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Mohammed Al Shroogi
Chairman at GCC BDIMohammed Al Shroogi is the former Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Investment Group Investcorp. He joined in 2009 as President of Gulf Business. Mr. Al Shroogi spearheaded the firm’s recovery from the global financial crisis with a significant strengthening of the Gulf distribution franchise, leading to record levels of fundraising. Mr. Al Shroogi was also instrumental in building Investcorp’s Corporate Investment Franchise in the GCC and Turkey and helped Investcorp to become one of the most active private equity investors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Al Shroogi joined Investcorp from Citigroup where he was Division Executive for the Middle East and North Africa region and CEO for the UAE. He had a 33 year career with Citigroup in Bahrain, London and the UAE, among his many achievements at Citigroup was establishing Citibank Bahrain as a major trading room between Asia and Europe.
Mohammed is Vice Chairman of Al Baraka Group, Board Member at Wisayah (Saudi Aramco’s Pension Fund), Board Member of The Health Insurance Fund, Chairman of L’azurde Company for Jewelry, Chairman of GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI), Board Member at APM Terminals for management of ports, and Board Member Investcorp GCC.
Mohammed attended The Kuwait University in 1971 and then attended the Harvard Business School Executive Management Program in 1988.
HE Abdullatif Al-Othman
Founding Chairman at GCC BDIH.E. Eng. Abdullatif A. Al-Othman served as the Governor and Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) from May 2012 till April 2016.
H.E. Eng. Al-Othman was also the former Chief Financial Officer and Sr. VP Engineering & Project Management at Saudi Aramco.
He brings over 35 years of experience of planning and managing Oil and Gas Projects, Corporate Finance, Investment, Business Development and International Business Relations. H.E. Al-Othman began his career in 1979 with Saudi Arabian Bechtel- Engineering Office, then joined Saudi Aramco in 1981 as an Engineering and Project Management Engineer.
During his tenure, he worked on the Gas Gathering Project, the Qasim Refinery Project, the Southwest Refinery Project, the Ras Tanura Refinery Modernization Project and the Marjan Field Completion amongst others. In 2001, he was appointed Vice President of Saudi Aramco Affairs. He later served as Senior Vice President of Finance for Saudi Aramco. His last post at Saudi Aramco was Senior Vice President Engineering and Project Management.
H.E. Eng. Al-Othman is the founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the following companies:
• King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Endowment Investment Company.
• Aramco Trading Company.
• Sadara Chemical Company- A joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical.
• Saudi Aramco Investment Management Co. (Pension fund)
• Saudi Industrial Investment Company (Dussur) – A partnership between Public Investment Fund, Saudi Aramco and SABIC.
H.E. Eng. Al-Othman is also one of the founders of the GCC Board of Directors Institute (GCC BDI) in 2006.
H.E. Eng Al-Othman earned a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 1979 and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Sloan Fellow in 1998.
HE Mohammed AlJasser
Chairman at CipherH.E. Mohammed N. AlJasser is currently the CEO BIAC, a PIF portfolio Company. H.E. is also the Chairman of Cipher, a cybersecurity firm in Saudi Arabia. Previously, he served for four years as the Assistant Minister, at the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Development (HRSD). As the Chief Transformation and Operating officer of the Ministry, he led Branch Network, Customer Experience, Shared Services, HR, Digital Transformation as well as Privatization & Outsourcing Program. Mr. AlJasser was a member of several steering committees during his time at HRSD including Digital Transformation, Customer Experience, and Internal Audit. He also chaired several Ministry wide Committees including GRC, Cyber Security, and Data Strategy & Management.
Before joining the Ministry, H.E. Mr. AlJasser, has held many positions in his 22 years of private sector career including Managing Director for Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Saudi Arabia. Managing Director (CEO) of Inma Technologies, a fully owned subsidiary of AlTurki Holding. Vice President for Enterprise Business Unit at Saudi Telecommunication Company (STC) and he was a Board Member and Chairman of NRC Committee at Awal, an STC subsidiary, currently branded as STC Solutions Company. HE worked with STC, for more than 6 years, after a career of 10 years with multinational companies in the ICT industry such as Motorola, Ericsson, and Cisco.
