Ghassan M. Saab
2011 Pride of Heritage Honoree
Photo Highlights
Judge Kaddo, Dr. Ray Irani, and Mr. Ghassan Saab
2011 Pride of Heritage Honoree Mr. Ghassan Saab and his wife Manal Saab
Dr. Najwa Shammas, Banquet Chair
and Hania Ahmar, Banquet Co-Chair
LAF Board President Mike Ahmar and Hania Ahmar
Sheriff Lee Baca and Mr. Ghassan Saab
The Arab Star - Walid Toufic
Ghassan M. Saab currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Sorensen Gross Construction Services, the largest full line construction services organization in Flint, Michigan, specializing in industrial, commercial and institutional projects. Mr. Saab joined Sorensen Gross in 1966 as a field engineer advancing successively to General Manager, becoming Owner and President in 1971. Under his leadership, Sorensen Gross and his other companies have managed over one billion dollars of construction work in Michigan, throughout the United States and overseas.
He is also President of SGT, Ltd. I, a real estate development firm in Flint, Michigan; Serves as Treasurer of Sorensen Gross, Inc., another general contracting firm located in Charlotte, North Carolina founded in 1985, and WGS Global Services, a manufacturing company that he co-founded in 2008.
In 2003, Mr. Saab formed the Uptown Development Group with some of his friends and business associates to rejuvenate and rebuild the neglected and deteriorated downtown area of Flint, Michigan. While much remains to be done, the Kiplinger Letter considered this effort and its accomplishments to date, a major factor in naming Flint one of the top ten comeback cities in the U.S. for the year 2011.
Past business affiliations include the Torrey Group of Companies in Atlanta, Georgia where Mr. Saab was co-founder and Chairman from 1987 to 1997. The largest homebuilder in Georgia four-years running until it sold to D.R. Horton, Inc. in 1997.
Ghassan was born in Choueifat, Lebanon on November 22, 1944, the eldest of four children to Mahmoud and Najla Saab. In 1966, he graduated from the American University of Beirut with a degree in Civil Engineering. He is also a graduate of the National College of Choueifat in Lebanon where he obtained the Lebanese Baccalaureates I and II.
Ghassan is Board member and past Chairman of the American Druze Foundation, an organization started in 1989 focused on preserving the Druze heritage in the United States, particularly amongst the younger American born Druze. He is also a Trustee and Past Chairman of the Board of Trustee of the Lebanese American University. He is a Board Member of the American Arab Heritage Council, Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce, The Hundred Club of Flint, McLaren Regional Medical Center, serves on the Citizens Advisory Committee of the University of Michigan-Flint and the Board of Governors of the Arab American Institute in Washington, DC. He is a lifetime member of the American Druze Society, Board member of the American Task Force for Lebanon and a member of the Rotary Club of Flint. He is also a founding member of the Board of Teach For Lebanon – USA.
Past professional and civic affiliations include the Flint Institute of Music (Chairperson and Board Member), Junior Achievement (President and Chairman), The Associated General Contractors of America, Michigan Chapter (President and Board member), Flint Contractors and Builders Association (President), Urban League of Flint (Board Member), National Association of Arab Americans (Board Member), Focus Council, Inc. (Board Member), Flint Area Conference (Board Member), and American Arbitration Association (Member).
Ghassan was the recipient of the “Man of the Year” award by the American Druze Society in 2002 and was also awarded The Americanism Medal by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1991. In 1978, he was the recipient of the Civic Leader of the Year award from the American Syrian Lebanese Clubs of America. He was the fifth person named to the honorary title of Emeritus Trustee of the Flint Institute of Music since its inception ninety-year ago. His latest award, along with his wife Manal, was the prestigious Russel G. Mawby Award for Philanthropy 2010 for the State of Michigan.