Michael Reininger is at the helm of Qiddiya Investment Company as Chief Executive Officer of this once-in-a-lifetime project. Previously he served as Executive Director of Florida East Coast Industries. He was also President and Chief Development Officer for Brightline, which created the first private sector intercity express passenger rail system in the United States in over a century. No stranger to big entertainment and leisure projects, he previously led the development of several major new businesses during a 12-year tenure with subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company, including Disneyland Paris Resort, Disney Cruise Line, and Disney Vacation Club, which he initiated. He has also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer for AECOM and Senior Vice President for the largest landowner and developer in the state of Florida, the St. Joe Company.

Hervé Humler is no stranger to the world of luxury. The hospitality expert is one of the co-founders of The Ritz-Carlton and the former President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts and St. Regis Hotels & Resorts. During his time as President and COO of The Ritz-Carlton, the brand’s portfolio grew from 77 to 92 hotels, and 34 to 42 residences and clubs across 26 countries, as he led the company’s strategic vision and global growth strategy. Humler is a proud supporter of corporate social responsibility. During his time at The Ritz-Carlton the company became the first founding partner of IMPACT 2030, a global initiative for the advancement of corporate volunteering which contributes to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As Qiddiya’s COO, he is bringing his unparalleled expertise in the field of hospitality operations and is here to start a new legacy - setting the ground for us to operate the Kingdom’s capital of entertainment, sports and the arts. Humler serves as Chairman Emeritus for The Ritz Carlton and St Regis Hotels and Resorts and is on the Global Business Advisory Board for Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business.

Kareem Shamma is a real estate and construction expert with over 35 years of experience in the industry, primarily in the GCC. He possesses a special flair for managing and driving challenging and iconic projects, all the way from drawing board to reality. Shamma has been at the helm of key projects in hospitality, leisure and mixed-use real estate development. With a Masters degree in Structural Engineering from Imperial College, London, his technical experience began with projects covering bridges & highways, dredging & reclamation and geotechnical engineering, working for many years with global consultants Dar Al Handasah.  He moved on to Project Management, honing his commercial and development skills on such iconic projects as Amwaj Islands in Bahrain, and has in recent years held top posts with key real estate developers including the Al Futtaim Group in the UAE. His skill set is as impressive and extensive as his career trajectory. Fluent in Arabic and English, he is a problem solver with a deep understanding of cultural norms and values, having started his career in Saudi Arabia over 30 years ago, working on Riyadh’s ring road network. Now he is back in the Kingdom as the CDO of Qiddiya, mandated to deliver, along with the rest of the development team, this capital of entertainment, sports and the arts.

Abdulrahman M. Mansour’s impeccable understanding of the local market comes with his solid 18-year exposure to the Kingdom’s valuable industries. An expert in developing financial, project financing and investment strategies, he has worked across leading industrial organizations, in close association with the Board of Directors and its sub-committee levels (for Audit and Investments). During his time at Saudi Arabian Industrial Investment Co., Abdulrahman held the role of Executive Director of Finance & Control, and also served as acting Chief Corporate Services Officer. An expert in his field, he successfully led financial operations across international joint ventures within Alcoa-Ma’aden Aluminum Companies and Saudi Aramco Offshore Projects. He has a master’s degree from Manchester Business School (UK), and also received executive financial education from INSEAD (France) and London Business School (UK). He is a Certified Management Accountant and Certified Int’l Project Manager. Abdulrahman loves the outdoors – he enjoys biking as well as golf and all sorts of sports!

Having worked in Human Resources (HR) for more than 24 years, Abdulaziz Ahmed Al-Remaihi is leading Qiddiya’s recruitment and talent management strategy, so that we can find the best people to grow our team and bring this unique project to life. Before joining Qiddiya, Abdulaziz spent 11 years at Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City in Riyadh as Director of the Human Resources Department. He has also held HR roles at Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Alawwal Bank and GlobeMed Saudi, a leading healthcare benefits management company.

Khalid AlAseeri is Qiddiya’s legal expert. Prior to Qiddiya, Khalid served as General Counsel several key Saudi organisations, including Almarai the region’s largest food and beverage company, where he was responsible for drafting the relevant laws associated with each entity as well as all their legal policies, procedures and agreements. Before that, he was one of the founding members of Adaa, the National Center for Performance Measurement, where he had a front row seat at the unveiling of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. Khalid doesn’t just have a legal mind, he’s also loves a drama and has worked on theatrical productions at Ithra, and as part of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. As one of the few Saudis who has obtained a Juris Doctorate, passed the bar exam and is licensed to practice law in the US, Khalid has been in demand. Over the last 15 years, he has provided his legal expertise to multiple companies including Bechtel, Saudi Aramco and more, and now he is at Qiddiya, ready to raise the bar even higher.

Faisal manages executive operations, finance and program management for the CEO. He believes in taking responsibility and achieving results. Faisal started his career at the General Organization for Social Insurance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and held several senior positions there including Director of Registration and Contributions, which includes supervising 22 branch offices throughout the Kingdom. He also headed the Program Department for the Labor and Social Development Sector at ELM. He holds an MBA from the University of Eastern Michigan and also studied at Harvard and Stanford universities.

Obaid AlKurashi is an internal audit expert with 15 years of experience in the international arena. The certified internal auditor’s area of expertise lies in mega-capital projects, operational and international audits as well as internal controls and compliance with legal regulatory requirements. His career trajectory began at Saudi Aramco, where he worked across various departments and served multiple roles including internal auditing for Saudi Aramco Corporate, establishing the internal audit function for Aramco Trading Company, and managing the internal audit function for Aramco Asia. He also represented the oil giant in multiple domestic and international projects as well as operational joint venture audit engagements. He holds double master’s degrees in Accounting and Applied Finance from Queensland University of Technology. And while he has a profound love for numbers, AlKurashi loves to read and invests his free time in professional trainings, honing his skill set. He also enjoys swimming and diving.

A global marketing strategist who has worked in Europe and the Middle East for over 20 years, Wadi Abiani is experienced in corporate planning, regional and international market development, and strategic channel management. Wadi has held senior positions at Oracle, the Government of the UAE, Dubai International Financial Centre, Masdar and Abu Dhabi Ports Company. Most recently he was Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications at Dubai South. Wadi has also been Chairman of Art Dubai, one of the top five art fairs in the world.

With a background in business development and finance, Bill Barbino possesses strong quantitative financial, operational and strategy development skills with a proven track record of achieving results. Bill joins Qiddiya from Washlava, a mobile payments platform company he co-founded that focused on the self-service laundromat industry. With an MBA from New York University and over 20 years of experience working on Wall Street in New York and LaSalle Street in Chicago, he is ready to bring his leadership skills to the strategy group to design and articulate enterprise-level business cases for new initiatives, programmes and processes.