Richard Attias has built an unrivaled reputation for advising international leaders, corporations and nations on how to build their global influence, catalyze ideas, and mobilize populations. He has provided clients across private and public sectors with hands-on assistance in branding and strategic communications, the development of public-private partnerships, and investment in emerging markets.
Richard Attias’ talent for anticipating and managing the most pressing issues of our time, activating powerful networks and inspiring innovation, is based on the development and production of more than 2000 events over the past 30 years. The following are just a few examples of the leading platforms he has produced: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, Clinton Global Initiative, Nobel Laureates Conferences, The New York Forum, The New York Forum AFRIC, UNESCO NGO Forum, One Planet Summit, Olympism In Action, Future Investment Initiative, Bloomberg New Economy Forum, The African Cup, The African Games, and multiple opening ceremonies. Attias currently serves as the CEO of the FII Institute, a new generation of not for profit foundation dedicated to empowering the world’s brightest minds to shape a brighter future for all, with all.
Prior to founding RA&A, Attias spent a decade at the media conglomerate Publicis Groupe, where he served as Executive Chairman of Publicis Events Worldwide. Attias began his career at IBM where a passion for innovation led him to establish several companies in the IT Industry and Global Communications fields. He also served as the CEO of the UAE Government entity Dubai Event Management Company.
Abdullah Alabduljabbar is the Chief Executive Officer at Sanabil Investments. He joined Sanabil in 2019 after serving at CEO of SADA Investments from 2015 to 2019. Prior, he was Head of Strategy and Planning at Bank Albilad.
Abdullah earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from California State University-Hayward in 1998.
Rania Nashar, a former chief executive of Samba Financial Group, was recently appointed head of compliance and governance at the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Saudi Arabia’s $430 billion PIF is one of the world’s largest and most prominent sovereign wealth funds, and the primary driver of the Kingdom’s economic change in line with its Vision 2030 goals, and it has increased its employees from 40 in 2016 to more than 1,100 employees today.
Nashar joined the fund in January as a senior adviser to its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan. She has more than two decades of experience in the banking sector.
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and information technology from King Saud University in 1997.
Nashar also attended the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business for several finance and risk management programs.
She began her career with Samba Financial Group after obtaining her bachelor’s degree, working as a private bank technology and quality assurance coordinator for nearly four years, before moving to e-consumerism for another four years.
In 2006, Nashar was promoted to anti-money laundering compliance officer, before she became the head of compliance less than three years after that. In October 2014, she became the chief audit executive, until she rose to CEO in 2017.
She was also the chair of the Women in Business Action Council at B20 Saudi Arabia, the voice of the private sector to the G20.
Nashar is also a board member of the National Center for Performance Measurement (Adaa).
Adah Almutairi is a scholar, inventor, and entrepreneur. Almutairi is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry; affiliate faculty in the departments of Bioengineering and NanoEngineering; and Director of the Center for Excellence in Nanomedicine and Engineering in the Institute of Engineering in Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Her work focuses on nanomedicine, nanotechnology, chemistry and polymer science.
Almutairi is a 2016 Kavli Fellow and has received numerous honors and awards such as the NIH director’s new innovator award in 2009 for her work on “Chemically Amplified Response Strategies for Medical Sciences”.
Prof. Almutairi holds over a dozen U.S. and International patents, many of which are currently licensed in Industry. Prof. Almutairi is the Founder of eLux Medical Inc.
Professor Tony Chan assumed his role as the third president of KAUST in September 2018 after nearly a decade as president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He led a strategic planning process to lead KAUST into its second decade, including growing the faculty and students by up to 50%. He has expanded KAUST’s research emphasis from energy, water, food and environment to include digital and health, launching new initiatives in Artificial Intelligence and Smart Health. He is increasing investment and capacity in innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer to fulfill the second mission of the University. By positioning the University to leverage KSA’s ambitious Vision 2030 strategic plan, he is strengthening its engagement with the Nation. Finally, he is leading efforts to enhance the global and national visibility of KAUST.
Before joining HKUST, President Chan was Assistant Director of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate at the US National Science Foundation from 2006 to 2009. He taught Computer Science at Yale University before joining UCLA as Professor of Mathematics in 1986 and was Chair of the Department of Mathematics in 1997 and later Dean of Physical Sciences. He was a co-founder of the US NSF funded National Math Institute IPAM.
He received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Engineering from Caltech and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering.