Alexander M. Wegner

Middle East & Africa Specialist 🌍 | UChicago & Georgetown Alumnus 🎓 | From Germany 📌

During my 16 years in the region, I've advised a range of corporate and government clients in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on matters of strategic and executive positioning, risks, issues, and crises, thought leadership, market-entry, and broader geostrategy.

Among the highlights of my career are serving as the dedicated speechwriter and ghostwriter for a senior Saudi government official; creating content for the global election campaign of a Saudi Minister running for the top position at an influential international organization; advising the UAE COP28 Presidency; positioning a country pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai; and interviewing Anthony Scaramucci, Andrew Liveris, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, and Jamaica's Tourism Minister, The Honorable Edmund Bartlett, at the 2021 Future Investment Initiative (FII), also known as "Davos in the Desert."

In my current role as Partner and Head of Public Policy, MENA at the 300-strong communications advisory firm Instinctif Partners — backed by LDC, the private equity arm of the UK's Lloyd's banking group — I'm building, leading, and rapidly scaling a brand new regional practice from the ground up.

Most recently, I served as Vice President, Strategy & Communications at the global CEO advisory firm Teneo. Before joining Teneo, I was an Associate Director and Member of the Management Team for Saudi Arabia at advisory and advocacy communications consultancy APCO Worldwide. And previously, I was as the inaugural Head of Technology Partnerships as well as the youngest Project Manager at FII, or "Davos in the Desert."

In addition to my full-time role, I serve as an Advisor to the Founder and Managing Partner of Millennia Capital, a New-York-based investment firm focused on Venture Capital (VC) and growth equity businesses, helping build relationships with potential investors across the Gulf region.

Thanks to full- and part-tuition merit scholarships, I earned graduate and undergraduate degrees in International Affairs and Political Theory from The University of Chicago and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, along with a certificate from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. I completed my Abitur (the German equivalent of a high school diploma) at Schule Schloss Salem, Germany's leading boarding school.

I'm a member of the German Emirati Joint Council for Industry and Commerce (AHK), AmCham Abu Dhabi, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the Planetary Society, an alumnus of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Shapers Community, a Fellow at the Royal Society for Arts (RSA), and a longtime One Young World (OYW) Ambassador. I've been based in Dubai for the past six years but was born and mostly raised in Germany.