Sir Noel Quinn retired as Group Chief Executive of HSBC in September 2024, after five years in the role. Before his retirement, Mr Quinn was with HSBC – or its constituent companies – for 37 years. In 1987, he joined Forward Trust Group, a subsidiary of Midland Bank (now HSBC UK) and he led HSBC’s acquisitions of Swan National Motor Finance and Eversholt Leasing Ltd, becoming General Manager of each business in turn. He subsequently served as Head of Specialised and Equity Finance at HSBC; Group Director of Strategy & Development at HSBC Insurance Services North America; Head of Commercial Finance Europe; and Head of Commercial Banking UK. From 2011 to 2015, he was the Regional Head of Commercial Banking for Asia- Pacific, based in Hong Kong. Mr Quinn was appointed Chief Executive, Global Commercial Banking in December 2015. Mr Quinn remains involved with the Sustainable Markets Initiative, which was founded by HM King Charles III, as Prince of Wales, in 2020. He previously chaired its Financial Services Taskforce and was also previously a Principal of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which commits financial institutions worldwide to align their lending and investment portfolios with net zero emissions by 2050. Mr Quinn qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Richard Attias is the Chairman of the FII Institute Executive Committee, Member of the Board of Trustees, and Acting CEO of FII Institute.
He is also the Founder and Chairman of Richard Attias & Associates, a leading global communication strategy firm, and previously served as Executive Producer of the World Economic Forum (1996–2008).
Over the course of his career, Attias has built an unparalleled reputation for activating powerful networks, inspiring innovation, fostering public-private partnerships, and driving foreign direct investment in emerging markets.
Attias began his professional journey at IBM, where his passion for innovation led him to establish several companies in the global IT and computing services sectors, before spending a decade at the media conglomerate Publicis Groupe, where he served as Executive Chairman of Publicis Events Worldwide. He also served as CEO of the UAE government entity Dubai Event Management Company.
Attias completed his studies in civil engineering and earned a master’s degree in mathematics and physics.
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.
Recently named by Fortune as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world’s leaders on exponentially growing technologies.
As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He is cofounder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies, and co-founder and Vice Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company.
Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling author of two books: Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think and BOLD – How to go Big, Create Wealth & Impact the World. His newest book in this series of exponential technologies —The Future is Faster Than You Think — released on January 28, 2020.
He earned degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering from the MIT and holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Diamandis’ favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”
Mohamed Alabbar is a global entrepreneur with active interests in real estate, retail, hospitality, e-commerce, technology, logistics, F&B and venture capital.
At the forefront of global real estate since 1997, he leads marquee real-estate development companies Emaar Properties and Eagle Hills. He has spearheaded the growth of Emaar Properties to attain an unmatched track record of successfully developing iconic residential, retail, entertainment, hospitality & leisure assets and transform the lifestyles of people globally though developing world-class mixed use projects across 20+ markets.
In addition, he has driven the growth of several regional players into world-renowned sector champions including Americana Group and e-commerce platforms noon.com and Namshi. More recently, he expanded holdings into China with leading mobile transportation platform Didi Chuxing and popular coffee chain, Luckin Coffee.
He is a trusted partner to strategic investors including sovereign wealth funds, family offices as well as public investors. He has successfully nurtured distinctive long term relationships with housing authorities, regional ministries, global and regional banks and tech companies.
Alabbar is a recipient of three Honorary Doctorates from Seattle University, London School of Economics and Sun Moon University in South Korea.
Matteo Renzi has been the Senator of the electoral college of Florence since 2018. In his political experience he has served as Prime Minister of Italy from February 2014 to December 2016 and as Mayor of Florence from June 2009 to February 2014. He was the youngest prime minister in the history of the Italian Republic.
With his government’s economic policies, Italy has gone from -1.7% of GDP to + 1.6%. His “JobsAct” bill created 1.2 million new jobs. Foreign investment, the export of Italian products, tourism, the trust of consumers and companies all grew during his government, as had not happened since Italy’s adoption of the Euro. Renzi led the European council with the Italian presidency in the second half of 2014. He participated in numerous international meetings including three editions of the G20 (Australia, Turkey, China) and three editions of the G7. He signed the Paris agreement on environmental sustainability and climate change. He tackled the migration crisis as Prime Minister by proposing the Migration Compact in Europe and the Sophia operation named after the little girl saved at sea by Italian volunteers. He signed the law on the recognition of civil unions, multiplied state investments against poverty by 100, led the only Italian government with gender equality between women and men.
Renzi is the author of numerous publications and of a television series on the cultural, financial and artistic beauty of Florence aired in 2018-2019 on the Discovery platform. Renzi graduated in law from the University of Florence. Since 2017 he has taught a course at Stanford University at their Florence headquarters entitled “The challenges of Europe”. He is a member of a number of advisory boards. He was a leader of the Italian catholic scout. He is married to Agnese and has three children.
Her Royal Highness Ambassador Reema Bandar Al-Saud has served as the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States since February 2019, appointed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. She was the first woman to serve in the role in the Kingdom’s history.
HRH has championed initiatives that promote social inclusion and women’s advancement, and youth engagement. In public service, she served as Vice President for Women’s Affairs at the Saudi General Sports Authority and later became President of the Mass Participation Federation, where she was the first woman to lead a multi-sport federation in Saudi Arabia.
She currently serves as President of the Women’s Committee and sits on the board of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee. HRH is head of the Fashion Commission at the Ministry of Culture. Internationally, she is a member of the International Olympic Committee, the IMF Advisory Entrepreneurship and Advisory Council, and the board of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute. In addition, she is the founder of Catmosphere and WAVE, global initiatives aimed at advancing interconnected wellbeing, conservation, and ocean regeneration.
His Excellency Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan has been Governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia since 2015, leading all areas of operation of the sovereign wealth fund, which sits at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and economic transformation strategy. His Excellency also serves as Advisor to the General Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, a position he has held since 2016.
H.E. Al-Rumayyan’s experience encompasses over 25 years working in some of Saudi Arabia’s prominent financial institutions. He began his career at the Saudi Hollandi Bank, where he occupied key positions across various departments before becoming Head of International Brokerage. In 2004, His Excellency joined the Capital Market Authority as part of the founding team, being appointed Director of the Corporate Finance and Issuance Division in 2008. From 2010 until 2015, he served as Chief Executive Officer and board member of Saudi Fransi Capital, during which he also sat on the board of Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange, from 2014 to 2015.
His Excellency holds key positions on the boards of some of the world’s most influential companies and organizations, most notably as Chairman of Saudi Aramco, the world’s most valuable listed company, a position he has held since September 2019. He has also held the position of Chairman of Ma’aden since September 2019. H.E. Al-Rumayyan is currently a board member of Uber Technologies Inc., Saudi Industrial Development Fund, SoftBank Group Corp. and ARM Limited respectively.
H.E. Al-Rumayyan holds a degree in Accounting from King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s General Management Program.