H.E. Obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Minor in Mathematics from Seattle University, USA, in 1997, an Executive MBA in 2011 from University of Leicester, UK. Mr. AlJasser is currently seeking an executive master’s degree in change at Insead Business School where he has been an alumnus via executive education since 2003. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School (HBS) since 2015. Mr. AlJasser has been a YPO member since July 2021, and IMD Business school alumnus since December 2021.
HE Ghassan Al Sulaiman
Founder and Chairman of AlSulaiman GroupFounder and Chairman of AlSulaiman Group. Member and Chairman of the board in a number of companies in the private, government and non-profit sectors. He was a board member in the Social Development Bank, the Privatization Center, Monshaat, Savola Group, Al Maraei Company, SAMI, and Arabian Cement Company among many others. He still serves as a board member in several organizations among which are Jeddah Airports Company, Waed (an ARAMCO subsidiary) and is
the chairman of several companies in the Alsulaiman Group.
He has a great passion for the development of the Private Sector in Saudi Arabia, and this led him to become the first governor of the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monshaat) in 2016. Before that he was the first to establish a business accelerator in KSA to support startups in the Kingdom and chaired the first center set up to support SMEs in Saudi Arabia, in the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also founded and headed Venture Capital Bank, Venture Capital Investment Company and Unaizah Investment Company all of which had a focus on investing in startups and early-stage ventures.
In addition to his support of entrepreneurship in KSA, he supported the private sector through the many roles he had in the chambers of commerce. He served as the first chairman of the Human Resources Development Center in the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and later as the chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce. He was the first chairman of the following Joint Business Councils in the Saudi Chambers of Commerce: The Saudi-Malaysian Business Council; the SaudiTurkish Business Council; and The Saudi-Swedish Business Council. He also served as the co-chairman of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce and the chairman of the executive committee for the development of the Chambers of Commerce.
Today his involvement in this space continues as the founding chairman of the National Family Business Center and also as the Chairman of the National Committee of Not for Profit Companies in the Saudi Chambers of Commerce.
His second passion is education. He served as a board member in four Saudi Universities and is presently still a board member in one of them and is the chairman of three educational companies and an educational NGO.
He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration in addition to an MBA from the USA plus a Doctorate degree in Systems Thinking in 2004 from Hull University in the UK and a graduate professional degree in Business Economics from Harvard University in 2020.
Mana AlKhamsan
CEO of The Financial AcademyMana Alkhamsan has been the CEO and member of the Board of Trustees of the Financial Academy, he has more than 17 years of experience in the field of human capability development and training and has held several positions at the Institute of Public Administration, including Executive Vice President of the Business Center and General Manager of Program Design and Development, as well as supervising several initiatives, including the establishment of the Financial Academy, holds a Masters degree in computer science from the University of New England.
Hashim Al-Dabbagh
CEO of Aseer Development AuthorityCurrently holds the position of CEO of Aseer Region Development Authority since 2022, The Authority is working on implementing the “Qimam and Shim” strategy after its approval by the Council of Ministers, and the Authority is now supervising the implementation of this strategy in a way that achieves development and its direction in the Asir region.
Previously, Hashim held the position of Advisor to the Minister of Investment, responsible for leading the National Investment Strategy file and establishing the implementation unit associated with it in the Ministry. He worked as an advisor in the Ministry of Economy and Planning, where he was responsible for several files, including reforming the retirement system, financial policy (under the name of the Financial Balance Program, which was later transformed into the Financial Sustainability Program, one of the programs of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030), and was seconded as the head of the National Center for Strategic Development Studies, and worked at McGraw-Hill Education Company, first as Business Development Manager and then as the company’s manager in the Kingdom. He held the position of Investment Manager at Manara Company in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and worked in the general planning of Saudi Aramco as an analyst of the global economy and oil markets.
Hashim obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering with two certificates in Applied Mathematics and Engineering Management Systems from Princeton University in the United States of America in 2001. He then obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University in the United States of America in 2007.
