Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was born August 31, 1985, and is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He attended King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in law in 2007. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, the seventh son of King Salman, and the grandson of the nation's founder, Ibn Saud.

Career History

• 2007: Worked for the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers following his graduation
• 2009: Became an advisor to his father, then-governor of Riyadh Province
• 2015: Appointed minister of defence after his father became king, also serving as secretary general of the royal court
• 2017: Promoted to Crown Prince on June 21, 2017
• 2022: Appointed Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia on September 27, 2022

As minister of defence, Mohammed launched Operation Decisive Storm, an intervention in Yemen's civil war to support Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi against Houthi insurgents. In April 2016, he unveiled Vision 2030, a plan to transform the kingdom's economy by growing the private sector, boosting tourism and reducing unemployment. He also chairs the Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund exceeding $900 billion, overseeing major economic diversification projects including NEOM, the Red Sea Project, and Qiddiya.

Since his appointment as crown prince in 2017, Mohammed has introduced a series of liberal social and economic reforms including curtailing the influence of the Wahhabi religious establishment and improving women's rights, removing the ban on women driving. In June 2018, a decades-old ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia was lifted as part of the reform agenda Vision 2030. What Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could bring to his role as Crown Prince at Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: As the de facto ruler and architect of Vision 2030, he brings proven strategic vision in economic diversification, demonstrated competence in managing a $900 billion+ sovereign wealth fund, and a track record of implementing large-scale social and economic reforms in a complex governance environment.