Emaar Principal Officers

Ahmad Al Matrooshi oversees the day-to-day operations within Emaar including government affairs, media, public and community relations.

Al Matrooshi is the Chairman of Emaar Foundation, Chairman of Emrill Services LLC, and a member of the Consultation Committee for the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy. He holds memberships in a number of important organisations.

Prior to joining Emaar in November 2005, Al Matrooshi held the position of Chief Executive Officer at the government-run Dubai Development Board (DDB) for almost a decade. At the DDB, he ensured affordable housing and competitive financing rates to all residents across the Emirate. Before this move, Al Matrooshi was Deputy Director of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry for 14 years.

Born and brought up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Al Matrooshi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and a Diploma in Property Management from NCFE – UK.

Maitha Aldossari is the Head of Central Functions of Emaar Group Dubai and has been spearheading Emaar’s corporate functions since 2018. She leads the strategic initiatives and deals with high-level tactical decisions at the group corporate level for Customer Excellence, Brand Growth, Procurement and Cost Management.

Acquired Emaar Community Management in 2022 with a mandate of aligning customer lifestyle experience in Emaar’s vertical and horizontal communities. She has demonstrated success in operational, digital, organizational transformation, process acceleration and business efficiency improvements.

She brings more than 23 years of operational and business leadership experience to the group, focusing on customer and people centricity.

With her proven track record in turning around critical business operational areas and understanding complex stakeholder groups, Maitha has successfully progressed and accomplished key leadership roles within Emaar Group, including CEO for Emaar Entertainment from 2011 to 2017, where she provided strategic management for 5 Leisure and Entertainment attractions (Reel Cinema, Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, Dubai Ice Rink, Sega Republic, KidZania and VR Park) and CEO Strategic Projects – Emaar’s customer franchise in 2018. She also held a dual leadership role as CEO of Emaar Entertainment LLC while heading procurement, administration, warehousing & logistics as General Manager – Corporate Services.

From 2015 to 2020, Maitha Al Dossari has been consecutively awarded as one of the Most Powerful and Influential Businesswomen in the Middle East Region. She is also an advocate and supporter of women’s and children’s rights with direct self-participation in charity activities for orphans, women & children in UAE, Egypt, Africa, India, Srilanka, Lebanon, KSA, Yemen and the Philippines.
Maitha acquired an Executive MBA and Program for Executive Development (PED) – General Management at IMD (International Institute for Management Development) Business Programs, Switzerland.

Hesham Heikal is the Chief Financial Officer of Emaar. A transformational leader, Hesham has more than 30 years of diverse experience, gained from the financial, operational, investment, and board-level roles he has held in the Middle East and USA.

During his career, Hesham’s responsibilities have covered areas such accounting, corporate finance, general management, and overseeing corporate support functions such as legal, procurement, administration, human capital, and information technology.

He spent the first 15 years of his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he worked in Cairo, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and with the firm’s practice in Silicon Valley, California. By the time he left PwC, Hesham had become a Partner in the firm, leading its Assurance practice in Abu Dhabi, covering several industries, with a particular focus on real estate, manufacturing (predominantly FMCG), telecommunications, and technology.

In 2015, he was appointed Group Chief Financial Officer of Dubai Properties Group, a position he held until 2019. His responsibilities included overseeing finance, strategy, contracts and procurement, information technology, and cost control. In addition to his main role, Hesham served on the Board of Directors of some of the group’s joint ventures in the UAE and Bahrain.

Before joining Emaar, Hesham was the Group Chief Financial Officer of Alrajhi Holding Group, a multi-billion-dollar Saudi Arabian conglomerate with investments in industrial, infrastructure, building solutions, contracting, financial services, and real estate. In that role, he reported to the Group Chairman and served as member on the Board of Directors of the group’s industrial, building solutions and contracting sectors, as well as two industrial joint ventures. He also served as a member of the Executive Committee and Audit Committee of a joint venture.

Hesham is a member of the Board of Directors and of the Audit Committee of Emaar the Economic City in Saudi Arabia.

He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from Colorado, USA, and holds an MBA from London Business School.

