Egyptian developer Orascom Development appoints new chief executive

The Swiss-listed company has also made changes to its executive management team

Jebel Sifah resort is a joint venture between Orascom Development Holdings and Omran. Courtesy Muriya Tourism Development

Egyptian property and hospitality development firm Orascom Development Holding (ODH) appointed Omar El Hamamsy as its new chief executive and restructured its management team.

Mr El Hamamsy takes the helm of the company after its previous chief executive Khaled Bichara died in a car accident in Cairo in February.

Mr El Hamamsy joins ODH from McKinsey where he was a senior partner in the global management consultancy’s Middle East office. In his 18 years at the consultancy, he led a number of practices including travel and transport. He also worked on transformations of multi-national companies in the Middle East and Europe and was part of a number of cross-border acquisitions and integrations of firms, according to an ODH statement on its website.

A graduate of Stanford University, Mr El Hamamsy previously worked for six years at AT&T's Bell Labs in the US.

Samih Sawiris, chairman of ODH, said Mr El Hamamsy’s experience will help the company continue its “turnaround story and take ODH to the next level of growth and development”.

The appointment of the new chief executive marks the end of the interim committee created in February 2020 to oversee the business during the transition phase.

Members of the committee including Samih Sawiris, Jürgen Fischer and Naguib Sawiris will focus again on their roles as members of ODH board.

Chief development officer of hotels, Abdelhamid Abouyoussef will take up the new position as the chairman of Orascom Hotels Management, the group's hotels management company. Ashraf Nessim will continue in his role as chief financial officer and a member of executive management team, the company said.

The ODH board also approved the appointment of Karim Hassan, group head of business development, as a member of the company’s executive management team. The role of the chief human resources and organisation development will no longer be part of the executive management team, according to the statement.

Orascom Development, whose shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, is a developer and operator of resorts, hotels and residential communities. It operates 33 hotels in seven countries, including The Cove resort in Ras Al Khaimah and the Jebel Sifah resort in Oman.