Committee biographies

HRH Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al–Saud

HRH Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, graduated from Oxford University with a BA in Oriental Studies and Islamic Civilisation. He later attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

In 2000 he graduated as a commissioned officer from Sandhurst Military Academy. Subsequently he worked at the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York. He also served as Advisor to the Saudi Ambassador in Washington D.C., USA. In 2006 he established Dayim Holdings as a partnership and investment platform for international companies looking to work in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

From 2017 to 2019 he served as Saudi Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. Following that, in July 2019 he became Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Sir Alan Munro, KCMG

Sir Alan Munro, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, is a Vice-President and former Chairman of the Saudi-British Society and a Director of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce.

He writes and speaks on Saudi and Arab issues and is the author of two books, ‘Arab Storm’, on the politics and diplomacy behind the 1990-91 Kuwait crisis, and ‘Keep the Flag Flying’, a light-hearted account of his diplomatic career in the Arab world and elsewhere.

Sir William Patey, KCMG, LLD

Sir William Patey was a senior British Diplomat until April 2012. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan (2010-2012), to Saudi Arabia (2007-2010) to Iraq (2005-2006) and to Sudan 2002-2005. He was also Head of the Middle East Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth office from 1999-2002.

Since retiring from government service in 2012 he has become an international consultant and regular media commentator on Middle East affairs. He is currently Government and International Affairs adviser to Control Risks, a Non-Executive Director at HSBC Middle East Ltd, Chairman of the HMBE Financial Systems Vulnerability Committee, member of HSBC Holdings Ltd FSVC and a Partner in The Ambassador Partnership LLP.

He was also Chairman of Swindon Town FC (2012-2013) and served as the PM’s Special Envoy for Aviation Security (2105). He is a Trustee of the Turquoise Mountain Trust.

He is an Honorary Fellow of Exeter University and Distinguished Fellow at New Westminster College, Vancouver. He was awarded a Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa) by the University of Dundee in July 2016.

Ms. Karen Worcester

Karen Worcester is the Managing Director and leads the UK and US tax work for Expatriate Tax Advisory Service Limited, a UK-based tax practice established in 1995. With many clients living outside the UK and with an increasing presence in Saudi Arabia, Karen has been a frequent traveller to Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf for work and leisure since the 1980s and maintains close personal and professional contacts in the region.

Prior to founding ETASL, Karen trained in audit and then both UK and US expatriate tax at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in their London office, working with UK, US and other nationals living in the UK, and with UK, US and other nationals living abroad, ranging from employees of multi-national companies to individual clients. Karen is a US Enrolled Agent, licensed with unlimited practice rights to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service.

Karen graduated from University of London with a BSc (Hons) Environmental Science, and then worked at King’s College, London, in the Geography Department for a year on the Land Use Survey of the UK. With continuing memberships, and having served as a Committee member and as a Board Director, of various professional and social entities in the UK and abroad, Karen became the Hon. Treasurer of The Saudi British Society in 2017. Family, gardening and travel are the main interests outside work.

Mr. Peter Harrigan

Peter Harrigan is director of Medina Publishing and its associate imprint, Arabian Publishing.

He is a senior contributor to Aramco World Magazine and author of ‘Riyadh: Heritage and Vision.’ The illustrated book was published in 2016 for Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) and also produced in Arabic, French and Spanish editions. He is currently working on a book on Addiriyah, the capital of the First Saudi State and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

He is a frequent visitor to the Kingdom and has been study leader of alumni tours to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including Stanford University, University of Washington and World Leaders Symposium.

Ms. Intisar Alyamani

Born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Intisar Alyamani received her education from the UK since childhood and obtained a Masters in Communications from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

She worked as a senior Communications Executive for the award winning global Saudi investment company, Kingdom Holding in Riyadh. Joining the Company in 2004.

Intisar was also a features writer for the leading Saudi English language newspaper Arab News and taught fine art at the King Fahad Academy in London.

With her extensive experience in communications and East-West intercultural affairs, she is now a communications consultant and advisor to professionals in the fields of the arts, culture and society.

Intisar continues to write and resides in West London.

