Corporate Governance

Mr Mansour Al Alami joined the Board of GMS in November 2020. His career spans over forty years in the MENA region and includes experience in the oil, gas & energy sector, construction, IT, transportation, finance and investment. He served fifteen years in various roles in ADCO, now ADNOC Onshore (the leading onshore producer within ADNOC Group) in the areas of drilling and production for upstream onshore operations, later becoming Head of Control & Planning. Mr Al Alami has served also in senior management positions in other companies including Reda Pump Libya, Al Bawardi Enterprises and EMDAD. He sits on the boards and committees of several Amman Stock Exchange listed companies. He has a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Newcastle University, UK.

Mr Hassan Heikal joined the Board of GMS in November 2020 (having previously served on the board between August and October 2020). He also acts as Chairman of Seafox International Limited, a significant shareholder in GMS, and Chairman of Kazyon, a supermarket chain in Egypt. He is the Co-Founder of EFG Hermes, a leading investment bank based in the Middle East where he served for eighteen years, latterly seven years as Co-Chief Executive Officer. Prior to EFG Hermes, Mr Heikal worked in Goldman Sachs, where he served in the Corporate Finance Division. He has a BSc from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Egypt.

Ms Al Mubarak joined the Board of GMS in October 2023. Ms Al Mubarak is the CEO and Founder of Know How for Management Consulting, an organisation that specialises in delivering key learning initiatives for blue-chip clients across the region, helping them create a platform for developing the managers and leaders of tomorrow, through data-driven strategies. She brings over 40 years’ experience in the oil & gas sector and other related industries, having started her career at Abu Dhabi Company for Offshore Oil Operations in 1980 before subsequently joining Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company. Ms Al Mubarak holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Denver, U.S.A, and is a certified practitioner for NLP, Myers-Briggs EQ-I 2.0 and EQ 360, as well as being a Psychometric Assessor.

Mr Charbel El Khoury joined the Board of GMS in August 2021. He is Group CEO of Mazrui International LLC (‘Mazrui International’), a UAE based diversified investment company with significant reach in sectors including energy. Mazrui International is a company affiliated with Mazrui Investments LLC, a significant shareholder in GMS. Mr El Khoury started his career in prominent legal practices in Lebanon and the UAE before assuming the role of Chief Legal Officer at Mazrui International, where he was responsible for multiple jurisdictions and industry sectors. He holds a number of board positions across international organisations in which Mazrui International has invested. He has a Bachelor’s degree in International Law and Legal Studies, and a Master’s degree in Private Law, both from Sagesse University. In 2021, he also successfully completed the Harvard Business School executive education program.

Mr Jyrki Koskelo joined the Board of GMS in February 2021. He currently serves as a Board member of, Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund (Luxembourg) and, EXPO Bank (the Czech Republic, part of the Expobank Group) as well as a member of the Supervisory Board of FIBank ( Bulgaria) and Chairman of Invest Solar (an investment vehicle focused on Botswana). He held various senior positions (between 1987 to 2011) within the Washington based International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries). He has a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Technical University, Helsinki, Finland and a MBA in International Finance from MIT, Sloan School of Management, Boston, USA.

Lord St John joined the Board in May 2021. He is a cross bench peer in the House of Lords. As a practising lawyer by training, with his LLM in Maritime Law, he worked for Shell (South Africa) and then as an oil analyst and in specialist sales for several institutions in the City of London. Through his subsequent career Lord St John has held a number of executive and advisory roles in high growth companies. He is currently Non-executive Chairman of Integrated Diagnostics Holdings, and a Non-Executive Director of Yellow Cake PLC and Smithson Investment Trust PLC. He is also a Trustee of a number of charities, with a strong focus on education and wildlife conservation, and was formerly a director of Albion Enterprise VCT PLC. Lord St John has a BA and a BScoSc in Psychology from Cape Town University, a BProc in Law from the University of South Africa and an LLM from the London School of Economics.

Alex joined GMS in 2022. He has 28 years of international financial management experience gained with first-tier companies such as Procter & Gamble, ABB, and Alvarez and Marsal. Most recently, Alex was the Chief Financial Officer at Qatari Investors Group (QIGD), a publicly listed company. He holds an MBA and is a US Certified Management Accountant.