Longtime Palladium leader Abdullah Alnabhan has taken on a new cross-company leadership role within GISI Consulting Group. While continuing on as Managing Partner for the Middle East at Palladium, where he has worked for over 17 years, Abdullah will now also serve as Hill International’s Managing Director for the Middle East.

In this new role, Abdullah will leverage 20 years of international program management and advisory experience, as well as expertise in building outstanding project teams and delivering effective operational oversight, to grow both businesses while maintaining the high quality of their professional services in the region.

Comprehensive Consultancy Services

“Comprehensive consultancy is crucial in the Middle East,” says Abdullah, “where increasing populations and government initiatives to achieve sustainable growth through economic diversification are driving a construction boom.” In this market, owners face major challenges in planning and executing complex, concurrent projects – challenges that can be met with interdisciplinary solutions and the kind of cross-company teams Abdullah now leads.

To this end, Abdullah says the root of his approach will be to harness the collective expertise of professionals across Palladium and Hill. With the comprehensive suite of professional services offered by the two companies, Abdullah will be better equipped to help clients throughout the Middle East achieve their organizational objectives, from planning and delivering transformative transportation infrastructure to increasing data center capacity and driving long-term economic diversification.

 “Building cross-company teams and adjusting involvement as client needs change will allow us to deliver innovative solutions that keep our clients’ projects moving forward,” he explains. The depth of technical knowledge at Hill and Palladium, from Hill’s expertise in infrastructure project delivery and risk management to Palladium’s advisory capabilities in capital mobilization and sustainability, positions the Group as a true consultancy partner for clients, regardless of where they are in the project life cycle.

Local Talent

In addition to Abdullah’s own 20 years of experience in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait, he notes Palladium’s and Hill’s existing relationships with clients, partners, stakeholders, and, importantly, staff throughout the region.

“Both Palladium and Hill have prioritized the cultivation of local talent in the Middle East,” he says. Local expertise is important, Abdullah explains, because it gives our teams insights into conditions on the ground, such as geographical challenges and local labor pools, as well as a deeper understanding and appreciation of our clients’ work across the transportation, water and wastewater, governmental, residential, healthcare, educational, technology, and cultural sectors.

While local talent is a crucial part of Abdullah’s approach, he also calls attention to the value of the global resources at Hill, Palladium, and the rest of the GISI Consulting Group. “It would be hard to match the talent at Hill and Palladium alone,” he says. “Given the Group’s global expertise across professional services disciplines, combined with our local talent in each of the markets we serve, I believe we have a distinct competitive advantage. This is an especially important differentiator in the Middle East, where project teams are working to overcome resource constraints and deliver some of the world’s most complex infrastructure.”

Continued Growth

“Abdullah’s proven leadership and experience strengthen Hill’s and Palladium’s Middle East operations as we continue to grow in the region,” adds Derek Amidon, Chief Executive Officer of GISI Consulting Group. “I’m also confident that the appointment will demonstrate the power of cross-company collaboration at the heart of our Group—harnessing synergies and finding opportunities to create additional value for our clients is what we do. Especially today, with megaprojects becoming the norm, resource constraints impacting markets around the world, and artificial intelligence driving the rapid transformation of the technological landscape, GISI Consulting Group has the depth and breadth of consultancy expertise that owners require to manage their programs.”

To speak with Abdullah about your advisory and program, project, and construction management needs, reach out to him at AbdullahAlnabhan@hillintl.com.