Dr. Mark C. Thompson

Dr. Mark C. Thompson is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where he has been teaching undergraduate courses in International Relations and Globalization since 2012. He is also Senior Associate Fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) in Riyadh.

Mark has lived and worked intermittently in Saudi Arabia since 2001 for diverse institutions such as Saudi Arabian Airlines, the Saudi Arabian National Guard, and Prince Sultan University. Mark holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK, where he also taught a course on Political Reform in the Gulf. Mark also runs his own consultancy business that offers an objective perspective of contemporary Saudi socio-political issues.

His principal research areas are Saudi socio-political development and societal transformation and he has published on topics such as Saudi youth issues and challenges facing Saudi women leaders in publications such as the Journal of Arabian Studies; Asian Affairs; Middle Eastern Studies; and Gulf Affairs. In addition, he published a book with I.B. Tauris “Saudi Arabia and the Path to Political Change: National Dialogue and Civil Society” (2014). Mark is also the co-editor of the IB Tauris book entitled “Policy-Making in the GCC: State, Citizens and Institutions” (2017) with Dr. Neil Quilliam from Chatham House based on their Gulf Research Meeting workshop in 2016 as well as providing a chapter on Saudi Arabia for the Palgrave Macmillan book on “Public Brain Power: Civil Society and Resource Management” (2017). Mark has recently completed a book for Cambridge University Press “Being Young Male and Saudi: Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom” about societal issues and change from the perspective of young Saudi men. In addition, Mark is assisting Professor Tim Niblock update his Routledge book “Saudi Arabia: Power Legitimacy and Survival” (2006) for a second edition to be published in 2019.

Mark also makes numerous presentations at international conferences, workshops and seminars.

Dr. Raed Farzan

Raed is an Assistant Professor and Oncology Consultant at King Saud University, Riyadh, SA after obtaining a Bachelor’s degree from the same University and a one-year internship at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh. His postgraduate journey started in the USA, where he earned a Master’s degree from Quinnipiac University in the state of Connecticut in 2013. In 2015, Raed moved to London to start a PhD in the field of genome editing with the well-known cancer geneticist, Professor Laki Buluwela, at Imperial College London.

During his career in SA, USA and the UK, Raed co-founded the Saudi Society of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and was appointed later to be Chief, Committee of Public Relations and Information. He was also a member of the Committee of the Chair of the medical and molecular genetics research group, as well as organizing several forums in the field.

Raed actively participated in the Students’ Union and was appointed as a cultural advisor for Saudi students in the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA and was the head of the Saudi Students Association in both Quinnipiac University and Imperial College London.

In London, Raed was elected by the Saudi Cultural Bureau to be Vice-President of the Saudi Club ‘35 and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Scientific Society for Saudi Students in the UK. He was chosen to represent Saudi students as a speaker at MiSK Talk during the visit of the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, HRH Prince Mohamed bin Salman, to London in 2018.

Mr. William McKay

William (Bill) McKay’s interest in the history and culture of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait stems from having fairly regularly travelled to the area while growing up, in the course of his father’s work in the region as an aero engineer. As well as being a solicitor Bill has undertaken mediation training at Pepperdine University in California and worked for several months in a trial lawyer’s office in California, USA. There he developed a particular interest in the field of dispute resolution, now having a particular interest in both business ‘deal making’ mediation as well as in the use of mediation for commercial, business and employment dispute resolution in the MENA region. He has for instance delivered a three day accredited mediation and negotiation training course in Beirut, Lebanon, to a range of delegates consisting of Lebanese lawyers, engineers and other professionals such as from NGO’s in the region.

Bill has also been involved in vocational legal training for several decades, including in civil litigation and related legal skills, being a senior lecturer at City Law School (University of London) and accredited as an advocacy trainer by the Inns Advocacy Training Committee. He is co-author of ‘Legal English’, second edition (McKay, Charlton & Barsoum), published by Pearson Education (Longman). He initiated and co-authored this book after recognising a need based on his experience for such a publication aimed at international students worldwide, including from the Middle East, undertaking undergraduate and postgraduate vocational legal and business skills training and using English as a second language.

