Dr. Bandar Waked has been CEO of the business center at the Institute of Public Administration since 2021. He oversees the executive leadership, public and private relations of the center, and all training and consultation paid services in seven different IPA branches. He is also responsible for developing intensive, ambitious business strategies, short-term goals, and long-term objectives in line with the IPA strategic plan. From April 2017 to July 2021, Waked directed the business center’s western region, where some of his duties included preparing and implementing the annual plan for the department and developing business and marketing plans to achieve revenue goals. He led the center from years of operating losses to positive earnings during the course of his leadership.   He also developed training programs, based on the IPA’s training needs analysis. Moreover, he led negotiations with potential clients and partners and designed and prepared business proposals tailored to their needs. He managed and monitored successful projects to ensure they would reach their optimum goals, and prepared periodic reports on the department’s achievements and proposals. As an associate professor, Waked taught undergraduate students, trained government employees, and provided consultations to various public and private sector entities in the Kingdom. He also conducted research in business and entrepreneurship. From 2016 to 2018, Waked served as the head of the IPA’s business sector, assigning training staff members with programs, supervising the implementation process of the programs, and submitting development and improvement proposals to management and the permanent business sector committees for approval. Some of his consultation projects for a number of government and private entities included developing a systematic model program and methodology for implementing a total quality management approach. He also helped various organizations with their institutional, strategic, financial and organizational transformations. Waked received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1995 from King Abdul Aziz University. Then in 2005, he earned a master’s degree in the same field of study from the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania in the US. Eleven years later, he obtained a Ph.D. in business administration from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. Waked also holds a Public-Private Partnership Certificate and Cost Control and Revenue Management Certificate.