Great tThings are done when men and mountains meet - William Blake

Ruwaad is a fast growing holding company and the team comprises experienced professionals with different professional backgrounds spread over four continents. The management team is structured to create a strong and efficient corporation with an aspirational culture and approach. The team creates competitive advantages through best practice and continually strives to achieve unparalleled results across all performance indicators.

The active leadership team includes the following individuals:

HAYAN MERCHANT

Group Chief Executive Officer

With extensive experience as an entrepreneur and commercial developer in the development and infrastructure industries, Hayan Merchant sits on the advisory board of special committees in three countries and nine companies in the field of hospitality, leisure, tourism, infrastructure and development. He has been ranked in the ’Power 25 – Shaping the future of Middle East Business’ alongside 5 Presidents of the Gulf / Middle East. In addition to leading the team at Ruwaad, Mr. Merchant also is the ’Chief Executive’ of 4 other consortium groups operating in the Middle East/African/Asian Regions in the fields of rail transportation, infrastructure development, green building / housing deployment and tourism operations.

DARRELL METZGER

Advisor to the Board of Directors

Darrell Metzger, who has more than 30 years of experience in the industry, acts as an Advisor to the Group CEO and the Board of Directors of Ruwaad. An MBA graduate of California State University, Darrell Metzger is Chairman of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) and has held numerous senior positions at Walt Disney, Sentosa Singapore, The World Expo Canada and the Olympics in Los Angeles.

SARDAR AYUB

Executive Director - Finance

A UK Chartered Accountant, Sardar Ayub has worked in several countries and specializes in property financial management and fund raising. He has worked with several PE companies and has played an instrumental role in fund raising for multiple projects in the European, Middle East and Asian regions.

KHALID NAQI

Executive Director - Projects

With more than 25 years of experience in the development and allied industries under his belt, Khalid Naqi has all round knowledge and extensive experience of structuring projects and tasking teams for design, development and delivery. He has worked with various public listed companies in Malaysia including the Berjaya Group which has had the most successful track record in property development in the Malaysia property industry.

JAMES WATSON

Executive Director - Corporate Affairs

James Watson has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, corporate communications, PR, governmental relationships management etc. He has worked with various advertising agencies including Young and Rubicam, and Ogilvy, and various blue chip companies across three continents.

OSAMA JARJOUR

Executive Director - Business Development

Osama Jarjour has over 25 years of business development experience in new product development, development, sales, leasing and management of all asset classes in real estate. He has been a leading part of a major restructuring effort by one of the UAE State Government bodies that involved attracting investment into the UAE of over USD 5.3 Billion for various tourism and industrial projects over a 6-year period.

JALEEL BANGASH

Executive Director - Technical Affairs

Jaleel Bangash has a civil engineering background with over 21 years experience in the U.K. and Malaysia. In Malaysia, he technically managed several packages of the KLCC development m which is today Malaysia’s flagship mixed-use development.

MASROOR KHAN

Executive Director - Legal Affairs

Mansoor Khan’s legal background includes in-house counsel and private practice in general law with emphasis on commercial transactions. He has extensive experience in UK and Pakistan. He has been held senior positions as ’Senior Partner’ at two major Pakistan law practices and brings forward a wealth of commercial and corporate law experience.

AHMER SANGIANI

Executive Director - Information Technology

Ahmer Sangiani has more than 12 years of experience as in IT generalist and has worked on infrastructure design and development of several projects. He is an IT prodigy and was also awarded with the prestigious ’IT integrator of the Year 2007’ by the Gulf IT Initiative for his work with the UAE Government in 2004-2005 on the platform of E-Government.

KALEEM ARSHAD

Director Human Resources & Administration

Kaleem Arshad has played instrumental roles as a part of core project teams and is well versed with all the human resource and administrative issues relating to construction and property development. He has rich international exposure of working in several countries and brings with him great wisdom in planning the project delivery through a mix of great talent and efficient systems/processes.

The team’s portfolio

The Ruwaad team has in the past been responsible for developing and managing a host of high-end properties and world-famous destinations, including:
  • The Banyan Tree – Abu Dhabi
  • The Mandarin Hotel – Hong Kong
  • Palazzo Versace Resort – Australia
  • SeaWorld – Hong Kong
  • Disneyland Tokyo – Japan
  • Mandarin Oriental Hotel – Malaysia
  • Pearl Qatar – Qatar
  • Sentosa – Singapore
  • Dubai Festival City – Dubai
  • The Lagoons – Dubai
  • Canary Wharf – London
  • Los Angeles Olympics – USA
  • Disneyworld – USA