Hoping to ‘trump’ others – Catholic college grad on 'The Apprentice'

The fifth season premieres Monday, Feb. 27, on NBC at 9 p.m. EST.

Saab, a 27-year-old Maronite Catholic and the son of a Lebanese father and an American mother, lived in war-torn Lebanon as a child before he and his family came to the U.S. and moved into public housing projects in New Bedford, Mass.

He earned a scholarship to a boarding school in Massachusetts and then studied engineering at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., where he obtained a bachelor of arts degree in 2000.

A year later, he earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from The Catholic University of America in Washington. Saab now lives in Dallas and works as a global marketing manager for Texas Instruments, where he started in sales.

In an interview for "The Apprentice," Saab said he has lived the American dream because he achieved a successful business career "with little guidance and without a dime" in his pocket.

Susan Gabert, director of campus ministry at St. Anselm College, described Saab as being "very self-assured" and someone who "knew what he was about. He was a natural leader."

At the Manchester college, he worked with campus ministry and participated in an alternative spring break in Maine building a home in a poor community.

Benedictine Father Jonathan DeFelice, president of St. Anselm's, still keeps in touch with Saab and described him as "a young man of great ability and great values."

"I certainly hope he is successful on the show, but I know that Tarek will make a positive difference in the world wherever he works," he said.

Saab was also involved in campus ministry at Catholic University, where he led a spiritual retreat for athletes and helped organize a spring break trip to build a meeting room for cloistered nuns in Connecticut.

"Tarek, the athlete, the partier, says 'Hey, let's go to the abbey,' and about eight people went," said Therese Bermpohl, former associate campus minister for community outreach at Catholic University.

She described Saab as "a bit of a schmoozer," but added, "Tarek wants to do the right thing and wants to live his faith out. He really embraced his faith in a more profound way at Catholic."

Saab attends daily Mass and is godfather to nine children. He mentors youths and speaks at high schools on how faith can influence success. During his college years he also gave chastity talks to high school students.

"He has enough confidence in himself to say, 'I believe in this message and I will try to live it out,'" Bermpohl told the Arlington Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Arlington Diocese.

But at the same time, she said, it was not unusual to see him on weekends at a bar frequented by college students.

"He was so faithful, but also so mainstream. They can joke, they can laugh, they can have a beer," she said about Saab and his circle of friends.

When asked how she thinks he will fare on reality TV, Bermpohl said, "I'm hopeful that his faith life will help him, and the fact that he's a charmer."

Joe Camm, one of Saab's friends from Catholic University, is worried that his friend's confidence might come across as cockiness on the reality TV show. He said Saab will either "become good friends with the other contestants or they'll hate him."

Camm said Saab's honesty could also help or hurt him. On the show, the said there is "a tendency to point a finger at other people." Camm does not think Saab will fall prey to that behavior.

"He's not like that," Camm said. "If he makes a mistake, he'll own up to it."

| U.S. News