Prince Turki Al-Faisal is a co-founder and trustee of the King Faisal Foundation and currently serves as chairman of its Center for Research and Islamic Studies. He has also been an adviser at the Royal Court since 1973.
Between 1977 and 2001, Prince Turki was the director general of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID).
In October 2002, Prince Turki became the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UK and Ireland. In 2005 he took up an ambassadorial role in the US, a position he held until his retirement in 2007.
He received an honorary Ph.D. in Law from the University of Ulster in Ireland in 2010, and another honorary Ph.D. in International Politics from the University of Hankuk in Korea in 2011. He is a visiting Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University.
Prince Turki holds a bachelor’s degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he studied alongside former US President Bill Clinton.
He also studied at Princeton, University of Cambridge, and the University of London, where he attended courses in Islamic law and jurisprudence.
Prince Turki recently received one of Afghanistan’s highest honors — the Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan medal — for his work in support of Afghan independence.
Afghan Minister of Finance Mohammad Qayoumi and the country’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sayed Jalal Karim, made the presentation at a ceremony in the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Hall on Monday, which included a video message from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani congratulating Prince Turki on his medal.
“The Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan medal is a symbol of honor and admiration awarded to exceptional personalities to acknowledge their remarkable efforts on behalf of Afghanistan,” Ghani said.
Prince Turki thanked the Afghan leader for the award, and expressed his desire for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Al-Ohali has been the rector of King Faisal University (KFU) in Al-Ahsa since April 2017.
He is also a member of the board of trustees of Prince Sultan University in Riyadh. Previously, he served as the dean of the faculty of graduate studies at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran.
He also was the vice dean of graduate studies, the undersecretary in charge of the deanship of scientific research, and the general coordinator of the Basic and Applied Research Program in the Research Institute at KFUPM.
Al-Ohali was the director of Aafaq (Horizons), a 25-year plan to improve higher education opportunities for women, boost scientific research and tackle the Kingdom’s shortage of scientists in critical fields. The initiative was announced in 2009 by the Education Ministry.
He holds a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the US, and has participated in more than 40 research papers.
On the occasion of Saudi National Day, Al-Ohali said all KFU staff members and students are “proud of the history of their country, and they are happy with the services provided to them in their university, including equipment and technologies that allow them to reach opportunities of academic and scientific excellence.”
He praised the Saudi government’s support and care for the KFU since its establishment in 1975.
Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al-Samari has been the vice president and managing director of the Local Content and Private Sector Development Unit (Namaa) since January 2017.
Namaa participated in the first Saudi International Iron and Steel Conference, held on Sept. 16-18, where more than 40 countries and a large number of local and international companies were represented.
Al-Samari said that this participation comes within the framework of the authority’s efforts to publicize its strategy in the development of local content at various levels, in addition to its role in raising awareness of the importance of local content in economic development and increasing demands from both the public and private sectors for local products and goods.
Al-Samari graduated from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals with a bachelor’s degree in management information systems, and a master’s in business administration.
He started at Saudi Aramco in 2004 as an analyst, working on projects that enhance data processing systems, before he joined the Northern Area Oil Operations, where he worked as as a planning analyst, accounting staff analyst and business systems analyst.
In 2012, Al-Samari worked for four years as a strategy manager at Accenture, a company that offers services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital technology and operations.
Between 2016 and 2017, he served as an adviser to the minister of economy and planning.
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, chairman of the General Sports Authority, has been appointed as the president of the Arab Football Federation.
The decision came at the federation’s 25th meeting held in Jeddah on Monday. Prince Abdul Aziz has been appointed the federation’s chief for four years. He pledged to work for the development an integrated system to promote sports in the region.
Born on Jan. 4, 1983, Prince Abdul Aziz is an athlete and a talented entrepreneur. He spent most of his childhood in Europe, where he pursued an active lifestyle and was introduced to motorsports at an early age. Prior to his appointment as the chairman of the General Sports Authority, Prince Abdul Aziz served as the vice chairman of the authority. He attained his bachelor’s degree in politics from King Saud University in 2003 then went on to obtain a degree in politics at School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London in 2006.
He also studied marketing at the College of Business Administration in Jeddah from 2006 to 2010. Additionally, he graduated from the Formula BMW School in Bahrain in 2005.
Prince Abdul Aziz has participated in many motor racing events and won various titles including the Porsche GT3 Championship in 2012 (he came in first), the Toyo Tires Cup in Dubai (first place), Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, Formula BMW Bahrain, ADAC GT Masters Round, Porsche GT3 CCME (which he won 9 times), Radical Masters AUH round (where he came in second), 24H Dubai race, 24H Series.
He also participated in the Gulf Race12 Hours twice, coming in first place in 2014 and second place in 2015. He also succeeded outside the Middle East. In 2011, he won the first race in the FIA GT3 in Portugal.
He is also known as the first Saudi to have participated in a GT3 European championship race. He won the championship.
Mohammed Al-Shammary is the vice president of Saudi Aramco’s procurement and supply chain management.
He joined Aramco in 1981 and obtained a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of South California in 1987. During his tenure with the company, Al-Shammary has worked primarily in the upstream side of the business at several Aramco oil fields.
