Who’s Who: Ghada Altasan, tenant attraction manager for regional investments at Oxagon, NEOM’s industrial port city

Ghada Atlasan
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Updated 14 January 2024
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Who’s Who: Ghada Altasan, tenant attraction manager for regional investments at Oxagon, NEOM’s industrial port city

Ghada Altasan is the tenant attraction manager for regional investments at Oxagon, NEOM’s industrial port city.

Since early 2021, she has focused on enhancing the growth and development of Oxagon’s industrial manufacturing activities, collaborating with key stakeholders such as the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, to execute programs that align with the needs of the sector.

Before NEOM, Altasan worked in various banks across the Kingdom, building almost a decade of managerial experience. As an adviser for the deputy governor for research and international affairs at the Saudi Central Bank from January 2020 to January 2021, she drove various strategic initiatives, showcasing leadership and project management skills.

As the training and development division director at the bank from December 2017 to January 2020, Altasan played a pivotal role in driving the professional development of employees through the planning and execution of training initiatives, in collaboration with leading international institutions.

Additionally, she oversaw the development of multiple training programs, including scholarships, English language studies, on-the-job training, long-term development programs and orientation programs for new joiners.

Altasan's international experience includes her role as an international affairs senior specialist at the Saudi Central Bank from January 2016 to December 2017, when she played a vital role in strengthening the bank’s regional and international engagements, and took part in annual meetings with International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

As a vendor management manager at the Saudi Investment Bank from July 2016 to July 2017, she supervised a team responsible for overseeing vendor management functions. She established the vendor management department aimed at controlling costs, driving service excellence and maximizing value from vendors throughout deal life cycles.

In her role as an IT planning and finance manager at the Saudi British Bank from January 2014 to December 2015, Altasan led a team responsible for overseeing IT planning and financial management functions.

She played a key role in formulating financial, annual operating and customer allocation plans, as well as managing CapEx budgets to optimize organizational costs.

Before her managerial roles, Altasan gained valuable experience in finance and accounting positions, progressing through the ranks to financial controller at Saudi Payments.

Altasan completed the leadership development program offered by Michigan Ross Executive Education at the University of Michigan in March 2020. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from King Abdulaziz University.


Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA

The canal in the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology campus. (Shutterstock)
Updated 10 February 2026
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Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA

  • KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Kingdom’s growing presence in international football

RIYADH: FIFA has designated the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as its first research institute in the Middle East and Asia to support the development of innovative football research, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

The recognition highlights KAUST’s commitment to integrating sports, academic research and industry through advanced, high-level initiatives grounded in rigorous scientific methodologies, contributing to the advancement of football studies.

KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in international football.

The accreditation aligns with national efforts to invest in research and development and promote the knowledge economy, supporting Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of building an advanced sports system based on innovation and sustainability.

The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match videos into structured, searchable data, according to the KAUST website.

This work opens new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how football has evolved over time.

The second project uses player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics.

These datasets provide deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques and performance dynamics through AI-driven analysis.