Our
leadership team
The dedicated team behind our success, merging global perspectives with local insights to elevate our educational standards.
Board of Directors Overview
Our Board of Directors comprises four distinguished, highly experienced professionals. They provide strong governance and access to an exceptional network. Their diverse expertise guides our strategic decisions, ensuring robust oversight and valuable industry connections.
Our Board Members
Kamal Bahamdan
Board Chairman
Walid Bahamdan
Vice Chairman
Current COO and Director for Education at Bahamdan Group, a diversified Holding Company with investments across the GCC and MENA.
Director and/or Member of 5+ Boards across Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Ziad Dannaoui
Senior Partner
Ziad Dannaoui is a Senior Partner at Safanad and a member of the firm’s Investment and Executive Committees.
Prior to assuming his current role in 2016, Mr. Dannaoui served as the Head of Investments for Safanad and was responsible for overseeing all investment activities.. Prior to joining Safanad, Mr. Dannaoui was the Head of Investments at Bahamdan Group and was previously a Managing Partner of a Middle East Law Firm.
Mr. Dannaoui holds an LL.M. degree from the James E. Rogers School of Law and an LL.B. degree from the Holy Spirit University School of Law.
Faisal Rehman
Senior Partner
Faisal Rehman is responsible for overseeing all global transaction activity and financing solutions for Safanad. Faisal is based in Dubai and spends significant time in our Riyadh, London, and New York offices.
Faisal’s career spans 20 years at Deutsche Bank where he worked in the Sydney, London, Riyadh, and Dubai offices of the bank across Corporate Finance Advisory, Leveraged Finance, Equity & Debt Capital Markets and cross-asset class Securities Origination. Faisal was most recently Managing Partner at the Softbank Vision Fund, where he oversaw all MENA investments, global debt capital markets, and was a key transaction execution and structuring partner for Softbank. He serves on the Board of multiple US, UK and GCC technology companies. Faisal also serves on the Advisory Board of the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. He is a graduate of the LSE and a chartered account.