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
Kamal Abdullah Bahamdan is an entrepreneur and investor with a 25-year career establishing and growing businesses around the world. Simultaneous to his business career, Kamal is a competitive athlete. He is a five-time Olympic equestrian and bronze medal winner in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Across his professional and sporting endeavors, Kamal is driven by a relentless focus on lifelong learning, excellence, and a determination to push beyond boundaries. His success has been complemented by his ability to attract the very best talent and build industry-leading teams that support him in executing his vision be it in business, sport, or philanthropy.
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.
Mohannad Bahamdan
Director, CEO, BG Invest
Mohannad Bahamdan is the Group CEO of BGInvest. As a CEO, he is responsible for leading the development and execution of long-term strategies with the goal of increasing shareholder value.
Mohannad started his career as an intern at the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia (NCB) before joining the Group. He acted as a Deputy CEO prior to taking the CEO role. As part of his role as Deputy CEO, Mohannad was involved in the restructuring of one of the major underlying assets of the Group, Tas’helat Marketing Company, and helped manage the exit process from the asset.
Apart from his executive role, Mohannad acts as a board member of the Group, a board and executive committee member of Tadrees, and a board member for other Group subsidiaries. Additionally, and prior to the exit from Tas’helat Marketing Company, he also acted as a board member for the latter.
Mohannad obtained his bachelors degree as part of a dual-degree program from Regents College – AIU and London Southbank University.
Ralph Tabberer
Ralph Tabberer is an expert educator with more than 35 years experience in the school sector, in higher education and in government. He was Director General of Schools in England between 2006 and 2009, a post where he was responsible to PM Tony Blair for the development and performance of 23,000 primary, secondary and special schools in the UK.
Ralph left the UK civil service in 2009 and moved to the Middle East to join the international private school operator, GEMS, as COO, CEO and Chief of Schools. In 2012, after a highly successful period steering GEMS through the recession and preparing it for further growth, Ralph established the first of his own businesses. He now co-owns and chairs BBD Education which is based in the UK and GCC, to provide consultancy, solutions, management and HR support for schools and for international school chains.
Ralph is a graduate of Cambridge University and a qualified teacher. In the New Years Honours list of 2009, Her Majesty, The Queen, invested Ralph as a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (CB) in recognition of his services to teacher training and to schools. He is a visiting professor at the Institute of Education, University College of London and an Honorary Professor at Warwick University.
Shaun Robison
Shaun Robison, CEO of GSM Education Middle East, is an entrepreneurial chief executive who has delivered exceptional results across the MENA education sector. Shaun has worked with investors, operating companies, consultants, teachers, and government regulators to plan, license, deliver and scale projects.
Shaun has published education research in a range of academic journals, covering the Middle East education sector, whilst also advising some of the region’s largest groups, such as the Adani Group in Ahmedabad, LIPPO Capital in Jakarta, The City Schools Group, and The Sobha Group in Dubai. Shaun has also been an Advisor to the Executive Council of Dubai and the Ministry of Finance, Oman.
Shaun holds a PhD in education, and he is a Governor for the IDEA Early Learning Center.
Shaun has conducted primary research across the KSA education sector, and chaired two Education Investment conference in Riyadh.
David Wall
David Wall has worked with the Bahamdan Family for over 30 years, where he leads the family’s global education investment strategy and execution. With over 30 years of experience, Mr. Wall is a specialist in the K-12 and post-secondary educations sector, possessing deep domain expertise in education quality frameworks and the implementation of large-scale investment transformations. His leadership is central to identifying high-potential educational platforms and driving institutional-grade academic and operational excellence across the portfolio.
With the Bahamdan Family, Mr. Wall oversees a diverse international portfolio spanning the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He has been instrumental in executing the firm’s “buy-and-build” strategies, successfully orchestrating strategic add-on acquisitions to consolidate and scale education platforms.
Mr. Wall’s career is defined by his ability to bridge the gap between financial performance and educational outcomes. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Boston University School of Management and remains a thought leader in Safanad’s mission to improving education outcomes.
Senior Leadership
Yusuf Ashworth
Director of Education
With over 30+ years of experience in educational improvement, Yusuf brings expertise in system design, curriculum leadership, and enhancing academic results. A Cambridge and LSE graduate, he has led government-sponsored and international education initiatives, helping schools foster innovation, enhance teaching, and achieve measurable results. Known for his visionary approach, Yusuf empowers educators and inspires students to reach their full potential.