstanding performance over a long period of time and have gone beyond the call of duty in helping students, patients, and fellow employees.”