Ayman Hamdy is a legal professional with more than 30-year experience in various in-house, judicial, and private practice roles in multiple jurisdictions. As General Counsel of Emaar, he oversees the group’s legal and regulatory functions. From legal strategy to day-to-day operations, his primary focus is to work with the legal team, senior management, other functions, and stakeholders to deliver efficient legal services that align with corporate objectives, protect the legal interests of the company, and add commercial value.

Before starting his career with Emaar Group in March 2006, he was the head of the legal and regulatory functions of Unilever in Arabia. He also served in Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel roles in various real estate companies, including Nakheel, Meydan, and Emaar Misr. At the start of his career, he trained with the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. He served as a public prosecutor for 4 years in Egypt and subsequently worked in private practice as a partner in a regional law firm. His real estate experience covers multiple geographies beyond the GCC, including the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Ayman studied law and holds a LLB and 2 LLM degrees from France (Paris Dauphine University), the U.S. (the Law School of Washington University in Saint Louis), and Egypt (Alexandria and Cairo Universities).

In addition to his in-house legal practice in the UAE, he is a qualified lawyer licensed to appear before the courts of the State of California, the Federal Courts in the U.S., and the Supreme Court of Egypt.

Ayman was awarded “General Counsel of the Year (highly commended)” by the Association of Corporate Counsel Middle East Achievement Award in 2016. He was listed in the GC Powerlist by Legal500 in 2017 and recognised as one of the Most Influential GCs (Band 1) by Chambers and Partners in 2019.

Saeed Almadani is the Group Chief Audit Officer and Group Chief Risk & Compliance Officer of Emaar, responsible for providing overall direction, technical expertise, and reasonable assurance that the internal controls promote efficiency and reduce the risk of loss, as well as helping ensure the reliability of financial statements. His expertise in finance, investments, strategy, GRC, and assurance services marks him as a trusted advisor to leadership and the Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Emaar, Almadani was a founding member of the Federal Tax Authority, where he held various roles such as Chief Governance Officer, Chief Audit, Risk & Compliance Officer, and Chairman of the Institutional Fraud Prevention Committee. He won the Governance, Risks & Controls Award from the UAE Internal Auditors Association for establishing the Authority’s Governance Ecosystem and Whistleblowing Programme, significantly advancing assurance practices in the Federal Government.

He is currently Chairman of the Audit Committee at the Abu Dhabi Department of Education & Knowledge and previously worked at Mubadala Investment Company and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Almadani is a chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a graduate of the prestigious Mohammed Bin Rashid Leadership Program. He also holds a Master of Laws in International Business Law from Panthéon-Assas University Paris, France, and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE.

Talal Balalaa is an accomplished Chief Human Resources Officer with diversified experience in enhancing organisational dynamics and driving human capital initiatives within global and complex corporations and industries.

Holding an engineering degree from UAE University, Talal has honed his expertise in strategic workforce planning, talent management, Emiratisation, and leadership development.

At EMAAR, Talal is spearheading the transformation of the Group’s HR division, integrating advanced HR technologies, and establishing robust policies that increase employee retention and reduce hiring costs. His leadership in diversity and inclusion programmes has positioned the company as a leader in workforce diversity.

Talal is successfully leading HR operations, aligning the company’s strategic goals with employee performance. His innovative approach to performance management and succession planning has been pivotal in driving business continuity and growth.

Talal is a respected thought leader in the HR field, frequently speaking at international conferences. He serves on the boards of several profit and non-profit organizations focused on education and workforce development in real estate, energy, and finance.

Leading the sales team, Bhaskara Santosh joined EMAAR Development PJSC as Sales Manager in June 2018 and has been a consistent top sales leader since then.  Santosh won the monthly Top Sales Leader award eight times and in three consecutive quarters during the previous year’s frontier monthly and quarterly awards.

Santosh has a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee (IITR) and a postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta (IIMC).

Prior to joining Emaar, Santosh occupied several positions that helped him hone his skills and advance his career. He was a sales manager for Lodha Group in Shanghai, Mumbai, and Dubai, as well as for AGM, where he oversaw the pricing strategy and led the Direct Customer, Loyalty, and Indian Channel Partner verticals. He also worked as a project manager for Dahej Reliance Industries Limited.

