Mohannad Abu Obaid has been the head of communications at the Saudi Institute of Public Administration since April.
His responsibilities at the IPA include planning and leading external communications campaigns, leading the IPA’s rebranding project, and directing protocol tasks for the institute’s general manager.
He obtained a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from King Saud University in 2013 and has developed diversified expertise in both commercial and communications fields. For over 15 years, he has worked for multinational companies in an eclectic spread of commercial roles and in the public sector in communications roles.
His experience has helped him succeed in leading major communication campaigns throughout the nation, where he is considered an expert in the field.
In July 2020, Abu Obaid founded Best Innovative Solutions, a communications and content creation firm that provides services to both public and private sector entities.
For over two years, beginning in February 2018, he was a business partner at Arrow Creative, a Saudi agency that provides communications and content creation services to government and private sector organizations. Obaid led media campaigns for Bechtel-Saudi Arabia, Lulu, LG, Amryt Pharma, and Winter at Tantora.
From April 2017 to February 2018, Abu Obaid served as an adviser at the office of the minister of communication and information technology. He also headed the ministry’s unit of content and production. Prior to that, he had worked for nearly two months as a communications and public relations consultant at the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
From March 2014, Abu Obaid worked as tender business manager at MSD, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, where he also served as a communication team lead and a healthcare policy manager, providing supportive services to customer key decision-makers in Saudi Arabia, and contributing to planning, building and implementing strategic projects with key customers.
From June 2013, Abu Obaid also worked as a regional manager at Octapharma, where he was the company’s only Saudi pharmacist. He has also served as a customer service representative at the Samba Financial Group, which has recently merged with the National Commercial Bank to form the Saudi National Bank.
