The 18 members of the board come from a diverse range of backgrounds including urban planning, architecture, design, technology, sustainability, energy and manufacturing
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.
