User:Haroon Khawaja PFM/sandbox

Early Life and Professional Career

Haroon Khawaja was born on December 31st, 1967 (current age: 47) in Lahore, Pakistan to Tariq Lateef Khawaja and Attiya Tariq. He attended St. Anthony’s High school, Government College Lahore and soon moved to England where he attended East London University.

He became a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and worked in the financial district of London from 1987 to 1992.

Hotel Management Career

In 1992, he moved back to Pakistan, joined his family business (construction, development and hotels originally established in 1960) and took over as the Executive Director of hotel construction. Two years later, he successfully took over the group as the Managing Director/CEO. He was responsible for bringing two of the world’s largest chains of hotels to Pakistan. In 1994, he signed up with Holiday Inn Worldwide and planned, supervised and financed the construction and development of the Holiday Inn flagship property in Pakistan -- Holiday Inn Lahore. It was the first hotel in 30 years to break the monopoly of the already-operating two first class hotels in the city. It currently operates as "Hospitality Inn, Lahore". In 1999 he signed up with Best Western and renovated another hotel owned by the group (Shalimar Hotel) to conform it to the international standards –making its conversion to Best Western property possible. This hotel currently operates as “Smart Hotel, Lahore”. During these eight years, the profitability of the corporation grew by 400% while the net worth expanded seven folds.

In July 2000, he relocated to the United States in order to head the expansion of the group. As President of Maverick Estates, Inc. (www.mymaverick.net), he purchased, completely renovated and operated a Holiday Inn Express -- just south west of Disney World, Florida. This hotel was sold in June 2005. In 2005, he established a Land Development and Construction company to develop and construct residential subdivisions as well as commercial/retail and hotel projects. The first project broke ground in Jan 2008 and Holiday Inn Express, Crystal River, FL started operations in May 2009. The hotel has since won prestigious awards every year. In Apr 2012, he started construction of the 2nd hotel (Hampton Inn by Hilton) and soon, Hampton Inn Crystal River, FL opened its doors in Aug 2013. The hotel is on its way to get awarded for superior operations and high level of guest satisfaction. The third hotel in the USA, Staybridge Suites - Orlando Theme Parks Area, started construction in Feb 2015. It is expected to start operations in summer 2016.

Future projects in pipeline include Fairfiled Inn & Suites, Tampa/Wesley Chapel, FL (expected opening spring 2017) and Hampton Inn, Tampa North (expected opening spring 2018).

In Pakistan, Haroon Khawaja is spearheading the development of a mixed US development project including 103 luxury services residences and a 300 rooms five start hotel (likely to be Sheraton). The total construction is expected to be around 1 million square feet and the project is slated to open in stages, with the first phase of residences expected to be ready by fall 2018.

Political

Haroon joined (in honorary capacity; without remuneration) the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan as an advisor and was the main planner (PML-N) for the election campaign of NA 95 in 1997. He remained in the government for just under three years before returning to the family business. In 2000, he negotiated with the government of Pakistan to grant a precious license to sell alcoholic beverages to the group. This license is held by a select few large corporations of the country.

Public Service

Haroon served in the Federal Government from 1997‐99 as the Federal Secretary, and then Advisor to Prime Minister. He single handedly planned coordination of Military Courts on behalf of the Prime Minister in 1998 and followed through coordination of Anti-Terrorist Courts. In2008 ‐ 2011 he was the Advisor to the Chief Minister of Punjab and the Chairman of the Chief Minister’s Special Initiatives Entity. He was also the former director of the Bank of Punjab, Chairman of the Chief Minister’s Monitoring $ Implementation Cell, Secretary of the Chief Minister’s Advisory Council and Founder and former Vice Chairman of the Punjab Board of Investment and Trade. Moreover, he was the force behind the formation, development, transformation and restructuring of numerous companies.

Philanthropy and Civil Society work

Haroon is the chairman of The Pakpur Foundation (www.pakpur.org); an organization of private sector businessmen committed to work towards a social change in the country. He is also the chairman of All Pakistan Business Forum (www.apbf.com.pk); a platform to bring the businessmen of Pakistan together.