Executive
Management Team

H.E. Khedaim Abdulla Al Derei is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Al Dahra Group, where he has the overall responsibility of ensuring Al Dahra’s business strategy achieves the targets of its shareholders and Board of Directors. He is also a delegated member from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is the Managing Director of Al Ain Holding, and oversees the commercial business of the Private Office of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He has over 28 years of public and private sector experience and has held senior positions within the UAE’s diplomatic core.

Most recently, he held the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Private Office of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, where he was responsible for the coordination of all private and business interests and activities of the office.
Prior to that, H.E. Khedaim was a Plenipotentiary Minister First Class at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, he was Deputy General Manager to the Court of H.H Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE.

H.E. Khedaim has also held various roles with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and had postings at the UAE Embassies in Washington DC, USA, and Beirut, Lebanon, where he held the position of First Secretary.

H.E. Khedaim has a number of external Chairmanships including: The Sheikh Zayed Private Academies for Girls and for Boys, Agility Abu Dhabi PJSC and Agricost SA (Romania). He is also Vice Chairman of Capital Group Properties (Egypt) and Chairman of the Audit Committee of International Capital Trading.

He also sits on the boards of a number of public and private entities, including the National Investment Corporation, Abu Dhabi University and the UAE Red Crescent.
H.E. Khedaim holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources Development from the American University in Washington DC, USA and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Lebanese American University, Lebanon. He has also attended several executive management programs at top institutions such as the Harvard Business School in Boston, USA.

Arnoud van den Berg is the Chief Executive Officer at Al Dahra Group and is responsible for the company’s overall business strategy and global operations.

Arnoud has over 25 years of international leadership experience in agribusiness, strategy, and finance, including 15 years with the multi-national dairy company, FrieslandCampina.

Most recently, Arnoud was the President of FrieslandCampina Trading, where he oversaw the Group’s trading operations and was responsible for processing, sales, sourcing, trading and hedging of dairy commodities, globally. Prior to that, he led FrieslandCampina’s operations in Hong Kong, Vietnam and South-East Asia and was a Finance Director in Greece and the Netherlands.

Arnoud also spent 11 years at Boston Consulting Group in Europe, Asia and the United States, serving in various leadership roles advising on business strategy, consumer goods, and M&A.
Over his career, he was a board member in several industry organizations in the Netherlands, Vietnam and Hong Kong. He was also a non-executive board member at Betagen Thailand.

Arnoud holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD, France.

Gianluca is Al Dahra’s Group Chief Financial Officer and has overall responsibility for the financial operations of the company.

He has over 25 years of experience in managing complex financial projects and initiatives, and since joining Al Dahra in 2017, has led the acquisitions of farms across Europe and the United States, spearheaded and closed the largest agricultural land deal in Europe in 2018, and developed and executed a large pan-European merger.

Prior to joining Al Dahra, Gianluca spent over 15 years with the Kraft-Heinz Company, where he was Chief Financial Officer of Kraft-Heinz Company Africa and Middle East, accountable for the administrative, financial, and risk management operations of the company as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Gianluca holds several board positions in Al Dahra’s portfolio of entities, with additional board memberships in prominent Emirati FMCG company, Agthia.

Gianluca holds a Master of Engineering in Business Administration from the University of Bologna, Italy.

Ahmed Saeed Al Suwaidi - lead of the Human Resources, Procurement, QHSE and Strategic Communications functions globally at Al Dahra.

Ahmed Saeed Al Suwaidi has around 20 years of working experience in leading organizations such as Masdar, Mubadala and Tabreed. Ahmed holds a Bachelor’s degree in HR Management from Portland State University in the USA.

Dr. Sulaiman Rashed Al Nuaimi is the Group Government Relations Officer for Al Dahra and is responsible for building and fostering relationships with local and international governments. With over 20 years of experience in management, public relations and administration, Dr. Sulaiman works in the UAE and abroad to promote development and collaboration in the agriculture sector.

Dr. Sulaiman holds a Doctorate Degree in Leadership Management from Australia and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the United Arab Emirates University.

Nael is Al Dahra’s Chief Operating Officer – Trading and Strategy, and has over 20 years of experience in Finance, Supply Chain and Operations Management, garnered from complex global organisations in fast-pace and emerging markets.

He has extensive knowledge of complex, end-to-end Supply Chain, including procurement and logistics.

Nael has a Bachelor of Economics and Administrative Sciences from Applied Science Private University in Jordan.

H.E. Rashed Mohammed Al Shuraiqi is the Senior Advisor for Agriculture at Al Dahra Agriculture Company.

H.E. Rashed has over 35 years of experience in the agriculture sector, and in that time, has held many esteemed posts such as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Vice Chairman of Abu Dhabi Food Security.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Sciences from UAE University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Science with a specialization in plant and animal production.

Stuart is Al Dahra Group’s Head of Farming. He is responsible for leading Al Dahra’s global farming platform which consists of a number of primarily irrigated, large-scale farms which produce alfalfa, a range of annual and permanent crops and livestock products.
With broad sectoral expertise spanning 40 years, Stuart has managed, led, and advised large-scale farm and forestry investments, agribusinesses, and agriculture funds, worldwide.
Prior to joining Al Dahra and earlier in his career, Stuart led his own agriculture investment and business advisory firm, Agri Frontiers, which provided general advisory services to investors, funds, businesses and development organizations in agriculture, and rural development in New Zealand, Brazil and globally.
He was also Head of Agriculture and Partner at The Rohatyn Group, a globally diversified asset management firm, where he led the farmland investment growth strategy, fund-raising, acquisition, portfolio analysis, investor reporting, and overall management of a portfolio of investments, spread across Australia, New Zealand, South America and the United States.
Stuart has held a variety of roles with major multinational companies such as Monsanto, Cargill, and Booker Tate, across multiple geographies including the United States, Brazil, Zambia, and Papua New Guinea. He has also held directorships and board level positions in various entities.
Stuart is from New Zealand and has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Agriculture, from the University of Reading, UK.

Nils is the Head of Grains and Specialty Crops and is responsible for Al Dahra Group’s trading and strategic growth initiatives.
Nils joined Al Dahra with global management experience in market-leading companies across Europe, the United States, South America and Asia. Most recently, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Austria-based trading corporation, VA Intertrading Aktiengesellschaft, where he led its operational units as well as 15 affiliated companies across Europe, Russia and South America.
Prior to that, he held leadership positions in renowned corporations such as Graincom GmbH, Interbrau GmbH, Viterra SA, and held various management roles over a 21-year span with commodity trading firm, Alfred C. Toepfer International GmbH which was part of the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Group.
Nils’ extensive experience is instituted in designing and implementing trading structures, risk management, M&A, and driving global supply chains in agricultural commodities.

Osman is Al Dahra Group’s Head of Food, and is responsible for the operational management and distribution of grain, rice, and fresh food commodities.
Osman joins Al Dahra from Nile Wood, where he was Chief Executive Officer. This role followed a 15-year career at Heinz Egypt, where he was most recently Managing Director, and responsible for the overall performance of the company. During this time, Osman led the development of an extensive new product development pipeline, spearheaded Egypt growth strategies, and improved overall factory efficiency and operating standards.
Prior to this, Osman was the Chief Operating Officer at Egyptian International Motors, the second largest trading company in Egypt.
Osman holds a Master of Business Administration, International Business, from the Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands, and a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, from Cairo University.

Hamdan Abdulla Al Derei is the Chief Operations Officer of the UAE Division at Al Dahra Agriculture.

Hamdan has more than 12 years of experience in Public and Private sectors in the United Arab Emirates.

Hamdan holds a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana State University, United States.