Santosh is a sports enthusiast and a fierce competitor, always participating in departmental or company games, especially in cricket and football.

Alma Au Yeung is an accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry, currently leading the corporate brand growth team at Emaar. She is responsible for steering brand growth strategies and activities for Emaar Properties, along with supporting initiatives at Emaar International.

In addition to her primary role, Alma’s portfolio has grown to include Emaar’s China-focused business development. This new role leverages her extensive experience in senior management and her expertise in strategic planning and revenue enhancement. Since joining Emaar Hospitality Group in 2007, Alma has consistently demonstrated her ability to drive incremental revenues and identify growth opportunities, making her a valuable asset in both her established and new capacities.

With over 20 years’ experience in finance, accounting, budgeting, planning and reporting, Sunil Grover leads the finance team at Emaar, joining the company in 2008. His favourite part of the job is daily decision-making and solving conundrums.

Grover is a tri-lingual Certified Public Accountant from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and a certified Company Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). His focus on continuous self-improvement has provided him with a steady career growth at Emaar spanning over two decades, ever since joining as a fresh graduate.

When not busy at work, Sunil Grover enjoys spending time with his family.

A highly accomplished leader with over 35 years of solid experience in the retail industry and a proven track record of successfully developing and growing organizations internationally, Wassim is currently leading the overall Emaar Malls portfolio.

Wassim previously served as a CEO for Alshaya Group for more than a decade, played a key role in growing and diversifying its business portfolio, and placed it amongst one of the leading International franchise groups. He also served as a Board member of several publicly held Real Estate and Retail organizations. In Sept 2019, Wassim established an advisory services practice and worked closely with several retail and real estate organizations across the region.

Wassim is a Business Administration graduate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and worked across many industries during his time living in the USA. His last operational role was with Kmart Corporation before moving to the Arabian Gulf region in 1989.

A highly accomplished senior finance leader with over 16 years of extensive experience in finance functions, Pawan Chindalia is the Head of Finance for Emaar Malls Management and is responsible for leading and overseeing the group’s finance team.

Pawan joined Emaar in 2011 and rose through the ranks, working with Emaar Community Management and Emaar Development PJSC, before taking up his current role. Throughout his career, he has continuously proven his strengths in business re-engineering, internal control, risk management, and driving financial performance, while also analysing complex data to facilitate effective decision-making strategies with the leadership team.

A natural problem-solver, Pawan consistently embraces new challenges and demonstrates exceptional leadership skills when managing people from different backgrounds. In doing so, he always maintains a clear focus on planning, executing and meeting deliverables.

During his decade-long tenure at Emaar, he has spearheaded several projects and initiatives with business teams to augment revenue and cash flows. Prior to joining Emaar, he worked with Damac Properties and GE Money.

Pawan is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and an honours degree in Commerce from the University of Calcutta.

Mr. Akash Veerwani is a highly accomplished senior finance leader with over two decades of extensive experience in large multinationals. He joined Emaar International in January 2019.

He has a proven ability to seamlessly partner with senior stakeholders to create a compelling vision and strategy. Other hallmarks of his leadership skills include robust planning and performance management, active ownership, strong functional and systems capability, integrity and controllership, as well as adeptly leading large cross-cultural/functional teams. Along with his commercial acumen, Mr. Veerwani also has extensive experience in internal controls, finance and compliance framework.

He previously worked in various finance leadership roles in Mondelez International including Category Finance Director for EEMEA region, where he took ownership and ensured successful delivery of financial commitments with significant margin improvements across the portfolio. He also served as Global Finance Director for setting up contemporary and world-class Center of Excellence for Financial planning and analysis function. He has led various finance streams in his 12 years’ experience with Mondelez with regional and global responsibilities.

He has also worked with Al Futtaim Group and Pannell Kerr Forster prior to joining Mondelez.

He is a Chartered Accountant from India, a commerce graduate from Mumbai University and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor, USA.

Educated at The American University in Cairo, Mostafa received his Bachelor of Science degree in
Construction Engineering in 2001.

