Management

Ahmed Galal Ismail is Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors at Majid Al Futtaim - Holding, the leading shopping mall, retail, and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia with assets in excess of USD 19 billion and 43,000 employees. 

Mr. Ismail has been a long-standing leader at Majid Al Futtaim, having held several executive positions across the company’s portfolio of businesses during his 18-year tenure, and has played an instrumental role in the growth and development of the Group. 

Most recently, Mr. Ismail served as the Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim - Properties, from 2018 to early 2023 leading the company’s portfolio of shopping malls, hotels, and mixed-use communities across the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, and Lebanon. Prior to assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim - Properties, Mr. Ismail led Majid Al Futtaim - Ventures, overseeing seven business verticals including Leisure and Entertainment, Cinemas, Lifestyle, Facilities Management, and Consumer Finance. He joined Majid Al Futtaim in 2007 as the Group's VP of Strategy. 

Mr. Ismail started his career with Procter and Gamble in Egypt and Germany, before joining Booz Allen Hamilton where he was named Principal, advising organisations in the retail, media, tourism, and transportation sectors. 

Mr. Ismail serves on the Board of the Arab Investment Bank and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and the CEO Alliance for Climate Change, in addition to being a Trustee of the American University in Cairo.

Mr. Ismail holds an MBA with distinction from London Business School and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo.

Ziad Chalhoub is Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Majid Al Futtaim - Holding. In his role, Mr. Chalhoub is responsible for the financial health and control of the organisation, overseeing all financial activities, including financial risk management, financial planning, financial reporting and analysis of data in support of delivering against the company's strategic objectives. In addition, Mr. Chalhoub is responsible for the Group's sustainability strategy, ensuring the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles across the business. Mr. Chalhoub plays a key role in advancing the company's sustainability agenda, driving initiatives that align with its long-term vision for responsible growth and impact.

Prior to joining Majid Al Futtaim, Mr. Chalhoub spent 20 years at IBM, 14 of which as a finance leader in New York. In 2011, Mr. Chalhoub served as Chief Financial Officer for IBM's Central & Eastern Europe-based businesses and in 2013 was appointed Chief Financial Officer for IBM's Middle East and Africa interests. Mr. Chalhoub has also served as Chief Financial Officer for IBM's Global Technology Services (GTS) business. 

Mr. Chalhoub holds an MBA in Finance & Strategy from the University of Rochester, New York, USA and a bachelor's degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, USA.

Elham Al Qasim is Chief Strategy & Technology Officer for Majid Al Futtaim – Holding, responsible for developing our long-term strategy and operating model with a focus on driving sustainable value creation and growth. Her team operates as the strategic advisory function, setting the group’s strategic direction, identifying key value levers, and overseeing the portfolio toward the aspired full potential. In this capacity, she also oversees Corporate Development, evaluating growth moves and strategic partnerships.

She also stewards the Technology, Data, and AI strategy roadmap to support company-wide digital aspirations to pivot existing business or enter new Tech/ D&AI-enabled sectors.

Before joining Majid Al Futtaim, Elham spent 12 years in Abu Dhabi working with Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, and Digital14 amongst others. Prior to that, she was based in the UK, where she started her career in Investment Banking at JPMorgan.

Elham holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from the American University in Dubai and a Masters degree from the School of Social Policy at The London School of Economics & Political Science.

Charles Awad is the Chief Brand Officer at Majid Al Futtaim – Holding.  He works closely with the Group’s different operating companies to shape the overarching brand agenda and drive customer lifetime value. Chales leads brand-building efforts across strategy, communications, innovation, loyalty, customer engagement and experience, while overseeing marketing investments strategies. He also manages the Majid Al Futtaim corporate brand, leading group-wide media initiatives and company-wide marketing partnerships.

Charles has over 25 years’ experience in building and growing profitable B2C and B2B brands, he has held leadership roles at Procter & Gamble, Estee Lauder and Allergan. He has proved track record of leading marketing, R&D and commercial teams to drive game-changing, customer centric strategies and disruptive innovation.

Before joining Majid Al Futtaim, Charles was the Growth Strategy Adviser for Allergan in Zurich, where he developed strategies to triple the medical aesthetics business by 2025. Prior to that, as Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer for Oettinger Davidoff AG, he doubled the global Davidoff net sales and profit in five years through brand repositioning and breakthrough marketing strategies.

He also spent 17 years with Procter & Gamble in senior roles in the Middle East and Europe, driving strategy development, portfolio growth, and brand turnarounds in the FMCG business.

Peter Davison is the Company Secretary of Majid Al Futtaim - Holding. He is responsible for managing the systems and processes that uphold the group’s corporate governance standards.

