Khaldoon Al Mubarak

Al Mubarak was born in 1976 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He is from a family of diplomats, religious and judicial scholars. Khaldoon's father was the former UAE diplomat and ambassador to France, Khalifa Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Mubarak, who was assassinated in Paris in 1984.[8] Khaldoon's grandfather was the late (Al Sheikh) Ahmed Abdulaziz Hamad Al-Mubarak,[9] former Judge and Chairman of the Shari'a Judicial Department in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, he was appointed by founder of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. His great-grandfather Professor (Al Sheikh) Abdulaziz Hamad Al-Mubarak, a judicial scholar, also played a significant role to the UAE educational system, where he established the country's first school in the Emirate of Dubai;[10] he was an advisor to Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan.

Khaldoon has three siblings, two of whom are crucial to the environmental development and the economic, cultural development of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi: Rasha; Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Board Member of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi[11] and the Managing Director for the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund[12] (she serves on multiple boards); and Mohamed Khalifa Al-Mubarak, Chairman of Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi and member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi,[13] and Chairman of Aldar Properties PJSC.[14]

Khaldoon K. Al-Mubarak obtained a degree in Economics and Finance from Tufts University, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts.[15] He attended on a scholarship. Khaldoon started his education at the American Community School of Abu Dhabi, he graduated in 1993.[16]

Al Mubarak's first position was as a sales-executive at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.[17] After working at the oil company, he was employed by the UAE Offsets Group, where he held a number of positions.[18] He next assumed the duties of the Executive Vice-President-Corporate of Dolphin Energy.

Al Mubarak has interests in mining projects in South America, specifically in Colombia, as he directs Mubadala Investment Group, the company that owns Minesa, a company created in 2013 in order to obtain the exploitation license, from the Colombian government, to extract gold from the Páramo de Santurbán, Soto Norte province, Santander department, with reserves calculated in the subsoil of approximately 9 million ounces. Despite the benefits that would be obtained from the payment of royalties to the state and the possible generation of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, there has been fierce opposition from environmentalists and political leaders in the region due to the threat posed by the contamination of the water reserve that nourishes more than 4 million inhabitants, a product of possible mismanagement that Minesa gives to the cyanide and mercury residues necessary to extract the gold as well as the destruction of the páramo ecosystem, becoming even a matter of national and international interest.[19] However, the investment made in the country during the 2010s, seeking the favor of the government and productive sectors of the country in favor of the exploitation of the páramo, is being put at risk as Minesa's request is filed by the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA in spanish), declaring deficient the Environmental Impact Study in the area made by the mining company.[20]

Al Mubarak was appointed CEO and Managing Director of the government-owned investment company Mubadala Development,[21] whose projects include the $5 billion aluminium plant in King Abdullah Economic City in 2002. In 2017 he was appointed managing director and chief executive officer of Mubadala Investment Company, after Mubadala Development merged with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) to Mubadala Investment Company,[22] managing a $125 billion portfolio.[23] In March 2020, Mubadala Investment Company was managing a $230 billion portfolio.[24]

The company owns stakes in numerous companies, including a 5 percent share in Ferrari,[18] an 8.1 percent share in AMD,[18] and a 7.5 percent share in the Carlyle Group.[25][26]

In May 2005, he was appointed vice-chairman of Oasis International Leasing, an Abu Dhabi-based leasing company.[27] Through Mubadala Investment Company, Al Mubarak is vice-chairman of Piaggio Aero,[28] and vice-chairman of LeasePlan.[29]

During Al Mubarak's tenure Mubadala invested into new markets, among them projects of Brazilian magnate Eike Batista.[30]

When the Abu Dhabi government was restructured in 2006, Al Mubarak became chairman of Executive Affairs Authority and a member of the Executive Council for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.[31][32] He is also an Abu Dhabi Education Council member,[33] a director of the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development (ABCED),[34][35] and chairman of the Organization & Administration Department.[27] Al Mubarak is co-chair of the United States Chamber of Commerce's US–U.A.E. Business Council, which was established in 2007,[36] chairman of the Abu Dhabi Media Zone Authority,[37] and vice-chairman of the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council which was established in 2007.[38][39]

