College of Business faculty and OPM students join the best-attended Global Project Management Forum to date, from its organizing team to its speaker program.
From 19 to 21 September 2026, the Fairmont Riyadh hosted the fifth Global Project Management Forum (GPMF 2026). Alfaisal University’s College of Business took part at every level. Dean Dr. Bajis Dodin attended with faculty members Dr. Mario Ferrer, Dr. M. Sirajul Islam and Prof. Younes Hamdouch along with OPM & BAN Club of Alfaisal University College of Business.
The forum, chaired by Eng. Badr M. Burshaid, took place under the patronage of H.E. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, Minister of Municipalities and Housing, and carried the theme “Next-Gen PM: People, Processes & Technology.” According to the forum’s organizing team, GPMF 2026 was its most successful edition so far and recorded its highest attendance to date.
The program ran from keynotes and masterclasses to a B2B program, an exhibition hall and the Global Project Excellence Awards. Its content tracks followed the ground the College covers in its Operations & Project Management and Business Analytics majors: PMO excellence, governance and strategy, risk and delivery, digital transformation, sustainability, leadership and change, and AI in project delivery.
On 21 September, Rema Riad Bin Nakia, CAPM®, CPMAI™, a final-year BBA student double-majoring in OPM and Business Analytics, presented her research which she co-researched with Dr Sheraz Malik “Who Is the Real Frankenstein? Accountability in the Age of AI Project Delivery.” Dean Dodin and the faculty delegation attended the session.
The talk took its title from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, in which Frankenstein is the scientist who built the creature and walked away from it, though readers give his name to the monster. Bin Nakia argued that people who blame AI models for harmful outcomes repeat that mix-up and let the decision-makers behind the models off the hook. On one slide she wrote, “Behind every harmful AI outcome stands a decision-maker,” and she urged project leaders to keep governance, sign-off and ownership with the people who approve AI projects.
“Working on the GPMF organizing team showed me project management in real time, from a half-built stage to a hall of thousands. Presenting my session on AI accountability to that audience, with our Dean and faculty in the room, is a moment I will carry into my career.”
Rema Riad Bin Nakia, CAPM®, CPMAI™
Alfaisal OPM & BAN Students worked behind the scenes. They sorted logistics and helped prepare the main stage and mini stage before the doors opened, then supported the mentor room and took part in the speaker interviews with Fola F. Alabi, co-author of PMI’s first PMO guide. This gives them a unique exposure to the supply chain management of these events and practical skills in oral communication and public speaking.
Club students spoke with H.E. Eng. Badr bin Abdullah Al-Dulaimi, Vice Minister of Transport and Logistic Services for Roads, in the forum’s interview lounge, and met Eng. Badr M. Burshaid on the exhibition floor. They met Lee R. Lambert, a PMI Fellow and one of the founders of the PMP certification
“Volunteering with the organizing team on Day Two put me at the center of an event serving hundreds of delegates. I watched scheduling, stakeholder coordination and quick decisions come together in a way no textbook can show.”
Zina Dabbagh, CAPM®
The forum brought new opportunities for college students. The GPMF team offered 100 complimentary Capability Series seats to the College’s OPM and Business Analytics students. The series covers masterclasses, workshops, coaching and executive roundtables. The team proposed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the College of Business as well.
The College’s OPM & BAN Club, leads and holds a formal MOU with PMI KSA and IPMA KSA. Mr. Muhammad Mohsin Azeem, Head of the GPMF Technical Committee, supported Alfaisal’s place on this year’s speaker program.
