Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, head of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority

Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi

• Al-Ghamdi obtained his master’s degree in software systems technology from Sheffield University in the UK in 1993

Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi is the newly appointed head of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority.
The appointment was made in one of several royal decrees issued by King Salman. Amongst the other decrees, Saleh Al-Othaim was made Al-Ghamdi’s deputy.
Al-Ghamdi had previously served as head of the National Information Center since August.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information systems from King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh in 1991.
Al-Ghamdi obtained his master’s degree in software systems technology from Sheffield University in the UK in 1993, and he holds a doctorate in software engineering from Sheffield which he received in 1997, as well as a post-doctoral degree from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in 2004.
He is the first Saudi to recieve a professorship in the field of software engineering.
Before he went into teaching, Al-Ghamdi worked as a C4I (command, control, communications, computers and intelligence) systems consultant with BAE Systems until 2010.
At KSU, he began as a teaching assistant, eventually becoming an assistant professor. He has also headed the postgraduate studies and staff training committee.
Between 2010 and 2014, he was a professor at KSU, and established the software engineering department at the university, currently acting as its chairman.
Al-Ghamdi is a certified IBM rational unified process specialist, systems architect, and quality manager. He is the general director and founder of the Knowledge Industry Eco-System (KIE).