Riyadh l Jeddah - Knight Frank MENA has appointed Susan Amawi as the General Manager for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as part of its strategic expansion of real estate consulting and transactional services in the Kingdom.

Amawi brings with her over 20 years of real estate market experience, including an extensive track record of delivering strategic change, as well as innovative solutions to clients at every stage of the development lifecycle. She has worked extensively with PIF entities around the Kingdom on various transformative Giga projects, including Jeddah Central Development, Knowledge Economic City, Qiddiya Coast, Roshn Marafi, Roshn, Sedra, Saudi Downtown, Ruaa Al Madinah, and Ruaa Al Haram.

Amawi has provided strategic advice that has balanced capitalising on demand growth, while also identifying opportunities for sustained future expansion. Her portfolio of skills includes real estate investment management, strategic planning, financial modeling and analysis, market research, project planning and financing, valuation, feasibility studies and highest and best-use studies.

Commenting on her appointment, Amawi said: "I am excited to join the clear market leader in the region, Knight Frank, whose consulting and transactional services, as well as research, continue to raise the bar for a rapidly expanding client portfolio.

“As Knight Frank MENA continues to expand its footprint and suite of real estate services in Saudi, I am excited to help drive this next wave of growth and contribute to the firm’s success in the Kingdom. What I am most looking forward to is unlocking the opportunity to work with such a talent-rich team of professionals to deliver world-class solutions for our clients, leveraging the Knight Frank brand, and the knowledge embedded across Knight Frank’s global network."

Prior to joining Knight Frank, Amawi has held a number of senior regional roles, including Head of Strategic Consulting at JLL in KSA; and Head of Real Estate Consulting at KPMG.

James Lewis, Managing Director of Knight Frank MEA added: "I am thrilled to welcome Susan to our team. Her appointment comes at a pivotal time as we expand our Saudi operations and we look forward to benefitting from her extensive experience, deep understanding the Kingdom’s dynamic real estate market, and strategic foresight.

“Her reputation for building and strengthening client relationships will perfectly compliment the delivery of market-leading insights to our clients as we work to position ourselves as the premier real estate advisory firm in the Kingdom.”

William Beardmore-Gray, Senior Partner and Group Chair at Knight Frank, said: “As a business we have ambitious global expansion goals, with the Middle East region playing an important role in Knight Frank’s overseas success story and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is indisputably key within this context. In order to best serve our clients’ needs in this market we need to have the highest calibre team in place, and I’m delighted to welcome such a seasoned practitioner as Susan on board to lead our charge in KSA whilst bolstering our wider MENA senior leadership team’s offering.”