Hussain Hanbazazah has been the director of the King Abdul Aziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), which was developed by Saudi Aramco, since December 2019. Prior to that, he was the center’s director of media relations. In 2007, he gained a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in Columbia and while studying there was a member of the International Student Organization. He went on to obtain a master’s degree in sustainable electrical energy from the Georgia Institute of Technology, in 2015. He joined Saudi Aramco in February 2008 as an electrical engineer and rose through the ranks to become a project support general supervisor, the job he held when he left the company in 2017 to become a director at the Saudi Center for International Strategic Partnerships (SCISP). There, he was quickly promoted to the position of vice president. In 2018, he moved back to Saudi Aramco as director of media relations before taking up his latest role. Hanbazazah took part in last week’s launch of Ithra’s planned program of events for the year ahead. “The start of this decade is particularly exciting for Ithra as we gear up to deliver a great slate of new programs and events in 2020 for our audiences. “We are pleased to bring back favorites like our annual Tanween festival, in addition to new enriching programming as well as our other popular seasonal events,” he said. He tweets @hanbazazah.