He is a committee member on The Law Society’s influential Employment Law Committee. This committee is actively involved in reviewing and promoting reforms and developments in employment law and practice and in the tribunal system as well as in promoting the role of solicitors practising in employment law. This includes having recently ‘led’ on developing a practice note on good practice for solicitors when acting for clients in mediation in the employment law context.

Bill retains a consultancy with a law firm in London and is also involved in the mediation community. This involves him being active in organising some events, including:

A ‘talks’ event with a renowned international mediator fairly recently entitled ‘Can a Mediator Reach Places a Diplomat Cannot? through the European Atlantic Group (one of the longest running interest groups associated with Parliament formed in 1954 to foster a geopolitical partnership between North America and Europe and to consider related matters in all quarters of the globe).
A talks event on ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ by Philip Neale, Chair of the T.E. Lawrence Society

Dr Najah Al Otaibi

Dr. Najah Al-Otaibi is a researcher and writer. She is the founder and director of ‘Global Soft Power Communications’- a strategic communications and public diplomacy consultancy.

Dr Najah has worked as a researcher fellow for a number of think tanks in the UK and the US. They include The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the Henry Jackson Society, and the Arabia Foundation in Washington and the King Faisal Centre. Her publications focus on Saudi Arabia’s politics, socioeconomic development, gender issues, security and counter terrorism.

She also writes and commentates for the British and Saudi media. These include appearances on the BBC and Channel 5. Her articles have appeared in the Times of London, the I Paper, the Independent, the Daily Mail, and The World Today magazine. She has also appeared as a speaker on panels about developments in Saudi Arabia at the House of Lords, House of Commons and Chatham House.

Dr Najah has a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of East Anglia, where her thesis examined roles of public diplomacy and soft power in Saudi-British relations, and a Master’s degree in International Journalism from City University. Her Bachelor’s degree is in English from King Saud University.

Dr Wareed Alenaini

Dr Wareed Alenaini is an impact-driven entrepreneur who can link laboratory sciences with primary healthcare systems to improve human longevity.

Dr Alenaini is an expert in big data analysis and synthesis using academic approaches to produce relevant information to inform future public health programmes, policy and decision-makers for maximum data impact. Her work includes projects with Europe’s largest health consortium including UK Biobank and European Medicine Innovation Diabetes Research on Patient Stratification.

Dr Alenaini is a global science-policy communicator. Recently, she met with PM Boris Johnson at Number 10 Downing Street as the Scientific Ambassador for Cancer Research UK to discuss the latest science advancement solution to tackle obesity and cancer. At the US Congress, she successfully passed the “Treat and Reduce Obesity Act of 2017” after holding official discussions with members of the United States Congress House and Senate.

Her current interest is facilitating a proactive healthcare system that links science, investment, and technology.

Wareed’s PhD was on the use of state-of-the-art technologies to improve human longevity.

She holds a PhD and MRes in Biomedical Sciences, a Diploma from Imperial College and a BSc in Diagnostic Radiological Sciences.

In her free-time, Wareed is a cyclist, gym fanatic, food and coffee lover.

Mrs. Caroline Montagu

Mrs. Caroline Montagu, Countess of Sandwich, was a business journalist on the Middle East from 1979 and specialised in Saudi Arabia from 1981. In 1985 published Investment in Saudi Arabia, Opportunities for Joint Ventures, funded by COMET (Committee for Middle East Trade), the first British in-depth analysis of industrial development and of our EC partners’ positions on Saudi Arabia and in 1987 a European Commission research report entitled: Industrial Development in Saudi Arabia. She has written on Saudi Arabia and on specific Middle Eastern topics for many publications since the mid 1980s including EIU publications and editing the flagship Saudi Arabia Monitor. In 1991 she wrote The Private Sector in Saudi Arabia, a COMET report and in 2001 Saudi Arabia: On the Road to Reform. In 2002 and 2003 she wrote reports for the MOD Economic Offset Department on Saudi British Offset and later in 2003 she wrote on Saudi women’s NGOs for the British Council. In 2005 co-authored report for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on Needs and Capacities of the NGOs in Saudi Arabia.

