Zain Group names chief risk officer

Kuwait-based telecom innovator Zain Group said Monday that longtime administrator AbdulGhaffar Setareh will become the company's first chief risk officer.

Setareh has been with the company since 1995, most recently serving for over a decade as director of the Zain Group Risk Department. Prior to Zain, Setareh spent a decade in the engineering department of the Kuwati Ministry of Communications. He has more than 30 years of corporate executive experience.

"Risk management is a top priority at Zain and critical to the company's future prosperity," Zain Group CEO Scott Gegenheimer said. "Mr. Setareh's extensive experience will ensure we continue to enhance the operational effectiveness of the group's risk oversight and control assurance processes, which is critical to our efforts to transform into an integrated digital lifestyle operator, with a particular emphasis on enterprise solutions."
 
Setareh's mandate includes building upon the companywide risk management infrastructure he helped build over the past decade and syncing those systems with the company's policies and plans. Setareh will advise the board's risk committee on global risk management issues and strategy.

"I appreciate the confidence that has been placed in me by the Zain Group Board Risk Committee and senior management, and (I) look forward to further strengthening the company's risk management capabilities and ensuring that enterprise risk management at Zain is a business and strategic enabler in achieving our objectives," Setareh said.