More About Bashar AlKadhi
Bashar AlKadhi, CEO, Middle East, Turkey & Africa, is a multi-award-winning communicator, with three decades of experience delivering regional and international strategy and counsel for clients.
Before Burson, Bashar was CEO of EMEAx (Europe, Nordics, Middle East, Turkey, India and Africa) at Hill & Knowlton, responsible for the agency’s network of wholly owned offices and affiliate partners across the region.
Under Bashar’s leadership, H&K has been recognized as Agency of the Year in the Middle East by the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) in 2022, 2020 and 2018, PRovoke Media (SABRE Awards) in 2022, 2021 and 2020, the PRWeek Global Awards in 2021, and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA MENA) in 2020, as well as a Top Five Great Place To Work in the UAE and Top Five Best Workplace for Women in the GCC (Medium-Sized Organizations). In 2024, Bashar was honored with a SABRE Award for Individual Achievement and was also the recipient of the Chairman’s Award by MEPRA in 2019 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the industry. He is annually featured in the PRWeek Middle East Power Book.
Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton, Bashar was Chief Operating Officer at ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, where he helped grow the firm’s client portfolio and was responsible for the company’s network of fully owned offices across the region. Earlier in his career he held several senior communications posts across the Middle East, serving as Senior Vice President and group controller at the i2 Group, the largest distributor of mobile phones in the region, and director of public affairs at The Coca-Cola Company. He was a founding member of Intermarkets PR in Dubai in 1992. Bashar also served on the Board of IraQna (an Orascom company), the first mobile phone network in Iraq, in 2004/05, and currently sits on the regional board of Injaz Al Arab.
Bashar has lived and worked in the UK, UAE, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain. Fluent in Arabic and English, he holds a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from the Queen Mary College, University of London.
Art Direction by Wynn Burson
Photography by Tina Tyrell