Four Bahrain-based marketing leaders have been recognised for their strategic impact on Forbes Middle East’s prestigious ‘Most Influential CMOs In The Middle East 2026’ list.
The high-profile selection highlights executive excellence within the kingdom’s financial and telecommunications sectors, recognising leaders who are driving corporate transformations, rapid digital adoption, and managing massive asset scales.
The regional recognition was celebrated at the Forbes Middle East Most Influential CMOs Gala Dinner & Awards Night 2026, held on Friday at the Madinat Jumeirah Conference Centre in Dubai.
Mahmood Qannati, chief marketing officer at Al Salam Bank, earned his place on the list backed by more than 26 years of industry experience.
Leading a 12-person team, Mr Qannati steered the brand and communications for the bank’s milestone 20th-anniversary campaign, “Written by You,” in 2026.
He previously spearheaded the launch communications for several digital banking initiatives, including the ONE App, which secured over 63,000 downloads within its first year.
Sahar Qanati, head of corporate communications at GFH Bank, was also recognised for her leadership through major institutional changes.
Since stepping into her current role in 2024, she has managed a five-member team and recently executed a massive public relations rollout.
In April 2026, Ms Qanati successfully spearheaded the cross-border media deployment across four GCC stock exchanges for the group’s transition into its newly licensed identity as GFH Bank.
Representing the telecommunications sector, Shaikh Bader Al Khalifa, chief communications and sustainability officer at Beyon, was honoured for his long-standing executive contributions.
Shaikh Bader led the group’s 2022 transition into the parent company of Batelco, where he has served since 2010.
His recent regional milestones include overseeing Beyon’s Creative Lab and driving the 2025 rebranding of Jordanian telecom operator Umniah to Umniah by Beyon.
Firas El Amine, global head of corporate communications at Investcorp, represents the massive global footprint managed from Bahrain.
Since assuming his role in 2007, Mr El Amine has steered the PR and brand strategy for the firm as its assets under management grew to $62 billion across 14 global offices.
Under his leadership, the alternative investment firm has secured high-profile corporate engagement at premier global forums, including Davos and the Future Investment Initiative (FII).
The event, powered by Salesforce, honoured a total of 101 executives across 100 entries.
Representing 23 nationalities – led by 21 Egyptians, 13 Emiratis, and 12 Saudis – the featured leaders helm marketing at companies headquartered across eight regional countries, with the majority based in the UAE (49), Saudi Arabia (17), and Egypt (16).
The 2026 list highlights the critical role of marketing professionals in turning awareness into business value, particularly through tech integration.
A surveyed subset of respondents revealed rapid AI adoption across the Middle East with a striking 70.3 per cent of respondents have either fully embedded and funded formal AI strategies or partially implemented them.
Furthermore, 62.9pc of these leaders utilise AI to drive at least a quarter of their marketing decisions, with 5.5pc relying on it for over 75pc of their decision-making.
The alphabetised list ranks the highest-ranking executives from Middle East-headquartered companies.
Forbes Middle East compiled the selection based on rigorous criteria evaluating the marketing budget and overall team size managed by each executive.
The selection committee also weighed the scale and impact of campaigns, alongside total industry experience, public engagements, corporate social media engagement, and the sophisticated use of tech and AI tools.
avinash@gdnmedia.bh
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