Mario Foster is the Group Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Al Ghurair Group. An award-winning leader, he joined in January 2023, tasked with elevating and restructuring the Group’s IT organisation through strategic innovation and leadership. Mario’s role involves setting the strategic direction for IT to drive the Group's growth and ensure its technological advancements align with business goals.

Before joining Al Ghurair Group, Mario was the Group CIO at Al Naboodah Group Enterprises for eight years, where he transformed the IT department into a regionally acclaimed entity and garnered multiple regional awards for excellence under his leadership.

Bringing over 30 years of international experience in IT business transformation, Mario’s expertise includes deploying cutting-edge technologies such as Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Cloud-based solutions. He is passionate about transforming IT departments from traditional support roles into dynamic business enablers, focusing on improving service delivery, security, standardisation, and business/systems performance.

Mario holds an MBA in Management of Technology with honours and numerous IT professional industry certifications. He is renowned for his strategic insights into complex business challenges and his aptitude for crafting actionable strategies. His contributions to the IT field are reflected in his roles on the Advisory Board for the Cloud MENA Annual Conference and the National Advisory Council of the College of Technological Innovation at Zayed University, among other industry councils.