Dr. Maryam Ficociello
Chief Governance Officer at Red Sea GlobalIn her role as Chief Governance Officer in the Red Sea Development Company Group, Maryam leads the Governance, Risk and Compliance division (GRC). She is responsible for implementing effective, transparent and accountable governance practices. Her role expands further into identifying, assessing and managing the company’s internal and external risks in order to support the Board and Executive Management in executing and achieving their objectives. She has led the development of the Internal Control Framework as well as the Enterprise Risk Management and Resilience Framework and is responsible for monitoring the company’s performance against them.
Maryam serves on a number of external committees and bodies in matters relating to Governance, Risk, Audit, Compliance and Sustainability/ESG.
Prior to her current role, Maryam garnered extensive experience advising and supporting various public and private entities in Real Estate Development, Hospitality, Aviation, Defense, Media, Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing and Construction, and advising family businesses on developing Family Business governance constitutions/protocols.
Maryam lectured at various educational institutions both locally and internationally on matters relating to governance and managing organizational change. She served as an independent advisor on a number of topics including Governance, large-scale technology implementation, as well as Public Sector transformation and management. She is a member of the GCC Board of Directors Institute.
David Beatty
Professor at Rotman School of ManagementOne of the world’s most experienced corporate directors and educators, David has served as a Director on 40 boards in Canada, America, Mexico, Australia and England and been chairman of 9 public and 2 private companies. He was the founding Managing Director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (2003-2007), an organization that today represents 50 institutional investors with ~$3 trillion of assets under management (AUM).
In 2004, he helped create and still helps oversee the Canadian Directors’ Education Program with the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), a rigorous 12-day course that has now graduated over 8,000 senior Canadian entrepreneurs, directors and family office members.
Overseas he has taught In dozens of other jurisdictions. For example, From 2010 until 2017 he and the BDI created and led the Directors Education Program for Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest company headquartered in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In 1994 he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his services to Papua New Guinea.
In 2012 he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee medal for his contributions to Canadian mining.
In 2013 he was inducted into the Order of Canada (C.M.) the nation’s highest civilian honor. The only recipient ever to be cited for his work on Canadian Corporate governance.
In 2018 he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) a grouping of global asset managers with AUMs ~$50 trillion in 47 nations. He was only the third Canadian to be so recognised.
Charles Myers
Chairman and Founder of Signum Global AdvisorsCharles Myers is Chairman and Founder of Signum Global Advisors, has over 22 years of US political and electoral experience advising candidates in Presidential, Senate, House of Representatives and Gubernatorial and Mayoral races, including Hillary Clinton for President 2016 and Biden for President 2020. He also has 30 years of experience in global financial markets.
As Chairman, Charles works with financial institutions and multi-national businesses to anticipate and assess policy agendas and announcements. Areas of expertise include US foreign policy and the implications of the Biden presidency in the US, Europe and Asia. Charles also forecasts global trade policy and energy dynamics.
Formerly Vice Chairman of Evercore ISI, he was the Founding Partner & Head of the Institutional Equities business. Prior to that, Charles served as Global Head of Equities and Board Member of Fox-Pitt, Kelton. Charles has a BA from Amherst College in Massachusetts and a post-graduate M. Phil degree from Cambridge University in England.
Ibraheem Sheerah
Chief Transformation Officer at Saudi Arabian Airlines HoldingDr. Ibraheem Sheerah is a seasoned transformation leader and accomplished board member, currently serving as the Chief Transformation Officer at Saudi Arabian Airlines Holding. In this role, he spearheads the Group's transformation strategy and drives its implementation across a diverse portfolio of companies, including Saudia Air Transport, Flyadeel, Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (Saudia Technic), Saudia Cargo, Saudia Logistics (SAL), Saudia Ground Services (SGS), Prince Sultan Aviation Academy (Saudia Academy), and Saudia Private Aviation, among others.
With over 24 years of experience, Mr. Sheerah has built a robust career in strategic transformation, project management, and business development across multiple sectors. His journey began in 1999 as an engineer before transitioning to project management and strategic roles in both domestic and international contexts, working with leading organizations such as Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), a SAMI subsidiary, and Saudi Railways Company (SAR), part of the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
From 2016 to 2021, Mr. Sheerah played a pivotal role in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 programs, taking on leadership positions in initiatives such as the Privatization Program and the Quality of Life Program. His expertise spans public-private partnerships (PPP), privatization, emerging technologies, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, commercial and financial modeling, and governance consulting. He has also been instrumental in establishing new businesses and supporting entrepreneurs in their growth journeys.
