Mutasem Dajani succeeds Omar Fahoum as Deloitte's ME boss

Deloitte has appointed company veteran Mutasem Dajani as its new Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East. 

Dajani succeeds Omar Fahoum, who held the reins of Deloitte Middle East for the past two decades and led the firm through steep growth. While Deloitte has been active on the ground in the Middle East since 1926 (through its legal predecessors), since the 2000s the firm has accelerated to become one of the region’s leading professional services firms, alongside the likes of accounting-heritage peers and arch rivals PwC, EY and KPMG. 

Today, the firm has a team of 5,000-plus employees across 14 countries in the region, the most of which are based in Saudi Arabia, where it recently launched a state-of-the-art Digital Centre in Riyadh, and in the United Arab Emirates. 

In the past two financial years, Deloitte Middle East – which together with Europe and Africa forms the 100,200-strong EMEA division) was one of the firm’s standout performers, having grown by double digits, helping the firm drive record revenues of $46.2 billion to firmly establish the firm as the biggest of the Big Four globally.

Tasked with continuing the firm’s drive in the region, Mutasem Dajani now takes over at the helm. He has been with Deloitte since 2002, and has grown the ranks to hold roles of ascending responsibility. Recently, Dajani was regional Managing Partner of the UAE practice and leader of the Audit & Assurance division for the Middle East. He already was a member of the Middle East Board of Directors and Executive Committee. 

Commenting on his new role, Dajani said he is honoured to be leading the organisation and looks forward to helping the firm grow its footprint and impact at clients. “With close to 100 years’ experience in the Middle East, our understanding of this unique market is unparalleled. With the strength of our Middle East capabilities, multidisciplinary teams and extensive global network, we are uniquely positioned to support our clients face challenges and to help them thrive.” 

In the coming period, Dajani will obviously focus on continuing the firm’s response planning to Covid-19, which has faced its partner team with a number of challenges. In some parts of the business, such as management consulting and mergers & acquisitions, activity has fallen, but in other parts, such as financial restructuring and government work, demand has spiked.

Globally, Deloitte has under the command of CEO Punit Renjen taken a number of measures to weather the storm, including optimising its resourcing (furloughs, temporary reduction of contract hours or adjusted leave policies) and refocusing its people to in-demand segments. Similarly, Dajani will now take responsibility for leading these initiatives in the region. “Our focus continues to be on making an impact that matters with our clients and wider society.”

In the consulting landscape, Deloitte is the leader of the Big Four globally. The firm operates with its flagship Deloitte Consulting practice, and has its own strategic consulting wing (Monitor Deloitte), digital arm (Deloitte Digital) and provides financial advisory services through its Financial Advisory division. In the region, the consulting division is led by Tim Parr, while Monitor Deloitte is led by Bart Cornelissen, and Deloitte Digital by Rushdi Duqah.

At the start of this year, Deloitte promoted 60 new members to its Middle East leadership team.