Suresh Vaidhyanathan

CEO – Special Projects, Ghassan Aboud Group & CEO – Abu Dhabi Food Hub – KEZAD

Suresh Vaidhyanathan is one of the region’s accomplished business leaders having worked with leading multi-business organisations for 25+ years. He has extensive experience across diverse business sectors and multiple geographies in Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Amongst other projects, he leads the Abu Dhabi Food Hub – KEZAD which is a 3.3 square Km food wholesale market that is being established as a public-private partnership with Abu Dhabi Ports Group. The project seeks to play a key role in the country’s food security ambitions and create an unmatched ecosystem that serves all food categories.

Suresh has an excellent professional standing in the region, having been included amongst the Forbes List of Top 10 Indian CFOs in the Middle East in 2019 and the Top 20 CFOs in the GCC 2021 (Khaleej Times NAFA List). Recently in 2023, he was included in the Arabian Business Dubai 100 Power List and Top 50 Most Powerful Indians in the Middle East.

Over the years, Suresh has worked across several business models including:

Automotive | Hospitality | Agri-business| Logistics |Food | Retail |Healthcare | Aviation | Real Estate | Agri-business | Manufacturing | Technology| Services

He is an alumnus of the Leading Digital Business Transformation program at IMD Business School. He also completed his certifications in Blockchain Technologies and Artificial Intelligence at MIT Sloan School of Management. He completed the M&A program at University of Chicago Booth School of Business and in addition to programs in governance and distress investing at INSEAD and Wharton.