Hattan bin Samman was recently appointed secretary-general of the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture and Science. In 2008, he gained a bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) in the US and obtained a master’s degree in business administration and management from the Universidad Iberoamericana, in Mexico, in 2011. While studying for his bachelor’s degree, Samman worked as an international student adviser assistant at the UWL, before moving to the American Standard Inc. (Trane Co.) in 2006 as a help desk analyst, where he stayed until 2008. Between 2008 and 2011, he worked in the cultural affairs section of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Mexico. On his return to the Kingdom in 2011, Samman joined the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as business manager of the university’s governmental affairs. A year later he moved to King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy as an international relations specialist and was promoted in 2013 to the post of senior international relations specialist for the atomic energy sector. Samman switched to Emaar in King Abdullah Economic City in 2015 where he served as a senior manager of economic city’s authority relations, going on to be an assistant director in the same area in 2018. He moved to Riyadh in 2019 to become the executive director of the international relations and strategic partnerships legal administration, before gaining his current position as an international relations adviser to Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud. The Saudi Ministry of Culture has organized a workshop in Riyadh to register Arabic calligraphy on UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Commenting on the initiative, Samman said that Arabic calligraphy had an exceptional value due to its long history and uniqueness as one of the richest aspects of Arab and Islamic cultural identity. “Arabic calligraphy has been — and will continue to be — the focus and passion of experts, stakeholders and those involved in cultural affairs, education and science, who are interested in both human and cultural heritage,” he added.