Allan Michael Halstead

NEOM, one of the world's most extensive giga-projects and is a hallmark within Saudi Arabia, spreading across diverse regions and sustained by numerous supportive internal sectors. Within NEOM, TONOMUS is the dedicated technology and digital sector tasked with leveraging Cognitive Technology to develop a thriving ecosystem laden with innovative and sustainable solutions that affect every facet of daily life.

Main Role Objectives:

• Acted as a pivotal force in raising the regional and international profile of the TONOMUS.NEOM brand through superior project management, orchestrating a variety of internal and external events such as exhibitions, workshops, thought leadership forums, and VIP networking opportunities.
• Devised and delivered successful tier 1 sponsorship campaigns and exhibition booths for high-profile events including GITEX Global (2022/2023), Mobile World Congress (2023/2024), and LEAP (2023/2024).
• Crafted and administered the annual event strategy, proficiently managing budgets for Tier 1 and Tier 2 events, while also consistently reporting to the executive leadership with detailed updates and insights, charting the advancement towards key organizational milestones.
• Offered vital assistance in the development of content, product marketing, social media initiatives, public relations, thought leadership content, product development, and sales strategies, ensuring all objectives are met with precision and effectiveness.
• Cultivated and maintained robust relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, collaborating closely with legal and procurement teams to negotiate vendor and supplier contracts—ultimately achieving advantageous terms to serve the organization's interests.
• Managed a comprehensive portfolio of projects, both internal and external, monitoring progress, reporting developments, and steering positive results to meet stakeholder expectations.
• Formulated intricate project plans that accounted for potential risks and proposed appropriate strategies to mitigate them, ensuring timely completion. Guided cross-functional teams to ensure that projects were executed within defined scopes, schedules, and budgets.
• Always seeking to uplift others, I mentored junior project managers and team members, aiming to bolster their professional skills and foster their career development.

Avatar Solutions was an integrated event and marketing solutions service provider comprising of a broad network of vendors and professionals across the UAE.

• Developed and implemented end to end project plans and budgets to ensure successful execution.
• Business development and client servicing
• Lead content creator for the annual digital marketing campaign plans.
• Primary project point of contact across all marketing, design, technical production and legal requirements with all stakeholders.

Headquartered in the UAE, DarkMatter Group was the region's first and only fully integrated cyber transformation firm that enables businesses and governments towards a smart and safe digital transformation.

• Project management for 30+ regional and international annual events and exhibitions from conceptualization, design & planning through to execution, build, onsite management and project reconciliation and data roadmap management.
• Management of multiple budgets between USD 1-10 Million with a 100% track record of meeting budget with an average cost saving of 5% to 10% per project/calendar year.
• Planning and rolling out of marketing campaigns in collaboration with global teams and multiple internal and external stakeholders to refine and execute existing processes, objectives and streamline solutions to achieve organization goals.
• Measured effectiveness of all programs and provided recommendations to senior leadership regarding results, efficiencies,and key learnings for future programs and strategies.
• Developed new initiatives to enhance marketing efforts regionally.
• Established close and constructive relationships with media for the maximum coverage to enhance Darkmatter's brand and corporate image.
• Initiated and managed the on-boarding and performance management of various task specific teams across multiple agencies, and service providers.
• Coordinated all activation efforts with PR and Social Media teams to amplify brand messages across all appropriate platforms
• Worked closely with head of marketing and the wider digital design teams to develop and deliver integrated marketing plans across all product launches, conferences, sponsorships as well as internal VIP meetings, conferences and trainings.
• Assisted in managing the CRM roadmap in relation to all experiential activities with a key focus on high quality data capture initiatives to assist lead generation objectives and support maximum ROI for every project.

Imagination is a global experience agency with 20 different offices around the world that deal with everything from brand and visual identity, digital, social and PR campaigns, marketing and advertising solutions, to event conceptualization, planning and execution.

• Project account manager and operational lead for multiple clients and brands such as Shell, Falcon & Associates, Godolphin, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Rolls Royce, Lincoln, GE and Dubai Airports.
• Leading and managing Motor Show marketing operations for Jaguar Land Rover
• Responsible for identifying, training, and managing various agency partners and third party vendors
• Developed annual experiential calendars in accordance with clients' marketing road maps
• Management and reconciliation of multiple budgets and client proposal development.
• Project collaboration with multiple teams of account managers and productions leads across different internal offices and external organizations.
• Performed detailed assessments of operational processes and risks to determine and implement improvements on overall project strategies, quality and efficiency.

DWTC is Dubai's master developer and operator of free zones with offices, residences, hotels, retail, and the MEASA’s largest exhibition facility, organizer and host of >500 trade and consumer events annually

• Developed new initiatives to enhance marketing efforts for various exhibitions and city-wide festivals such as Gitex, Boat Show, and the International Motor Show.
• Developed and managed creative PR campaigns to support exhibitions strategies to achieve specific business objectives.
• Developed and improved upon standard operating procedures and workflow processes for the Special Events Department.
• Successfully manage, analyze, and improve customer journey plans.
• Collaborated with multiple internal departments and individual stakeholders to develop marketing strategies to achieve aspired goals.
• Successfully owned and controlled show budgets whilst delivering the highest ROI.

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company with headquarters in Redmond, Washington. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.

• Operational lead on all international and regional events , exhibitions and activations.
• Overall project management for all marketing related activities both internal and external across multiple business functions and stakeholders.
• Management of annual marketing operations budget.
• Bi-yearly evaluation of current working processes and budget allocations to identify and implement improvements.
• Procurement POC to identify and fulfill all legal, contractual, regulatory and compliance requirements.

• Supervision of all onsite operations including manpower and technical teams.
• Administrative management and talent acquisition.
• Budget management.
• Evaluated existing plans and processes to identify opportunities for improvement.