Safiye is a business strategist focused on supporting national growth via relationship-building. She is committed to bringing together people, organizations and communities to build better futures. Her diverse international experience focuses on investment and development strategy at country levels, adapting context-specific approaches to national needs. 

She has spent the better part of a decade in Saudi Arabia, having first served as Commercial Advisor at the Royal Danish Embassy in Riyadh and later Head of the Embassy’s Trade Council. Here she brought together national and international stakeholders from private and public sectors to boost investment, spur development and build consensus on economic issues that matter to the region and the world. 

Safiye most recently served as Senior Strategic Advisor to the President’s Office at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where she supported the institution’s mission for local and global impact, with a focus on strategic partnerships and collaborations around science, entrepreneurship, innovation and education. 

At the FII Institute, Safiye leads efforts to build lasting strategic partnerships supporting a vision for a better world powered by advances in healthcare, sustainability, artificial intelligence and robotics. She works with public, private and philanthropic entities and individuals who share the belief that in order to make progress, all areas of business, leadership, society and thought must be engaged.