The United Arab Emirates’ EDGE Group announced on 29 January 2024 the appointment of Hamad Al Marar as its new managing director & CEO, effective from 1 February.
Al Marar transitions into his new role at the helm of EDGE following four years within the group’s senior management team, where he was president of the Missiles & Weapons cluster, and succeeds Mansour AlMulla, who is returning to ADQ Group following a successful two-year managerial secondment to EDGE.
“In his new position Al Marar will utilise his proven leadership skills and experience within the UAE’s defence industry to guide the group into the next phase of its evolution as one of the world’s leading advanced technology and defence groups,” EDGE stated in a press release. “He will be responsible for its commercial and strategic direction as it significantly diversifies its portfolio of technologically advanced solutions and services, and expands its capabilities across multiple domains in the defence and civilian spheres.”
H E Faisal Al Bannai, chairman of EDGE Group, was quoted as saying, “Hamad is a much-respected son of the UAE’s burgeoning defence and advanced technology sectors and brings with him tremendous experience and business know-how, having superbly led the Missiles & Weapons cluster as its president, and from his previous senior leadership roles within the industry.
“I am confident that he will lead EDGE into a new era of international growth as it further expands its capabilities and seeks new opportunities, which will enable the group to achieve its objectives and take its place as a world leader in the design and manufacture of next-generation products, solutions, and services across the air, land, sea, and space domains.
“On behalf of all of us at EDGE Group, I also celebrate the major milestones reached by Mansour during his tenure and thank him for his great contribution to its success. He has ensured that EDGE today is a healthy, innovative, and robust organisation with a solid reputation for technological excellence in advanced defence manufacturing, and for the development of its highly skilled workforce. I wish him, and Hamad, the very best on their new paths.”
EDGE has entered 2024 as a dynamic grouping of 25 companies with an expanded portfolio of 160 advanced solutions and services, a workforce of over 10,000 employees of 88 nationalities, a footprint in over 50 countries, and a local and international orderbook totalling more than USD 5 billion (EUR 4.61 billion), a third of which was in export sales.
The group was established by Al Bannai in November 2019 more than 25 entities from the Emirates Defence Industries (EDIC), Emirates Advanced Investments Group (EAIG), Tawazun Holding and other independent organisations with the objective of providing the UAE with leading-edge defence capabilities.
