Bashar Alkadhi, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Bashar joined Hill+Knowlton Strategies as Chief Executive Officer in September 2016, overseeing H+K’s business across the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. He is now CEO of EMEAx (Continental Europe, Nordics, Middle East, Turkey, India and Africa) and serves on H+K's Global Leadership Council. He has enjoyed a successful 28-year career in public relations and the media business across the region, and brings to his new role significant regional experience, international insights and leadership skills., always advocating a collaborative, inclusive and diverse culture. He has lived and worked in the UK, UAE, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain. He joined H+K following seven years as COO at H+K’s fellow WPP company ASDA’A Burson-Masteller (now BCW), where he helped grow the firm’s client portfolio and was responsible for the company’s network of fully owned offices across the region. Prior to that he held several senior communications posts across the Middle East, serving as Senior Vice President and group controller at the i2 Group, the largest distributor of mobile phones in the region, and director of public affairs at The Coca-Cola Company, and a founding member of Intermarkets PR in Dubai in 1992. Bashar also served on the Board of IraQna (an Orascom company), the first mobile phone network in Iraq, in 2004/05, and sits on the regional board of Injaz Al Arab. Fluent in Arabic and English, Bashar holds a B.Sc. Honours degree from the Queen Mary College, University of London.