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.

Turqi Alnowaiser has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2019. Mr. Alnowaiser has served as Deputy Governor and Head of the International Investments Division at the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, since June 2021, and previously served as Head of International Investments at the Public Investment Fund from October 2016 to June 2021.

Mr. Alnowaiser previously served as Senior Advisor at the Public Investment Fund from October 2015 to September 2016, prior to which he held several executive roles at Saudi Fransi Capital, a leading financial services firm based in Saudi Arabia, including as Head of Asset Management. Before his career at Saudi Fransi Capital, Mr. Alnowaiser specialized in developing, managing, and regulating various financial products across asset classes at Morgan Stanley, the Capital Market Authority of Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund. Mr. Alnowaiser has served on the board of directors of Hapag-Lloyd AG, an international shipping and container transportation company, since February 2018.

Mr. Alnowaiser holds a B.A. in International Business from King Saud University and an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco.

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.”​

Mr. Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar is a global entrepreneur with active interests in real estate, retail, hospitality, e-commerce, technology, logistics, F&B and venture capital.

Experience
Since 1997, he has been at the forefront of global real estate, leading marquee real-estate development companies such as Emaar Properties (developer of world’s tallest building) and Eagle Hills (leading emerging markets real estate developer). He has spearheaded the growth of Emaar Properties attaining unmatched track record of successfully developing iconic futuristic residential, retail, entertainment, hospitality & leisure assets transforming the lifestyles of people globally. Over the years he has developed world-class mixed used projects, including his retail businesses, across 20+ markets of Middle East, North & Sub Saharan Africa, Central & Eastern Europe and South & South East Asia and US.

Business Acumen
In addition, he has driven the growth of several regional players into world-renown sector champions including Americana Group (a multibillion-dollar food business, the largest integrated food company in the Middle East) and noon.com (the leading e-commerce platform in the region). He was also the Chairman and Co-founder of RSH Limited, a leading pan-Asian and Middle Eastern marketer, distributor, and retailer of internationally renowned sports, golf, active lifestyle, and fashion brands with a portfolio of over 70 brands and a distribution network spanning more than 40 countries in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region, as well as more than 1000 freestanding stores and shops-in-shops. Mr Alabbar is also shareholder in Artstreet Limited which owns interests in real estate business. He is the Chairman of Zand, one of the world’s first combined digital corporate and retail bank to launch from the UAE.

Education
A graduate in Finance and Business Administration from the Seattle University in the US, also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Seattle University, an Honorary Doctorate from London School of Economics and Political Science and an Honorary Doctorate from Sun Moon University in South Korea.