Royal Decree: New Board of Directors is appointed to both internationalize and strengthen independence of SCCA
Published Date: 24/03/2021
In support of international best practices, a Royal Decree was issued on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 appointing the 3rd independent Board of Directors of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA).
Half of the incoming Board members are leading international arbitration experts from four continents, and all are leaders from the business, legal and finance and banking sectors. Importantly, the new Board now reflects more diversity in terms of specializations, gender and nationalities - with foreign experts comprising 40% of the Board, and a foreign expert named Board Vice Chairman. This diversity further enhances and promotes international best practices of the SCCA in all its work. It also reinforces SCCA neutrality and independence from the public sector, as no Board member shall holds a government position.
This decree further implements the SCCA’s Statue stipulating that the SCCA's independent Board of Directors shall be constituted by order of the Prime Minister based on a nomination agreed upon between both the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Justice. The term of membership shall be three (3) years and is renewable one (1) time.
The new Board of Directors includes leading national international and professionals of the institutional arbitration, legal, Sharia and business sectors, including the following professionals:
- Dr. Waleed bin Sulaiman Abanumay, Chairman (from the business sector - Saudi)
- Mr. Toby T. Landau QC, Vice Chairman (Expert in commercial arbitration - British)
- Prof. Georges Affaki, Member (Expert in commercial arbitration - French)
- Ms. Abby Smutny, Member (Expert in commercial arbitration - American)
- Dr. Mohammad Abdelraouf, Member (Expert in commercial arbitration - Egyptian)
- Dr. Saud bin Abdullah Al-Ammari, Member (Expert in commercial arbitration - Saudi)
- Mr. Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al-Majid, Member (Business Sector - Saudi)
- Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Ajlan, Member (Sharia expert - Saudi)
- Mr. Abdullah bin Hashim Al-Hashim, Member (Lawyer and former members of the SCCA Board - Saudi)
- Dr. Ali bin Abdulkareem Al-Suwailem, member (Lawyer and former members of the SCCA Board - Saudi)
For his part, Dr. Walid Abanumay, Chairman, on behalf of the members of the Board of Directors expresses his deepest gratitude to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister for entrusting the new Board to bring the SCCA to next level. He aspires to succeed in this assignment and fulfill the SCCA’s vision.
The CEO, Dr. Hamed bin Hassan Merah thanks the wise leadership for appointing the highly qualified national and international experts in the field of arbitration and mediation. Noting that this distinguished body will enable the SCCA to become one of the world’s leading institutional arbitration centers. He thanked Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Commerce for their strategic and ongoing support of the SCCA, which have been critical to its success, and for their wider engagement with all elements of the institutional arbitration industry in general.
Dr. Merah thanked and expressed profound appreciation to the dedicated and highly effective outgoing Board of Directors headed by Mr. Yaseen Khayyat, Chairman, Mr. Khalid Al-Saleh, Mr. Khalid Al-Abd Al-Karim, Dr. Mohammed AlOsaimi, Dr. Nabil Al-Mansour, Mr. Yousef Khalawi, and Dr. Youssef Al-Jabr. All their wise counsel and generous efforts transformed the work and impact of the SCCA's activities.
Under the leadership of the new Board, the SCCA will continue to expand its work to become the preferred regional ADR institution by 2030.