As a board member in multiple organizations, Mr. Sheerah brings a strong governance perspective and strategic oversight to his roles, leveraging his vast experience to drive organizational success. He holds many academic degrees and has earned over 46 professional and executive certificates from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, MIT, and INSEAD. Recognized as one of the 2030 MiSK leaders, he is also a sought-after speaker at conferences and forums, sharing insights on industry trends and transformational leadership.
Bushra Abu Salem
Director - Governance & Compliance and Board Secretary of Nesma & Partners ContractinG CompanyBushra Abu Salem is Governance Affairs Director, heading the Governance and Compliance Department at Nesma & Partners, reporting to the Board of Directors. She has also been the secretary of the Board of Directors and most of its Committees at Nesma & Partners from 2015 to 2022, ensuring compliance at the corporate level.
Her competence and knowledge stem from over 23 years of cross-functional experience in legal, corporate governance, and corporate affairs.
Throughout her tenure at Nesma & Partners, Abu Salem has studied, assessed, and compiled reports addressing operating governance at the company. She has grown her expertise in corporate governance, intellectual property, information technology, FIDIC, commercial contracts, contracting business, oil and gas, and more, to assume high-profile positions, namely serving as the Corporate Affairs Executive Manager covering the scope of Chief of Staff with the co-founder and late President & CEO of Nesma & Partners, Imad Gholmie.
Today, Bushra is heading the Governance & Compliance department. As a legal advisor and Board Secretary, Abu Salem’s role focuses on protecting the interests of the company, its shareholders, and its employees. Her robust career with Nesma & Partners features engagement with high-end company projects.
Before joining Nesma & Partners, Abu Salem worked in public and international organizations such as ESCWA, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the World Trade Organization, to name a few.
Abu Salem is an associate with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the UK and GCC BDI Certified Board Secretary. She is also a certified Ethics Officer and a Certified Compliance Professional. She is Vice Chairman of the Board Secretary Forum with GCC BDI and by Quarter 3 will be a Certified Board Director with GCC BDI.
Abu Salem has a bachelor’s degree in law from the Lebanese University and a master’s in Business Law from La Sagesse University with a specialty in Islamic Banking Regulations. She is in the process of completing her Master of Arts in Advanced Studies in International Affairs at the Lebanese American University (LAU).
Vishak Jayakumar
Partner - Cybersecurity and Digital Trust at PwC Middle EastVishak is a Partner in Digital Trust with proven record across Cybersecurity, IT, Governance, ITSM and BC/DR competencies. Operating as an SME for leading large scale projects on above competencies across various industry verticals.
With 15+ years of experience, Vishak has successfully delivered numerous strategic engagements and advising the clients in defining the Target Operating Model for Cybersecurity, IT Service Management and IT Productivity related engagements. He has successfully lead the Business continuity and IT Disaster recovery projects for 3 national level entities (in GCC) providing eGovernment services.
Haitham Al-Jowhari
Partner at PwC Middle EastHaitham is a Partner in the cyber security and digital identity consulting practice of PwC – Middle East. He has 19+ years of experience working with national cyber agencies, government and critical national infrastructure on their cybersecurity agenda and digital identity transformation programs at national, sectoral and entity level. Haitham has also contributed to the establishment of the PwC Middle East cyber practice and is currently the Chief Operations Officer of the digital trust and cybersecurity practice.
Francoise Bertrand
Chair at VIA Rail CanadaAfter a 40-year career as a business executive, Françoise Bertrand now dedicates her time to acting
as a corporate director.
Since the spring of 2017, Ms. Bertrand has been the Chair of the Board of Directors of VIA Rail
Canada. In addition, she is a Strategic Advisor to the Leadership Institute, a member of the Board of
Directors of the Ordre National du Québec and Concordia University and lastly, is a member of the
Advisory Committee of Transurban.
