Mr. Jean Christophe Durand has been serving on the Board since March 2017. He was elected by the shareholders at the AGM in 2017 and re-elected at the AGM in 2020, as a Non-Executive Independent Director, for a period of 3 years.

Mr. Durand is the Chief Executive Officer of National Bank of Bahrain and has over 39 years of banking and finance experience. He graduated from ESSEC (Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales), French Business School in Paris. Mr. Durand was the Regional Head of BNP Paribas Middle East & Africa region for Corporate and Institutional Banking and Asset Management for 15 years. He joined Banque Indosuez in Bahrain in 1989 in the Investment Banking division in charge of the coverage in several GCC countries. He later moved to BNP Paribas in 2000 entrusted with the mission to expand the Investment Banking business regionally and was instrumental in establishing BNP as one of the key financial institutions in the region, opening new branches in several GCC countries and Africa. Under his tenure, BNP Paribas managed several major regional transactions in the telecommunications sector. Mr. Durand is Officer of the “Legion d’Honneur” awarded by the Government of France.

Mr. Durand has been serving on the Board of several professional committees in Bahrain and the region. He was a Board Member of a retail Bank of the BNP Paribas Group.

He is currently a Board Member of Gulf Air, Bahrain Islamic Bank and the Chairman of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bahrain. He is also the Chairman of Umniah Telecommunications Company (Jordan).

Committee Membership: Chairman of the Audit Committee.