Board Advisors

His Excellency Dr Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi – Board Advisor

Hon. Former Minister of Environment & Water Government of the UAE

His Excellency Dr Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi, Hon. Former Minister of Environment and Water, had a distinguished career as a diplomat in the prestigious UAE Government. His contributions and initiatives are reflections of his skills as a true leader.

Dr Kindi works towards revitalising global ties of the UAE with the rest of the world and contributes to achieving the vision of the country. Recognised as a resourceful leader, he focuses on formulating strategic plans, initiating changes and executing new processes in diverse and challenging environments. His dedication and commitment continue to enlighten and inspire people around him.

Dr Al Kindi’s career began in 1984 as a Second Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abu Dhabi. He was then transferred to the permanent mission of the UAE to the United Nations in New York, serving from 1986 to 1995.

As a member of the UAE Mission, he represented the country at the UN Security Council from 1986 to 1987 and the UN General Assembly during his post. Dr Al Kindi served as Rapporteur of the Fourth Committee at the 45th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1988 and Vice Chairman of the Fourth Committee at the 46th Session of the UN General Assembly in 1989.

After completing his tour of duty at the UAE Mission, he was appointed Charge D’Affairs of the UAE Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1995 to 1997.

Dr Al Kindi was appointed Director of Ruler’s Office for the Government of Fujairah from 1997 to 2006 and also served in the Cabinet of the UAE Federal Government as Minister for Environment & Water from 2006 to 2008. He has been a member of the consultative committee ( Parliament ) of the GCC Supreme council. He has attended meetings and conferences of Non-Alignment Countries and Economic Group of G77.

He actively participates in various domestic and international businesses, holding positions, including Chairman, Director, Board Member and Proprietor. Dr Al Kindi represents the UAE at a wide variety of regional and international conferences and is a member of different national and international institutions.

He has a Doctorate in Public Administration, obtained a Bachelor and a Masters degree in Political Science from California University in the US. Dr Al Kindi’s strong sense of commitment, determination and responsibility enabled him to reach heights throughout his life.

 

Dr Mahmoud Al Burai – Board Advisor

Mahmoud Al Burai is currently serving as senior advisor in Dubai mandated to work on a plan to make Dubai more competitive. He is also Chairman of UNDRR ARISE network in the UAE and Director of Middle East Cities Center at the American University in Dubai. Before this role Mahmoud has served as the CEO of Dubai Real estate Institute for 10 years in which the institute graduated 80,000 real estate professionals from the region. He is also the Vice President of International real estate federation, FIABCI Arabic Countries since 2016 and sits on the board of International Real estate Federation, the world largest global real estate network of more than 1.5 million associate members. Before that he served on the board of International Real estate Society (IRES) for 5 years and the board of National Association of Realtors (NAR), 1.3 million member real estate network based in Chicago for the years 2019-2020. He served as the Chairman of UN Global Compact UAE from 2015-2020 and represented MENA region in UN Global Compact advisory board for 2016-2018. In his role as UN Global Compact MENA representative led many SDG’s driven initiatives. He started youth ambassadors programs in seven UAE universities recruiting over 150 youth, train them to help businesses become more sustainable. He also led establishing Women empowerment principles platform in the UAE with 60 companies signing on WEPs commitment. To promote SDGs among business, Mahmoud launched SDGs pioneers UAE celebrating SDGs success stories of private and government organizations. Mahmoud has been selected to be FIABCI representative at the United Nations Economic Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA) and UNECE (Geneva). Recently Mahmoud established his Think Tank in Geneva under the name of Middle East Sustainable Development Institute to lobby governments, businesses and communities to action on SDGs in the Middle East. His mail role is to lobby private sector in the region to be actively involved in SDGs, during his presidency, UAE local network became the fastest growing network internationally. Moreover, Mahmoud leads the affordable Housing working-group at World Economic Forum.  Mahmoud also serves as an advisor-MENA region at Happy City Lab, headquartered in Canada which works on integrating happiness into urban design.

Prior to his position in Dubai Real estate Institute, Mahmoud worked as Senior Director of Real estate Sector development at Real estate Regulatory Authority of Dubai and few years as a Development Associate Manager at Dubai holding. Mahmoud completed his bachelor’s degree in engineering at the American University before continuing on to earn his Master’s in Real Estate from National University of Singapore. Mahmoud completed his MBA in Finance from his alma mater, American University of Dubai in 2010 and Master of Cities at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2019 and DBA at Grenoble ecole de management in France in 2020.

 

Howard Kitson – Board Advisor

Howard commenced his career with HSBC as an International Manager in Hong Kong. Over 30 years he has gained extensive corporate finance and treasury expertise spanning markets in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

He has held senior roles up to CEO level in GCC for leading financial institutions and is acknowledged for driving change and performance enhancement.

Howard holds an Honours Economics degree from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom in addition to an MBA from Western University, Ontario Canada.

 

Arshi Islam – Board Advisor

Arshi brings a vast experience of more than 35 years in the Financial Services & hospitality Industry including 28 years of association with ORIX Corporation Japan both in UAE and Pakistan. He has worked for almost 17 years with one of the leading Finance Companies in UAE, out of which 11 years worked as Chief Executive Officer and 6 years as Head of Business.

He was one of the founding member of the MAFORIX Finance PJSC (a joint venture between Majid Al Futtaim and ORIX Corporation Japan) which got established in the year 2002 and is currently known as AlHail ORIX Finance PSC. Prior to UAE, he had worked with ORIX Leasing Pakistan Limited, Karachi Sheraton Hotel and Arabian Sea Enterprises Limited.

He has attended International Conferences and workshops during his association with the Group. His written Article on Leasing Prospects in the UAE was published in the World Leasing Year Book 2009 by EURO Money.