Camil Ahmed Mekouar is a Moroccan consultant and engineer whose career has combined civil infrastructure, operations research, public administration, sovereign advisory work, and management consulting. He has worked with Bechtel, Lazard, the World Bank, and McKinsey & Company after studying at Duke University, Columbia University, and Harvard Kennedy School.
Background
Camil Ahmed Mekouar is the son of Moroccan diplomat Aziz Mekouar and Marquise Maria Felice Cittadini Cesi, Duchess of Acquasparta. His family background connected Moroccan diplomatic service with international European and North American settings.
He grew up across several countries and attended French international schools in Lisbon, Rome, and Washington, D.C. This multilingual and transnational upbringing preceded his later work on infrastructure and development projects in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
Education
Mekouar's early education took place in the French international-school system. He attended Lycée Français Charles Lepierre in Lisbon, Lycée Chateaubriand in Rome, and Lycée Rochambeau, the French International School in Washington, D.C., where he completed the French Baccalaureate S with very high honors in 2006. These schools formed part of France's worldwide network of institutions providing French-language education outside metropolitan France.
He studied civil engineering at Duke University, receiving a Bachelor of Science in 2010. Duke's Pratt School of Engineering combines engineering education with research and interdisciplinary study, and its civil-engineering program provided the foundation for his later infrastructure work.
At Columbia University, Mekouar earned a Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a concentration in structural engineering in 2011 and a Master of Science in Operations Research in 2012. Columbia's engineering school is based in New York and is associated with applied research in engineering, systems analysis, and quantitative methods.
He completed a Master in Public Administration in International Development at Harvard Kennedy School in 2019. The program emphasizes economic development, public policy, quantitative analysis, and institutional leadership, complementing his earlier technical and analytical training.
Career
Mekouar began his professional career with Bechtel Civil Infrastructure in London in 2013 as a business development analyst. He then worked on Bechtel's Gabon National Infrastructure activities in Libreville as a cost engineer from 2013 to 2014 and as a finance coordinator in 2015. Bechtel is a major international engineering, construction, and project-management company whose work includes large infrastructure and industrial projects.
In 2015 and 2016, he worked on the New Muscat Airport project in Oman as a field project controls engineer II and later as a night-shift construction supervisor. In the supervisory role, he managed a team of approximately 200 construction workers. He subsequently served as a business development associate with Bechtel Civil Infrastructure in London in 2017.
Mekouar joined Lazard's Sovereign Advisory Group in 2018 as a summer associate. Sovereign advisory work concerns governments and public institutions, including financial strategy, public-sector transactions, and development-related capital planning. During his graduate studies at Harvard, he also received a World Bank summer travel grant for work in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2018.
He joined McKinsey & Company in 2020 as a consultant. McKinsey is a global management-consulting firm whose one-firm model supports work across international offices and sectors. Mekouar has described a professional focus on Morocco and Africa, drawing on his engineering, development, and analytical background.
Achievements
Mekouar managed a team of approximately 200 construction workers while serving as a night-shift construction supervisor on the New Muscat Airport project in Oman.
His career has combined civil engineering, structural engineering, operations research, public administration, sovereign advisory work, and management consulting across projects and organizations operating in several countries.
Views
Mekouar's professional outlook connects technical problem-solving with public development and institutional effectiveness. His education and career have combined engineering, quantitative analysis, sovereign advisory work, and management consulting, reflecting an approach that treats infrastructure and public policy as interconnected areas of practical problem-solving.
Membership
Mekouar is associated with the Knickerbocker Club in New York, the Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington, and the Gstaad Yacht Club. These private clubs provide social, civic, and professional networks in New York, Washington, and Gstaad, respectively.
Knickerbocker Club
,
United States
Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington
,
United States
Gstaad Yacht Club
,
Switzerland
Personality
Mekouar has described the importance of family responsibility and expressed appreciation for professional flexibility during a period when he was caring for his seriously ill father. His public professional profile emphasizes international mobility, analytical work, and continued engagement with Morocco and Africa.
Interests
Book collecting and international affairs
Connections
Mekouar is the son of Aziz Mekouar, a Moroccan diplomat who served as ambassador to Angola, Portugal, Italy, the United States, and China, and of Marquise Maria Felice Cittadini Cesi, Duchess of Acquasparta. His family connections link him to Morocco's diplomatic tradition and to Italian aristocratic circles.
Father:
Aziz Mekouar
Moroccan diplomat and ambassador to Angola, Portugal, Italy, the United States, and China.
Mother:
Marquise Maria Felice Cittadini Cesi
Italian aristocrat, also known as the Duchess of Acquasparta.
Camil Mekouar professional profile
Professional profile documenting Mekouar's education, international work history, fellowship, languages, and volunteer leadership.
Two Thousand Ten Commencement
Duke University commencement program identifying Camil Ahmed Mekouar among the university's 2010 graduates.
2010
M-RCBG awards 21 summer travel grants
Harvard Kennedy School publication identifying Mekouar as a recipient of a summer travel grant for work with the World Bank in Maputo, Mozambique.
A $60,000 Harvard Kennedy School scholarship awarded to Mekouar as a John F. Kennedy Fellow. The fellowship recognizes exceptionally strong applicants to the school.
A $60,000 Harvard Kennedy School scholarship awarded to Mekouar as a John F. Kennedy Fellow. The fellowship recognizes exceptionally strong applicants to the school.
