Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman is CEO of the Architecture and Design Commission at the Ministry of Culture. Prior to joining the Ministry, Dr. ِAl-Solaiman was Dean of the College of Design at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam, where she held several other positions prior to her appointment as Dean. Those positions include Vice Dean for Quality and Development, Director of the Office of Patents & Technology Transfer, and Chair of the Graphic Design and Multimedia Department. She also served on the Municipal Council of the Dammam Metropolitan Area. Dr. Al-Solaiman received her PhD in Architecture from the University of Newcastle in the UK and holds a master’s in Architecture and a bachelor’s degree in Interior Architecture from King Faisal University. In addition to this, Dr. Al-Solaiman has executive degrees in management, leadership, strategy and innovation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US where she was also the recipient of the Ibn Khaldun Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Al-Solaiman has represented Saudi Arabia as part of official delegations and has presented her research at several local and international conferences. In 2018, she served as the co-curator for the Saudi National Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. She recently published an Arabic book of articles titled “Ala Khad Alkawn”. Dr. Al-Solaiman speaks three language fluently: Arabic, German and English.
Curator
Jawaher Al-Sudairy
Jawaher Al Sudairy is the Director of Alnahda Program for Research and is a board member of the Ministry of Culture’s Architecture & Design Commission and the National Center for Social Studies. In addition, she sits on the advisory committee of the Saleh Kamel Foundation. Prior to joining Alnahda, Al Sudairy was the Senior Program Manager at Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard Kennedy School in the United States and a Researcher at the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Housing Policy. Al Sudairy also worked as a Strategy Consultant at Monitor Group and served as Investment Promotion Manager at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). Al Sudairy is currently a PhD candidate on the London School of Economics’ Cities Programme where her research focuses on mobility, social incorporation and housing and social regeneration. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation, and a B.A. from Smith College. She also attended the Beijing Capital University in China.
