Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, January 2026 — Ayman AlGhamdi has started a new position as Chief Human Capital Officer at Panda Retail Company – Savola Group, taking on the mandate to strengthen talent, culture, and organizational capability at one of the Middle East’s largest food retailers.
In his new role, AlGhamdi will lead the company’s human capital agenda across strategy, transformation, performance, and workforce capability-building, with a focus on building high-performance organizations, advancing talent management and acquisition, strengthening organizational culture, and driving change management and continuous improvement across the enterprise.
AlGhamdi joins Panda Retail Company – Savola Group after serving as Chief Human Capital Officer at Cruise Saudi, a PIF entity, where he led the Human Capital business line, reported directly to the CEO, and served on the executive management team. His responsibilities covered people strategy and execution across an evolving national growth agenda in the tourism and cruise sector.
Prior to Cruise Saudi, he spent over four years with SGS – Saudi Ground Services, first as Chief Shared Services Officer overseeing HR, Purchasing, IT, and Facilities Management across a large national footprint, and later as Chief HR Officer / VP HR, reporting to the CEO and serving on the executive management team. He also co-led major restructuring initiatives, including significant organizational redesign decisions aimed at improving operating efficiency and governance.
Earlier, AlGhamdi built deep organization development and performance expertise within the Savola ecosystem, serving as HR Executive Director, Organization Development & Performance at Savola Foods Center of Excellence, where his work spanned multi-country operations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, and Morocco. He also held HR leadership roles at United Sugar Company (Savola Foods), progressing from Director, Human Resources to Executive Director, Human Resources, where he led a full-spectrum HR function reporting to the CEO.
In his early career, he developed strong foundations in HR leadership and operational excellence at Procter & Gamble, holding multiple HR roles including Country HR Senior Manager, HR Organization Excellence, Talent Supply & Development Manager, and HR Employee Relations/Services & Government Relations Manager, alongside earlier operational roles. He began his professional journey in engineering with SABIC (HADEED) as a Maintenance Mechanical Engineer, where he was recognized for contributions to safety and operational improvement.
Beyond corporate roles, AlGhamdi contributes to national capability and governance initiatives through board and committee appointments, including being Chairman of the Board Nomination and Remuneration Committee at Asfar (a PIF-owned company), and serving as an NRC member for organizations such as Modern Mills Company, Educational Infrastructure Holding Company (PIF Company), Al-Ittihad Club Company, and Jeddah Health Cluster J1. He also serves as an Advisory Board Member at the University of Prince Mugrin and is a Member of the Saudi Leadership Society.
About Panda Retail Company – Savola Group
Panda Retail Company – Savola Group traces its origins to 1978 and has grown into the leading food retailer in Saudi Arabia and one of the largest in the Middle East. Following key milestones including its merger with Azizia and acquisition by Savola Group, Panda expanded through new hypermarket formats, regional store growth, and acquisitions such as the “Giant” and Geant supermarkets in Saudi Arabia. Renamed Panda Retail Company in 2014, the company expanded into Egypt in 2015 and today operates more than 400 branches across Saudi Arabia and Egypt, serving over 400 million visitors annually.
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