Lewis Naim
Lewis Naim left Saint Joseph School in 1986 after having spent 12 years there as a full-time border.
Lewis says: “I can very fondly recall the time I spent at SJS and the friends I had there, and the supervisors (Mr. Ghool and Mr. Antoun), and my math teacher Ms. Fida Lebbos (who I thank for trying so hard; I think it’s paid off!). It is unfair though that so many other teachers helped me and yet I cannot recall their names, but their faces are still etched in my mind.”
Following a brief visit to BUC in 1985, Lewis decided that he wanted to get into University as soon as possible, so during his 1st secondary year, he studied in parallel for his O levels which, if successfully passed, would allow him to enter BUC as a freshman and jump 2 years ahead. Lewis says: “I studied for my O levels with one of the best teachers I have ever had the chance to be a pupil of, Mr Ayyash.”
Fortunately, all went as planned, and with Mr Ayyash’s help, Lewis managed to pass 8 O levels and off he went to BUC to study Marketing. Lewis stayed in BUC from 1987 until 1990 when the war broke out again during his last semester there.
Six months later, still not being able to go to university due to the continuing war situation, Lewis decided to travel to the UK and enroll at the American College in London where he managed to get most of his work at BUC accredited. 9 months later, he graduated with a Business Marketing degree from ACL and started working for a company called InterTan that dealt with PC sales.
At 26, and ready to get married, Lewis and his then fiancée Simone decided it was the right time to make the big leap, and they got married in 1991. They lived in the UK for 1 year. After that, wanting to go back to Lebanon but not having any opportunities that were solid enough to consider, Lewis and Simone decided to go to Dubai where he got a good offer with MDS, a subsidiary of a Lebanese company, as a sales executive,.
In 1993, Dubai was like a town that was very appealing for family life. Lewis and Simone decided to stay there and start a family. Sun, sea, good weather for all but 3 months, Arabic and English as languages, and a good economy… this was an ideal platform for family life to start.
Their daughter Michelle was born in 1994 and she changed their lives for good. Lewis then got the opportunity to join one of the world’s best advertising agencies, and he took it. Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai was his passion from the end of 1994 till 1999 where he learned all there is to know about advertising. He started as a Traffic Coordinator and worked his way up to managing the Studio and then to Creative Services Director where he was responsible for all print material produced as well as Production.
His next opportunity came from another advertising agency called Grey Worldwide Dubai, more commonly known in Beirut as CSS and Grey. Grey gave Lewis many challenges and opportunities, where he shifted from the original Creative Services Director role and moved into Digital marketing given his background in IT sales. This proved very challenging and interesting as he shifted his focus from print technologies to digital technologies and soon was managing an interactive team building websites and working on interactive projects.
In July of 2006, Lewis became the Regional Digital Marketing Director at Grey working for his client Nokia managing their online business in Middle East and Africa.
To all SJS students and alumni, Lewis gives the following advice: “Always enjoy what you do and never be afraid of taking risks.”