Mrs. Montagu specialises on social and women’s issues and civil society in Saudi Arabia and has an MA from London in Middle East Politics & Society and an MA from Cambridge.

Mrs. Montagu is a Committee member of the Saudi British Society and on the board of Palmusic, a charity dedicated to providing music education for Palestinian students in the West Bank and Gaza. She continues with one or two commitments in Dorset.

Dr. Asma Siddiki

Dr. Siddiki has been involved in the education and higher education sectors in the GCC region for the past twenty years. She most notably held leadership roles at corporate and academic institutions, in particular working with universities in their early stages of development focusing extensively on student services, institutional effectiveness, curriculum development, organizational development, and global institutional partnerships.

Dr. Siddiki is currently serving as Senior Director for Special Projects with Emaar Economic City (EEC) in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Saudi Arbaia, where her main commitment is to serve as Dean for Outreach, Enrollment and Student Affairs at the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship (MBSC). Prior to joining MBSC and EEC, Dr. Siddiki was a Higher Education Management Consultant as well as the Founder and CEO of Oxbridge Learning Limited (previously knows as Alpha1Education), an education company specialized in developing and delivering educational programs for youth, such as its flagship programme, Oxbridge Summers, a summer school hosted at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK for secondary school students. Earlier, Dr. Siddiki was Director, Global Higher Education at Huron Consulting Group based in Dubai; Associate Dean for Development and Director of Degree Programs at the Dubai School of Government (in association with Harvard Kennedy School). She also served at Effat University (then College) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as Vice Dean, leading the Offices of Academic Affairs as well as Student Affairs. Dr. Siddiki was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in 2004 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, focusing on Civic Engagement as it relates to the student experience. She has taught as Tutor at the University of Oxford, and Assistant Professor at King Abdul Aziz University and Effat University.

Dr. Siddiki is the Founder and Chair of the non-profit Simply Heuristic, serves on the Saudi-British Society Committee and the International Relations Committee (IRC) at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, amongst other initiatives for cross-cultural dialogue and understanding, was selected for the Vital Voices VV Grow Fellowship for female entrepreneurs (2014), and has been recognized for her professional achievements and contributions to society by the World Economic Forum, as a Young Global Leader (Class of 2014).

Dr. Asma Siddiki was educated in England, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. She received her Doctoral degree (DPhil) as well as her Master’s (MSt) from the University of Oxford, and her Bachelor’s (BA) from King Abdul Aziz University.

Dr. Ghadah Alharthi

Dr Alharthi currently works as Senior Cultural Consultant delivering research, strategy and content curation to consultancies in the UK with projects in MENA. Since 2013 Dr Alharthi has been collaborating with key arts and culture institutions to promote emerging and established creatives from the MENA region.

She is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the MA Innovation Management at Central St Martins, University of the Arts London where she teaches on culture, networks and social innovation.

Alongside her work as a consultant and academic, she is a Young Adviser at Chatham House and member of the Next Generation Committee. She advises the Board and Senior leadership on the governance, strategic direction of the institute and on developing Chatham House’s engagement strategy.

Her mission is to bridge between communities, increase cultural exchange and communication between MENA and Europe through her work, research, and participation in international events.

Dr Alharthi has a PhD & an MSc in International Management from SOAS, University of London, as well as a BA in Financial Management from the University of Sheffield.

Dr. Abdulrahman Alghannam

Abdulrahman Alghannam is a researcher and filmmaker. Alghannam is an assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the College of Arts, King Faisal University (KFU) Saudi Arabia. He is passionate about research development, innovation and entrepreneurship in the cultural and media industries. His research and writings have been published by Rutledge, Peter Lang, Gulf Research Centre Cambridge, Frames Cinema Journal, Thmanyah.com and Khaleejesque platform.

Alghannam has a PhD in Film Studies from the Institute for Global Cinema and Creative Cultures at the University of St. Andrews, and a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Central Missouri. He has contributed to the local community with a range of initiatives and projects that promote local film culture and cultivate film appreciation. He has participated in several national advisory committees related to film and art education.