Leadership for the region’s most complex institutions.
Diversified conglomerates, royal-family offices and multi-vertical holdings across the GCC turn to JOH Partners for the group CEOs, chiefs of staff, vertical MDs and group CFOs that hold institutional complexity together.
Group Holdings
Diversified conglomerates, royal-family offices and multi-vertical holdings across the GCC. CEO, Chief of Staff, vertical MD and group CFO mandates.
The second-founder seat.
GCC family conglomerates are at an inflection point. The first generation built scale; the second generation is professionalising governance, separating ownership from management, and bringing in non-family executive leadership for the first time.
We’ve closed more than 80 senior placements into Gulf family groups since 2018 — group CEOs, chiefs of staff to the chairman, group CFOs and the vertical MDs running individual operating businesses. The mandate is rarely vanilla executive search; it’s search inside a governance transition.
Our group-holdings practice partners with chairs, principals and group HRDs to map the global talent pool, calibrate cultural fit, and structure compensation that reflects the long-term commitment these seats demand.
The seats we’ve closed in Group Holdings.
$3B revenue · five verticals
First non-family CEO in three generations; closed in 11 weeks.
Multi-billion mandate
Sourced senior advisor with both private and public sector experience.
$1.2B Dubai-listed industrials
Hire from outside the region; signed within 10 weeks.
Group hospitality vertical
European hotelier into a Saudi giga-project mandate.
Diversified group · 14k staff
Senior HR leader to architect group-wide talent reset.
Real estate vertical
Real estate operator with regional development track record.
Field notes from Group Holdings.
— Recent insights
View all— Recent episodes
View allCross-border leadership: Adam Malouf on transforming organisations across Dubai, Australia and beyond
with Adam Malouf · Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President, University of Wollongong
From programmer to CEO: Khalid Suleimani on building Saudi Arabia's tech and investment ecosystem
with Khalid Suleimani · Chief Executive Officer (former), SISCO
— Recent engagements
View allSaudi sovereign-backed industrial development fund
Ten industry specialists placed for a Saudi sovereign-backed industrial development programme within 30 days.
Tadawul-listed Saudi industrial holding company
Built three group functional leaders into a Saudi industrial holding portfolio of eight operating companies, in 13 weeks.
$3B revenue · five-vertical Saudi industrial conglomerate
Placed the first non-family CEO into a $3B Saudi industrial group, signed within 11 weeks.
Tell us about the seat.
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