American media have characterized Al Mubarak as "one of the royal family’s most trusted advisers" and having "a close relationship with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan."[5][7]

Al Mubarak is also a board member of the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) of the Government of Abu Dhabi and the chairman of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC).[40] He is also co-chair of the Abu Dhabi-Singapore Joint Forum.[41]

Al Mubarak, as chairman of the Abu Dhabi Motor Sport Management Company (ADMM),[42] worked to bring auto racing to the region and negotiated the deal with FIA for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula One motor race.[43] The deal was officially announced in early 2007 at the Abu Dhabi F1 Festival in the UAE.

In early September 2008, and after negotiations led by Dubai-born businessman Sulaiman Al-Fahim[44] on behalf of the Abu Dhabi side, the owners of English Premier League football club Manchester City, including chairman Thaksin Shinawatra, agreed to sell the entirety of their shares to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi.[45] On Tuesday 23 September 2008, the deal was concluded and the shares were transferred to Abu Dhabi United Group, a United Arab Emirates-based private equity firm owned by Sheikh Mansour,[46] in a deal that was both welcomed[47] and questioned[48] by some observers. In September 2008,[49] the new owner appointed Al Mubarak as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the club, with Garry Cook (administrator) as Chief Executive. Gary Cook would later resign in 2011 and be replaced by Ferran Soriano [50][46]

On 14 May 2011, City won the F.A. Cup, their first silverware after a drought of 35 years, by beating Stoke City F.C. 1–0 at the final.[51] On 13 May 2012, with two goals scored in stoppage time[52] in the last game of the season, played at their home stadium, and amidst "scenes of near bedlam,"[53] Manchester City were crowned champions of the Premier League, winning the top-division title again, for the first time since the 1967-68 season. The club's finances[54] reached a loss of £98 million loss in 2011-12 but improved to show an £11 million profit in 2014–15, and then in the 2015–16 season a profit of £20.5 million with "record" revenues of £398.1 million.[55]

Since 2013 Mubarak is also the chairman of City Football Group, a holding company that invests in and manages various international football-related businesses, including Manchester City FC, New York City FC, Mumbai City FC and Melbourne City FC.[22] In 2019, the City Football Group decided under his leadership to sell a 10 per cent stake to Silver Lake for $500 million.[56]

Al Mubarak is a member of the Board of Trustees for New York University,[57] and as of 2013 oversees the development of a campus in Abu Dhabi. First students graduated in May 2014.[22]

Through Mubadala Development, Al Mubarak is chairman of the Imperial College London Diabetes Center (ICLDC) which opened in Abu Dhabi in 2006.[58]

He sits on many boards including ALDAR Properties, the Emirates Foundation[59] and the First Abu Dhabi Bank,[60] which was formed by a merger of First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. He is the chairman of Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), an aluminum conglomerate.[22]

Al Mubarak is also chairman of the Advisory Board for the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), which is a joint initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).[61][62]

In 2018, Al Mubarak was appointed as the first Presidential Special Envoy to China by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed.[63]

Al Mubarak is married to Nadia Sehweil.[64] The couple first met when they were both in high school, and they have three children.[65] Nadia, who is of Palestinian descent, runs a yoga, pilates, and dance studio called Bodytree Studio in Abu Dhabi with her mother.[65]

In 2007, Al Mubarak was made Commander of the Star of the Order of the Italian Solidarity[33][66] for supporting the "economic relationship" between Italy and the UAE.

In 2013, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and received the Grand Gwanghwa Medal, the highest class of the South Korean Order of Diplomatic Service Merit.[22]

Al Mubarak is a recipient of the Asian Business Leadership Forum's (ABLF) Award in 2016.[67] He was named as one of the 100 world's most influential and powerful Arabs in 2017[68] and 2018 by Arabian Business.[69]