Saudi govt appoints global advisory board to oversee mega-city Neom

The Saudi government has appointed a “global advisory board” for Neom, the kingdom’s $500 billion city of the future, it was announced on Tuesday.

According to the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the board is composed of experts in a variety of sectors - including urban planning, architecture, design, technology, sustainability, energy and manufacturing - to provide industry insight, provide advice and help form strategic partnerships.

“We welcome the global and diverse expertise of the advisory board and are confident that each of them will make huge contributions to the development of Neom,” said Neom CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr.

“The advisory board will help shape Neom’s future through its detailed knowledge and connections with potential long-term strategic partners.”

A total of 18 people were named as members of the advisory board. Among them are former Uber CEO and current City Storage Systems CEO Travis Kalanick, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, ABB Chairman Peter Voser and Andrew Liveris, the former CEO and chairman of the Dow Chemical Company.

According to Saudi authorities, additional members of the advisory board will be announced as they are appointed.

The full list of advisory board members:

Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator and co-chair of open AI

Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of VC firm Andreesen Horowitz

Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO

Timothy Collins, vice chairman and CEO of Ripplewood Advisors

Alexandra Cousteau, senior advisor to Oceana

Dan Doctoroff, founder and CEO of Sidewalk Labs

Norman Robert Foster, founder and CEO of Foster + Partners

Jean Fréchet, a chemistry professor

Travis Kalanick, CEO of City Storage Systems

Neelie Kroes, a retired Dutch politician and vice-president of the European Commission

Andrew N. Liveris, former CEO and chairman of Dow Chemical Company

Ernest Moniz, founder of Energy Futures Initiative

Marc Raibert, a former Carnegie Mellon University professor and a founder of Boston Dynamics

Carlo Ratti, a professor of Urban Technologies and Planning, and director of SENSEable City Lab

John Rossant, founder and chairman of the New Cities Foundation

Masayoshi Son, a Japanese business magnate and chief executive officer of Japanese holding conglomerate SoftBank

Rob Speyer, Tishman Speyer president and chief executive officer

Peter Voser, chairman of ABB.