SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, has appointed Riad Gydien to the position of Vice-President for Africa and the Middle East.
Gydien was promoted to head of operations for the Africa and Middle East region late last year, in addition to his duties as the South African country manager. The new promotion sees his territory expand further to include Pakistan and Turkey.
Reporting directly to Mikael Hagstr"om, Executive Vice-President of SAS EMEA and Asia Pacific Operations, Gydien will be actively involved with SAS's future strategies in the region. In addition, he will be tasked with ensuring better alignment and centralisation of resources, to achieve better cohesion between offices in the region as well as the sharing of intellectual property to better serve customers.
“Riad has made a valuable contribution to SAS in the time he has been with us,” states Hagstr"om. “He is a strong leader who has proven through results, in his roles as country manager and head of the MEA region. I look forward to working with him in his new role.”
Gydien has spent most of his career working within the business intelligence industry, and has extensive knowledge of how analytics can improve the operations of a business. Prior to joining SAS South Africa as Country manager in 2007, Gydien held senior positions at South African-based Fios and Sekunjalo, on top of serving a tenure in Saudi Arabia as head of sales and marketing at Thimar Al Jazirah.
“There is so much potential within the analytics space waiting to be unlocked, and I look forward to engaging with companies throughout the region on how this can benefit their business,” states Gydien. “Much of MEA remains untapped and hungry for solutions that will leapfrog the region into the global competitive landscape.
“I look forward to working with the teams throughout the region, to continue SAS's position as the leader in business analytics solutions.”
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SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45 000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world 'the power to know'. http://www.sas.com and http://www.sas.com/sa
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