Raj Jhajharia is the Technical Manager of the Gulf Downstream Association (GDA), Kingdom of Bahrain. In this role, he oversees the functioning of 9 Technical Committees formed by the Subject Matter Experts from founding and member companies of GDA. He is steering several initiatives under the umbrella of GDA to create different platforms to share knowledge, experience and best practices among GDA members.
Raj has more than 40 years of experience – 35 of which he spent with ADNOC in various capacities covering the entire spectrum of Oil & Gas operations (from Upstream to Downstream). His last role in ADNOC was Chief Risk Management Analyst, which enabled him for 10 years to oversee the risk assessment of all the industrial and non-industrial facilities of ADNOC Group of Companies, including Refineries & Petrochemical plants. During this period, he organized many technical conferences and seminars for ADNOC Group in the field of Risk management in collaboration with international risk consultants.
He holds a B. Tech. (Gold Medalist) in Petroleum Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (ISM). He also holds Project Management Professional (PMP), NEBOSH – IGC and ITIL Foundation certificates.
Raj is a PMI certified trainer for PMP Exam Preparation courses and has trained more than 100 aspiring Project Managers. He has also been a contributor to the PMBOK, Earned Value Analysis Standard, and Project Manager Competency Development Framework by PMI. He successfully established the first PMO in ADNOC and managed many projects creating significant values for the corporates while mentoring many young professionals. He also led the project of establishing Competency Assurance Management Systems (CAMS) under selected disciplines in ADNOC. He is currently leading the Knowledge Management initiative of the UAE chapter of PMI in a volunteering capacity. He periodically writes in the media on contemporary topics and gives motivational talks.