Mohammad Al-Ali

Mohammad Al-Ali took over as GCC BDI’s second Chairman from September 2010 until April 2014. At that time he was the Senior Vice President, Finance of Saudi Aramco. Mohammad has over 40 years of finance and accounting experience which included responsibility for Saudi Aramco’s global accounting activities and financial controls, managing corporate financial records, and developing and maintaining programs to assist management in monitoring and evaluating corporate performance.

Mohammad’s experience also includes membership on boards of directors for a variety of Saudi Aramco subsidiary and joint venture entities responsible for shipping, refining, petrochemicals and sales and marketing activities. Mr. Al-Ali earned his bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington and his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Denver University.

My involvement with GCC BDI dates back to late 2006, when the idea of creating a regional body dedicated to promoting good corporate governance and effective directorship, was being discussed by the founding partners of GCC BDI. One of the leading advocates, Mr. Abdullatif Alothman, was the CFO of Saudi Aramco at the time, and my direct supervisor. We used to exchange views on how to best go about the registration process, what should be the main mission, and who should be the main targeted customers.

By 2010, the year I took over as chairman, the institute had already reached a membership size of 600 participants. And was gaining reputation and acceptance by leading GCC corporates and family businesses. At the time GCC BDI was still heavily dependent on the founding partners for support and we had a humble ambition of reaching 1000 members, in hope of becoming self-sustaining.

Lately, I was pleasantly surprised to know that the membership is almost three times our initial target, thanks to the leadership and dedication of the current management.
In my opinion, GCC-BDI has played a major role over the past 15 years in promoting good corporate governance and enhancing the effectiveness of board directors and C-suite executives within the GCC region through the many programs, workshops and services they have been offering.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 ambitions, the continued economic development in all GCC countries and the increasing complexity of regulatory requirements should lead to increased demand for GCC BDI programmes and services.

Thus, in the next 15 years, I hope this dear institute to all of us will at least triple its membership size and become even more sought after by corporations seeking to enhance their own sustainability and profitability through best practices in corporate governance and effective directorship.