Nadhmi al-Nasr

Spear’s Review

As CEO of NEOM, Nadhmi al-Nasr enjoys a position of extraordinary influence at the centre of one of Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious – and attention-grabbing – development projects.

The $1.5 trillion futuristic desert destination on the Red Sea coast is at the heart of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 programme, which aims to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil. NEOM’s flagship project, The Line, has garnered the most headlines, but there are also plans for an industrial city, ports and tourism developments. NEOM is also set to host the Asian Winter Games in 2029. 

However, the project – and its CEO – have attracted widespread criticism. 

In 2022, former NEOM employees claimed Nasr had promoted a management culture that ‘belittled expatriates, made unrealistic demands and neglected discrimination in the workplace’, according to an article published by Bloomberg. A separate Wall Street Journal article alleged he had threatened to ‘take a gun from under [his] desk and shoot [them]’; Nasr was also recorded in a meeting saying, ‘I drive everybody like a slave. [...] When they drop down dead, I celebrate. That’s how I do my projects.’

NEOM said in a written statement at the time that the development represents ‘a scale and ambition the world has never seen before’ and that it continues to retain and attract talent. ‘Employees are passionate about what they do and deeply committed to living up to, and delivering on, the NEOM vision,’ it said.

Nasr remains in post more than two years after the allegations were first published.