Richard Attias is a Moroccan-born civil engineer with a Master’s degree in Mathematics. So he’s not the most likely candidate for becoming an event organizer, let alone one who has done so on a global scale. His working career actually started as a sales representative for IBM France, but within a few years he formed an events organizing agency during the 1990’s.
His company produced various global events including those for IBM conventions, the Egypt Economic Development Conference for the Egyptian Government, and Boris Yeltsin’s visit to France. In 1998, he sold part of his company to Publicis. After leading various subsidiaries of Publicis, he moved to New York City in 2014 and became the Chairman of Publicis Events Worldwide. And in 2009, he left Publicis to again open his own firm Richard Attias and Associates, with offices in New York, London, Dubai, Rabat, and Paris. They work with organizations worldwide, both governmental and non-governmental, to plan events and help with global marketing.
In 2012, he formed the DOHA Goals Forum, an organized annual event bringing all sports leaders together to discuss ways of driving social and economic changes in the world. DOHA was launched during the 2012 Olympic Games in London and is already starting to have an impact with its initiatives. They are empowering people to create “roadmaps” for social improvement through sports. Top stakeholders involved in meeting, planning, and enacting the work include CEOs, athletes, urban developers, managers, coaches, medical experts, government officials, and federation heads.
Attias and 4Afrika
Late in 2013, Attias became a member of the Advisory Council of 4Afrika, an external group of advisors helping guide strategic investments by the 4Afrika Initiative funded by Microsoft. He has also formed The New York Forum, an annual meeting bringing together political and economic leaders to discuss the issues faced in African nations economically and otherwise. The most recent forum discussed two main topics: Is tech killing jobs? and, The economic impact of climate changes. He and his organization are also involved in advising and helping Dubai, the Republic of the Congo, and women’s rights in developing countries.
Most recently (2015), he organized the Egypt Economic Development Conference. In attendance were more than 2,000 delegates representing 112 countries. They arrived in Egypt to discuss over 30 projects to help get the country back on track and billions of dollars have been pledged to fund many of the projects.
Interestingly, he’s a Moroccan Jew – and experiencing success throughout the Arab world. Wishing him continued success….