​Samer Samman has been appointed effective May 1, 2020, as the Chief Human Resources Officer of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Samer joined KAUST in 2015 as an Investment Manager in the Innovation Fund within the Innovation & Economic Development department. He has over 18 years of experience which brings a great variety of operations, investment, and business experience having worked in a number of different industries both outside of Human Resources and KAUST, both locally and internationally including Saudi Aramco and Cargill. Samer has held a number of positions within KAUST Human Resources function including Manager of HR support services and Director of People Services, a key position that interfaces and has an impact right across KAUST overseeing all people activities including recruitment, relocation, employee services, and HR systems and technology.

Samer serves as an independent director in the compensation & nomination committee and the investment committee of a publicly listed company on the Saudi Stock Exchange. He also served as board member and observer on several startup companies.

Samer has a BA of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas and a Master's degree in Public Administration, Economic Policy Management from Columbia University.