Mohammed AlMaskati, Partner, and Seth Gagahina, Director, NorthStar InsightsNorthStar Insights, a senior led AI-powered integrated risk and communications advisory firm has appointed Mohammed AlMaskati as Partner and Seth Gagahina as Director, based in Riyadh and Dubai respectively.
AlMaskati joins as Partner in a deeply embedded leadership role, anchoring the firm’s growth in the Kingdom. One of the most established figures in GCC communications, he was most recently Managing Director at Hanover Communications in Riyadh where he scaled the firm’s Saudi operations and previously held senior regional roles at BCW, including Vice President, Regional Operations. His career spans strategic communications, corporate affairs, and reputation and stakeholder strategy across the Kingdom and the GCC.
Gagahina joins as Director in the Riyadh office, bringing a distinctive background in creative leadership and visual storytelling. She continues as the director of Carrot Brand complementing NorthStar’s growing creative communications offering. She’s worked on a range of exciting mandates including Groupon, Checkout.com, Dusit Thani, New Balance and Air Asia. Her MENA-APAC expertise reflects NorthStar’s ambitions to strengthen this exciting corridor.
These hires intend to strengthen the firm’s presence in the Kingdom and the wider GCC, and expand the agency’s creative communications capability for integrated mandates across the growing GCC markets.
Commenting on the appointments, Arth Malani, Founder and CEO of NorthStar Insights, said: “Saudi Arabia’s ambitions are now global and the bar for how the Kingdom’s organisations communicate has moved sharply higher. That demands senior counsel in the room with the relationships, the judgement and the creative range to match.
Malani added, “Mohammed is one of the most respected communications leaders in the GCC and his joining as Partner makes a clear statement about where we are building. With Seth bringing deep creative leadership alongside him, we are strengthening our Dubai office to deliver integrated mandates to the standard of an in-house team.”
The appointments come as the brief for communications in Saudi Arabia is being rewritten. With the Public Investment Fund’s 2026 to 2030 strategy placing the Kingdom at the centre of global capital, the way Saudi organisations are read abroad has itself become part of the story.
The old playbook built around launches and flagship moments no longer meets what the current opportunity demands. What clients need now is senior counsel that can hold complex stakeholder engagement and high-stakes visual storytelling in a single frame delivered to the standard of an in-house team. NorthStar is building this for the Kingdom and the broader GCC.
Mohammed AlMaskati, Partner at NorthStar Insights, said: “Saudi Arabia’s story is being written at a pace and scale few markets have seen, and getting that story right takes counsel that understands both the institutions shaping this moment and the audiences judging it. I’ve spent my career building that kind of trust across the Kingdom and the region, and NorthStar’s model – pairing senior judgement with real creative capability – is exactly the platform this market needs. I’m looking forward to building that here.”
Seth Gagahina, Director at NorthStar Insights, said: “In today’s volatile global landscape, navigating risk requires absolute clarity in communication. Working with Team NorthStar allows me to bridge the gap between complex stakeholder engagement and powerful, high-stakes visual storytelling. I am incredibly excited to work alongside Arth, Sadeq, and the exceptional team to elevate how clients protect their reputations and command market confidence across global financial markets.”
The appointments mark the latest step in NorthStar’s regional growth strengthening the firm’s integrated advisory and creative capabilities for clients across the Gulf and global financial markets.
