Issam Michael Fares is a prominent Lebanese businessman, a former member of the Lebanese Parliament and served as Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon from 2000 to 2005.
Prior to that his career spans four decades in the Arab Gulf, specifically Saudi Arabia, where he began with Abela Catering and then Ballast Needam. By the early 1970s Issam Fares was playing a key role in the infrastructure buildout of Saudi Arabia, including roads and housing.