Dubai, United Arab Emirates
I build Customer Experience strategy where brand, operations and commercial reality meet. Most companies make a promise to their customers, then organise themselves in a way that makes it hard to keep. That gap, between the promise and the business's ability to deliver it, is where I work: defining what the promise means in practice and driving the changes that allow it to be delivered. At ROSHN and Etihad Rail I built the customer function from the ground up. At Majid Al Futtaim, the focus was the proposition itself: a distinct customer offer for communities across four markets, each with its own lifestyle promise, at the core of a customer strategy built for an established business. Earlier, in Europe, I developed the five-year strategy for The White Company with the chief executive and his team. Profitability doubled, and I was brought back to raise the bar. Throughout, the constant is staying close to the commercial reality and making sure the organisation sustains the momentum. I am currently open to conversations with chief executives and leadership teams in the GCC who need senior leadership for their customer strategy and experience agenda. If that is a challenge you are working on, I would welcome a conversation.
Member of the WXO Council and Founding Member of this global network connecting experience leaders across sectors to stage better experiences that drive commercial performance and improve quality of life. • Collaborating with fellow council members including practitioners from Walt Disney Imagineering, the Museum of the Future and leading thinkers such as Joe Pine, creator of the experience economy concept • Developing frameworks connecting experience investment to measurable financial outcomes, including structured methodologies for Return on Experience (ROX) • Contributing thought leadership on translating experience strategy into operational and commercial reality
Fixed-term mandate, completed. Joined the UAE national rail network as employee 26, reporting directly to the Executive Team, with a mandate to build the entire passenger experience infrastructure from the ground up prior to launch. • Designed the end-to-end service operating model, integrating stations, retail and hospitality, premium lounges, mobility nodes and passenger flows • Defined the customer requirements for station environments including spatial layout, wayfinding, signage and interior design • Established the experience organisation, governance framework and quality assurance standards • Specified AI capability requirements for contact centre systems and directed the development of knowledge management tools, enabling data-led decision making from day one of operations
Retained at executive level to transform the customer function of one of Saudi Arabia's largest insurers, breaking down entrenched silos and building the infrastructure for a customer-centric culture. • Rebuilt an existing Quality function into a Customer Experience function, creating the governance framework and a cross-functional team meeting weekly to drive continuous improvement from customer feedback, operating by the time the engagement closed • Defined the customer experience design approach and got the work underway, including a market test pilot in healthcare to validate the model before wider rollout • Led the full tender process for a customer feedback platform, selected Medallia and established a Voice of Customer loop connecting frontline insight directly to cross-functional action • Led the Group Market Research function, generating consumer insight to inform C-suite strategy
One of the first employees at this PIF national developer, with a mandate to build the customer experience function from the ground up, serving more than two million future residents across Saudi Arabia. • Developed the customer strategy and community management approach, translating Vision 2030 and company mission into a clear value proposition • Defined ROSHN's strategic market positioning: how it would differentiate from competing developments, complement rather than overlap Ministry of Housing initiatives and add distinct value for future residents • Built the governance framework and experience team, including community management and contact centre, from zero • Designed an operational model to generate secondary revenue through services, ensuring the community experience could sustain itself • Defined the principles for the end-to-end customer experience, from first interest through purchase, handover and community living, including third-party processes such as mortgages where their impact demanded attention • Owned the flagship immersive experience centre end to end, from concept to delivery, creating a high-performing sales asset that drove exceptional footfall
Served on the Executive Team reporting directly to the CEO, with responsibility for customer strategy across mixed-use communities encompassing over 20,000 homes in Dubai, Sharjah, Muscat and Beirut. • Defined the customer experience strategy including customer proposition for each community, each with its own lifestyle promise • Reshaped the Voice of Customer programme from a consultancy-run feedback exercise into one that engaged the communities' own staff, from local CEO to community managers, in reviewing verbatim feedback, defining the priorities and owning the solutions • Generated 77 improvement initiatives this way, all delivered within the year by driving clear ownership • Brought the VoC programme in-house by engaging the research agency directly, removing the consultancy layer and cutting cost by around 90% • Audited the contact centre with fellow Directors, working through the sales journey to identify improvements and agree a clear action plan • Used the audit to build the Directors' own understanding of the customer experience by having them walk the journey themselves