Jan Bladen
Managing Partner at Governance CreedAs a UAE Residents for the last 20 years, Jan carries a wealth of experience in Corporate Leadership across the MENA Region. Raised across the region as a child, Jan’s spouse is an Arab, his children speak Arabic at home and he has spent more than half his life living in the MENA Region.
Internationally recognized as a speaker, practitioner and thought leader in Corporate Governance, Jan has extensive Board Room experience as a Chairman, independent Board Member, Board Committee Member and as a Board Governance Advisor.
He is an accredited “Trainer of Trainers” in the Corporate Governance Board Leadership Program of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank and qualified as the 1st accredited Non-Executive Director / Board Member with the Institute of Directors (Mudara IoD) in Dubai. He further attended Harvard Business School’s “Making Corporate Boards More Effective”
Jan played an instrumental role in the founding of the UAE’s two financial hubs; He spearheaded the launch of Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) as the Senior Executive Lead and Advisor to the Board of Directors and co-led the establishment of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as the founding Chief Operating Officer of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). Previously, Jan spent nine years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) based in both Geneva and Dubai/
He believes that the role of Boards and C-Suite Leadership in the Middle East is becoming significantly more challenging as the need for strong governance and the institutionalisation of businesses expands rapidly. Unlocking growth and shareholder value will be one of the key challenges over the next decade. Jan is the Managing Partner of Governance Creed (Board Assessments, Skill Set Mixes, Subsidiary Governance Frameworks, Nominations and Board Rotations, Board Strategy Retreats) and sits on several Boards, as either a Chairman, Trustee or Non-Executive Board Member. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, Jan obtained an MBA (Summa Cum Laude) from Lausanne and holds both British and Swiss Nationalities.
Zeyad Khoshaim
Managing Partner at The Law Office of Zeyad S. KhoshaimZeyad is a senior GCC BDI External Faculty member.
Zeyad is the Managing Partner of Khoshaim & Associates and is a leading lawyer in Saudi Arabia who specializes in advising corporate multinationals in structuring and financing major projects, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions in Saudi Arabia. For 20 years, he has advised and led on some of Saudi Arabia's most high profile projects, including various Vision 2030 matters.
Zeyad leads the corporate, capital markets and dispute resolution teams in Riyadh, and has advised on landmark debt and equity capital markets transactions, litigated in court and arbitration, and advised on public mergers and acquisitions.
Zeyad was a member of the CMA's Advisory Committee helping to shape the regulatory framework for corporate governance and capital markets. He has been invited to speak on various topics, including corporate governance matters, and has participated in capital markets symposiums. He was also a founding board member of the Saudi Arabian Commercial Arbitration Center.
Zeyad currently serves as a Member of the Court at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, as nominated by the Government of Saudi Arabia.
Zeyad obtained his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, his Doctor of Jurisprudence from Vanderbilt University Law School and has an Executive Management of Law Firms Certificate from Harvard Law School.
Chris Pierce
CEO of Global Governance ServicesDr Pierce is a senior GCC BDI external associate and the CEO of Global Governance Services Ltd. He works with policy makers, directors and boards in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the US and South America. Previously, Dr Pierce was the Director of Professional Standards and Development at the Institute of Directors (IoD) in the UK. He has also held senior management positions in the Overseas Development Administration, British Airways and Leeds Business School. Over the last fifteen years Dr Pierce has worked as an advisor to the boards of many of the largest listed companies, banks, sovereign wealth funds, stock exchanges and financial institutions around the World. He has chaired the World Bank Corporate Governance Code Development Workshops for the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) on a number of occasions in Egypt and Jordan. In 2014 he was awarded the Bertin Medal in Sweden by the International Academy for Quality for his contribution to Corporate Governance worldwide over the last decade.