Born in Morocco in 1959, Richard Attias completed his studies in civil engineering and earned a master’s degree in mathematics and physics. He began his career at IBM, and his passion for innovation led him to establish several companies in the IT and global communications fields.
Richard Attias also spent over a decade at the media conglomerate Publicis Group, where he served as Executive Chairman of Publicis Events Worldwide. From 1992 to 2008, he was the Executive Producer of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. He also co-founded the Nobel Laureates Conferences and designed more than 1,000 high-level events for governments, institutions, and corporations, including the Jordan Festival, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Conference (Dakar), L’Oréal for Women in Science, as well as exclusive corporate events for Sanofi, LVMH, Lenovo, IBM, and HP, to name a few.
Thanks to his unrivaled reputation for advising international leaders, corporations, and nations on how to lead and drive impact, in 2008, Richard Attias was appointed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to create a strong ecosystem to attract FDI and lead the nation branding strategy of the Emirate of Dubai. Within just a few years, Dubai became the top destination in the region, attracting more than 15 million visitors annually.
In 2008, he founded Richard Attias & Associates, a consulting and advisory firm specializing in nation branding with a special focus on building the right ecosystem to attract FDI. In his capacity as Founder and Chairman of Richard Attias & Associates, he led the communication strategy of multiple countries.
He co-founded the Clinton Global Initiative and, in 2010, founded The New York Forum to relaunch the US economy. This was shortly followed by the creation of The New York Forum AFRICA. Between 2014 and 2019, he was entrusted by President Macky Sall to position Senegal as one of the leading countries in Sub-Sahara, designing the country’s entire event and tourism strategy. Within two years, Senegal became the top destination in sub-Saharan Africa for events, conferences, and international summits, hosting the Water Forum, the Youth Olympics, and the Francophonie Summit.
Since 2008, Richard Attias has been the architect and driving force behind numerous official ceremonies, social and cultural events, as well as iconic nation branding and investment-enabling events. These include the APEC CEO Summit, the Doha GOALS Forum in Qatar and Los Angeles, the Build Africa Forum in Congo (2014), African Development Bank Conferences, the Global Entrepreneurship Forum, the Egypt Economic Development Conference, the Global Competitiveness Forum, the Argentina Investment Forum, the Bloomberg US–Africa Business Forum, the Bloomberg Business Forum, the AGOA Forum, the One Planet Summit in Paris, the President Trump visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017, the Peace to Prosperity Workshop in Bahrain (phase one of the Abraham Accords), and the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, which has since become the world’s leading investment conference.
Through these innovative and memorable platforms, Richard Attias has built outstanding relationships with the world’s leading sovereign wealth funds and private equity funds. He has continuously created opportunities to raise financing for frontier and emerging markets, working closely with heads of state, such as the Republic of Congo (receiving $2 billion FDI in 2014), Egypt ($5 billion FDI in 2015), and Argentina ($3 billion FDI in 2016), among others.
In 2018, Richard Attias entered into a financial partnership with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and, in 2019, became the CEO of the FII Institute, a next-generation not-for-profit foundation dedicated to empowering the world’s brightest minds to shape a brighter future for all. In 2024, he was appointed as a Special Advisor to PIF.
Richard Attias has led several branding strategies for countries and crisis communications, notably for Saudi Arabia and a number of African nations.
Over the past 30 years, Richard’s talent for anticipating and addressing the most pressing issues of our time, activating powerful networks, and inspiring innovation has made him a trusted advisor to many heads of state who have sought his support in building their nation’s brands, expanding engagement, and achieving economic and social goals.