Nuno Amaral is CEO of ARI Middle East and Global Chief Operations Officer, leading business units across the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Based in Bahrain, he also oversees ARI’s global ESG agenda.

He joined ARI in 2014 as General Manager of Operations for the Middle East, later becoming CEO for the region and subsequently Chief Operations & Business Development Officer in Dublin. Nuno returned to the Middle East in 2025 to assume his expanded global role.

Originally from Portugal, he began his career with Deloitte and held senior leadership positions at Lidl and Unilever before entering the travel retail industry as CEO of Lojas Francas de Portugal, managing 31 outlets and TAP Portugal’s in-flight sales operations.  Nuno studied Business Management at Católica Lisbon and holds an MBA from Nova School of Business and Economics.

Trevor McFarlane is the Founder and CEO of Emerging Markets Intelligence & Research (EMIR), an exclusive boutique advisory and research firm that leverages the network effect of Boardroom by EMIR. An expert in geopolitics, macroeconomics, and government policy, he advises visiting global CEOs and politicians on how to succeed in the Middle East. Over 2,000 regional CEOs and business leaders subscribe to his analysis.

Having built the most influential intelligence network in the Middle East, Boardroom by EMIR, Trevor sits at the center of a web of globally respected EMIR advisory partners who undertake future-shaping transformational projects for select clients.

Before founding EMIR, McFarlane worked at The Economist, where he supported corporate leaders through its advisory division. Prior to that, he covered the Middle East & Africa for The Economist Intelligence Unit. With nearly two decades of experience in the Middle East—living and working in Istanbul, Doha, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai—Trevor and EMIR’s team of advisory experts are trusted advisors to CEOs, boards, and ministers.

Trevor’s analysis has been featured by the BBC, CNN, CNBC Arabia, The Economist, and the Financial Times. He formerly co-hosted Dubai Eye’s award-winning Business Breakfast Radio Show and has been invited as a guest lecturer at prestigious educational institutions, including the Ivy League’s Wharton School.

Jack MacGowan is the newly appointed CEO of Al Waha Duty Free Company which was registered in November 2024 and formally launched by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in March 2025, with the objective of growing and transforming travel retail in the Kingdom and supporting Projext 2030

Before stepping into this role, Jack advised boards in the U.S. (PCRP), chaired tech firm Digi Systems in Ireland, and served as Director (and briefly, Interim CEO) of Sodaflo in the UK.

He spent 14 years at the Dublin Airport Authority, first leading commercial operations for the airport group and then serving as CEO of ARI, a powerhouse in global travel retail, for seven years.  At ARI, Jack led expansion into Asia, New Zealand, and the Middle East, doubling revenues to $1.2 billion and tripling both EBITDA and shareholder returns. By the time he exited in 2018, the company had grown into a 4,000-person strong enterprise spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region.

Jack’s early career included key marketing roles at Shell, strategic consulting at McKinsey in London, and international management posts with Diageo across the UK, USA, Greece, and Russia. He holds engineering degrees from Trinity College Dublin and Cambridge University, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Now based in Riyadh where Jack lives with his wife, Petrina Smyth, and their two children. He also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Tailwind Inc.