Peter brings over 30 years of legal and secretarial experience across Europe, the United States, the Middle East and North Africa region, and the Far East. Most recently he served as Company Secretary, Group General Counsel and Head of Compliance at Arriva, adding to the 17-years he was with British American Tobacco where he held roles including Assistant Group General Counsel, Regional General Counsel Europe and Head of Commercial Legal.

Peter is admitted as a solicitor in the UK and Hong Kong, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Durham University, England, and has completed the Law Society’s Final Examination (LSF) and Common Professional Examination/Graduate Diploma in Law (CPE/GDL) from Northumbria University, Newcastle, England.

Ahmed El Shamy was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim - Properties in January 2023.

 In his previous role as Chief Financial Officer of Majid Al Futtaim - Properties, Ahmed was responsible for the evolution of the finance function and oversaw the financial health, risk, and compliance practices. He helped deliver on business targets despite challenging market conditions, mitigated the impact of the COVD-19 pandemic and successfully executed programmes such as War on Waste and the C1500 plan. 

Prior to joining Majid Al Futtaim, Ahmed was Partner and Group CFO of Qalaa Holdings, one of the Arab world's largest private equity firms. He has also worked with Procter & Gamble, Citadel Capital, and Al Ahram Beverages and Orascom Development Holding.

Dr. Günther Helm is the Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim – Retail, tasked with delivering the company’s growth aspirations for its grocery retail business. This includes the expansion of its discount retail operations, identifying new opportunities for growth, strengthening and expanding its private brand offering, accelerating its omnichannel prowess and investing in development areas that support the long-term sustainable growth of the business.

Günther brings more than two decades of retail sector experience, underpinned by a consistent drive to innovate and evolve both customer and employee experiences across the organisations he had led. He had led large-scale revitalisation programmes that have fostered industry-first innovations, created high performance cultures, and transformed mature organisations to become more efficient and customer focused.

Prior to a stint as CEO of Cenomi Retail in Saudi Arabia, Günther was CEO of Müller Holding, Germany’s largest multicategory retailer, where he oversaw operations in 850 stores across 7 countries and led a workforce of more than 35,000 colleagues. Under his leadership, Müller Holding underwent a transformation journey resulting in a notable increase in revenues exceeding EUR 5 billion and doubling EBIT within two years. Prior, he held leadership positions in Hofer KG and ALDI South for 16 years, including CEO of ALDI South Group.

Günther is a recipient of a Grand Golden Cross of Merit of the Republic of Austria for Sustainability and was deputy chairman of the supervisory board of the Austrian state-owned investment portfolio company, ÖBAG.

Günther holds both a Doctorate and a Degree in Law from the Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria.

Ignace Lahoud is Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim - Entertainment. In his role, he leads the company's Entertainment business in line with Majid Al Futtaim's long-term strategic direction and growth agenda.

Ignace has 30 years of experience, having spent most of his career leading transformational changes across three continents and multi-billion-dollar businesses within the Walt Disney Company. He joined Majid Al Futtaim from Valence Media/MRC Entertainment, a Beverly Hills-based privately owned company that produces quality content for both TV and film, in addition to live events; where he was Chief Financial Officer. In this role, he was responsible for the integration of the functional areas across all brands, optimising capital structure and developing the framework for long-term strategic plans. Prior to that, he enjoyed a very successful 26-year career with the Walt Disney Company where he held several senior roles.  

He holds an MBA from the Madrid Business School and University of Houston and a B.Sc. from the American University of Beirut.

Fahed Ghanim is the Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim – Lifestyle. In his role, Mr. Ghanim manages world renowned brands across Home, Fashion, Specialty Retail, and Multiband Concepts covering retail stores across the GCC, while developing expansion strategies for high growth markets and new concepts. Fahed joined Majid Al Futtaim Fashion in February 2018 as Chief Operating Officer for Majid Al Futtaim – Fashion.

Prior to joining Majid Al Futtaim, Fahed was General Manager Retail for L’azurde PLC, a Saudi based jewellery company. This was the third business turn around for Fahed after Bvlgari.

His journey in the real estate industry included the management of various high-profile projects, such as negotiations on a partnership deal with The Trump Organization for a $1.5 billion development.

Fahed has led acquisitions, successful IPO, business transformation, new brand launches, development and growth of globally acclaimed fashion, home and jewellery brands including: Bvlgari, Boucheron, Pomellato, Gucci, Harvey Nichols Dubai, L’azurde, LEGO, Lululemon to name a few.

Fahed is a board member of multiple organisations and holds an MBA degree with distinction from ESCP Europe Business School.