Ali Haidary is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dubai-based Sport & Entertainment Solutions (SES). Previously known as Sport Solutions, SES was established in 2005 and has since played a leading role in the sports events and sponsorship sector in the Middle East.
Ali's background is in event management, sports licensing and franchising. Ali was Director of Competitions at the recent FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai 2009.
In his spare time, Ali can be seen draped in his red scarf at Anfield cheering on his beloved Liverpool singing wildly to "You'll Never Walk Alone."
Barney Liam York
Regional Commercial Director
Barney has over six years of local and regional experience in the UAE, having worked on several leading music festivals in Dubai for CSM, followed by 3 years at Flash Entertainment in Abu Dhabi working on major events including Formula One, FIFA Club World Cup, UFC and countless concerts and shows. He has spent the last year planning and delivering GCC wide tours with HIT Entertainments portfolio of family entertainment brands and characters. Barney will be utilizing his extensive expertize and network to secure an aggressive regional expansion plan for our key properties.
Laila Whitemore
Events Director
Laila was at Promoseven Sports where she managed Sponsorship on the Emirates Airline Rugby 7’s, The Rugby 7’s World Cup and the Dubai Football Challenge – AC Milan v Hamburg. Laila was actively involved in project managing the hugely successful Disney On Ice event in Doha 2013 is currently tasked with directing the overall initiatives and activities of all the key events in our portfolio, with particular attention to the Entertainment Division.
In her spare time, you can find her attending all the largest sporting and entertainment events the city has to offer.
Annie Kechichian
Marketing & Communications Director
Annie has nearly 13 years of Marketing, communications, and events management experience under her belt. Having moved to Qatar in 2006 to join Grey Group, she has worked with some of the most well-known and prestigious clientele in the country for close to seven years. Prior to joining us, Annie led the Qatari team for Agence Publics, a Paris-based events management firm and very quickly established herself as one of the leaders in the sector.
Alison Goldsmith
Operations Manager
Alison has over 10 years of experience working in theatre in the UK and Middle East. She has worked as a ticketing and theatre manager in many different venues and has been managing events in the Middle East for 4 years.
Stephen Spittles
Production Manager
Stephen has worked in the events production industry for over 14 years with experience all over the world. He has worked in the Middle East for over 3 years supervising events such as Idex, Abu Dhabi F1, 2013 Beach Polo and U.A.E. 40th National Day.
Angielee Patricio
Event Coordinator
Angie was formerly Promotions Coordinator at Speedcar Series managing all marketing activities for events at Grand Racing weekends in the region including Speedcar Series & GP2 Asia Series for Dubai Motorsports Festival and F1 Grand Prix.
In her spare time, she's keen on following the F1 Season calendar to cheer out loud like the roaring engine sound of her favourite McLaren car driven by Jenson Button.
Shahad Ayar
Financial Officer
Shahad is a qualified Accountant cum Financial Officer with an exceptional track record in managing large maintenance infrastructure system. He was the Senior Financial Officer of Brownbook Publishing FZ LLC and also the Financial Controller of Shelter.ae, an event Management Company.
In his spare time, Shahad enjoys at statistical analysis and calculation data to predict some results on his favourite sport for the International Cricket.
Mahesh
Mahesh was formerly working at Gulf Marketing Events in Doha, he possess over 5 years of experience in Graphic Design specializing in Branding, Events, Illustration, Corporate Identity Design, Ad Design, 3D modeling and Texturing, Video editing, Product Design, Architectural Visualization and VFX. He has a strong background working in large teams of digital designers, developers and high profile clients.