H.E Dr. Najem bin Abdulla Al Zaid is the Vice Minister of Justice in Saudi Arabia. He was the Founding Partner of ZS&R law firm in association with Hogan Lovells. He is the Chairman of the Saudi Electricity Company and a member of the Tadawul Group’s Regulatory Policies and Oversight Committee. Further, he is a Board and Board Risk Committee member at Gulf International Bank - Saudi Arabia, a Board Member in the Royal Commission for Riyadh City. Additionally, he is member of the Audit Committee in the Public Investment Fund.

He also served as the Vice Chairman of the Mediterranean & Gulf Cooperative Insurance & Reinsurance Company, Board Member of the National Centre for Privatization & PPP, member of the audit committees at Diriyah Gate Development Authority and the Saudi Agriculture & Livestock Company (SALIC), member of the governance committee at Arabian Centres Company, member of the governance committee at the Saudi International Petrochemical Company, member of the executive committee of the Saudi Falcon Club and member of the Saudi Delegation that negotiated Saudi Arabia’s World Trade Organization (WTO) membership.

Prior to founding ZS&R, Dr. Al Zaid was the Chief Governance and Legal Officer at Al Rajhi Bank Group and had previously served as the Commissioner and a Board Member of the Saudi Capital Market Authority, appointed by royal order. He also worked as Counsel at the Islamic Development Bank Group.

Dr. Al Zaid holds a Doctor of Juridical Science from the George Washington University Law School, USA, a Master of Laws from the University of Minnesota Law School, USA, a High Diploma in Law from the Institute of Public Administration, Saudi Arabia, and a BA in Islamic Jurisprudence & Law from Umm AlQura University, Saudi Arabia. Further, he successfully completed the Harvard Law School Leadership Program and the London Business School Management Development Program. He has 30 years’ professional experience.

Mr. Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Helaissi is the Group Chief Executive Officer and a Board Member of Gulf International Bank B.S.C, Chairman of Gulf International Bank (UK) Limited and Vice Chairman of Gulf International Bank – Saudi Arabia. His board memberships include GIB Capital, Golf Saudi, Saudi Golf Federation and the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF). Mr. Al-Helaissi also serves as a member of the Global Board of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and co-chair of its Emerging Markets Advisory Council (EMAC).

Prior to joining GIB in February 2016, Mr. Al-Helaissi was the Deputy Governor for Supervision at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), having started there in 2013. At SAMA, his responsibilities included the oversight of the banking and insurance sectors as well as finance company regulations (mortgage, leasing, and other nonbank finance institutions). He was also responsible for consumer protection. 

Prior to SAMA, Mr. Al-Helaissi was Senior Country Officer and Managing Director, Saudi Arabia, for JP Morgan Chase, as well as Head of Global Corporate Banking for the Middle East and North Africa. Earlier in his career, he was General Manager, Central Province of Saudi British Bank (affiliate of HSBC) and covered all key lines of business, including corporate and consumer banking. He has also served on a number of boards, including the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and King Fahd Causeway Authority.

Mr. Al-Helaissi has 35 years’ banking and regulatory experience and holds a BA in Economics from the University of Texas in Austin, USA.

Ahmed Alenazi is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Barraq Financial Company. Prior to this, Mr. Alenazi was Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of STC Pay, Vice President of Business at STC Pay, and General Manager of the Enjaz Division at Bank AlBilad. He also served as Syndication Unit Manager and Quality & Development Department Manager at Bank AlBilad. He began his career in the Fresh Graduates Program at the National Commercial Bank, and later held various responsibilities including customer service supervisory, MIS, and credit operations.

He is a Board Member of Barraq Financial Company, eFinance for Digital & Financial Investments (Egypt), Wamid (a Tadawul subsidiary), and the Insurance Authority (Saudi Arabia).

Mr. Alenazi holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Delaware, USA, and a BSc in Administrative Science (Economics) from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He also holds the Certified Project Finance Specialist (CPFS™) designation from the International Academy of Business and Financial Management, along with several other professional certifications. He has over 20 years’ professional experience.

Dr. Khalid Al Faddagh is the former General Auditor (Chief Audit Executive) of Saudi Aramco and currently serves as a Board Member and Committee Chair across several major institutions.

He previously served as President and CEO of Petron Corporation which is Aramco’s Joint Venture in the Philippines and as Executive Director of Corporate Planning at Saudi Aramco. During his tenure at Aramco, he also held senior leadership roles in engineering, operations, and project management across the company’s upstream and downstream businesses.

He is a Board Risk Committee Member at the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Chairman of the Board Audit & Risk Committee at DataVolt , and a Board Member and Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee at Vision Invest and LUBEREF. He also serves as a Board Audit Committee Member at Banque Saudi Fransi, Rua Alharam Almaki, Roshn, and Saudi Eksab. His previous board and committee memberships include SABIC, STC, ACWA Power, and BUPA Arabia, among others.

Dr. Al Faddagh holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London, an MSc from the University of Manchester (UMIST), and has completed the Program for Management Development (PMD) at Harvard Business School, USA. He has over 35 years’ professional experience and is a recipient of the Regional Lifetime Achievement Award from the UAE Institute of Internal Auditors.
 