With over 20 years experience in Development Management,
Mostafa has led the strategic development of multi use projects in different markets and has built
development, delivery, sales and marketing teams across many countries, including Turkey,
Morocco, Afghanistan, Egypt and the UAE, leading to the success of launched projects through
materialization of the developments’ visions.

As CEO of Emaar Misr and an active member of the Emaar family since 2007, Mostafa’s meticulousness
and presence in the Real Estate market leveraged his energy and enthusiasm to deliver exceptional results
through this promising transformation period. In line with Emaar’s goal to be an unstoppable company
that creates enormous value for its shareholders, stakeholders and the economy, Mostafa is dedicated to
ensuring the success and effectiveness of the team and Emaar Misr as a whole.

Kalyan has an extensive experience of 30 years in India, the UK, the US and Europe in Real Estate and Financial Services. Holding multiple leadership roles of increasing responsibilities with operations across India, UK, USA, France, Germany and Ireland, Kalyan played vital roles in GE Capital, GE Commercial Finance and Genpact. Kalyan Chakrabarti is now leading the expansion of Emaar’s real estate business in India as the Chief Executive Officer.

He is passionate about building teams and organizations with a key focus on customers, people and culture.

His knowledge and expertise spread over strategy and business operations, investment, business development, M&A, asset management, dispute resolution, finance and operations.

Previously, Kalyan held the positions of Co-CEO of the Real Estate Development business of Piramal Group, Chief Operating Officer for the Real Estate business of Edelweiss and MD at Red Fort Capital and in Rising Straits Capital.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and a Master’s in Law and Business Management from XLRI Jamshedpur.

Mr. Sohail Baig joined Emaar Pakistan in April 2019 and currently oversees all aspects of business operations.

Prior to joining Emaar, Mr. Baig was the Chief Financial Officer for Unilever Pakistan.

During his 16-year tenure at Unilever, he has gained extensive Finance and Business partnering experiences in both developed and developing markets.

Mr. Baig joined Unilever as a Management Trainee and has held various country, regional and global finance leadership roles with complex business portfolios and large teams in Singapore, Netherlands, and Pakistan.

He holds an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi and is a member of the CFA Institute – a global association of investment professionals in the USA.

Mark Kirby is a driving force behind transformative initiatives within the hospitality industry. With a steadfast commitment to excellence, he continuously enhances guest experiences, implements innovative solutions, and anticipates evolving needs for guests and associates.

Mark holds a BA (Hons) in Hospitality Management from the University of Central England in Birmingham, UK, and after his degree, he was handpicked for several professional development programmes to further his growth.

His breadth and depth of experience across all aspects of hospitality industry in unrivaled. Mark worked at some of London’s most prestigious hotels over 15 years where his understanding of the industry evolved in strides, before his eventual transition to the UAE in 2007, adopting key positions at the respected Grosvenor House and Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa in Dubai.

Mark joined Emaar Hospitality Group in 2014 as Hotel Manager of Armani Hotel Dubai, and subsequently rose to the position of General Manager. The hotel achieved widespread global recognition under his leadership, including 27 service-related accolades in 2018.

Moving forward with an appointment as Area General Manager, he managed the Group’s iconic flagship hotel, Address Downtown, as well as other Downtown Hotels in the Group’s portfolio, such as Address Dubai Mall (formerly Address Fountain Views), Address Sky View, Palace Downtown and Vida Downtown Residences, before assuming his current role as the Head of Emaar Hospitality Group since Jan 2021.

While being a resilient force behind the success of Emaar Hospitality Group, he has been successfully expanding the group’s portfolio to key gateway cities and tourist markets internationally. He is currently driving the expansion into restaurants and fitness gyms, further cementing the group’s position as an industry leader.

Mark is known for his everlasting enthusiasm for sports and fitness, and charitable endeavours. Besides diving, running, swimming, water sports and a fitness regime, he is also President of the Dubai Lankans Sports Club, where he sources sponsorship and provides rugby coaching to its Sri Lankan team. Mark supports ChildFund International in Sri Lanka with immunisation, schooling and preparing students for employment post-education. He also extends his efforts to children’s welfare initiatives in Africa and beyond.

A passionate and highly skilled legal professional with more than 17 years of invaluable experience, Nesreen Bashir is the Head of Legal at Emaar Hospitality Group.

