Sean Yazbeck

Sean Yazbeck
Born
London, England
Citizenship
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
EducationSolent University (BA, PhD h.c.)
Websitescopeworker.com

Sean Yazbeck is a British-American businessman. He is the founder of multiple enterprise software and technology services companies.[1] He is the winner of the fifth season of Donald Trump's reality show, The Apprentice.[2]

Business

After winning The Apprentice, Yazbeck was selected by Donald Trump to build The Dominick (formerly Trump SoHo) a $450 million, hotel condominium located in Manhattan, New York City. [3]

Yazbeck later founded the technology services company, Wavsys [4] which in 2014 was named an 'Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Company in America', with over $100 million per annum in revenue and employing more than 500 employees.[5][6]

In 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yazbeck's enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, Scopeworker, signed a multi-billion dollar deal with the Sprint Corporation (now T-Mobile US) to automate the supplier services for their 5G network build.[7]

Personal life

Yazbeck was born in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London to a Lebanese Maronite Christian father from the Chouf and an Irish mother.[2][8] He attended William Ellis School in Highgate, London and graduated with a First Class Honors Degree and an Honorary Doctorate (PhD h.c.) in Business from Solent University, Southampton.[1] He was awarded the EB-1 visa green card for "persons of extraordinary ability" and later became a naturalized US Citizen.[9][10]

Yazbeck lives in Miami Beach, Florida and in 2006, the then Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Carlos Álvarez (mayor), proclaimed 20 June as "Sean Yazbeck Day" in Miami-Dade County.[11] In 2008, in reference to his charity work with Voices for America's Children, the Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear, bestowed the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel on Yazbeck, "in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to the nation."[12] In 2014, he was awarded the 'Entrepreneur of The Year Award' at the Business Innovation Awards Gala hosted by BritWeek and the British Government's, Department for International Trade (previously UKTI).[5] In 2014, Haute Living named Yazbeck "one of Miami's most eligible bachelors".[11] In 2019, Yazbeck became the benefactor of The Sean Yazbeck Centre for Digital Innovation at Solent University which he opened with the university's Chairman, Theo Paphitis, and where he is a visiting lecturer.[13]

Yazbeck plays polo for the Grand Champions Polo Club in Palm Beach, Florida and is a member of The Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), a global network of young chief executives.[5][14]

The Apprentice season 5

Yazbeck and Piers Morgan are the only non-Americans to have won Donald Trump's The Apprentice. Both are British. Yazbeck was selected to appear on The Apprentice because he had been awarded the EB-1 visa green card for "persons of extraordinary ability".[9][10] He won more tasks than any other Apprentice candidate and remained unbeaten as Project Manager over the 18 weeks. He was chosen by Trump to be the winner during the show's live finale in Los Angeles. According to Trump, Yazbeck overwhelmingly won the national vote, the first ever conducted for an Apprentice finale. In the final task, Yazbeck was chosen to oversee a Barenaked Ladies charity concert, sponsored by Pontiac, to benefit the World Wildlife Fund. For winning the final task and being hired as Trump's Apprentice, Yazbeck chose to oversee the Trump SoHo project, with a one-year contract exceeding $250,000. He was also given a new Pontiac G6 hardtop convertible, mirroring Kendra Todd's reward of a Pontiac Solstice. Yazbeck returned as a boardroom judge on The Apprentice 6 (2007), and hosted his own show, Reality Trailblazers, on the TV Guide Channel. He also appeared on Miss Universe (as a judge), Live with Regis and Kelly, MTV Video Music Awards, 1 vs. 100, Soap Talk, Identity and MTV's From G's to Gents.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b [1] Solent University (accessed 1 June 2024)
  2. ^ a b [2] Archived 9 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Aventura Magazine (accessed 6 October 2016)
  3. ^ [3] NYDailynews.com (accessed 1 June 2024)
  4. ^ Inc 500 Company Profile –Wavsys (2011). [4] Inc.com (accessed 25 August 2011).
  5. ^ a b c [5] tmcnet.com (accessed 11 March 2014)
  6. ^ Inc 500 Company Profile –Wavsys (2011). [6] Inc.com (accessed 11 March 2014).
  7. ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/PR-CO-20180522-900035 (accessed 12 July 2018)[dead link‍]
  8. ^ Ohrstrom, Lysandra (27 June 2006). "Trump's latest apprentice has 'Lebaneseness' on his side". The Daily Star. Beirut, Lebanon. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024.
  9. ^ a b [7] NBCNews.com (accessed 1 June 2024)
  10. ^ a b [8] Archived 29 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine USCIS.com (accessed 17 April 2013)
  11. ^ a b [9] Haute Living Magazine (accessed 5 September 2015).
  12. ^ (2009). [10] Scan of Sean Yazbeck's Kentucky Colonel Certificate (accessed 7 June 2009).
  13. ^ [11] Daily Echo (accessed 1 June 2024)
  14. ^ IMDB Filmography(2009). [12] IMDB.com (accessed 11 March 2014).
  15. ^ IMDB Filmography(2009). [13] IMDB.com (accessed 7 June 2009).