As the Chief Executive Officer at Boutique Group, Mark De Cocinis leads the creation of the finest Saudi hospitality experience, turning historical and cultural palaces into ultra-luxury boutique hotels.
Before joining Boutique Group, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Urban Resort Concepts, a boutique ultra-luxury hotel company based in Shanghai, China, overseeing boutique hotels in Asia.
He was President of DeMarcheli Hospitality Limited HK, an Asset Management company working with owners investing and developing prime real estate with luxury hotels and residences in Asia Pacific. Mark has dedicated his long career with over 40 years to the luxury hospitality segment, having worked for some of the most prestigious hotel brands across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, including President & COO, One & Only Resorts, Kerzner International, Executive Vice President, Global, Shangri-La Group, and Regional Vice President Asia Pacific, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. De Cocinis received the prestigious Friendship Award in 2004 from President Hu Jintao, and Magnolia Award Silver and Gold in 2001 and 2003 from Mayor Han Zheng for his contribution to the business, people development, and establishing community support for The Children’s Charity Foundation in Shanghai and China.
Xavier Aguiló i Aran becomes an Engineer in 1999, when he starts his collaboration with the company (now SOCOTEC) as a structural consultant, becoming a partner in 2001. From September 2007 to July 2018, he is the Director of the branch in Madrid. He is currently the International Managing Director, based in London.
Tutor for Technical Studies at the Architectural Association in London, Central Saint Martins, and the Royal College of Art. He is a lecturer of the Master in Circularity and a postgraduate course in sustainability at Zigurat.
Especially interested in sustainable architecture and singular structures, having worked on many striking buildings over the last 20 years. He is fully engaged with integration between technology and architecture, having participated in projects with bioclimatic, sustainable and circular strategies.
Mohammed S. Al Surf, holder of PhD. in Sustainable and Green Construction. Founder & President of the Sustainability Professionals in Saudi Arabia Network (SPSA) reaching 5000 members. First Saudi to become a USGBC® Faculty, an ISSP® Sustainability Associate and a TRUE® Advisor. LEED® Accredited Professional in BD+C, ENV SP credential and a Green Classroom Professional. Author of the books titled “Sustainable Housing in Saudi Arabia: Opportunities & Challenges” and “10 Steps to Become a Sustainability Professional”. Member of several local and international professional entities such as the U.S. Green Building Council, the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE), the Pacific Rim Real-Estate Society (PRRES), Asian Real-Estate Society (AsRES) and Project Management Institute (PMI). Dedicated to applying a systematic approach to Green Construction and Sustainable methods applied on projects in Saudi Arabia to induce quality of life while preserving the depleting supply of natural resources.
Patrick Rouse leads LITE as its CEO and offers a wealth of knowledge with more than 21 years’ experience. He has worked for clients, consultants and contractors alike combining an extremely broad range of knowledge and experience into an exceptionally comprehensive profile.
With a Masters in Real Estate Investment and Finance and a BEng in Civil Engineering, his international experience includes working in Ireland, Australia, Egypt and most recently the UAE where he has now been based for 15 years.
Having worked across all asset classes, Patrick has delivered complex and large scale mixed use projects throughout his career. His most recent role, as at Emaar Properties, entailed full responsibility for the Downtown Dubai and Zabeel masterplans, managing the design and delivery of over 10,000 residential and hospitality units totalling AED 15 billion.
In addition to his time with Emaar, Patrick has held various roles at a range of companies including Dubai Holding, Al Futtaim Group Real Estate, John Sisk & Son Construction LLC and WSP Middle East and he has worked on various projects including The Address Sky View, Il Primo, Dubai Festival City Mall, Cairo Festival City Mall & Oasis Hospital.
Sherief is currently working for the Global Industry Strategy & Innovation team at Oracle, and part of Oracle’s Industries Innovation lab.
Sherief is an industry’s digital transformation speaker, as well as sitting on the judging panel of the region’s prestigious innovation start-ups accelerator programmes.
Sherief comes from a construction project management background with 17 years of experience in Enterprise Project Portfolio Management automation. Prior to joining Oracle, he used to develop business and project manage implementations for enterprise-wide project management solutions for large organisations in the Middle East.
Jihad has been working with AMANA for over 22 years and set in motion a culture defined by innovation and agility. His focus has been to attract and retain the best clients, employees and business partners. This culture is reflected in delivering certainty and success through alignment with our partners. Jihad is also a board member of Group AMANA Limited and holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Alabama.
Salim El Ferkh brings more than 20 years of experience in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Owners (AECO) sector. He has been with Autodesk for the last 10 years, where he has been spearheading and leading a team that drives digital transformation for major AECO organizations in the Middle East. Over the past 2 decades of accelerated regional construction, Salim has had the privilege of contracting in most of the region’s iconic Government, Education, Real Estate, Oil & Gas and Hospitality construction projects across the Middle East.
Salim started his professional career as a control engineer with one of the leading construction firms in the Middle East. He then moved to the customer success teams of leading software vendors offering innovative solutions in the AECO sector.
Salim hold a Bachelor’s degree of Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
David is a Builder, Civil Engineer, Project Management and Development professional who has worked in real estate for more than 30 years. In his career, he has been fortunate to work in a variety of organisations across a range of global locations.
He has been working in KSA since 2019 where he has worked on a number of Giga projects including Red Sea Global’s Amaala project and as well as Diriyah as the Chief Project Delivery Officer leading large teams of construction professionals to execute theses complex projects in line with Vision 2030. David is currently the Chief Projects Development Officer at Osool Real Estate Company a semi government organization managing the real estate development pipeline for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s pension fund, the General Office of Social Insurance (GOSI).
Prior to joining Amaala in 2019, David was the Chief Development officer at VinaCapital, managing the development of their portfolio of hotels and resorts, residential communities and commercial developments throughout Vietnam.
David is also a McKinsey & Company Alumni, where he was the Infrastructure Vice President for Asia Pacific which included working in client teams on a number of projects across the GCC.
He joined Mckinsey from Mace Group where he spent more than 10 years in a variety of roles including Project Director on a number of large casino projects in Macau SAR, China as well as the Regional Director of Mace’s Asia Pacific business.
From 1997 to 2005, David worked for Multiplex Constructions completing several iconic projects in Australia, South East Asia and the UK, including as the Construction Director on the iconic Wembley Stadium.
DR. Wissam Al-Daoud is NEOM Deputy Programme Director and Project Director for Regional Infrastructure programme.
Wissam has 25 years of experience in the engineering and construction industry. He worked across different parts of the world and in industries including civil infrastructure and transportation.
Wissam joined Bechtel in 2004 as a Field Engineer on Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Programme. Since then, he held positions of increasing responsibilities including Project Manager for Reading Station Redevelopment Programme in the UK, Engineering Director for WAAD Al-Shamal project and Field Engineering Manager on Riyadh Metro Project in Saudi Arabia.
Wissam holds PhD and MSc degrees in structural engineering, Chartered Civil Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK.
Starting in 2002, Hesham has accumulated an extensive knowledge base and experience working on project financed utilities locally, regionally, and internationally. He has worked in wide ranging capacities including offtaker, developer, operator and currently as the head of the investment arm of Al Bawani Group, Al Bawani Capital, a rapidly growing development company.