She has served as President and Chief Executive Officer for several organizations, including the
Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Télé-Québec broadcasting corporation. She is a
former dean of Université du Québec à Montréal. She also spent a few years working for consulting
firms, notably for KPMG and as a partner with Groupe Secor.
Françoise Bertrand holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Université de Montréal and a master’s degree in environmental studies from York University. She capped off her academic career at the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Throughout her career, Ms. Bertrand has been recognized with several significant honours, most
notably, Officer of the Order of Canada, Knight of the National Order of Québec and
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of France. She also received an honorary doctorate from
Concordia University and was awarded the title of Fellow by the Institute of Corporate Directors
(ICD). In 2020, Françoise Bertrand received the title of Commander of the Ordre de Montréal.
Fady Chalhoub
Partner - Advisory at PwC Middle EastFady Chalhoub is a seasoned cybersecurity executive with over 22 years of experience. He brings a wealth of expertise in the technology and cybersecurity domains applied across industries. Throughout his career, Fady has demonstrated the ability to generate business, build and lead talented teams and drive successful cybersecurity initiatives that contribute to organizational resilience across the MENA region.
Vinay Chandran
Partner, Dubai at McKinsey & CompanyVinay is an expert partner based in Dubai who specializes in delivering advanced analytics-led business transformations. As co-leader of QuantumBla, AI by McKinsey in the Middle East, he is building our capacity to transform business processes for clients by applying sophisticated data and analytical techniques, shifting to an agile operating model, and building new digital capabilities.
Vinay has more than 20 years of experience serving institutions from a variety of sectors including telecommunications, technology, oil and gas, metals manufacturing, and consumer retail.
Themes in his recent client work include the following:
• Data and AI strategy formulation: advising on defining the full potential institutions can realize through the application of data and analytics, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data
• Industry 4.0 enabled operation transformations: delivering EBITDA improvement through Industry 4.0 enabled operations transformations for a variety of sectors (e.g., food manufacturing and packaging, pharmaceutical manufacturing, chemicals, Oil & Gas refineries)
• Revenue growth through AI enabled personalization: building sophisticated Customer Lifecycle Management capabilities to accelerate top-line growth for leading consumer-facing industries through the application of AI and Big Data capabilities
• Agile operating model design: creating agile operating models for conglomerates that enable the delivery of analytics-led business transformations through Centers of Excellence in data and analytics
• Core technology transformations: capturing cost optimization opportunities in technology functions of telecommunication operators
Matthew Martin
Chief Correspondent for Sovereign Wealth Funds at BloombergMatthew Martin is Bloomberg's chief correspondent for Sovereign Wealth Funds in the GCC, focusing on covering all aspects of money and power in the region. Prior to that he was bureau chief for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen. He's been based in Riyadh since January 2021 and covering the Middle East since 2008. During that time he's interviewed top government officials, sovereign wealth fund heads, CEOs of international firms and the region's major companies, and broken news across economics, business, finance and politics.
Chris Pierce
Senior External Associate at GCC Board Directors InstituteDr 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.
Tarek Rida
Partner at McKinsey & CompanyTarek is a core leader of the firm’s Private Equity & Principal Investors Practice in the Middle East. He serves several leading sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors in the region on portfolio strategy, investment due diligence, operating-model design, and portfolio-performance improvement.
Tarek has supported investors transition into active owners by improving core investment and portfolio-review processes, designing their organizational structures, executing direct investments, and driving value creation in portfolio companies.
Omar Sherin
Partner - Consulting at PwC Middle EastOmar is a Partner in PWC MENA specialized in driving secure digital transformation within Critical National Infrastructures (CNIs), specifically the Energy sector with +21 years of experience. Prior to joining PWC, Omar worked for a manufacturing Fortune 500, and for a global oil and gas major, and also worked as the technology and cyber regulator at a national level for a GCC country.
Karan Soni
Associate Partner at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinseyKaran is an Associate Partner based in Dubai. He has extensive experience across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) in leading large-scale transformations for private- and public-sector institutions seeking to enable the power of big data, advanced analytics, and AI.
He is passionate about transforming the way people and organizations function and using technology and data-informed decision making to change lives and livelihoods.