Just last year Ghassan Hitto was an IT executive in Dallas whose focus was on data centres and how to deliver a project on time. But yesterday he was speaking in Istanbul of his plan to use "all conceivable means" to topple President Bashar al-Assad and provide desperately needed aid to the beleaguered people of Syria.
The bespectacled 50-year-old, who was elected the new head of the opposition transitional government on Tuesday, now has the daunting task of building legitimacy for his fledgling administration, despite lacking the support of many high-profile members of his own coalition.
He admitted the difficulties facing the Syrian National Coalition as it attempts to form a government in rebel-held areas were "huge". He was voted in by 35 of the 49 coalition members who cast ballots, but 15 other members were not present - with several walking out in protest at Hitto's perceived links to the Muslim Brotherhood and its backers in Qatar.
Hitto, who was born in Damascus but left Syria in the early 1980s, will need to garner support both from the international community and on the ground if the transitional body is to have any chance of success. After more than 20 years outside Syria, where he has next to no public profile, that presents a significant challenge.
"I have backed the idea of an alternative government for a long time," said veteran opposition figure Haitham al-Maleh. "But I put my ballot in without a name because there were no candidates from inside Syria. I want a Prime Minister from inside Syria."