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.
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.
Appointed Ambassador to the USA in February 2019, HRH is the first woman in the country’s history to serve in this role. From 1983 to 2005, she lived in Washington, DC, while her father Prince Bandar was Ambassador. When Princess Reema returned to Saudi Arabia she focused on private sector initiatives and the empowerment of women. From 2007 – 2015 she was CEO of Alfa International Company Limited – Harvey Nichols Riyadh, a multi-brand luxury retail company, where she set the tone for female inclusion in retail. In 2013, she founded Alf Khair, a social enterprise elevating the professional capital of Saudi women through a curriculum enabling financial self-sufficiency.
In 2016, Princess Reema left private sector and joined public service as Vice President of Women’s Affairs at the Saudi General Sports Authority where she developed policies and programs benefitting women and children. In 2018 she was promoted to Deputy of Development and Planning before also being appointed President of the Mass Participation Federation, making her the first woman to lead a multi-sports federation in the Kingdom.
Princess Reema’s other roles and appointments include: Chairman of the Special Olympics (since 2019); Board Member of Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (since 2017), Board Member the Future Investment Initiative Institute (2020), Board Member Panthera’s Conservation Council (2020); Member of the World Bank’s Advisory Council for the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (since 2017), Member Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (since 2017), Member International Olympic Committee (IOC) Women in Sports Commission (since 2018).
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.