Suzanne Afanah is a former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Jordan, a communications professional and award winning journalist, with well over 30 years of experience as a senior executive in media, television and mass communications.

Award-winning journalism: During her 12 years at television, Afanah assumed different posts including producer, political correspondent, anchorwoman and Chief Editor at Jordan Television, and at major networks including Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Cable News Network (CNN). As a contributor to CNN’s Emmy Award winning show “The World Report” Afanah won the “Best Political Story Award 2000”.

Afanah also served as Managing Director of Jordan TV and later as Vice Chairman of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation.

Award-winning activism: Appointed by Her Majesty Queen Rania to the executive committee of the Arab Women’s Summit, Afanah led efforts to create the Arab Media Network and launched an award-winning media campaign to empower Arab women broadcast to nearly 100 million viewers across the Arab world, winning the MENA Cristal award. The campaign focused on three main areas, education, economic empowerment and political engagement.

Award-winning brand building: Moving to a corporate career, Afanah lead communications, branding, and social responsibility at Zain one of the leading telecommunication providers in the Middle East and Africa, helping make it one of the top five brands in the region and recipient of sevral awards including the Telecoms World Awards. In addition, her pioneering social responsibility program in Jordan, was awarded the al Hussein Decoration for Distinguished Contribution of the First Order by His Majesty King Abdullah in 2009, making Zain the first private company in Jordan to receive the royal tribute from His Majesty King Abdulla II.

Award winning communications: Afanah is currently the managing partner at Advvise, one of the leading strategic communications and public relations agencies in Jordan. The award winning agency has launched some of the most successful campaigns for local, regional and international corporations and organizations.

Afanah currently serves on the boards of Jordan River Foundation, the Center for Defending the Freedom of Journalists, The Children’s Museum, Generations for Peace and Tkiyet Um Ali. She also sits on several boards of publicly traded companies including Universal Modern Industries CO for Edible Oil, and Siniora Food Industries.