Nesreen graduated in London with an LLB (Hons), Legal Practice Course Diploma and Diploma in Real Estate Law and is a member of the UK Law Society. Prior to joining Emaar, Nesreen worked at Eversheds Sutherland in UK.

She moved to Dubai in 2008 and joined Emaar, and set up the legal department for Emaar Hotels and Resorts and Emaar Hospitality Group. In 2015 she set up the legal department for Dubai Opera LLC and established Dubai Opera’s legal templates and continued to provide legal assistance until 2019.

Nesreen also heads legal support for Rove Hotels LLC and Rove Hospitality LLC since 2014 and in 2019 became Company Secretary for Rove Hotels LLC and Rove Hospitality LLC. In addition, Nesreen is Company Secretary for Emaar Hospitality Group LLC and Emaar UAQ Hotels LLC.

Mark has more than 30 years of experience as an executive in the Hospitality, Tourism and Entertainment industry. He has a strong background in both Operations and Development. During the first 10 years of his career, he has managed several large-scale Center Parcs resorts in Europe as a General Manager, before becoming responsible for all F&B, retail, and leisure activities in Europe for the same company. In the second decade, Mark was active as a Chief Development Officer and developed several new Center Parcs resorts in Europe, next to managing a CAPEX programme to extend and upgrade the existing resorts.

In 2010 Mark set up his own consultancy company and worked on Hospitality and Entertainment projects in Europe, India, the Middle East, and China. Most notably, together with a Chinese hotel company, he developed a new Hospitality brand Senbo resort with two major innovative resorts opened in China. In 2013 Mark returned to Center Parcs Europe where he served as CEO for a period of 5 years. Under his leadership the company managed to set in motion a turnaround and growth strategy that doubled the size of the company in the last 10 years. Today, Mark still serves as non-executive Chairman of Center Parcs Europe, one of the leading touristic companies in Europe.

Before joining Emaar in June 2023 as Head of Entertainment, Mark moved to Dubai in 2021 and joined Majid Al Futtaim, where he served for a period of two years as managing director for the Leisure & Entertainment business.

Mark holds a BA in Hospitality Management from the Hotelschool The Hague in the Netherlands.

Paolo currently serves as the Head of Dubai Opera, an internationally recognized cultural leader with more than 15 years of experience in leading and developing cultural and artistic organizations across the world.

Paolo collaborated with some of the most prestigious international organizations, like the United Nations, UNESCO, the European Commission, and the World Economic Forum.

Before joining Emaar in February 2023, Paolo served as the founding Director General of the Stauffer Center for Strings of Cremona – the first international music centre dedicated entirely to stringed instruments and Director General of the Accademia Stauffer, one of Italy’s most prestigious music institutions.

Former Board Member of the Rome Opera House, Paolo is the Founder and President of EMMA for Peace (Euro-Mediterranean Music Academy), the Founder and Honorary President of the Italian Youth Association for UNESCO, the largest youth organization in the UNESCO system, Cultural Diplomacy Officer for the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and Cultural Advisor to Coldplay.

Paolo has a Ph.D. in Cultural Economics from IULM University of Milan, an Executive MBA from the Bocconi School of Management, a Diploma in Violin Performance (MA) from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia of Rome, a BA in Literature and Musicology from La Sapienza University of Rome, a BA (Hons) Music from Middlesex University of London.

In 2023, he was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for continued contributions to arts and culture.

In 2022, he was selected by the think tank Friends of Europe among the 40 most influential young personalities in Europe and nominated European Young Leader.

In the same year, the magazine Fortune named him among the 40 most influential personalities under 40 in Italy as the first cultural manager ever selected.

Mr. Arif Alharmi Albastaki joined Amlak Finance in 2007, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and experience from a long career in senior positions at leading international and domestic financial institutions.

Mr. Arif also serves as a member on the Board of Directors of a number of local and regional companies.

Mr. Ali H Odeh joined the Emaar Group in 2006.

Mr. Odeh is responsible for leading the growth initiatives of the Dubai-based Turner International Middle East Ltd LLC in programme, project and construction management across the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Subcontinent.

He has over 29 years of experience in project construction and has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE).