Hadi al Bahra

Hadi al-Bahra (born in Damascus on Feb 13 1959) is a member of the Syrian opposition movement who was the President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces from 9 July 2014 until 4 January 2015. Al Bahra holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University in the United States. He held the position of Executive Director of Erfan and Bagedo general hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the period 1983-1987. In the period from 1987 until 2003, became CEO of Horizon of Commercial development Co, then general manager of Horizon International Exhibitions for the period 2004-2005, a company operating in the free zone in Damascus, Syria and then the CEO of Techno Media from 2005 until 2011. Bahra has extensive experience in communications systems, information technology, interactive display systems, and the organization of conferences and events. He has employed his expertise in communications to serve the Syrian revolution since it erupted, where he contributed to the establishment of support groups to coordinate communication between the Syrian activist and the regional and international media, he worked with the opposition inside Syria, contributing to the media, relief activities and the political side of the revolution. Bahra joined the SOC in the recent expansion that took place on 31 May 2013. He was then elected to be the general secretory of the political committee. The coalition chose him to be the chief negotiator of its delegation to the Geneva II Conference on Syria. al-Bahra was elected as president in Istanbul, Turkey on 9 July 2014, with 62 votes, defeating his nearest rival Mouaffaq Nyrabia, who received 41 votes.