Maram Al Johani is Acting Chief of Staff and Secretary General to the Board of Public Investment Fund (PIF). In addition, she serves as Secretary of the PIF Board Investment Committee, Board Risk Committee, and the Data and Analytics Steering Committee, and as Assistant Secretary of the PIF Management Committee. She is also a member of the Environmental, Social, and Governance Committee for El Seif Engineering Contracting, and an Executive Committee Member at the Future Investment Initiative Institute.

Previously, she held several senior positions at PIF, including Senior Director, Head of Data and Committees Governance and Advisory Department; Director and Acting Head of Reporting and Committees Management Department; Vice President, Head of Board and Committees Affairs Unit; and Senior Associate in the Stakeholders Management Department. She began her career in professional services, serving as Senior Associate in Core Assurance Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Her previous roles include serving as a Board Member of AlNassr Club Company, where she also chaired the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and was a member of the Executive Committee.

Maram Al Johani holds an MBA with a major in Finance from Prince Sultan University and a BSC in Translation with a major in English from King Saud University. She has also completed the Leadership Development Program at Harvard Business School. She has over 13 years’ professional experience.

Mr. Sultan bin Abdul Malek Al-Sheikh is a Senior Director - Head of Financial Institutions Sector at the MENA Investments Division at the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). He is the Board Chairman of Tawrid Company for Financing Solutions. He also serves as a Board Member of Tahakom Investment Company, Gulf International Bank - Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC). In addition, Mr. Al-Sheikh is a Board member, Member of the Executive Board Committee and Member of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee of the Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC). Mr Al-Sheikh also serves as Board Director at the Saudi Sports Company and as Member of the Executive Board Committee at Al-Nasser Club Co. Prior to joining PIF, Mr. Al-Sheikh held key positions in reputable financial institutions. He served as an Associate and Vice President of Investment Banking at Saudi Fransi Capital. Mr. Al-Sheikh also worked as an Officer in the Securities Listing Department at the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) and as a Relationship Manager at the National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, he previously served as a director at Al-Marai Company and the Helicopter Company and as Chairman of Saudi Company for Exchanging Digital Information (Tabadul).

Mr. Al-Sheikh holds a MSc in Finance from the George Washington University, USA, and a BSc in Finance from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. He has 21 years’ professional experience.

Mr. Rajeev Kakar is a Board Member of Eurobank Ergasias SA (Greece) and is a Global Advisory Board member at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, SP Jain School of Global Management and Indian Institute of Management – Pan IIM Board (GCC). He is also a Board Member at Gulf International Bank - Saudi Arabia.

From 2006-2018, he was the Global Co-Founder of Fullerton Financial Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Singapore; and served concurrently as the Global CEO of Consumer Banking, Regional CEO for Central Europe, Middle East and Africa; and as the founder, Managing Director and CEO of Dunia Finance, Fullerton’s UAE subsidiary. Prior to that, he was at Citibank for 20 years, finishing as the Regional CEO & Division Executive - Turkey, Middle East and Africa. Additionally, he also served as Board Member of Commercial International Bank (Kenya), Commercial International Bank (Egypt) and Unit Trust of India Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mr. Kakar holds an MBA, Finance & Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, and a B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. He has 38 years’ professional experience.

Mr. Frank Schwab is a strategic advisor, a co-founder of FinTech Forum Frankfurt, and a member of the Supervisory Boards of Addiko Bank in Vienna and Hauck & Aufhaeuser Innovative Capital in Frankfurt Mr. Schwab is also a Board Member of Tawrid. His main topics are innovation, crypto currencies, blockchain, technology, transformation and banking.

Previously, Mr. Schwab was the CEO of GIZS GmbH & Co KG (Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe / paydirekt), MD of Token GmbH Germany, and CEO of Fidor Solutions AG. He was also the Chairman of Hufsy in Copenhagen, and a senior advisor to McKinsey on banking transformation in Germany. He has held numerous management roles at Deutsche Bank AG, including Director for Strategy, Architecture, Business Development and Innovation; Group Technology & Operations; Private & Business Clients; IT & Operations; as well as Head of Internet & E-Commerce Technology. He also lectured for several years at the Mannheim Business School Creativity and Innovation Management. Additionally, he also served as a member of the Risk Advisory Committee at PayU (Amsterdam) and a Senior Strategic Advisor at Nagarro.

Mr. Schwab holds an Executive MBA from Ashridge, UK and completed a Bank Officer apprenticeship with Deutsche Bank, Mannheim, Germany, and study of Computer Science and Business Administration at the University of Mannheim. He has 28 years’ professional experience.

Mr. Nezar Al Saie is the Vice Chairman of the Board at Gulf Union Holding and is also an entrepreneur who has founded several leading regional companies in the telecom and building materials sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain, including Kalaam Telecom and Polycon Bahrain, and is currently the Chairman of both companies. Mr. Al Saie is also the Chairman of Ahmed Al Saie & Bros and N. Al Saie W.L.L.

Previously, Mr. Al Saie spent 14 years at Investcorp Bahrain, where he was a member of the Management Committee and responsible for the placement of alternative assets including private equity, real estate, and hedge funds in the Gulf region. Prior to that, he was a Vice President at Chase Manhattan in Bahrain and London, where he worked across the global bank’s credit, corporate and private banking divisions. Mr. Al Saie served on the Boards of several public and private financial institutions, and as senior advisor to Lazard Brothers, London, and Itau Bank, Brazil.

Mr. Al Saie holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, and a MSc in Management from London Business School. He has 44 years’ professional experience.