From 2000 to 2017, he held various leadership roles with the company, including manager of the Qatif and Abu Sa’fah development department, managing director of the London-based Saudi Petroleum Overseas Ltd., president and CEO of the Aramco Gulf Operation Company based in Al-Khafji and executive director of Saudi Aramco community services.
Al-Shammary has attended executive education programs at the London Business School and Oxford University. He is also a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and previously held the position of senior regional vice president for the Middle East for ASIS International.
In his current role, Al-Shammary is responsible for overseeing the inbound corporate supply chain, including the procurement of diversified project construction, operational and maintenance service contracts and the placement of material purchases for strategic and general supply commodities.
He is also responsible for maximizing localization opportunities for materials and services, the management and control of corporate inventory, overseeing global materials logistics movements.
Speaking at a recent forum of industry leaders held in Dammam, Al-Shammary said the Saudi Aramco provided investment opportunities worth $40 billion to small and medium-size enterprises in the Kingdom.
He also highlighted the role of Aramco in promoting investment opportunities in the country through different programs particularly in the energy sector.
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman was appointed energy minister by royal decree on Sunday, replacing Khalid Al-Falih, who had held the post since May 2016.
Prince Abdul Aziz had served as minister of state for energy affairs at the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources since 2017.
He had also served as deputy minister of petroleum and mineral resources since 2015, and was an assistant to the minister from 2004 to 2015, undersecretary at the ministry from 1995 to 2004, and adviser to the minister from 1987 to 1995.
Prince Abdul Aziz served as director of the department of economic and industrial studies at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals from 1985 to 1987.
He headed the team formed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Saudi Aramco to prepare the Kingdom’s oil strategy, as well as the team charged with updating the strategy.
He also played a role in putting forth the first strategy endorsed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at its ministerial conference in 2005, when he chaired the committee of OPEC oil and energy ministers to prepare its long-term strategy.
Prince Abdul Aziz is a member of the High Committee for Hydrocarbons, the board of directors of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, and the board of directors of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy.
He attained his bachelor’s degree in industrial management from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran in 1982, and his MBA from the same university in 1985.
Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Sultan is Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Austria and non-resident ambassador to Slovakia and Slovenia.
His appointment took place in April 2019, but he took over his duties as an ambassador on Wednesday, when he presented his credentials.
The prince was also sworn in as a permanent delegate to the United Nations and the international organizations in Vienna.
Prince Abdullah presented his credentials to the Chief of Protocol at the Austrian Foreign Ministry Ambassador Enno Drofenik and met the Secretary-General of the Austrian Foreign Ministry Ambassador Johannes Peterlik.
During the meetings, the parties discussed ways to strengthen and develop relations between the two countries in various fields.
The prince was born in 1988. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University in New York City, US, in 2010. He received his master’s degree in business management in 2015 from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Massachusetts.
Between 2010 to 2011, he interned at the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in the UK In that same year, he also worked as a researcher in the Stock Exchange.
In 2018, a royal decree proclaimed him a member in the board of directors for the Saudi Equestrian Club. He is also a member of the executive committee of National Air Services (Nass) Holding Company.
He has served as an adviser at the royal court since June 2017.
Dr. Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Zaidi has been made director of the General Department of Education in Makkah region by the Minister of Education Dr. Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh.
Previously, Al-Zaidi was the deputy director of the Center for the Development of University Education in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Al-Zaidi holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Education at Umm Al-Qura University. He also received his master’s degree from the same university in educational management.
He earned his doctorate in educational leadership and management from the College of Education at the University of Newcastle in the UK.
Al-Zaidi began his career as a teacher in 1986, working in several schools until 1994. After that, he became a supervisor of biology at the Educational Supervision Center in Jeddah. He then became the assistant director at the center between 1997 and 2000.
Al-Zaidi had been an assistant professor of educational administration at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah since 2011, before becoming the head of the department in 2012.
On Wednesday, the General Department of Education in Makkah region will launch “Future Gate,” a digital transformation initiative.
The initiative aims to promote digital learning and change the traditional setting in schools, encouraging more technology-enabled teaching and learning.
The first phase will be in the first semester of the coming academic year, featuring 80 schools, before expanding to a further 175 in the second phase.
Dr. Bandar bin Sulaiman Al-Jamea has been appointed acting chief executive of the Saudi General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM).
Al-Jamea has been CEO of the commission’s corporate services division since January 2019, and his promotion was announced on Sunday following approval by Saudi minister of media, Turki Al-Shabanah.
GCAM aims to providing various entertainment opportunities for everyone, which will enhance and contribute to diversifying the economy.
Previously, Al-Jamea served in several governmental positions, most recently as adviser to the minister of Islamic affairs and supervised the establishment of the general director of human resources at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
For many years Al-Jamea held the role of general director of human resources at the Saudi Ministry of Civil Service, which he joined in 1996. During his time at the ministry, he developed its new performance management regulations and guidance manual in line with the goals of the King Salman program for human resources development.
The initiative aims to raise the performance quality and productivity of human resources in the Kingdom, building their functional abilities, and preparing and developing leaders. Royal approval of the program included assigning the Ministry of Civil Service to set the standards and mechanisms of implementing the scheme to achieve its targets.
Al-Jamea was also an adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs between 2018 and 2019.
