BAE Systems promote three to management positions

Each of the three have become project managers and will lead the company's work in the construction sector in Saudi Arabia.

The three are Nasser Al Watban and Mansour Al Sayed, both of whom come from the Riyadh area, and Khalid Zahid, who is originally from Madinah.

Nasser has been appointed project manager - building implementation; Mansour is project manager - building services, and Khalid is project manager - building design. Coincidentally, all three are graduates from Riyadh's King Saud University.

Each has merited the promotion as a result of their service and commitment, says BAE Systems Middle East managing director, Damian Turner. "In addition, the move reflects the growth of construction projects for the company in Saudi Arabia and the drive to have them led by Saudi nationals.

"It is intended in the future that these three new managers will lead much of the company's work with customers in the Kingdom, working in liaison with Saudi and foreign colleagues here and abroad,"

added Mr Turner. "It is in line with our plan to create in Saudi Arabia a Centre for Arab Excellence to serve our needs in the Kingdom and in other parts of the region."

BAE Systems is a global company which has had a presence in Saudi Arabia since 1973. It employs nearly 5,000 people in the Kingdom, half of whom are Saudis. The company has launched new plans to increase this number, bringing more to positions of management through training, secondment to other markets and support in postgraduate studies.

Backgrounds of the three new managers

Khalid Zahid joined the company in 1997 after completing a five-year course in architecture and building science at King Saud University's College of Architecture and Planning. Between 1999 and 2002 he completed a masters' degree from the same institution.

He started a secondment with BAE Systems in the UK in 2002 working on the Airbus A380 Wing Assembly Hangar in North Wales. Following this he joined a building contractor in the UK for 18 months working on the development of a dairy in the north of England. Khalid returned from Britain in 2005, since when he has been involved in various architectural projects in and around Riyadh.

Mansour Al Sayed is from Jalajel in north Riyadh. He joined BAE Systems in 1997 on its two-year graduate trainee programme after completing a degree in mechanical engineering at King Saud University.

He spent a year working on company's projects near Al Kharj before joining the design office in the Riyadh headquarters. Mansour has since completed courses in project management from Lancaster University and in AutoCAD (computer aided design).

In 2001 and 2002, he was seconded to a Saudi construction company, which included three months working on the famous Riyadh landmark, the Kingdom Centre.

Nasser Al Watban graduated, like Mansour, in mechanical engineering from King Saud University in 1995. He worked for two years with others companies before joining BAE Systems in 1997. He has had two periods with BAE Systems in the UK: from 1999 for a year, and from 2002 where he worked on the Airbus A380 Wing Assembly Hangar (along with Khalid) in North Wales.

During this second period, he project managed the refurbishment of two buildings at Warton Aerodrome. Nasser began studying for a masters' degree in project management from Lancaster University in 2002, and plans to base his thesis on this refurbishment and the use of new tools of project management. He returned to the Kingdom in October last year.